The world is experiencing a 'democratic recession', with nearly three-quarters of the global population living under autocratic rule for the first time since the 1980s, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW). The rights group warns that the system underpinning human rights is 'in peril', as a growing authoritarian wave becomes 'the challenge of a generation'.
Philippe Bolopion, HRW's executive director, said 2025 marked a 'tipping point' for rights and freedoms in the United States under President Donald Trump. He cited an 'organised, relentless, determined assault' on checks and balances designed to limit executive power, including attacks on judicial independence, defiance of court orders, and intimidation of political opponents, media, and civil society.
The report also highlights the UK's role in undermining rights, criticising the Labour government's punitive immigration policies and authoritarian crackdown on protests. Bolopion noted that anti-migrant rhetoric, emboldened by Trump, has become mainstream in the UK, France, and Germany, posing a 'dangerous trend for human rights'.
HRW calls on democracies, including the UK, EU, and Canada, to form a strategic alliance to preserve the rules-based international order, which is under threat from the US, Russia, and China. The report concludes that the democratic recession, combined with the erosion of global norms, presents a 'perfect storm' for human rights worldwide.
