Global Threats to Human Rights: Complex Struggles to Watch Out for

Written By Bruno Figari

Bruno Figari

The recent declaration of martial law in South Korea threatens the country's institutional and democratic stability, as well as those of the region. In fact, this dictatorial measure represents a break with the country's long-running commitment to the mechanisms of international consensus for the maintenance of peace and security around the world. It also implies the takeover of tyranny in a region historically sensitive to totalitarianism, joining the authority of the neighboring nuclear power. It is in this context that United Nations (UN) entities such as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) come in to ensure respect for human rights in the face of emerging possible threats. Pillar results of its activity such as the improvement of prisoners of war’s treatment in the Lviv region in Ukraine, are an example of the organization’s effectiveness, and only confirm the crucial role that the office holds regarding the preservation of vulnerable populations’ dignity. The OHCHR body makes its way into the ILYMUN (International Lyon Model United Nations) 2025 conference by watching over burning issues concerning human rights. Some of these questions are essential in the discussion on democracy and global security; the key points of this year’s encounter.

Protests against the state of emergency confronting militaries in Seoul, Jung Yeon-Je, National Public Radio

Captured soldiers walking in a detention center in Lviv, Evgeniy Maloletka, Associated Press

A doomed nation? Venezuela’s endless efforts for democracy

The corruption of the last presidential elections in Venezuela highlights the question of free and fair elections. Indeed, on July 28, the official results showed Nicolás Maduro as the winner of the election. However, several international studies estimated that these results were inaccurate. For instance, the Carter Center stated that this election did not meet international democratic standards of electoral integrity, the most shocking evidence being the National Electoral Council odd values, which correspond with 10,058,774 votes to 51.20000% for Maduro, 44.20000% for Edmundo González and 4.60000% for “others”. Statistics showed that these sequences of zeros in the decimal places were an unlikely coincidence, with a one in a hundred million probability, indicating that the counts results were made up. Furthermore, no tally sheets were provided, limiting to a great extent the ballot’s transparency. The Democratic Unitary Platform released a verified dataset that reflect the actual votes cast, with 86.60% of them for González. Lastly, many states such as Peru, Uruguay or Brazil (liberal countries from Latin America) did not recognize Maduro’s claimed victory and called for full impartiality on the records.


Persecuted and fearing for his own security, opposing candidate González had to flee the country into exile, and political leader María Corina Machado feared for her life, having been a target of violence multiple times. Additionally, an aftermath of protests took the streets of the capital, followed by a severe crackdown by law enforcement. This situation adds up to the ongoing political and socio-economic crisis in Venezuela since Maduro took office in 2013 as the successor of symbolic political figure Hugo Chávez. A hyperinflation of 73.27% towards the end of 2024, and the migration of 7.7 million Venezuelans – or 29% of the country’s population – still affect Venezuela’s overall stability, and signal no changing as of today, given the government’s rigidity concerning these issues. These issues reveal the gravity and unsustainability of the humanitarian crisis, for which a profound debate is held to this day.

Pacific demonstration against fraudulent Maduro’s long-ruling dictatorship, Ailen Díaz, EFE

An imminent relapse: New Zealand’s menacing legislation against minorities

We’ve all seen the viral clip of kiwi member of parliament Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke starting a “Ka Mate” haka dance and chant during a session, as she ripped up a piece of paper. But what’s really behind such a mediatized event? Why did she and her party encourage this representation? And most importantly, what’s the content of that sheet of paper?

The Treaty Principles Bill is an act promoted by minister David Seymour, which redefines the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. This is a document of central importance to New Zealand’s history and constitution, and it plays a major role in the treatment of Māori people, the indigenous Polynesians of the country. This agreement was signed in 1840 by the Māori and the British Crown, the former allowing the settlers to – in a few words – administrate the land and its activities, in exchange for yielded “Tino rangatiratanga”, or full sovereignty and self-determination. Regardless, debates over the treaty’s interpretation led to its questioning and modification proposal. The Treaty Principles Bill aims to allegedly induct equality among all New Zealanders, but in the historical context of the country, it’s the natives who own a number of elements regarding the territory, and it’s them who granted the Crown permission to govern it. So, the voting of the bill’s draft would only take away from Māori their pertinent status before the law, and a tremendous set of recognized rights and freedoms in the long run.

Last November 14th, the Treaty Principles Bill passed its first reading during a sitting at the Parliament. The demonstration interrupted the meeting, and postponed the voting procedures, in the midst of a touching shout of rejection of this piece of legislation, that attempts to limit the social and political inclusion of this minoritarian ethnic group.

