American democracy is crashing out and it will be hard to reverse, international rights group warns [View all]

American democracy is crashing out and it will be hard to reverse, international rights group warns
The Trump administration is acting like "dictatorial regimes do," according to the global rights monitor CIVICUS

By Russell Payne
Staff Reporter
Published July 30, 2025 6:30AM (EDT)


(Salon) The United States is on a downward trajectory when it comes to respect for civil rights, with an international monitoring group warning that democracy is under threat with the Trump administration’s targeting of pro-Palestine advocates and deployment of military force on domestic soil.

CIVICUS is an international non-profit organization, based in South Africa, organized around advocacy for civil and human rights. In March, the United States was flagged by the organization for “threats to civic freedoms” that emerged early in the Trump administration, including dramatic cuts to programs benefiting the poor and “executive orders designed to unravel democratic institutions, rule of law, and global cooperation.”

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“A few months down the line, we find that actually the situation, rather than getting better, has become much worse,” Mandeep Tiwana, Secretary-General of CIVICUS, told Salon. “Once institutions are dismantled, once the constitutional checks and balances are removed, once an official culture of disregarding constitutional norms, people’s fundamental freedoms is put in place, it takes a long, long time to rebuild that.”

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The Trump administration’s criminalization of pro-Palestinian solidarity also played a key role in the decision to maintain the country’s spot on the watchlist, with CIVICUS specifically referencing the targeting of students like Mahmoud Khalil, Mohsen Mahdawi and Rumeysa Ozturk. They also noted the “illegitimate sanctioning” of Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, as an attempt to “silence international voices at the behest of the Israeli government.” ..............................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2025/07/30/american-democracy-is-crashing-out-and-it-will-be-hard-to-reverse-international-rights-group-warns/