Human rights faced severe tests worldwide in 2024, with democratic institutions under strain and humanitarian law repeatedly violated in major conflicts, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in its annual report released Thursday.
The 546-page “World Report 2025” reviewed human rights practices in more than 100 countries, emphasizing the devastating human tolls of conflicts in Gaza, Sudan, and Ukraine, and describing concerning electoral shifts around the globe.
“Many [governments] have failed the test” of upholding human rights during crises, said Tirana Hassan, HRW’s Executive Director, in the report’s introduction. “But even outspoken and action-oriented governments have invoked human rights standards weakly or inconsistently, feeding global perceptions that human rights lack legitimacy.”
The report documented significant gains by far-right parties in European Parliament elections and raised concerns about Donald Trump’s return to the US presidency. However, it also noted democratic victories, including in India, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi failed to secure his desired electoral majority despite campaign rhetoric that HRW characterized as hate speech.
The report detailed the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government in December, ending over 50 years of Baath Party rule, though HRW cautioned that Syria’s future remains uncertain.
The organization sharply criticized the international response to ongoing conflicts. In Gaza, HRW noted that Israeli authorities had been charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity, adding that Western allies continued providing military support despite evidence of atrocities.
The report highlighted “grossly inadequate” global action on Sudan’s crisis, where warring parties have committed mass killings and ethnic cleansing in Darfur. It also documented the Taliban’s intensified crackdown on women and girls in Afghanistan, including new restrictions on medical education, and China’s continued mass imprisonment of ethnic Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
The report also emphasized the critical roles resistance movements and activism have played in combating ongoing rights violations, pointing to protesters in Bangladesh who forced long-term leader Sheikh Hasina’s ouster, and the South Korean National Assembly’s successfully overturning of a presidential martial law decree within hours of its implementation.
HRW praised the willingness of some governments to challenge international law violations, citing South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice over alleged violations of the Genocide Convention in Gaza.
“When rights are protected, humanity flourishes,” Hassan said. “When they are denied, the cost is measured not in abstract principles but in human lives. This is the challenge – and the opportunity – of our time.”
