Share your interactive ePaper on all platforms and on your website with our embed function. The foreword, five regional overviews and survey of countriesand territories bear witness to the suffering endured by many, whetherit be through conflict, displacement, discrimination or repression.
TheReport also highlights the strength of the human rights movement, andshows that, in some areas, significant progress has been made in thesafeguarding and securing of human rights. While every attempt is made to ensure accuracy of information,information may be subject to change without notice. Itwas so busy. Yarmouk becamea shelter for people fleeingfrom other neighbourhoods. Ihid as more and more of myfriends were arrested.
Butwhere could I go? Palestinianrefugees from Syria are notallowed to enter any countrywithout a visa. This has been a devastating year for thoseseeking to stand up for human rights and forthose caught up in the suffering of war zones. Governments pay lip service to theimportance of protecting civilians.
And yetthe world's politicians have miserably failedto protect those in greatest need. AmnestyInternational believes that this can and mustfinally change. International humanitarian law - the lawthat governs the conduct of armed conflict- could not be clearer. Attacks must neverbe directed against civilians. The principleof distinguishing between civilians andcombatants is a fundamental safeguard forpeople caught up in the horrors of war.
And yet, time and again, civilians borethe brunt in conflict. In the year marking the20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide,politicians repeatedly trampled on the rulesprotecting civilians - or looked away from thedeadly violations of these rules committedby others. The UN Security Council had repeatedlyfailed to address the crisis in Syria in earlieryears, when countless lives could still havebeen saved. That failure continued in In the past four years, more than ,people have died - overwhelmingly civilians -and mostly in attacks by government forces.
