Trump has attacked pillars of democracy, Human Rights Watch says
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The White House said Human Rights Watch suffers from “Trump Derangement Syndrome”.
PHOTO: AFP
- Human Rights Watch says Trump has attacked US democracy via immigration policies and threats to voting rights, contributing to a global decline in freedom.
- HRW criticised Trump's "racist tropes" and treatment of immigrants, citing deportations to harsh prisons and heavy-handed enforcement, despite security justifications.
- Trump's foreign policy, including actions in Venezuela and stances on Ukraine, Sudan, and Gaza, raise human rights concerns, undermining his Nobel Peace Prize claim.
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WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump has attacked key pillars of his country’s democracy, Human Rights Watch warned on Feb 4 in its annual report, citing the Republican president’s immigration crackdown, threats to voting rights and other policies.
In an introduction to the report - which reviews human rights practices in more than 100 countries - the head of the prominent independent New York-based rights group largely focused on the US at a time when the Trump administration has shifted away from US support for human rights globally, not only praising prominent autocratic rulers but showing little interest in reining them in.
Human Rights Watch executive director Philippe Bolopion wrote that Washington was now helping countries such as Russia and China in undermining human rights.
“In 2026 the fight for the future of human rights will play out most sharply in the US, with consequences for the rest of the world,” he said in a video launching the report on Feb 4.
Mr Bolopion then told reporters: “We see a sort of very hostile environment in the US and a very rapid decline of... the quality of democracy in this country.”
The White House said Human Rights Watch suffers from “Trump Derangement Syndrome” and had attacked Mr Trump even before he took office.
“President Trump has done more for human rights than this Soros-funded, left-wing group ever could by ending eight wars, saving countless lives, protecting religious freedom, ending Biden’s weaponisation of government, and more,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said.
Mr Bolopion also said in the report that the Trump administration had leaned on racist tropes and “embraced policies and rhetoric that align with white nationalist ideology”.
He criticised what he said was degrading treatment of immigrants and asylum seekers, the killing of two people in Minneapolis
Masked immigration officers, often in tactical military-style gear, have become a common sight across the US and protests have erupted in several cities.
Mr Trump’s hardline immigration agenda was a potent campaign issue that helped him win a return to the White House in 2024.
Elsewhere, the report said Chinese authorities systematically denied freedom of expression, freedom of religion and other rights, while Russia had further intensified a crackdown on dissent and civil society, and Israeli forces escalated attacks on Palestinians in Gaza.
China and Russia have previously defended their human rights records, while Israel has said that it respects international law and that operations in Gaza are necessary to destroy Hamas, the Palestinian group responsible for the Oct 7, 2023, attacks on Israel.
Separately, Human Rights Watch said in a statement on Feb 3 that two members of its team resigned after the organisation paused the publication of a report on the right of return of Palestinian refugees.
Mr Omar Shakir, the organisation’s Israel and Palestine director and one of those who resigned, accused Mr Bolopion of pulling the finalised report in a post on X. REUTERS
