We review and inform you about some of the worst human rights violations of 2014 that need our attention in 2015!

1. Nigeria: Boko Haram Crisis

Boko Haram, the terrorist group which attracted global attention in 2014 after the kidnapping of 276 Chibok girls in Northeastern Nigeria, continues its violent attacks by kidnapping, slaughtering and spreading terror. In response to the girls’ abduction, the United Nations Security Council included the militant group to its “list of Al-Qaida associates subject to financial sanctions and an arms embargo” (UN News Centre, 2014). Until now, military forces and the government have been unable to confront the Boko Haram crisis, with the latest news revealing that the group has expanded its terrorist operations into neighboring countries such as Cameroon.

2. Syria: Death Toll Rising

2014 marked the worst and deadliest year in Syrian recent history. In 2014, more than 76,000 civilians were killed including approximately 3.000 children, noted the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Entering the fifth year of war, the Syrian conflict which has been described by the UN as “the worst humanitarian crisis in nearly 20 years” has left behind thousands of deaths and millions of displaced people. Since 2011, the Syrian people have been subjected to numerous human rights violations including attacks with chemical weapons, forced displacement, sexual violence, public executions and torture. According to the UN, the number of people killed during the Syrian civil war exceeds 200.000, while out of 22 million that is the total Syrian population almost half is in great need of humanitarian aid. The rise of terrorist groups such as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) which has established itself as a central Syrian opposition force has played its own destructive role. ISIL, that has conquered territories in both Syria and Iraq, has committed heinous human rights violations including sexual violence, mass executions-beheadings, recruitment of children-soldiers and others.

3. Myanmar/Burma: Rohingyas’ Right to Citizenship

The Rohingya people face the government’s denial for citizenship since the enforcement of the 1982 Citizenship Law. Victims of constant discrimination, abuses and violent prosecutions, the Rohingyas have been described by the UN as “one of the world’s most prosecuted minorities”, facing abuses sizing to genocide and crimes against humanity. In 2013, a UN resolution adopted by the UNGA’s 3rd Human Rights Committee urged Myanmar to give the stateless Rohingya minority equal access to citizenship and end the violence against them and other Muslims in the region. The government did not welcome the resolution stating that the country “does not accept the existence of a Rohingya minority”. According to Yanghee Lee, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, after her latest visit in the country this year, “the situation has remained [dire] in Rakhine state […] [with Rohingyas claiming] that they had only two options: stay and die or leave by boat”.

4. South Sudan: Food Crisis

South Sudan faces the devastating consequences of its latest internal conflict between the government and opposition rebel forces that began in 2013, leading to widespread starvation, unlawful killings and violence across the country. The lack of sanitation and clean water that have been plaguing the country has led to a major food crisis, bringing the country on the edge of famine. UNICEF notes that “at least 229,000 children are estimated to be suffering from severe acute malnutrition” while based on UN OCHA’s 2015 report “1.5 million people are severely food insecure even at the height of harvest season. [In] 2015, the number will rise to 2.5 million”.

5. Pakistan: Peshawar School Massacre

On December 2014, gunmen of the terrorist group Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) attacked a school in the northwestern city of Peshawar killing 145 people including 132 students. The attack marked one of the deadliest attacks since the 2007 Karachi bombing attack and received international condemnation. The UN expressed its support to the government’s fight against terrorism asking for justice to be served.

6. Palestine/Israel: Gaza War

On 8 July 2014, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched the military operation “Operation Protective Edge” in the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip after Hamas’ rocket fire attacks on Israeli cities. According to UN OCHA’s estimations, the war which ended after 50 days with the enforcement of a ceasefire agreement in August 2014 resulted in the death of “2,205 Palestinians including at least 1,483 civilians, of whom 521 [were] children […] [and] 71 Israelis including 66 soldiers, a security coordinator and four civilians”.

7. North Korea: Human Rights Record under the Rule of Kim Jong-un

Starvation, arbitrary arrests, detentions, public executions and torture are only a sample of the human rights violations that have occurred against citizens under the rule of Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s supreme leader. In 2014, based on the report of United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights, the government was accused for the constant violations of human rights, holding Kim Jong-un responsible for human rights atrocities that constitute crimes against humanity and recommending his referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC)

8. Mexico: Enforced Disappearances

On 26 September 2014, 43 students went missing in Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico. The students, who were travelling to Iguala to hold a protest, were intercepted by police officers involved with a local criminal group, Guerreros Unidos. According to the UN, six people were killed by the police, another 17 people were injured and “43 students were then taken into custody”. The 43 students’ enforced disappearance is only one incident among many others that have occurred in the country. Official estimates suggest that since 2007 the number of people went missing/disappeared reaches 25.000. During this year, the UNs' Committee on Enforced Disappearances claimed that "the information received […] shows a context of generalized disappearances in a great part of the country, many of which could qualify as enforced disappearances".

9.      Europe: Mediterranean Crisis

In 2014, hundreds of asylum seekers and refugees drowned in the sea trying to reach Europe. Based on IOM’s 2014 report “Fatal Journeys Tracking Lives Lost during Migration”, “the large majority of deaths in 2014 occurred in the Mediterranean, accounting for an estimated 75 per cent (3,072) of all deaths this year, making it the deadliest sea in the world for migrants." Many of these immigrants are coming from countries that are in a state of conflict or countries where human rights abuses are widespread such as Eritrea, Syria and Palestine. According to UNHCR “over 170 people have died at sea trying to reach Europe so far this year, including those who lost their lives in waters off Greece, Libya, Italy and in international waters”. In response, in 2015 the UN asked the EU “for a robust search-and-rescue operation in the Mediterranean Sea as part of a number of “bold and innovative” solutions to prevent more refugees and migrants losing their lives at sea.” (As cited in UN News Centre, 2015)