The legacy of 2014 will likely be that the world suffered a “historic failure” in human rights, according to Amnesty International’s annual assessment.

Released Wednesday, the human rights report says that the year had been “devastating” for civilians caught in the cross-hairs of war and that governments “failed miserably” to protect those most in need.

The report broadly condemns violence and oppression, whether from international bodies or from violent extremists. Further, Amnesty charges that government crackdown in response to such violence further exacerbates the dangers by suppressing civil society and other human rights efforts.

“From Washington to Damascus, from Abuja to Colombo, government leaders have justified horrific human rights violations by talking of the need to keep the country ‘safe’,” states the report. “In reality, the opposite is the case. Such violations are one important reason why we live in such a dangerous world today. There can be no security without human rights.”

The report cites such events as the ongoing crisis in Syria, the war against Gaza, the rise of non-state aggressors such as the Islamic State and Boko Haram, the Ukrainian conflict, and disappearances in Mexico as the more significant conflicts of the year. It says that millions of civilians were killed last year while the number of displaced people around the world exceeded 50 million for the first time since the end of World War II. 

The report highlights the failure of Western countries to welcome and protect the millions of refugees. The human rights group particularly singles out the European Union’s immigration policy, which Amnesty says has turned the continent into “fortress Europe, putting lives at risk.”

According to the report, by the end of 2014, only 150,000 of over 4 million Syrian refugees were living in EU states, while 3,400 refugees and migrants died in the Mediterranean Sea trying to make their way to Europe.

“There can be no security without human rights.”