Increased repression and violence a sign of weakness, says Human Rights Watch

By Dilip -

Increasingly repressive and violent acts against civilian protests by autocratic leaders and military regimes around the world are signs of their desperation and weakening grip on power, Human Rights Watch says in its annual assessment of human rights across the globe. In its world report 2022, the human rights organisation said autocratic leaders faced a significant backlash in 2021, with millions of people risking their lives to take to the streets to challenge regimes’ authority and demand democracy.

Human Rights Watch also said the emergence of opposition parties willing to put aside their political differences and form alliances to attempt to remove corrupt or repressive governments or leaders was another sign of a trend towards weakening autocratic rule. As examples of “unlikely” opposition coalitions, HRW pointed to the Czech Republic, where the prime minister, Andrej Babiš, was defeated, and Israel, where the premiership of Benjamin Netanyahu was brought to an end after 12 years in power in 2021. Broad alliances of opposition parties have also been formed to challenge Viktor Orbán in Hungary and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey in future elections….

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/jan/13/increased-repression-and-violence-a-sign-of-weakness-says-human-rights-watch


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