Washington, D.C. — Human Rights Watch (HRW), the New York‑based global advocacy group, has issued a stark warning that the United States is headed toward authoritarian rule under President Donald Trump, amid a worldwide decline in democratic freedoms not seen in nearly 40 years. The warning was published Wednesday as part of HRW’s annual World Report 2026, which examines human rights practices in more than 100 countries.
In a press release accompanying the report, HRW said the “rules‑based international order is being crushed” by a combination of actions from the Trump administration and authoritarian forces in Russia and China, posing a major threat to democratic norms both at home and abroad.
U.S. Democracy Backsliding to 1985 Levels
The report highlights that global freedom has contracted to levels last seen in 1985 when the Soviet Union still existed — a metric that also applies to the United States, which the group says has seen significant erosion in civil liberties and democratic protections.
HRW detailed a series of troubling developments in the U.S. over the past year, including:
- Aggressive immigration enforcement — Brutal and widespread federal raids conducted by agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which HRW says have terrorized immigrant communities.
- Attacks on democratic institutions — Efforts to weaken government accountability, judicial independence, and civil rights protections.
- Civil society intimidation — Politically motivated investigations and threats against rights organizations and critics.
- Cuts to social safety nets — Reduction of health care subsidies and aid programs critical to vulnerable populations.
“These actions are not just policy disagreements — they represent a broad assault on rights and freedoms that have defined the United States for generations,” said Tanya Greene, HRW’s US program director.
International Order Under Pressure
HRW also warned that the systemic deterioration of human rights in the U.S. weakens the global architecture that supports human rights defenders, democratic governance, and international norms. Executive Director Philippe Bolopion urged democracies to form strategic alliances to resist authoritarian pressures from major powers — not only Russia and China, but the United States as well.
In its analysis, HRW criticizes recent U.S. diplomatic withdrawals from key multilateral bodies, including the United Nations Human Rights Council and the World Health Organization, which the administration described as outdated. The group also condemned the politicization of the U.S. State Department’s own human rights reporting, which HRW says has been restructured to downplay serious abuses and ignore key violations by allied governments.
A Troubling Assessment of Civil Liberties
Among the most disturbing claims in the report is that the U.S. government engaged in what HRW calls enforced disappearances — a violation of international law — by sending migrants, including Venezuelan nationals, to detention in third countries where they allegedly faced torture and abuse.
The report comes at a time when global democracy is under pressure, with nearly three‑quarters of the world’s population living under autocratic regimes — a trend HRW describes as a “democratic recession.”
Government Response and Broader Debate
Critics of HRW’s findings argue that such assessments overstate normal policy disagreements and ideological differences, while supporters of the report say it highlights real risks to the foundation of democratic governance in the United States and beyond. Regardless of political perspective, the warning from one of the world’s most respected human rights organizations has sparked intense debate in Washington, on college campuses, and around the world.
