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

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.”

This week, the organization announced that the United States would remain on the watchlist and voiced concerns about the government’s recent use of the military to stifle protests in Los Angeles as well as the use of force against journalists.

“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.”

Specifically, CIVICUS cites a June 9 incident when law enforcement shot Australian journalist Laurenm Tomasi with a rubber bullet while she was covering protests in Los Angeles. It also cites the detainment of Salvadoran journalist Mario Guevara, a legal U.S.resident, who was arrested while covering a “No Kings” protest TK date and transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention, where he remains.

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.”

“The current administration and the cabinet are really behaving, you know, in a way that dictatorial regimes do, and that is really worrying us,” Tiwana said. “The public rollback of established American foreign policy principles on democracy and rights, and the open dalliance with dictators and despots that are actively suppressing the media and civil society, is very worrying, and we feel that it can really send the U.S. backward.”

Tiwana said that though the U.S. had often been imperfect in its advocacy for civil rights and democracy around the world, its absence in this role has given leeway to authoritarian leaders willing to “kill and intimidate their populations to stay in power.”

CIVICUS currently rates the U.S.as maintaining a “narrowed” civic space, which it describes as when the full enjoyment of civil rights is “impeded by occasional harassment, arrest or assault of people deemed critical of those in power.” Other countries in this category include Argentina, Italy, Germany and Romania.

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The U.S.has been criticized by other nonprofit organizations for increasing authoritarianism in recent years as well. In 2021, the United States sank in Freedom House’s ratings, with the organization citing racial injustice, the influence of money in politics and partisan polarization. https://www.salon.com/2025/07/30/american-democracy-is-crashing-out-and-it-will-be-hard-to-reverse-international-rights-group-warns/

The United States also fell in Reporters Without Borders’ press freedom rankings in 2025. The organization cites the administration’s moves to politicize the Federal Communications Commission and ban the Associated Press from the White House, among other issues. Since the last ranking, other incidents have inspired criticism, like when CBS fired“Late Show” host Stephen Colbert, shortly before the administration approved a merger with Skydance.