World Report 2019: Reversing Autocrats’ Attacks on Rights
New Alliances of Governments, Civic Groups Winning Victories
Thursday 17 January 2019
(Berlin, January 17, 2019) – There is a growing global trend to confront the abuses of headline-grabbing autocrats, Human Rights Watch said today in launching its
World Report 2019. Within the
European Union, at the United Nations, and around the world, coalitions of states, often backed by civic groups and popular protests, are pushing back against anti-rights populists.
In the 674-page
World Report 2019, its 29
th edition, Human Rights Watch reviews human rights practices in more than 100 countries. In his
introductory essay, Executive Director
Kenneth Roth says that the big news of the past year is not the continuation of authoritarian trends but the growing opposition to them. That pushback could be seen in efforts to resist attacks on democracy in Europe, prevent a bloodbath in
Syria, bring to justice the perpetrators of ethnic cleansing against Rohingya Muslims in
Myanmar, stop the
Saudi-led bombing and blockading of
Yemeni civilians, defend the longstanding ban on chemical weapons, convince
Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila to accept constitutional term limits, and demand a full investigation into the murder of
Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.