Make "Never Again" "Never Again"

All over the world, ordinary men, women and children – people like and in some cases including ourselves – are suffering at the hands of governments and other powerful groups, in defiance of international law and internationally-agreed human rights.

Our demand is simple: those governments and other bodies must be forced to re­-commit to, and held accountable under those laws and declarations, defending all of us – everyone, wherever they live – from violence, oppression, prejudice, lack of access to food, clean water, healthcare, education, safety and security.

Every where we look, in each corner of the globe, we see peoples’ lives endangered, worsened and ended by such violations of the law, and the international protection of human rights.

On 7 October 2023, Hamas, the current elected governing body of Gaza, attacked Israeli people, killing around 1,200 people, and taking 251 men, women and children hostage. This attack was in clear defiance of the internationally-recognised right of all people to safety and security, as well as international laws regarding conflict, and the hostage-taking also violated the rights to liberty and security.

The United Nations Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict reported on Monday 4 March that there are ‘reasonable grounds to believe’ that emilitants from Gaza – Hamas and/or Palestinian Islamic Jihad members – committed sexual violence during the 7 October attack, including rape or gang rape in at least three locations.

This is illegal, immoral and unacceptable, and such sexual violence now appears to be an increasing part of attacks against civilian populations. We join with the wider Woman, Life, Freedom movement to not only condemn such activity, but also demand that the international community, and especially the “Me Too” movement, which for some reason stayed silent in the face of this mistreatment of women, and of those who stood against it, does not ignore or hide the realities of such horror.

The Israeli government’s response has also violated the laws and principles: tens of thousands of Palestinian men, women and children have been killed, including hundreds in refugee camps and ‘safe zones’, as well as news reporters and humanitarian aid workers.

Whatever ‘reasons’ each may offer for their behaviour, these killings are against the spirit and letter of the law, and the rights to which we are all entitled. Nor is Gaza the world’s only theatre of such atrocities.

In Syria, a 13-year multi-sided conflict involving several governments, rebel groups, and terror organisations has killed at least 580,000 men, women and children, most of them civilians, and displaced 13.3 million people.

In Sudan, a war between two parts of the national military has, since 15 April 2023, killed up to 150,000 people, and forced more than 9.2 million men, women and children from their homes.

In Ukraine, since February 2022, more than 10,000 people have been confirmed killed, and estimates suggest ten times as many may have lost their lives, in the Russian invasion of the state. Morethan 6.4 million people have fled the state, while at least 3.7 million people are displaced within the country.

Many countries, including Ukraine, Russia and Israel have a compulsory military draft: those soldiers are not fighting voluntarily. Nor could anyone claim that civillians in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, DRC or other war-zones have been offered any choice about whether their lives will be ruined, threatened, and in many cases ended, by the horrors and atrocities being inflicted upon them. Equally, demonstrations for peace in nations in conflict have, across the world, been ignored. It is unacceptable that governments ignore calls for peace from those they are supposed to represent.

In Russia, there are at least 680 people rights groups regarded as political prisoners, some of whom have been forced into Ukraine to take part in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, while since that February 2022 invasion, at least 1,700 Ukrainian citizens have been confirmed to have been illegally jailed in Russia.

Researchers note that 37,000 Ukrainian people are missing, and suggest the true number of those illegally imprisoned in Russia may be 9,000-10,000 people.

In these four countries alone, at least 35 million people are in ‘urgent need’ of humanitarian aid – food, clean water, medical attention, all of which are also human rights.

In at least 20 countries around the world, at least 250,000 children are known to have been forced to fight in ongoing conflicts, with many others suffering abuse and exploitation in ‘workplaces’, in direct contravention of the Universal Declaration of the Rights of the Child.

Elsewhere in the world, people’s rights – and lives – are being illegally stripped from them, including in Myanmar, where the state’s government attacked the Rohingya population in 2016-17, killing at least 25,000 people and forcing one million to flee the country.

In Western Sahara, where conflict aimed at independence for the region’s people – first from Spain and later from Morocco – began in 1971, severe human rights abuses have been carried out by all sides, including the use of napalm and white phosphorus against Sahrawi people in refugee camps, and forced expulsions of Sahrawi and Moroccan people by the governments of Morocco and Algeria, as well as Polisario. Recent measures suggested by the Moroccan government for increased autonomy for Western Sahara may go some way to addressing the Sahrawi people’s concerns and anger, but whatever the outcome of the proposal, all sides must obey the law, and protect people from harm.

In China, the government has since 2017 imprisoned at least 500,000 Uyghur people for ‘reeducation and reintegration’ in what the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, said in 2022 ‘may constitute crimes against humanity’.

In Tibet, which China annexed in 1950-51, large population clearances continue to this day. Since 2016, more than 140,000 people have been forcibly relocated from 500 Tibetan villages, while the wider region remains under Chinese control against the wishes of its population.

In Taiwan, over which the Chinese government also claims ownership, so-called ‘separatists’ – those who regard Taiwan as an independent state (Taiwan’s current president, Lai Ching-te, has been named a ‘separatist’ by the Chinese government) – face the death penalty under a new law.

The Chinese government’s open and implied threats against Taiwan have been well documented since Taiwan claimed independence in 1949, but there is no circumstance under which it is acceptable to kill an individual for wishing for independence from a state.

In eastern DRC, more than 120 armed groups, including terror organisations, local militias, rebels and the state’s armed forces have killed and displaced tens of thousands of people in the last 18 months, on religious, tribal and racial bases, again in direct violation of the UN Declaration of Human Rights and international law regarding conflict. More than 23.4 million people within the country are in ‘dire need’ of food, water and medical assistance, while 7.3 million are displaced within DRC’s borders.

In Iran, more than 1,000 protestors remain in jail, and more than 500 people were killed, in protest against the atrocious treatment of women by the state police and other government organisations. Under the slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom'”, those people stood up against unacceptable and horrendous mistreatment at the hands of their government. They deserve our respect, our support, and most importantly protection under the law.