Despite the on-going struggle against human rights abuses, the report acknowledges that there is still a long way to go before equity can be achieved for many groups. Refugees are consistently treated as the new underclass of society; having fled their homes in an effort to escape conflict, poverty or mistreatment, they are then met with disdain, destitution and famine.
Unfortunately, the disregard for the rights of vulnerable people is not only a trait of far off dictatorships and countries at war; the report highlights the border control measures of the EU that put the safety of migrants and asylum seekers at risk. This is further stoked by populist political rhetoric that scapegoats migrants and asylum seekers, thereby fuelling xenophobia and racial hatred (see RAPAR’s comment here).
The repeated imprisonment and detention of migrants and asylum seekers is a feature of many liberal democratic countries’ border policies, with Amnesty reporting the worst case scenarios involving foreign nationals being held in metal crates and shipping containers. The inhumane practice of imprisonment without cause must stop.
The UNHCR knows of 15.2 million refugees in the world; Syrians, Malians, Congolese, Palestinians, Sudanese and many other peoples are forced to flee their homes for fear of their lives. This number does not account for those who are stateless or internally displaced, leaving the estimate of the number of forcibly displaced people at 42.5 million. 42.5 million people live without the safety of the rule of law, without a legal system to fight for their rights, without the means to earn a living, and often, without enough food and water; 42.5 million people are left in limbo.
The case of 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai, shot in the head by the Taliban for claiming her right to an education, serves as a vivid reminder of both the support for, and work still to be done in the name of human rights. 65 years after the UN Declaration of Human Rights was adopted, it is pertinent to remember that it is often those who are most vulnerable who still do not receive the simple rights and privileges that the Declaration enshrines.
All information comes from links embedded in the text, "Protecting the rights of people on the move" the op-ed from Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International (available here) or the article on the report published by Amnesty (available here).