Amnesty International global annual report

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Your Rights in Jeopardy.

2015 was a year that saw a global assault on people’s basic freedoms with many governments brazenly breaking international law and deliberately undermining institutions meant to protect people’s rights.

International protection of human rights is in danger of unravelling as short-term national self-interest and draconian security crackdowns have led to a wholesale assault on basic freedoms and rights, warned Amnesty International as it launched its annual assessment of human rights around the world.

Your rights are in jeopardy: they are being treated with utter contempt by many governments around the world

Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International

Amnesty International is warning of an insidious and creeping trend undermining human rights which has come from governments deliberately attacking, underfunding or neglecting institutions that have been set up to help protect our rights. Not only are our rights under threat, so are the laws and the system that protect them. More than 70 years of hard work and human progress lies at risk. The United Nations’ human rights bodies, the International Criminal Court, and regional mechanisms such as the Council of Europe and the Inter American Human Rights system, are being undermined by governments attempting to evade oversight of their domestic records.

Amnesty International is calling on governments to politically support and fully fund systems that exist to uphold international law and to protect people’s rights.

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Amnesty International Annual Report 2015 2016 Cover Image

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 YOUR RIGHTS IN JEOPARDY: IN NUMBERS

122

At least, 122 or more countries tortured or otherwise ill-treated people.

113

At least 113 countries arbitrarily restricted freedom of expression and the press

156

At least 156 human rights defenders were killed or died in detention.

61

At least 61 countries locked up prisoners of conscience – people who were simply exercising their rights and freedoms

55

At least 55% of countries conducted unfair trials. When a trial is unfair, justice is not served for the accused, the victim of the crime or the public.

60

More than 60 million people were displaced from their homes worldwide. Many had been displaced for several years or longer