Image credit: Human Rights Watch Facebook - Photo: 2025

Human Rights Watch Takes Stock of 2024: A Year of Reckoning

By Jan Servaes*

BANGKOK, Thailand | 18 January 2025 (IDN) — The Human Rights Watch Report 2025 was recently launched in Bangkok under the title “2024: A Year of Reckoning”. The press conference, which can also be followed via YouTube, started with a video message from Tirana Hassan, HRW Director General, who tried to put 2024 into perspective.

In much of the world, governments have cracked down on political opponents, activists, and journalists, wrongfully arresting and imprisoning them. Armed groups and government forces have unlawfully killed civilians, forced many from their homes, and blocked humanitarian access. In many of the more than 70 national elections in 2024, authoritarian leaders have gained ground with their discriminatory rhetoric and policies.

“This has been a year of elections, resistance, and conflict, in which the integrity of democratic institutions and the principles of international human rights and humanitarian law have been put to the test. Whether it’s increased repression in Russia, India and Venezuela, or catastrophic armed conflicts in Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine, governments around the world are being called upon to demonstrate their commitment to human rights, democracy and humanitarian action. Many have failed the test. But even outspoken and action-oriented governments have invoked human rights norms weakly or inconsistently, fueling the global perception that human rights lack legitimacy.”

That is a dangerous conclusion, Hassan argues, and would absolve governments of their legal obligations to uphold international human rights law, both at home and in their actions abroad. “Instead, governments must respect and defend universal human rights with greater rigor and urgency than ever before, and must remain steadfast in holding people and civil society to account.”

The 546-page global report assessed human rights practices in more than 100 countries. Racism, hatred and discrimination have been the driving force behind many elections in the past year, not just in the Global South, but also in the US and the European Union. “Anti-immigrant sentiment and nationalist rhetoric are being exploited to advance policies that threaten minority communities and undermine democratic norms.”

The double standard on human rights

The report also notes that the past year has highlighted an often ignored reality: liberal democracies are not always reliable champions of human rights at home or abroad.

US President Joe Biden’s foreign policy has demonstrated a “double standard on human rights, supplying arms to Israel without restriction despite widespread atrocities in Gaza, while condemning Russia for similar abuses in Ukraine, and failing to address serious human rights violations by partners such as the United Arab Emirates, India and Kenya.”

Donald Trump’s return to the White House not only threatens rights within the US, but will also, through actions and inaction, affect respect for human rights abroad. “If the first Trump administration’s attacks on multilateral institutions, international law, and the rights of marginalized groups are any indication, his second term could inflict even greater damage on human rights, including by emboldening illiberal leaders around the world to do the same.”

The Power of Popular Resistance

But Elaine Pearson, Asian Director at Human Rights Watch, tries to bring the “good” news from Asia alongside the “bad.” Countries like South-Korea, Bangladesh, SriLanka are showing significant democratic resilience as voters have been unwilling to accept populist agendas and have held leaders and their parties accountable. In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s hate speech during the campaign failed to win him the electoral majority he sought, demonstrating that democracy can still act as a brake on power even in the face of systemic challenges.

In contrast, authoritarian leaders have tightened their grip on power in countries such as China, Rusland, El Salvador and the Sahel countries of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, using fear and disinformation to crush dissent.

Thailand’s restoration of democracy after years of military rule remains a long time coming

Thailand was discussed in more detail at the press conference after a summary introduction  Sunai Phasuk, HRW’s senior Thailand researcher.

He argued that Thailand’s efforts to restore democracy by 2024 were being seriously undermined by the Constitutional Court rulings to dissolve the reformist Move Forward party and oust the government of Srettha Thavisin. The new government of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Thaksin’s daughter, who took office in September, promised major reforms when campaigning for the Pheu Thai party in the 2023 elections, but these have yet to be implemented.

Authorities continue to restrict fundamental rights, particularly freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, through lèse majesté (insulting the monarchy), sedition, and cybercrime laws. Authorities have failed to protect human rights defenders from reprisals by state agencies and private companies. The Prime Minister has also yet to follow through on assurances from the previous government that the Myanmar military would no longer purchase weapons through the Thai banking system.

Enforcement of measures to resolve torture and enforced disappearances is also lacking. Impunity for abuses, particularly in the Deep South, continues unabated.

Refugees and asylum seekers continue to face arrest and deportation. Thailand is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol, but the Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance Act prohibit “refoulement”: the forced return of a person to a place where he or she would face a real risk of persecution, torture or other ill-treatment, or a threat to his or her life.

However, Thai officials continue to treat refugees and asylum seekers as illegal migrants subject to arrest and deportation. Thai authorities are violating the international prohibition of refoulement by sending refugees and asylum seekers back to countries where they are likely to be persecuted.

International Solidarity and Accountability

The report praises the willingness of some governments to challenge violations of international law. It cited South Africa’s case against Israël at the International Court of Justice over alleged violations of the Genocide Convention in Gaza.

“When rights are protected, humanity flourishes,” HRW’s Hassan said. “When they are denied, the cost is not measured in abstract principles but in human lives. This is the challenge—and opportunity—of our time.”

But the past few years have been particularly complex for the relationship between powerful governments and international courts. “The United States and international partners will have to ask difficult questions in the coming year about how to balance their strategic interests and security concerns with the behavior of U.S. allies and partners during warfare, and how to support populations vulnerable to human rights violations as conflicts unfold around the world.” [IDN-InDepthNews]

*Jan Servaes, ph.d. | 9freenet9@gmail.com | https://authory.com/JanServaes
https://authory.com/JanServaes/certificate/bd834aa5af135409fa70bed47acb9a1f0
Recent books: Jan Servaes & Muhammad Jameel Yushau (eds.), SDG18 Communication for All, Volume 1, SDG18 Communication for All, Volume 2, The Missing Link between SDGs and Global Agendas: https://link.springer.com/book/9783031191411, Handbook on Communication for Development and Social Change: https://link.springer.com/referencework/10.1007/978-981-10-7035-8

Image credit: Human Rights Watch Facebook.

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