Dr. Alon Ben-Meir

To my utter chagrin, the scale, frequency, and brazenness of human rights violations around the world have not diminished, but rather have grown profoundly, raising the question of whether the very notion of civilization” is little more than a veneer. We pride ourselves on culture, law, and moral advancement, yet beneath this thin surface lies a persistent brutality. Increasingly, it seems we have not escaped that condition; we have merely disguised it.

In many countries, human rights violations have become the default response to conflict, replacing peaceful approaches and reconciliation. This failure is measured in the death, despair, and hopelessness of hundreds of millions.  There are scores of countries spanning the globe that have committed large scale, documented abuses against their own populations and/or native groups, and against civilians in neighboring countries caught in conflict zones between two warring countries, including: Myanmar, North Korea, Eritrea, Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Venezuela, Nicaragua, the Philippines, and Nigeria, among many others.

For this article, I selected seven countries to demonstrate how these abuses transcend regions, races, religions, cultures, and governments, ranging from democratic to despotic. As Thomas Hobbes warned, without restraint, human life becomes solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”

In Afghanistan, the Taliban’s governance is heavily grounded in their interpretation of Islamic Sharia laws. They have institutionalized gender apartheid; women and girls are systematically erased from public life, denied education, stripped of autonomy, and reduced to shadows of their potential as human beings. A generation of girls—who might have led, taught, healed, and transformed their society—has been deliberately extinguished. As Simone de Beauvoir argued, oppression is sustained when society denies individuals the ability to transcend imposed roles. In Afghanistan, the denial of women’s and girls’ rights is absolute. The loss is immeasurable, not only personal but national and even civilizational.

In Gaza, what has unfolded as a result of the Israel-Hamas war defies comprehension. Entire neighborhoods reduced to rubble by Israeli forces, children starving not metaphorically but literally—searching for scraps to survive another day. Many no longer cry; even grief requires energy they no longer possess. Tens of thousands have perished—by bombs, by bullets, and by deprivation. Displacement has stripped families of dignity, stability, and hope. Women and children bear the heaviest burden, trapped in a cycle of terror with no refuge. This is not merely a humanitarian crisis; it is a moral collapse of a presumably democratic Israeli Netanyahu-led government, witnessed in real time, normalized through repetition.

In Ukraine, Russia’s conduct reveals another dimension of human rights violation: the calculated erasure of identity. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian children have been abducted by Russian forces, separated from their families, and subjected to indoctrination. They are forced to abandon their language, their culture, their very sense of self. Parents are left in a state of perpetual anguish, not knowing if they will ever see their children again. Hannah Arendt wrote of the banality of evil”—how systematic cruelty becomes normalized through bureaucracy and blind obedience to authoritarianism. What we see here is precisely that: an organized heinous effort to extinguish a people’s future by reshaping its children.

Sudan stands as one of the most devastating humanitarian catastrophes of our time. Years of violent conflict between two generals vying for power have left millions facing acute food insecurity. Children are starving in staggering numbers, while armed groups recruit them as soldiers, robbing them of both innocence and future. Women and children alike are held captive for months and brutally raped as a weapon of war, enduring unimaginable hardship. This is systemic devastation. Frantz Fanon poignantly argues that prolonged violence deforms both victim and perpetrator, creating tragically domestic self-perpetuating cycles.

In Yemen, a protracted war between competing authorities has created a living nightmare. The Houthis are largely supported by Iran, both in terms of weaponry and funding, and the internationally recognized government of Yemen has been backed by a coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates–a government that has presided over a collapse of basic services and widespread suffering. Children and women endure the brunt of this crisis—malnutrition, disease, and displacement defining their daily existence. The fact that the international community keeps arming both sides reveals a global indifference to human suffering that is as troubling as the conflict itself.

China’s treatment of the Uyghur minority reflects a chilling form of modern repression against religious and ethnic minorities. Surveillance, detention, forced assimilation, and cultural erasure have become tools of state policy. Individuals are targeted not for actions, but for identity—for who they are. Michel Foucault warned of how power can permeate every aspect of life, shaping behavior, thought, and existence itself, which has materialized in China with alarming precision.

In the United States, a democratic country that proclaims its commitment to liberty and justice, troubling patterns emerge. The treatment of undocumented immigrants—detention in overcrowded facilities, limited access to legal recourse, family separations—reflects a system that prioritizes enforcement over humanity. When due legal process is compromised, and individuals are treated as less than human, it signals a dangerous erosion of democratic principles. As Alexis de Tocqueville warned, liberty cannot be established without morality.”

Trapped in Cycles of Dehumanization

How, then, do we explain this pervasive failure? Why, despite centuries of philosophical reflection, legal development, and moral discourse, do we remain trapped in cycles of dehumanization?

Part of the answer lies in human nature itself. Thinkers from Hobbes to Freud have argued that aggression and self-interest are deeply embedded within us. Civilization, in Freud’s view, is a fragile construct—one that suppresses but never eliminates our destructive impulses. When institutions weaken, when accountability fades, those impulses resurface with alarming ease.

Immanuel Kant, however, insisted that human beings possess the capacity for moral reasoning—that we are capable of recognizing the inherent dignity of others. The persistence of atrocities, then, reflects not an absence of moral capacity, but a failure to exercise it. Political interests, fear, tribalism, and indifference often override ethical responsibility.

Sadly, the international community’s inaction further compounds the problem. Geopolitical calculations frequently undermine mechanisms designed to prevent and respond to human rights violations. States prioritize power over principle, stability over justice. The result is a system that reacts too late, too feebly, or not at all.

What, then, is the remedy?

None of the following suggested remedies are easy to implement due to internal political disputes, divergent geostrategic interests among states, and global rivalries. They require courage, resources, and sustained commitment. They demand that individuals and domestic and international institutions alike confront uncomfortable truths and make difficult choices.

First, accountability must become non-negotiable. International law must be enforced consistently, not selectively. Second, civil society and independent media must be strengthened and not succumb to the authorities’ dictates, as they serve as essential checks on power. Third, education in schools and universities must emphasize not only knowledge, but moral responsibility—cultivating empathy alongside critical thinking. Finally, global cooperation within and outside the UN, including the EU, the Arab League, and the African Union, among others, must move beyond rhetoric to action, particularly in addressing root causes such as socio-economic inequality, authoritarianism, and climate change.

We stand at a defining crossroads in human history. The suffering we witness is neither accidental nor inevitable—it is the direct consequence of choices made, and choices deferred. If humanity continues to avert its gaze, to rationalize, to delay, then this moral collapse will not only persist—it will deepen. Nevertheless, if there remains even a fragment of conscience, of courage, of collective will, then the course can still be altered.

The question is no longer whether we understand the crisis of the pervasive human rights violations. The question is whether we are prepared to act before what remains of our humanity slips beyond recovery.

is President of the Institute for Humanitarian Conflict Resolution.alon@alonben-meir.com