Overview

Crisis, conflict and upheaval beset the Middle East and North Africa region in 2024. Israel’s actions in Gaza took a catastrophic toll on civilians and amounted to genocide. Israel also escalated its armed conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon. December’s sudden ousting of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria exposed the consequences of decades of impunity for human rights violations in a region plagued by ongoing repression and a rise in authoritarian practices in multiple countries.

Israel’s relentless military offensive on the occupied Gaza Strip intensified the long-standing humanitarian crisis caused by Israel’s 18-year unlawful blockade of Gaza. It left most of the Palestinians there displaced, homeless, hungry, at risk of life-threatening diseases and unable to access medical care, power or clean water.

Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen were drawn into the conflict. For the first time, Iran and Israel openly launched direct attacks on each other’s territories. In September, cross-border hostilities between Israel and the armed group Hezbollah escalated into intense military confrontations. Israel attacked areas across Lebanon, with a devastating effect on civilians.

While millions of people worldwide protested against Israel’s actions in Gaza, throughout 2024 the world’s governments – individually and multilaterally – failed repeatedly to take meaningful action to end the atrocities and were slow even in calling for a ceasefire. Meanwhile, Israel’s system of apartheid became increasingly violent in the occupied West Bank, marked by a sharp increase in unlawful killings and state-backed attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian civilians.

The effects of other long-standing conflicts in Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen continued to blight the lives of millions, particularly people from marginalized communities, many of whom were denied their rights to food, water, adequate housing, healthcare and security.

International justice mechanisms took important steps towards accountability in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and Libya. But Israel’s allies and other powerful actors attacked or dismissed these accountability measures, shielding perpetrators from justice and further laying bare double standards and the failure of the rules-based global order.

Governments and non-state armed actors across the region continued to repress dissent. Authorities detained, tortured and unjustly prosecuted dissidents and critics, punishing them with harsh sentences, including the death penalty. Among those targeted were journalists, online commentators, political and trade union activists, people expressing solidarity with Palestinians, and human rights defenders. In some countries, security forces used unlawful and even lethal force, alongside enforced disappearances and mass arbitrary arrests, to suppress protests. Virtually all perpetrators of these crimes enjoyed impunity.

Discrimination remained rife region-wide on the basis of gender, race, nationality, legal status, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion and class.

The major fossil fuel-producing states failed to take steps to address climate change, even as the region continued to suffer the harmful, often life-threatening, consequences of the climate crisis, including extreme weather events and slower onset catastrophes such as increasing water scarcity.

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