04/14/2025

U.S. Added to a Global Human Rights Watchlist

The listing is related to the nation's declining civil liberties

The United States was recently added to the CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist, a research tool that publicizes the status of freedoms and threats to civil liberties worldwide. 

The move comes amid President Donald Trump's "assault on democratic norms and global cooperation," said CIVICUS—a global alliance and network of civil society groups, including Amnesty International, that advocates for greater citizen action in areas where civil liberties are limited—in a press release. The organization also cited the administration's cut of more than 90 percent of its foreign aid contracts and its crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I)—which Trump falsely called "illegal and immoral discrimination programs”—through executive action.

"The Trump administration seems hell-bent on dismantling the system of checks and balances, which are the pillars of a democratic society,” said Mandeep Tiwana, interim co-secretary general of CIVICUS, in a press release. "Restrictive executive orders, unjustifiable institutional cutbacks and intimidation tactics through threatening pronouncements by senior officials in the administration are creating an atmosphere to chill democratic dissent, a cherished American ideal."

Please select this link to read the complete article from TIME.