“The administration’s racial and ethnic scapegoating, domestic deployment of National Guard forces in pretextual power grabs, repeated acts of retaliation against perceived political enemies and former officials now critical of him, as well as attempts to expand the coercive powers of the executive and neuter democratic checks and balances, underpin a decided shift toward authoritarianism in the US,” the report said.
Human Rights Watch repeated its finding that the US engaged in enforced disappearances – a crime under international law – by sending 252 Venezuelan migrants to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador.
In a recent report, HRW documented allegations by the men, who eventually were allowed into Venezuela, of being tortured, including beatings and sexual violence.
‘Less free’ now
Human Rights Watch pointed to metrics by which democracy has declined to the level of 1985 – when the Soviet Union still existed.
“Russia and China are less free today than 20 years ago. And so is the United States,” it said.
Philippe Bolopion, the group’s executive director, called on countries to form alliances based on respect for human rights and to stand together – including against the tariff-wielding Trump.
“Some countries may be tempted to forge ad hoc alliances on specific issues – one day with China, another with Turkey, another with South Africa,” Bolopion told AFP.
“From our perspective, for such an alliance to be strong and lasting, it must be built on principles and values – democracy, international law, human rights,” he said.
“It can carry weight and provide a degree of security to its members,” he said.
The 529-page report stands in contrast to the latest human rights report issued by the US State Department, which toned down sections on countries friendly to Trump.
The State Department report said El Salvador in 2024 saw “no credible reports of significant human rights abuses” and that President Nayib Bukele’s crackdown on gangs has brought crime to a “historic low”.
The Human Rights Watch report also said gang violence had “markedly declined”, but that in 2025 authorities carried out “widespread abuses, including mass arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture and ill-treatment of detainees and due process violations”.
HRW again renewed its charge that Israel has carried out “crimes against humanity and acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing” against Palestinians in Gaza.
It said Israeli authorities in 2025 “escalated their atrocities” which included “killing, maiming, starving and forcibly displacing Palestinians and destroying their homes, schools and infrastructure at a scale unprecedented in the recent history of Israel and Palestine”.
Israel has angrily rejected the Human Rights Watch genocide allegation first issued in December 2024, with the United States backing Israel’s stance.
– Agence France-Presse
