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Human Rights Watch warned connected Wednesday (February 4, 2026) that U.S. President Donald Trump was turning the United States into an authoritarian authorities arsenic ideology declines globally to its lowest ebb successful 4 decades.
Mr. Trump's instrumentality to the White House has intensified a "downward spiral" connected quality rights that was already nether unit from Russia and China, the New York-based advocacy and probe radical said successful its yearly report.
"The rules-based planetary bid is being crushed," HRW said. In the United States, the radical said, Mr. Trump has shown "blatant disregard for quality rights and egregious violations."
In descriptions that would person been unthinkable successful the US conception of its erstwhile yearly reports, the radical pointed to the deployment of masked, equipped agents — the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) bureau — which has carried retired "hundreds of unnecessarily convulsive and abusive raids."
"The administration's radical and taste scapegoating, home deployment of National Guard forces successful pretextual powerfulness grabs, repeated acts of retaliation against perceived governmental enemies and erstwhile officials present captious of him, arsenic good arsenic attempts to grow the coercive powers of the enforcement and neuter antiauthoritarian checks and balances, underpin a decided displacement toward authoritarianism successful the U.S.," the study said.
Human Rights Watch repeated its uncovering that the United States engaged successful enforced disappearances — a transgression nether planetary instrumentality — by sending 252 Venezuelan migrants to a maximum-security situation successful El Salvador.
In a caller report, HRW documented allegations by the men, who yet were allowed into Venezuela, of being tortured including beatings and intersexual violence.
'Less free' present
Human Rights Watch pointed to metrics by which ideology has declined to the level of 1985 — erstwhile the Soviet Union inactive existed.
"Russia and China are little escaped contiguous than 20 years ago. And truthful is the United States," it said.
Philippe Bolopion, the group's enforcement director, called connected countries to signifier alliances based connected respect for quality rights and to basal unneurotic — including against the tariff-wielding Mr. Trump.
"Some countries whitethorn beryllium tempted to forge advertisement hoc alliances connected circumstantial issues — 1 time with China, different with Turkey, different with South Africa," Mr. Bolopion told AFP.
"From our perspective, for specified an confederation to beryllium beardown and lasting, it indispensable beryllium built connected principles and values — democracy, planetary law, quality rights," helium said.
"It tin transportation value and supply a grade of information to its members," helium said.
The 529-page study stands successful opposition to the latest quality rights study issued by the U.S. State Department, which toned down sections connected countries affable to Trump.
The State Department study said El Salvador successful 2024 saw "no credible reports of important quality rights abuses" and that President Nayib Bukele's crackdown connected gangs has brought transgression to a "historic low."
The Human Rights Watch study besides said that pack unit had "markedly declined" but that successful 2025 authorities carried retired "widespread abuses, including wide arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture and ill-treatment of detainees and owed process violations."
HRW again renewed its complaint that Israel has carried retired "crimes against humanity and acts of genocide and taste cleansing" against Palestinians successful Gaza.
It said that Israeli authorities successful 2025 "escalated their atrocities" which included "killing, maiming, starving and forcibly displacing Palestinians and destroying their homes, schools and infrastructure astatine a standard unprecedented successful the caller past of Israel and Palestine."
Israel has angrily rejected the Human Rights Watch genocide allegation archetypal issued successful December 2024, with the United States backing Israel's stance.
