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?

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.

Agree with this.

I have ethical lines too. Obviously, everyone has a different idea of what is ethical but as a general rule I wouldn’t consider anywhere that wasn’t at least a “flawed democracy” using this index. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist_Democracy_Index

Or somewhere with a score of more than 5 on this one.

https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/human_rights_rule_law_index/

It’s not really about whether I agree with their government’s policies. I just wouldn’t feel comfortable spending my money somewhere that it strengthened a regime that oppressed their own people. If the last 25 years in China have taught us anything it’s that we were wrong to believe that economic liberalisation and economic interaction with “the West” would lead to political liberalisation and democratisation. The opposite has happened and our money has only strengthened the regime.

The whole of the Middle East with the exception of Israel.

Very interesting, thank you.

Don’t rule out Dubai.

Look into the Japanese criminal 'justice' system, it's far from ethical.

I mean, that map just shows which countries align with one particular western value.

I’ve been to India and China, India scores fairly well on your map but it’s really not a good place for women. China OTOH was very safe and friendly.

What is it that you object to about their criminal justice system?

I know some people won’t go to places that use the death penalty, so maybe it’s that.

Anywhere that is not a democracy

There isn’t a ‘pure’ country, it will vary so much and also it will vary within certain countries, like the US. There are some US states I would happily go to, others not.

Iceland is fairly good, it also very safe so good for female solo travel.

Everywhere apart from Bhutan, I think.

Nobody's perfect.

India has a human rights score of 7.6 so would be ruled out of my list on that basis. I always check both. It’s important to me that people have a say in their government and that their basic rights are respected. India does OK on democracy but like you say has big issues on rights. I would not visit either China or India. I did visit Hong Kong, but when “one country, two systems” was still meaningfully in place. I don’t think I’d go back now.

Iceland and the Scandinavian countries have good track records for human rights. Not great to visit at this time of year if you don't like the cold, though.
Have you considered that travelling by air is unethical, considering the huge amount of carbon consumption and the impact on the climate?
If that's something that concerns you, you might want to go somewhere you can get to by rail.

I would recommend Costa Rica they don’t have an army as they fund healthcare and education properly! Also do lots for the environment and sustainable tourism.
Plus it’s stunning!

Scandinavian countries have treated the indigenous Sámi population poorly, and have violated their human rights. I would avoid them. Denmark has treated the population of Greenland similarly, so not there either.

Maybe Iceland? I can’t think off hand of anything terrible that they have done. Or the Faroe Islands?

I’ve never been but Costa Rica is a great example to show that you can have exciting and exotic holidays without supporting authoritarian regimes.

I don’t judge anyone who goes to places I wouldn’t, we’re all allowed to draw our lines in different places, but I don’t accept that it’s impossible to avoid authoritarian dictatorships if you want to have nice holidays.

I mean, travelling anywhere by plane is pretty unethical to start with.

But it’s lots of fun

I’m curious about why Bhutan is your red line. On the face of it it has been moving in the right direction in terms of rights and democracy. It’s fairly middle of the road on rights issues.

I wouldn’t go there but I’m super curious as to why someone would object to Bhutan but not China, Laos or the UAE. I’m assuming that there must be a specific controversy that I’m missing.

Driving a standard petrol car for 1 hour a day is worse than one long haul flight a year. Eating a non-vegan diet is twice as bad. I’m not trying to virtue signal here but in terms of if you’re going to avoid flying somewhere for ethical reasons, which countries have the worst present-day record. For example I wouldn’t want to go to somewhere that is high on the sex-tourism list, the visible exploitation would sicken me. Nor would I want to go somewhere like Dubai built on the backs of migrant workers in modern slavery-like conditions.

Quite a few, but off the top of my head:
I would not go to Turkey because of Erdogan and Cyprus.
Russia because of Ukraine.
China because a friend of mine died there after receiving treatment for a tummy bug.
Cuba because it is communist.

I wonder if the UK is on anyone’s boycott list?

After all, it’s not exactly a safe place to visit, with a poor health service, they are always involved in a war, treat women like shit and seem to have loads of child abusers.

I know a few people who won’t go to the UK. All from former colonies.

The 99.8% conviction rate, the people locked up for years without trial, being denied legal representation, being denied the right to state your defense, forced confessions , dodgy evidence, the prison system, death penalty... It's all pretty messed up.

1.Democratic Republic of Congo due to Child Labour in Cobalt Mines
2.All the countries/people benefits from such practice- Hint, we all are.

If you really want to look into “unethical” countries look closer to home.