WeeklySA_AdminSupport: Governments must support international justice and hold perpetrators accountable
By Monk Nkomo
The world has, for many years, witnessed a creeping spread of authoritarian practices fostered by aspiring and elected leaders willingly acting as engines of destruction and dragging the world into a new age of turmoil and cruelty.
In their latest report on the State of the World’s Human Rights, Amnesty International said despite mounting opposition from powerful States – compounded this year by USA President, Donald Trump’s shameless sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutors – international justice and multilateral bodies and States including South Africa – had continued to push for accountability at the highest levels.
The report warned of the global human rights crisis as the Trump administration accelerated destructive trends. It also presented stark evidence that the world was condemning future generations to even harsher existence , thanks to collective failures to tackle the climate crisis, reverse ever-deepening inequalities and retained corporate power.
‘’ We applaud the efforts of nations like South Africa and international justice bodies to push back against powerful States hellbent on undermining international law. In so challenging impunity, those nations and bodies set examples for the whole world to follow. The mounting attacks we have witnessed on the ICC in recent months suggest this is emerging as a major battlefield of 2025’’, said Secretary General of Amnesty International, Agnes Callamard.
The International Court of Justice issued three sets of provisional measure orders in the case that South Africa brought against Israel under the Genocide Convention and issued an advisory opinion declaring that Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territory , including East Jerusalem, was unlawful. The UN General Assembly passed a resolution calling on Israel to end its occupation.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) also issued arrest warrants against senior State officials and leaders of armed groups in Israel, Gaza, Libya, Myanmar and Russia . The United Nations took an important step towards negotiating a much-needed treaty on crimes against humanity and the Philippines followed suit by arresting former President, Rodrigo Duterte last month under an ICC warrant for the crime against humanity and murder.
The Amnesty International warned of a global human rights crisis as the ‘Trump effect’ accelerated destructive trends and vicious clampdowns on dissent around the world. Trump’s first 100 days intensified 2024’s global regressions and deep-rooted trends and contributed towards global failures in addressing inequalities, climate collapse and tech transformations that imperilled future generations.
Callamard called on all governments to do everything in their power to support international justice , hold perpetrators accountable and protect the ICC and its staff from sanctions.
‘’ Despite daunting challenges, the destruction of human rights is far from inevitable. History abounds with examples of brave people overcoming authoritarian practices. In 2024, the people of several nations rejected anti-rights leaders at the ballot box while millions around the world raised their voices against injustice.
‘’ So it is clear : No matter who stands in our way, we must – and we will – continue to resist the reckless regimes of power and profit that seek to strip people their human rights. Our vast , unshakeable movement will be forever united in our common belief n the inherent dignity and human rights of everyone on the planet.’’
The rise of authoritarian practices and annihilation of international law were not inevitable: people do and will resist attacks on human rights; governments can deliver international justice and must continue to do so.
The Trump administration’s anti-rights campaign, the report warned, was turbocharging harmful trends already present, gutting international human rights protections and endangering billions across the planet.
Amnesty International also highlighted the fact that extreme poverty and inequality within and between States continued to deepen in 2024 due to widespread inflation, poor corporate regulation, pervasive tax abuse and rising national debts. This, while many governments and political movements used racist and xenophobic rhetoric to scapegoat migrants and refugees for crime and economic stagnation.
The Trump administration had also compounded the damage done by other world leaders throughout 2024, eating away at decades of painstaking work to build up and advance universal human rights for all and accelerating humanity’s plunge into a brutal new era characterised by intermingling authoritarian practices and corporate greed.
At this historical juncture when authoritarian laws and practices were multiplying the world over in the interests of very few, governments and civil society must work with urgency to lead humanity back to safer ground, Callamard said.
“Year after year, we have warned of the dangers of human rights backsliding. But events of the past 12 months – not least Israel’s livestreamed but unheeded genocide of Palestinians in Gaza – have laid bare just how hellish the world can be for so many when the most powerful states jettison international law and disregard multilateral institutions.’’ The State of the World’s Human Rights report also documented vicious, widespread clampdowns on dissent, catastrophic escalations of armed conflict, inadequate efforts to address climate collapse, and a growing backlash globally against the rights of migrants, refugees, women, girls and LGBTI people. Each of these faced further deterioration in a turbulent 2025 unless a global about-turn was achieved.
Callamard added : “One hundred days into his second term, President Trump has shown only utter contempt for universal human rights. His government has swiftly and deliberately targeted vital US and international institutions and initiatives that were designed to make ours a safer and fairer world. His all-out assault on the very concepts of multilateralism, asylum, racial and gender justice, global health and life-saving climate action is exacerbating the significant damage those principles and institutions have already sustained and is further emboldening other anti-rights leaders and movements to join his onslaught.”
This sickness ran much deeper than Trump’s actions. ‘’ For years now, we have witnessed a creeping spread of authoritarian practices among states the world over, fostered by aspiring and elected leaders willingly acting as engines of destruction. As they drag us into a new age of turmoil and cruelty, all who believe in freedom and equality must steel ourselves to counter increasingly extreme attacks on international law and universal human rights.” Governments across the world sought to evade accountability, entrench their power and instil fear by banning media outlets, by disbanding or suspending NGOs and political parties, by imprisoning critics on baseless charges of “terrorism” or “extremism.”
Security forces in several countries used mass arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances and often excessive – sometimes lethal – force to suppress civil disobedience. Bangladeshi authorities issued “shoot-on-sight” orders against student protests, resulting in almost 1,000 deaths, while security forces in Mozambique unleashed the worst crackdown on protests in years following disputed elections, leaving at least 277 people dead. As conflicts multiplied or escalated, State forces and armed groups acted brazenly, committing war crimes and other serious violations of international humanitarian law that devastated the lives of millions.
Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces inflicted widespread sexual violence on women and girls in what amounted to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity, while the number of people internally displaced by Sudan’s two-year civil war rose to eleven million – more than anywhere else on earth. Yet that conflict elicited near-total global indifference – aside from cynical actors exploiting opportunities to breach the Darfur arms embargo.
The initial suspension of US foreign aid also impacted health services and support for children forcibly separated from their families at detention camps in Syria, and the abrupt cuts have shut down lifesaving programmes in Yemen, including malnutrition treatment for children, pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, safe shelters for survivors of gender-based violence, and healthcare for children suffering from cholera and other illnesses.
“Amnesty International has long warned of double standards undermining the rules-based order. The impact of that to-date unfettered backsliding plumbed new depths in 2024, from Gaza to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Having paved the way for this mess by failing to universally uphold the rule of law, the international community must now shoulder the responsibility,” said Callamard.
The future looked far bleaker for many women, girls and LGBTI people, amid intensifying attacks on gender equality and identity. The Taliban imposed even-more-draconian restrictions on women’s public existence in Afghanistan, while Iranian authorities intensified their brutal crackdown on women and girls who defied compulsory veiling. Groups of women searching for missing loved ones in Mexico and Colombia faced all manner of threats and attacks.
Malawi, Mali and Uganda took steps to criminalize or uphold bans on same-sex relations between consenting adults, while Georgia and Bulgaria followed Russia’s lead in clamping down on supposed “LGBTI propaganda”.
The Trump administration was bolstering the global backlash against gender justice by dismantling efforts to tackle discrimination, relentlessly attacking transgender rights and ending funding for health, education and other programmes that supported women and girls all over the world.
