Unethical places/countries to not visit?

[CatZoned]

I would like to do more world travelling but don’t want to visit unethical places/countries, for example Dubai. Which countries should I add to my list and why?

Nearly all of them?

Well it depends exactly what you’re considering unethical and how far back you are wanting to look.

Maybe consider it on a case by case basis?

I think you may be limited to Europe and Japan. But of course, it depends on what you consider unethical. There's the US allowing women to die rather than get abortions, for instance.

Depends. If you're talking about countries that exploit others, stay away from Western Europe/N America. If you're talking about countries without human rights, then quite a large percentage of the world. You can look up human rights of countries online.

Dubai is my main gripe that people seem to love!

I’m avoiding Hungary and the US, as well as the more obvious ones .

All of them.
But you could allow yourself Western Europe? Turkey would be out for instance or Eastern Europe where women’s rights are even worse then here (and the UK is increasingly shit)

Dubai ticks a lot of boxes to be fair - especially when my kids were younger.

Is there any country that hasn't done anything unethical?

I’ve heard Singapore and Thailand as well, but I need to do more research.

Dubai is a fairly boring place and easy to avoid. But there are many countries which are absolutely fascinating/beautiful, and don't have the best human rights records/treatment of women. Sometimes the laws are terrible, other times the laws actually are progressive, but are poorly implemented because of poverty/population/poor policing/whatever reason.

You are the one to determine what you consider unethical based on your values, and research accordingly.
What I find unethical, you may not.
Unless you were just hoping ‘the internet’ would do all the heavy lifting and decision making for you 🤣

I think most countries have done/are doing something unethical.

In Southern Africa you could consider Namibia and Botswana

history can be very recent and raw and you have to judge if it is fair to compare to modern western democracies - especially in countries trying to deal with the effects of having had systems and borders imposed

If you mean things like homosexuality being a crime etc then there is a very long list including several Caribbean islands. You will have to decide what your boundaries are and do a lot of research

I don’t think there’s any unethical countries?!

do you mean in the present time?

Yes I mean present-day countries. For example, high rate of human slavery or nearly such conditions, rampant sexual exploitation, etc.

Just from a female point of view -- Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, the USA, Afghanistan, possibly Iran.
Western Europe is mostly fine, also South Africa (although high incidence of rape in the townships). Japan. Cuba. Costa Rica? Scandinavia obviously, but very expensive.
There will probaby be general safety concerns in many other countries, look up what the foreign office says about travel to a specific country. (Still gutted about cancelling a trip to Syria before the civil war, my mum had to go into hospital so we didn't go.)

Singapore only decriminalised homosexuality in 2022!
Though of course, they didn't actively prosecute gay people. It was just a colonial law that they never got round to changing.
I have issues with their death penalty, though.

There is no truly ethical country, I think, or very, very few.

Russia, Israel,

You can't outsource your sense of ethics to others! What one person would prioritise is different than what another would. I've been to China and I would go there again, while I wouldn't go to Iran (or Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia). It's not that I think China is a place with no human rights issues/no women's rights issues but I would consider it a country that's less actively bad/dangerous for women than some of those I wouldn't visit, which have regimes more obviously and directly controlling of women. I've been to Israel too and I would go there again (not that I'd be rushing back at the moment), which many wouldn't.

Thinking about human rights and the treatment of women and children .......

Anywhere in the Middle East.
China
Russia
The USA
Some of the more reactionary countries in North Africa
Singapore
Japan

There are a hundred beautiful countries to visit before you get to these.

Yes you could make an argument for almost any country in the world. I feel particularly strongly about China because of the treatment of Uyghurs. You could rule out much of Western & Central Africa on grounds of homophobia, Poland because of abortion laws and Hungary for being increasingly right wing. Even Australia for its treatment of indigenous communities and immigrants.

Central/South America is probably one of the least problematic regions overall imo, but of course countries vary in their laws.

You’re going to have to do your own research and decide what matters to you.

Australia and Canada could be seen as fairly progressive countries with regards women’s rights and gay rights. But they have a fairly shit track record with indigenous people. So it depends on what you care about. Not taking into account the ethics of travelling when there’s a looming climate emergency, obviously.

Then that rules out the EU because women also die due to lack of abortions in Poland, it was the same in Ireland and NI until a few years ago and the EU did nothing.

New York and California have more liberal abortion laws than most EU countries.

I think I would go to most places out of curiosity, people are not their governments. Having said that some places are higher on the list than others.