As governments and corporations shamelessly break the rules, Amnesty International warns that we are at a watershed moment for international law.
Amnesty International's report unequivocally shows the betrayal of human rights principles by today's leaders of states and institutions. In the face of ever-increasing conflicts, the actions of many influential countries have further eroded the credibility of multilateralism and undermined the rules-based world order first established in 1945.
In a conflict that has marked the year 2023 and has no end in sight, the Israeli government in Gaza is making a mockery of international law, and evidence of war crimes is piling up. Israeli authorities have responded to the horrific attacks by Hamas and other armed groups on October 7th with relentless airstrikes on populated civilian areas, often killing entire families, forcibly displacing nearly 1.9 million Palestinians and, despite the growing hunger in Gaza, restricting access to urgently needed humanitarian aid.
The annual report points to the brazen use of the veto by the US, which crippled the UN Security Council for months in passing a much-needed cease-fire resolution, while continuing to arm Israel with weapons that the latter is likely to use to commit war crimes. Also, Amnesty highlights the grotesque double standards of European countries such as Great Britain and Germany, which, although they are rightly opposed to the war crimes of Russia and Hamas, but at the same time support the actions of the authorities of Israel and the USA in this conflict.
