The US government separated thousands of illegally immigrant families on the Mexican border and put migrant children into camps. In the Philippines, suspected drug criminals continue to die in police operations and death squads almost daily. Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini does not let rescuers with refugees on board and criminalizes the helpers. 2018, the year of the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is not all that good about human rights. At least that's what it seems.

But there is also positive news - at least according to the Human Rights Watch (HRW) annual report for 2018: According to that, there has been a marked resistance across the world to anti-human rights populists. It has been particularly involved in the European Union, the United Nations and other state alliances, which have been supported by civil rights groups and protest movements, according to the report.

Although certain negative developments are making more headlines. But: "By spreading hatred and intolerance, populists are calling for a resistance movement that can repeatedly record success," says HRW Managing Director Ken Roth. "The excesses of the autocracy have provoked a powerful resistance." It turns out that the vision of a democratic constitutional state is apparently still a mobilizing one.

Especially in four countries clear resistance against autocratic governments would have formed:

  • Syria: The coalitions that have probably saved the most lives have focused on Syria as a country of war, the report said. Above all, the Federal Government played an important role in the negotiations on a ceasefire in the Syrian province of Idlib, said Roth. German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU), together with other EU leaders, has successfully put pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to prevent an offensive on Idlib. Today, there are three million people living there, at least half of whom are said to have fled there from other parts of the country and taken to safety in Idlib (read more here).

AFP

Protesters in Idlib (September 2018)

  • Saudi Arabia: Tragically, it was only the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi that led to the world's concern for the Saudi government's disregard for human rights. After that, especially the Turkish government sat down for a complete investigation of the violence. In addition, the government in Riyadh is also responsible for the deaths of countless civilians in Yemen, according to the HRW report. International pressure has helped the coalition led by Saudi Arabia to agree to a ceasefire around the Yemeni port of Hudeida, an important access point to the hungry civilian population. This had been negotiated by the United Nations.
  • Hungary: Many people took to the streets in Hungary last year against Viktor Orbán's plans. The Prime Minister intended to close the Central European University, "an academic bastion of free research and thought," as HRW writes. Also, the so-called "slave law" met with resistance that was supposed to increase the number of overtime hours allowed and allow for up to three years' delay in overtime pay.

Getty Images

Protests in Budapest (December 2018)

  • In September last year, the European Parliament decided to initiate a constitutional state procedure against Hungary. The European Parliament had certified the Orbán government a "systemic threat to democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights".
  • Myanmar: It is true that in Myanmar a legal investigation into the crimes against the Muslim minority of the Rohingya by the military remains unlikely. Nevertheless, the pressure on the de facto head of government and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is steadily growing. Last year, both the EU and Canada adopted sanctions against the Southeast Asian country. In August, the US government imposed travel restrictions on high country generals. A UN expert group made a report accusing the Myanmar military of war crimes such as murder, torture, hostage taking and expulsion. In the conflict, the US group Facebook was also criticized. Following allegations that Facebook has not taken sufficient steps to stem hate comments against Rohingya in Myanmar, the company now wanted to use more inspectors in the country.

However, despite some positive developments in many countries, there are still gross violations of human rights. As the "biggest neglected problem" called HRW boss Roth, the actions of the Chinese government against the Muslim minority of the Uighurs. According to UN estimates, up to one million Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims are being held in internment camps (read more here).

China's repression over the past year has been exacerbated, reaching its worst levels since the 1989 Tiananmen Square bloody crackdown on democracy in the country, according to the HRW report. In addition, the authorities have tightened their attacks on freedom of expression.

It is to be hoped that Germany will continue to play a "leading role" in the defense of human rights in the world, says Roth. Berlin's voice is also very important in the UN Security Council. At the beginning of the year Germany was drafted as a non-permanent member of the most important body of the United Nations.