International Shia News Agency

International community has failed to react to humanitarian crisis says rights group

SHAFAQNA – An annual report released by the Amnesty International on Wednesday condemned the international response to the world’s humanitarian disasters. The report also said that 2014 saw the highest number of displaced people in 70 years.

The annual report also highlighted the state of human rights around the world in 2014. Besides detailing the human toll of conflicts from Nigeria to Syria, the rights group denounced the global community for “shameful and ineffective” responses to world crises.

The report said that it was highly critical of both Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian rebels fighting in the east of the country. Both sides are responsible for the high number of civilian casualties, according to the report, because of the indiscriminate firing of unguided mortars and rockets in populated areas.

The senior director for research of Amnesty International Anna Neistat said that though it has been difficult to determine, “taking into account everything we understand for now” cluster bombs, large explosives which release many other smaller explosives over a wide area, were used by both government troops and separatists.

“Both sides failed to take reasonable precautions to protect civilians, in violation of the laws of war,” read the report, adding that abductions, torture and summary killings had also characterized the violence in Ukraine in 2014.

Amnesty said that the growing influence of non-state armed groups like Boro Haram and “Islamic State” (IS) was a major concern.

The report also calls on the five permanent members of the UN security council to renounce their veto rights in situations of mass atrocities, as China and Russia have consistently blocked international action in Syria, where more than 210,000 have been killed since the conflict began, according to the Syrian observatory for human rights.

 

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