Has the world tried to ‘build back better’ in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic?
From a human rights perspective, 2021 was largely a story of betrayal in the corridors of power.
Amnesty International’s annual report on the state of the world’s human rights in 2021, published in March 2022, shows that promises to “build back better” after the Covid-19 pandemic were little more than lip service. Hopes of global cooperation withered in the face of vaccine hoarding and corporate greed.
Governments suppressed independent and critical voices, with some even using the pandemic as a pretext to shrink further the civic space. New and unresolved conflicts erupted or persisted. Those forced to flee were subjected to a litany of abuses, including pushbacks by countries in the Global North.
But hopes for a better post-pandemic world were kept alive by courageous individuals, social movements and civil society organizations.
2021 should have been a year of healing and recuperation. Instead, it became an incubator for greater inequality and instability
Agnès Callamard, Secretary General
The annual report highlights the impact of these dynamics at a global, regional and national level, as well as more broadly covering the human rights situation in 154 countries.
