Amnesty International - Human Rights Issues Assignment
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Summarize the most pressing human rights issues in each country. Use the link to each country to research
the information.
You can also use this website to view “rights around the world”:
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Country: Human Rights Issues
United Kingdom 1. Overall rights: In June the government launched
a bill to repeal the Human Rights Act, the
country’s primary legal protection for human
rights, and replace it with a “bill of rights”.
2. Worker’s rights: Workers’ rights to speak out and
bargain collectively through a trade union of their
choice were not always respected.
3. Refugee Rights: The government also adopted a
policy to expel people seeking asylum from the
UK to Rwanda under a Memorandum of
Understanding with the Rwandan government.
4. Freedom of Assembly: The Police, Crime,
Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 increased police
and ministerial powers to restrict further the right
to freedom of peaceful assembly, including new
policing powers to implement restrictions on the
grounds of noise and nuisance, which risk being
disproportionate.
5. Violence against women: The UK finally ratified
the Convention on Preventing and Combating
Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence
(Istanbul Convention), which entered into force on
1 November.
Country: Human Rights Issues
Russian Federation 1. Most Pressing: Russia launched a full-scale
military invasion of Ukraine on 24 February. It
occupied large areas of the country and announced
the annexation of four Ukrainian regions in
September.
2. Freedom of Expression and Assembly: The
authorities introduced further severe restrictions
on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly
in an ongoing clampdown on dissent.
3. Torture/Cruel and Unsual Punishment: Torture
and other ill-treatment in places of detention
remained endemic and prosecutions of
perpetrators were rare. Arbitrary placing of
prisoners in punishment cells were widely used to
exert pressure on prisoners, especially dissidents.
4. Human Rights Defenders: Alongside the
“foreign agents” and “undesirable organizations”
legislation, the authorities used diverse
mechanisms to put pressure on human rights
defenders.
Country: Human Rights Issues
China 1. Main Issue: Covid-19 and right to health care:
There were reports of food shortages and delayed
or denied access to emergency healthcare in areas
under lockdown.
2. Freedom of Expression/assembly: Online
censorship grew more pervasive and sophisticated
as a tool to stifle criticism of the government,
intensifying around high-profile events and
anniversaries.
3. Human Rights Defenders: authorities continued
to imprison human rights defenders, including
citizen journalists and human rights lawyers.
Those detained were held in harsh conditions and
subjected to torture and other ill-treatment.
4. Religious Freedom: Harassment and
imprisonment of individuals for practicing their
religion or beliefs continued
5. Differing ethnic regions/minorities: Systematic
repression of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang and
Tibet continued under the guise of
“anti-separatism”, “anti-extremism” and
“counterterrorism”. Access to both regions was
highly restricted, making human rights
documentation and reporting virtually impossible
Country: Human Rights Issues
Mexico 1. Main Issue: Violence and Crime:Mexican
military forces often failed to protect the right to
life and security of all people. The military have
been involved in public security operations for 16
years and during that time the country has seen a
significant increase in homicides.
2. Violence against women: Between January and
November, 3,450 women were reported to have
been killed; 858 of the killings were investigated
as feminicides, equivalent to an average of 2.5 per
day
3. Freedom of Expression: the year proved the
deadliest in history for the national press. At least
13 journalists were killed with a possible
connection to their work.
4. Torture and ill-treatment: According to the
National Registry for the Crime of Torture, there
were 1,840 reports of torture and other cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment by agents of the
state between January and September.
5. Human Rights Defenders: Human rights
defenders continued to be subjected to threats,
stigmatization, unjust imprisonment, torture and
killings.
Country: Human Rights Issues
Iran 1. Freedom of expression/assembly/association:
The authorities ramped up already suffocating
levels of repression, leaving no space for peaceful
dissent.
2. Arbitrary Imprisonment/unfair trials:
Thousands of people were arbitrarily detained
and/or unfairly prosecuted throughout the year for
peacefully exercising their human rights; many
remained unjustly imprisoned.
3. Religious discrimination: Religious minorities,
including Baha’is, Christians, Gonabadi
Dervishes, Jews, Yaresan and Sunni Muslims,
suffered discrimination in law and practice,
including in access to education, employment,
child adoption, political office and places of
worship.
4. Women and Girls: The authorities continued to
treat women as second-class citizens, including in
relation to marriage, divorce, child custody,
employment, inheritance and political office.
5. Ethnic Minorities:Ethnic minorities, including
Ahwazi Arabs, Azerbaijani Turks, Baluchis,
Kurds and Turkmen, faced widespread
discrimination, curtailing their access to
education, employment, adequate housing and
political office.
Country: Human Rights Issues
Nigeria 1. Failure to Protect its people: The state failed in
its responsibility to protect people from various
abuses committed by Boko Haram and ISWAP as
well as unknown gunmen
2. Excessive/unnecessary Use of force: Security
forces used excessive force to disperse peaceful
protests and assemblies. On 19 October, police
fired tear gas at para-athletes protesting in the
Surulere district of Lagos over their exclusion
from the National Sports Festival.
3. Women and Girls: In March, the National
Assembly voted against five bills that sought to
promote gender equality.
4. Children: More than 1,776 schoolchildren had
been abducted by armed groups since 2014.
Nigerian authorities continued to fail to investigate
these attacks and to protect children.
5. Right to life/security of the person: Authorities
ignored early predictions of heavy rainfalls and
floods, which the UN said were exacerbated by
climate change, and failed to put in place sufficient
measures to mitigate the impact
