RACIAL AND ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION Racism lies at the heart of some of these armed conflicts and the responses to them. The deep roots of the conflict in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories lie partly in an extreme form of racial discrimination – Israel’s ongoing system of apartheid against Palestinians – by which Israel oppresses and dominates Palestinians through territorial fragmentation, segregation and control, dispossession of land and property, and denial of economic and social rights. “Othering” on ethnic lines is a feature of armed conflicts in countries including Ethiopia, Myanmar and Sudan. Racial discrimination has also manifested itself in responses to these conflicts. Discriminatory double standards have not only been evident in the rhetoric and policies of the USA and many European states towards the conflict in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, but also towards its repercussions. Many governments have imposed unlawful restrictions on protests in solidarity with Palestinians. Governments in Austria, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland and Switzerland pre-emptively banned such protests in 2023, citing vague risks to public order or national security and, in some cases, racist stereotypes. Media and politicians in the USA, Western Europe and elsewhere have frequently used rhetoric that has dehumanized Palestinians, spread racist discourses and conflated Muslims with terrorists. In the same context, antisemitic and anti-Muslim hate crimes have increased in Europe and the USA. There has also been an alarming rise in incitement and other harmful content posted online against both Palestinian and Jewish communities more widely. Content posted by Palestinians and advocates of Palestinian rights have reportedly been subjected to potentially discriminatory content moderation by different social media platforms.2 Meanwhile, research on Ethiopia released in October 2023 demonstrated how Meta’s failure to curb incitement on its Facebook platform contributed to killings and other serious human rights abuses against members of the Tigrayan community.3 Racism has also been apparent in the treatment of those fleeing conflicts and other crises. The policies of migration deterrence and externalization that the European Union, other European states and the USA have adopted or maintained have forced people fleeing conflicts, as well as other crises, into dangerous journeys. This has contrasted with their generally positive treatment of Ukrainians seeking safety. In a positive development, Denmark, Finland and Sweden took steps in May 2023 to grant recognition of refugee status as self-evident to Afghan women and girls. However, in general, European countries have failed to provide sufficient safe and regular pathways to protect Afghans and other people fleeing conflicts and serious human rights violations. INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM Multilateral institutions have often been unable or unwilling to pressure parties to armed conflicts to comply with international humanitarian law. While strained resources have been a factor, many actors within these institutions have failed to demonstrate courage or consistently apply their own principles. At worst, their members have displayed cynical and selfish gamesmanship. The UN Security Council has been unable to take effective action on major conflicts. Predictably the USA weaponized its veto power to repeatedly prevent the Council from calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.4 However, its paralysis has extended to issues on which there used to be common ground. In July 2023, it failed to reauthorize the cross-border mechanism for the delivery of humanitarian aid into Syria. Its Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict was unable to reach a consensus on grave violations against children in Afghanistan, Myanmar, Somalia and Syria, despite negotiations that continued for more than a year and in some instances, for two or more years. 16 The State of the World’s Human Rights