Maipi-Clarke ripping up the bill’s draft at New Zealand Parliament, footage shot, Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Despite conflicts as such, not everything is loss and reversion. In the same vein of political inclusion of minorities and indigenous groups, Chile’s political scene gave us a remarkable lesson on how to include the excluded –for the sake of redundancy– with an effective solution, back in 2021. Massive demonstrations in 2019 demanded – among many others – the integration of Mapuche, and more native people from the region in the political process, from which they had been invisibilized. After a referendum, Chileans voted to write a new Constitution for the country, replacing the 1980 one that was written during Pinochet’s dictatorship. To accomplish the duty, a Constitutional Convention was established.  It prescribed unprecedented gender parity, meaning that half the commission were mandatorily women; and reserved seats for indigenous peoples, democratically elected by Chileans. Moreover, the council’s deputies voted for Mapuche activist Elisa Loncón to be the president of the chamber. This way, ethnic and gender minorities got wide representation, and a heard voice on an extremely relevant episode for Chile’s politics. This advance on their participation is a victory for human rights, and clear proof that there’s always some way in which progress can be made concerning the struggle for equality in historically disparate societies.

Constitutional convention’s president Loncón celebrating its opening, Javier Torres, Agence France-Presse

An authoritarian shift: Georgia’s worrying repression towards protestors

Lately, freedom of assembly has been severely restricted and fought by authorities in a pivotal country of the Caucasus. Indeed, Georgia’s police repression of riots has had international repercussion due to its harshness and the provocative context behind it. On 28 October, protests began after the parliamentary election outcome was unveiled, where conservative and pro-russian party Georgian Dream prevailed. A month later, a second wave intensified the uprising when contested prime minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced that they were suspending the negotiations for Georgia’s integration in the European Union until 2028, which was seen as a ruthless betrayal, and caused an even more intense backlash. Truly, Georgians’ attachment to western values of freedom and democracy – as opposed to Russian influenced ones – has increased over the years, so the social response to this sudden radical adjustment makes sense, given the accusations of fraud to the parliamentary, and later the presidential election; plus the unexpected setback of the “European question” process.

Multiple reports have shown the cruel repression the protestors have been through. For example, Amnesty International observes that 300 detainees have been tortured or seriously injured by law enforcement. 70 journalists were attacked in the protests, which Reporters Without Borders say to be systematic and organized violence by the police. No officers have been held accountable for human rights’ violations during the riots, and the government seems to think less of it, preferring to promulgate laws against the protestors, like the bill that banned the use of masks and fireworks during protests.

Pro-European protestors in a riot in Tbilisi, David Mdzinarishvili, European Policy Analysis

A new Alcatraz? El Salvador’s frightening policy to mortify felons

Another example of a current delicate case where human rights are critically endangered, is the polemic mass imprisonment of gang members from so called “Maras” in El Salvador, where their humiliating and health degrading life conditions have been reported, and have been a source of tensions between president Nayib Bukele’s position and international legislation on human rights’ respect. Certainly, the former sets a supposedly smaller value to haunting criminals’ human rights and their protection, as opposed to “honorable people” who suffer from and lose people to Maras’ activity, and whose rights should be prioritized according to this scheme. On the other hand, as stated in the first article from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”, so any artificial hierarchy legitimizing violation to human rights – such as this one – is rightfully questionable.

2000 gathered prisoners at Terrorism Confinement Center, anonymous, Press Secretary of The Presidency of El Salvador

Conclusion

The threats to human rights are countless: in a world of conflicts, they can easily be looked upon, and such threats have become numerous. They touch populations’ dignity, human rights and freedoms, and are striking from different angles, be it exclusion of minorities, un-democratic elections, repression, or humiliation. As we’ve seen, there are also multiple methods to fight against them, to prevent them, and to solve them. The OHCHR remains an essential instrument for both official debate over such disturbing issues concerning people's lives, and taking action to protect and respect their rights. Human rights are therefore fundamental for the prevailance of democracy around the world.

Reference List

  • “What is the treaty principles bill and why is it causing controversy in New Zealand?”, The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/07/treaty-of-waitangi-new-zealand-founding-document-changes-bill

  • “Le Chili approuve massivement un changement de Constitution”, Courrier International: https://www.courrierinternational.com/article/amerique-latine-le-chili-approuve-massivement-un-changement-de-constitution

  • “Más de 60 organizaciones denuncian el alarmante deterioro de los derechos humanos en El Salvador”, World Organisation Against Torture: https://www.omct.org/es/recursos/llamamientos-urgentes/m%C3%A1s-de-60-organizaciones-denuncian-el-alarmante-deterioro-de-los-derechos-humanos-en-el-salvador

  • “Trends that will spur humanitarian needs in 2025”, The New Humanitarian: https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/analysis/2025/01/07/trends-will-spur-humanitarian-needs-2025

  • World Report 2025, our annual review of human rights around the globe”, Human Rights Watch: https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2025

Bruno Figari
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