“In 2023, human rights abuses have been rampant.” The annual report by Amnesty International begins with this sentence, a very precise thermometer that certifies the state of human rights in all countries of the world every year. According to the organization, there are four themes that highlight a worrying decline at a global level: the treatment of civilians as an expendable element in situations of armed conflict, the growing violent reaction against gender justice, the disproportionate impact of economic crises, of climate and environmental degradation on the most marginalized communities and the threats of new and existing technologies, such as generative artificial intelligence.
In twelve months – explains the spokesperson for Amnesty International Italia, Riccardo Noury, to Today.it – we have witnessed a step backwards of decades and the near future promises to be very worrying. Due to the ongoing conflicts, there has been a complete derailment of international law, that is, of that system of protection of rights through the supremacy of international norms born at the end of the Second World War; and then we saw the advent of new technologies, which prepare us for new forms of mass surveillance through artificial intelligence: therefore on the one hand the rules that were there are violated, on the other we are faced with a future without rules “.
The war between Israel and Iran and the shadow of a new migrant crisis in Europe
The conflicts, in particular the invasion of Ukraine and the war between Israel and Hamas, weigh heavily, as always happens. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine – the report states – has been marked by “persistent war crimes”; Russian forces “indiscriminately attacked populated areas and civilian energy and other grain export infrastructure, tortured or otherwise ill-treated prisoners of war, and caused extensive environmental contamination through acts including the apparently deliberate destruction of the Kakhovka Dam.” In the Middle East, Israeli authorities have made particular efforts to pass off the attacks they have carried out on Gaza as complying with international humanitarian law. In reality, Amnesty claims, “they have made a mockery of some of its key provisions. They have neglected the principles of distinction and proportionality by accepting enormous losses of civilian life and massive destruction of civilian objectives.”
From social media to artificial intelligence: the business of hate and new forms of repression
The technologies that were supposed to make man more free and independent are increasingly used by political groups and entire states to convey hatred against minorities and to repress protests. In many parts of the world, Amnesty writes, “political actors are increasing their attacks against women, LGBTQIA+ people and marginalized communities, who have always been scapegoats to obtain electoral consensus”; the large platforms, instead of moderating, monetize on hate, often encouraging engagement on highly divisive topics. “When we try to deal with social platforms – explains Riccardo Noury - we only get results through complaints. We denounced Meta for how it stoked hatred in Ethiopia, as we had already done for Myanmar; on TikTok we drew up two reports, denouncing a business model based on frenzied engagement that can cause harm to people and even instigate suicidal tendencies; but the platform on which we have worked the most is Twitter, which since it transformed into X has degenerated and practically no longer provides for moderation: it has become a toxic place of attacks and harassment especially against women.”
Alongside this, we are seeing an increasingly massive use of technologies related to artificial intelligence to reinforce discriminatory policies. Countries such as Argentina, Brazil, India and the United Kingdom use facial recognition to monitor street protests and sporting events. Amnesty International, through legal action, forced the New York Police Department to disclose how it had used these technologies to surveil the Black Lives Matter protest movement.
“Alarming signs of genocide in Gaza”
The largest human rights organization on the planet has no problem using the term “genocide” to describe the actions of the Netanyahu-led government in the Gaza Strip: the growing evidence of war crimes – it is underlined – “documents how the Israeli forces have bombed crowded refugee camps and residential buildings, repeatedly wiped out entire families and destroyed hospitals, UN-run schools, bakeries and other crucial infrastructure. They have passed off their blanket orders to evacuate northern Gaza as valid warnings and precautionary measures but, in practice, forcibly displaced nearly 1.9 million Palestinians (or 83 percent of Gaza’s total population of 2.3 million) from their homes and deliberately denied them humanitarian aid , in the context of the persistent illegal blockade on Gaza”.
These and other factors, according to Amnesty, constituted alarming signs of genocide. “These crimes – continues Riccardo Noury - are also fueled thanks to the irresponsible trade in arms: obviously the first country we bring into question is the United States, which continues to send weapons to Israel, but even in Italy there is a lack of transparency and there is the certainty that the transfers have stopped since the beginning of the conflict. It is the civilian populations of the cities who pay the highest price: the civilian populations of the Ukrainian cities, those of Gaza, those of Myanmar, the millions, pay. of displaced people from Sudan. In the recent escalation between Israel and Iran, the one who paid was Amina Al – Hassouni, a seven-year-old girl from an unrecognized village and under threat from the Tel Aviv authorities.”
“On Iran we contest the hypocrisy of the international community”
The new tensions between Israel and Iran are worrying, not only because of the unpredictable consequences of a widening of the conflict, but also because, presumably, a direct military involvement of Tehran would have dramatic consequences for the population which is already suffering violence and harassment of all kinds. “It is clear – explains the Amnesty Italia spokesperson – that the more the conflict spreads, the more civilians will pay the highest price: Israeli civilians paid it on 7 October and the hostages in the hands of Hamas are still paying it, Those in Gaza pay a terrifying price, and the risk is that the people of that area who already live in a terrible situation will also pay it.
For Iran, 2023 was the year in which many rapes were recorded against demonstrators against the regime; it was the year in which repression against women who refuse the obligation to wear the veil returned; the agents of the ‘moral police’ are back on the streets and the streets of Tehran are filled with tow trucks that took away the cars of women caught driving without the headscarf. In 2023, there were 853 hangings in Iran. We contest the hypocrisy of the international community, which until a few weeks ago was on the side of Iranian women: if the escalation were to continue with dramatic consequences for those women, what would happen to all that ostentatious solidarity?”.
Even in Italy there are many steps backwards on human rights
Even in Italy, in the last twelve months, there has been a worrying decline. “2023 – continues Riccardo Noury - was a year of steps backwards from the point of view of respect for human rights in Italy. We have seen the criminalization of dissent, with new rules and sanctions against climate justice activists. The spaces of freedom are decreasing and there is an excessive use of force that is increasingly present in demonstrations, in particular those which have been organized since last October in solidarity with the Palestinian population of Gaza”.
In one year of Meloni’s government, Italy has taken steps backwards on human rights
This is echoed by Ilaria Masinara, director of campaigns at Amnesty International Italia: “Our government – she explains – has not expressed itself on very relevant issues of international law, while the export of weapons to Israel continues. From the point of view of the protection of freedom of movement and the right to asylum there have been fundamental steps backwards such as the one that eroded international protection or the decision to make agreements with Albania for the relocation of the migrant detention system gender of the LGBTQIA+ community, steps have been taken backwards with respect to self-determination or discrimination or even creating a system of toxic narrative towards the sons and daughters of same-parent couples”.
Thus China escapes human rights protection
Tags: technologies century human rights
