United States is added to CIVICUS human rights watchlist
Nearly two months after the inauguration of President Donald Trump, the United States was added to the World Alliance for Citizen Participation [CIVICUS] monitor watchlist. CIVICUS is a nonprofit organization of democratic advocates and is known for its global watchlist highlighting concerns regarding civil liberty and human rights. CIVICUS states on its website that civil liberty is measured by levels of “repressive legislation that curtails free speech and dialogue, obstacles to civil society activities and operations and crackdowns on civil disobedience and peaceful demonstrations.” The watchlist currently tracks the freedoms in 198 countries, with one of the newest additions being the United States of America. The monitor watchlist has five civic space ratings; open, narrowed, obstructed, repressed and closed.
In a press release on March 10, CIVICUS stated that the United States was added to the watchlist with a rating of narrowed civic space, due to alarm caused by “unprecedented executive orders designed to unravel democratic institutions, rule of law, and global cooperation.” CIVICUS stated that many of President Trump’s actions have sparked concern within the organization. The mass firing of government employees and the influx of “Trump loyalists” in the FBI and Justice Department have alarmed CIVICUS of potential threats to peaceful expression, assembly and association. The U.S. has also distanced itself from the World Health Organization and UN Human Rights Council, cut over 90 percent of previously held foreign aid contracts and begun eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion [DEI] with President Trump’s new policies. These actions along with restrictions on public access to White House briefings for Associated Press journalists have raised fear for the potentiality of reversed human rights in the U.S. and around the world.
Leaders within CIVICUS, such as Mandeep Tiwana, Interim co-secretary general of CIVICUS, claimed that rule of law in the United States has not been so heavily threatened since the twentieth century and times of McCarthyism. “The Trump administration seems hellbent on dismantling the system of checks and balances which are the pillars of a democratic society,” Tiwana said.
Tiwana ended the press release with a direct statement to the government. “We urge the United States to uphold the rule of law and respect constitutional and international human rights norms,” Tiwana said. In response to the CIVICUS watchlist and its claims against the Trump Administration, Ann Kelley, White House deputy press secretary, released a statement in “TIME Magazine.” “This is nonsense: President Trump is leading the most transparent administration in history,” Kelley said. With new policies continuously being passed by the Trump administration, CIVICUS is bringing attention to and informing citizens of the possible threats to human rights these changes could bring.
