The United States has been added to the Civicus
Monitor Watchlist, which identifies countries that the global civil
rights watchdog believes are currently experiencing a rapid decline in
civic freedoms.
Civicus,
an international non-profit organization dedicated to “strengthening
citizen action and civil society around the world”, announced the
inclusion of the US on the non-profit’s first watchlist of 2025 on
Monday, alongside the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Italy, Pakistan
and Serbia.
The watchlist is part of the Civicus Monitor, which tracks developments in civic freedoms across 198 countries. Other countries that have previously been featured on the watchlist in recent years include Zimbabwe, Argentina, El Salvador and the United Arab Emirates.
Mandeep
Tiwana, co-secretary general of Civicus, said that the watchlist “looks
at countries where we remain concerned about deteriorating civic space
conditions, in relation to freedoms of peaceful assembly, association
and expression”.
The
selection process, the website states, incorporates insights and data
from Civicus’s global network of research partners and data.
The
decision to add the US to the first 2025 watchlist was made in response
to what the group described as the “Trump administration’s assault on
democratic norms and global cooperation”.
In
the news release announcing the US’s addition, the organization cited
recent actions taken by the Trump administration that they argue will
likely “severely impact constitutional freedoms of peaceful assembly,
expression, and association”.
The group cited several of the administration’s actions such as the mass termination of federal employees, the appointment of Trump loyalists in key government positions, the withdrawal from international efforts such as the World Health Organization and the UN Human Rights Council, the freezing of federal and foreign aid and the attempted dismantling of USAid.
The
organization warned that these decisions “will likely impact civic
freedoms and reverse hard-won human rights gains around the world”.
The group also pointed to the administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian protesters, and the Trump administration’s unprecedented decision to control media access to presidential briefings, among others.
Civicus
described Trump’s actions since taking office as an “unparalleled
attack on the rule of law” not seen “since the days of McCarthyism in
the twentieth century”, stating that these moves erode the checks and
balances essential to democracy....READ MORE in The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/09/watchlist-decline-civic-freedoms-civicus
OR on CIVICUS https://monitor.civicus.org/watchlist-march-2025/
Latest Update: 10 March 2025 - The new CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist highlights serious concerns regarding the exercise of civic freedoms in Democratic Republic of the Congo, Italy, Pakistan, Serbia and the United States of America.
The
Watchlist draws attention to countries where there is a serious decline
in respect for civic space, based on an assessment by CIVICUS Monitor
research findings, our research partners and consultations with
activists on the ground.
In the coming
weeks and months, the CIVICUS Monitor will closely track developments in
each of these countries as part of efforts to ensure greater pressure
is brought to bear on governments. CIVICUS calls upon these governments
to do everything in their power to end the ongoing crackdowns
immediately and ensure that perpetrators are held to account.
Descriptions
of the civic space violations happening in each country are provided
below. If you have information to share on civic space in any of these
countries, please write to monitor@civicus.org.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CIVIC SPACE RATING: NARROWED
The
United States of America (USA) has been added to our Watchlist as the
country faces increasing undue restrictions on civic freedoms under
President Donald Trump’s second term. Gross abuses of executive power
raise serious concerns over the freedoms of peaceful assembly,
expression and association.
Following his inauguration on 20 January 2025, Donald Trump has issued at least 125 executive orders, dismantling federal policies with profound implications for human rights and the rule of law. Some of these orders have eliminated federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes, falsely framing them as discriminatory, and have introduced measures targeting undocumented migrants and transgender and non-conforming people.
Since mid-January, many civil society organisations, both in the US and abroad, have been forced to terminate or scale back essential human rights and humanitarian programmes due to growing uncertainty caused by the arbitrary suspension of foreign aid and a broad freeze on federal funding. The lack of clear guidelines has sparked legal challenges at the national level.
The administration has taken steps to dismantle the US Agency for International Development (USAID), a decades-old institution, and laid off thousands of its employees. It has also withdrawn from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the UN Human Rights Council, exited the Paris Climate Agreement, rejected the Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals, and announced
sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC), targeting its
personnel as well as individuals and entities that cooperate with it.
These actions could further undermine global efforts for climate justice, human rights, and civic freedoms.
These measures come amid a broader potential curb on the freedom of association. On 21 November 2024, the US House of Representatives passed a bill allowing the Treasury Department to revoke the tax-exempt status of non-profits it deems to be supporting terrorism, without due process guarantees. This would grant the executive branch sweeping authority to financially cripple civil society organisations based on broad and vague criteria.
The sustained onslaught on peaceful pro-Palestine solidarity at university campuses has seen students and faculty members increasingly subjected to harsh sanctions without justification. On 30 January 2025, President Donald Trump, signed an executive order purportedly aimed at combating antisemitism, which calls
for the cancellation of visas and the deportation of non-citizen
college students and others who have participated in pro-Palestinian
protests. On the same day, reports alleged that a far-right group was compiling a list of pro-Palestine protesters for potential deportation.
Authorities have also targeted
climate justice activists protesting the Mountain Valley Pipeline
project in Virginia and financial institutions supporting fossil fuel
expansion. Another concern is the growing role of private corporations
in suppressing environmental activism. Two key developments exemplify this: the USD 300 million lawsuit against Greenpeace by the company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline; and research exposing the fossil fuel industry’s role in driving the proliferation of anti-protest laws.
The
first months of 2025 have seen an alarming legislative push in multiple
states, further threatening restrictions on the freedom of peaceful
assembly. At least 12 state-level bills introduced between January and February 2025 would impose new restrictions on protests. Notably, bills in Indiana (SB 286), Iowa (HF 25), Missouri (HB 601), New York (S 723), and North Dakota (HB 1240) seek to criminalise the use of masks during protests. They could also expose protesters to heightened surveillance technologies and intimidation tactics, as evidenced by the doxingattempts over the past year against pro-Palestine protesters.
Meanwhile, Minnesota’s new bill (SF 1363) introduces
new civil and criminal liabilities for those supporting protesters who
engage peacefully in demonstrations on a critical public service
facility, pipelines or other utility property. These restrictions show a
broader trend since 2017 of escalating constraints on protests and could trigger a new wave of repression against those expressing dissenting views.
There are also serious concerns
about freedom of expression and access to information, particularly for
journalists covering politically sensitive issues. On 11 February 2025,
two journalists from the Associated Press (AP) were banned
access to White House-related press briefings due to the agency’s
editorial policy to continue to refer to the Gulf of Mexico by its
internationally recognised denomination rather than the presidentially
decreed “Gulf of America.” AP filed a lawsuit against administration officials, but a federal judge denied the agency’s request for the immediate restoration of full access to presidential events for its journalists, ruling that access to the president is at his discretion and not a constitutional right.
Moreover, on 25 February, the White House press secretary announced that the administration will decide which media outlets can access the presidential press pool. These recent decisions raised concerns about unprecedented restrictions on public access to independent reporting on government affairs.
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