An annual human rights report by the U.S. State Department contends that authoritarianism around the world is threatening human rights and democracy, most strikingly as Russia continues its attack on Ukraine.
Painting a picture of deteriorating human rights globally, the report for 2021 — before Russia’s February invasion — says that Russian-led forces in the Donbas region of Ukraine engaged “in unlawful or widespread civilian harm, enforced disappearances or abductions and torture and physical abuses or punishment.” Russia has denied committing such abuses.
Speaking at a news briefing as the report was released, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said worse atrocities may yet unfold in Ukraine as Russian forces push to take Mariupol.
“We have credible information that Russian forces may use a variety of riot control agents” to weaken and incapacitate Ukrainian fighters and civilians as part of campaign to take the besieged city, he said. Like other U.S. officials, he said he couldn’t confirm allegations that chemical agents already have been used by Russia in Ukraine.
Allegations that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces committed war crimes intensified last week amid outrage at the large numbers of casualties in towns surrounding Kyiv as Russian forces withdrew to fight elsewhere, leaving grim scenes of civilian bodies in the streets.
The “2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices” released Tuesday didn’t spare other nations — including Ukraine. The report cited what it called credible reports of unlawful or arbitrary killings and torture in Ukraine.
Although the Biden administration has focused on efforts to unite the world against Russia in recent months, the report also signaled continued tensions with China.
It reaffirmed U.S. charges that China is committing “genocide and crimes against humanity” with regard to predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups in the Xinjiang region. The government engaged in arbitrary imprisonment, forced sterilization, coerced abortions and more restrictive application of the country’s birth control policies, according to the report. It said other crimes against the Uyghurs included rape, torture and forced labor.
“Government officials and the security services often committed human rights abuses with impunity,” the State Department said. “Authorities often announced investigations following cases of reported killings by police but did not announce results or findings of police malfeasance or disciplinary action.” China has denied such allegations and countered by criticizing the U.S. on issues including civil rights.
The report found that the jailing and torturing of activists, human rights defenders and journalists is rampant and continues unabated across the world in countries including Russia, China, North Korea, Nicaragua and Syria. The report said that peaceful protesters who try to push for change in places like Cuba, Belarus, Hong Kong and Sudan suffer from abuses by the authorities in order to quell calls for democracy.
