About Report

Published on the occasion of the 60th anniversary year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the report documents human rights issues in 150 countries and territories around the world.

It covers the period January-December 2007, and reveals a world driven by inequality, scarred by discrimination and distorted by political repression.

However, it also captures the persistent spirit of the Declaration, and how over the intervening decades it has inspired the growth of a vibrant worldwide human rights movement, of which Amnesty International is proud to be part.

The report reveals how far the world has to go before people truly are free from “fear and want”. Our vision is for every person to enjoy all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, laid out 60 years ago, and in the other international human rights standards and instruments that have evolved since.

International Launch

Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International challenged world leaders to apologize for six decades of human rights failure and re-commit themselves to deliver concrete improvements, launching the report in London. She said, “The human rights flashpoints in Darfur, Zimbabwe, Gaza, Iraq and Myanmar demand immediate action.”

Amnesty International’s Report 2008, shows that sixty years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations, people are still tortured or ill-treated in at least 81 countries, face unfair trials in at least 54 countries and are not allowed to speak freely in at least 77 countries.

“2007 was characterised by the impotence of Western governments and the ambivalence or reluctance of emerging powers to tackle some of the world’s worst human rights crises, ranging from entrenched conflicts to growing inequalities which are leaving millions of people behind,” said Ms Khan.