We are going to see a lot of “worst decade ever” takes over the next 3 weeks. And to be fair, taking the tally on #HumanRightsDay is pretty bleak. But there is another story.
At the beginning of the decade, protests swept across Iran and much of the Arab world, Russia too. Today, repression has escalated where resistance flourished, and devastating wars grind on.
Smartphones, and social platforms were seen, then, as vectors of freedom and of connection. Now they are too often tools of division and disinformation
In three of the world’s largest democracies, India, Brazil and the United States, elected leaders who demonize immigrants and minorities, and praise dictators pose an urgent threat to Human Rights
Stick with me here, there is something else happening too.
A decade ago, in Copenhagen, world leaders recognized the urgency of the climate crisis, and were clear about its causes. But they did far too little, and continue to fail to halt rising CO2 levels, which will have devastating human rights consequences.
And yet.
A new movement is building, in classrooms, on the streets, and in politics, to push for meaningful action on the climate crisis
Women around the world have risen to build the #MeToo movement to end sexual violence, aided by journalists
And in Lebanon and Iraq, in Chile and Hong Kong and Iran, people are in the streets again, demanding their rights.
History doesn’t move on tidy tracks toward a more perfect future. But hope does, and the power of the human rights ideal persists. More here:
hrw.org/news/2019/12/1…
hrw.org/news/2019/12/1…
