Amnesty International’s annual report for 2025 draws a bleak conclusion: human rights violations increased worldwide last year, committed by both states and non-state actors, and in most cases those responsible go unpunished. The report says 2025 was marked by many powerful people acting like “predators.”
Amnesty names political leaders whose actions dominated headlines — including Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu — saying they pursued economic and political domination “through destruction, suppression and violence on a massive scale.”
The report highlights the war involving Iran as a pressing concern. Julia Duchrow, Secretary General of Amnesty International in Germany, told DW that people in Iran face a double threat: unlawful attacks by the US and Israel that violate international law and target civilians and infrastructure, and severe repression by Iran’s government, which has resulted in thousands of deaths. Duchrow warned that unlawful external attacks have not improved the situation and may prompt even harsher reprisals by Iran against its own population.
Amnesty argues many states are moving away from politics rooted in international rules. The report recalls the post‑1945 order built around instruments such as the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Genocide Convention, noting that while that order is fragile it is not gone. “Make no mistake: reports of the death of the international rule-based order are greatly exaggerated,” Amnesty writes, while also insisting numerous governments now show little regard for those norms.
The report singles out the United States and Israel. It criticizes a vision articulated in January 2026 by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio for a Western alliance of Christian civilizations, saying such rhetoric ignores histories of domination, colonialism, slavery and genocide. On Israel, the report says international safeguards have failed for millions of Palestinians, who are subjected to “genocide, apartheid and occupation” by the Israeli government. Regarding Russia, Amnesty states that “Russia continues to commit crimes against humanity in Ukraine.”
Despite the grim assessment and a trend likely to spawn new conflicts, Amnesty notes signs of restraint and resistance. Some EU member states in early 2026 refused to join US and Israeli attacks on Iran and pledged to protect strategic security. Amnesty praises diplomats and activists who have worked since 1945 to uphold human rights and international law.
Duchrow finds reasons for cautious hope in civil society action and democratic gains: mass protests in Iran despite mortal risk; the electoral defeat of Viktor Orbán’s government in Hungary; and the release in December 2025 of Belarusian activist Maria Kolesnikova after five years in detention, a case Amnesty had advocated for.
This article was originally published in German.