Human Rights at Risk in the Era of Trump and American Decline

Abstract

Human rights and political freedoms have been under siege in quite unprecedented ways since the end of the Cold War. 1 Based on the Freedom House (2019) report, people from sixty-eight countries experienced severe deterioration in civil and political rights in 2018, while only fifty countries registered net improvements. In addition, the same report recorded a global deterioration of political freedoms for the previous thirteen consecutive years, from 2005 to 2018. While the post-Cold War era facilitated the emergence of liberal democracies worldwide, a considerable number of those countries that transitioned toward democratization have faced significant hurdles in consolidating their regimes. Similarly, CIVICUS (2019), a global consortium of civil society organizations, finds that a majority of countries worldwide have an "obstructed," or even worse "repressed," civic space, where political dissent against state abuses could flourish. 2 Globally, very few countries have an "open" civic space, many of which are located in Northern Europe as well as Australia and New Zealand. In the entire American continent, only four countries have an "open" civic space classification, namely, Canada, Uruguay, Suriname, and Costa Rica. Accordingly, the civic space in the United States, however, deteriorated and "narrowed" under the Trump administration. Particularly, the Human Rights Watch (2019, 1) report maintains that the United States has "continued to move backward on human rights at home and abroad in the second year of former president Donald Trump's administration," which "were able to pass laws, implement regulations, and carry out policies that violate or undermine human rights."This perception of decline in the U.S. government's commitment to human rights becomes more worrying, especially when we consider the U.S. government's long-standing reliance on human rights and humanitarian discourses to justify and to legitimize its foreign policy interventions abroad (Forsythe 2011). Many of these so-called humanitarian actions have generated enormous damage to human

Children’s rights in Somalia

“…Child recruitment in armed forces is prohibited under different domestic, regional, and international treaties and conventions, and the recruitment of children in armed conflict constitutes a grave violation of human rights. Since the end of the Cold War, human rights have obtained increased international attention, but universal compliance remains a key challenge for all states (Regilme 2022a). In recent years, human rights have been codified and institutionalized in domestic and international legal structures, and the number of related covenants and treaties has risen exponentially.…”

Introduction – Rethinking the crisis of children’s rights

“…In September 1990, the CRC was ratified, and as of 2021, 196 states (or all members of the UN) formally recognized and signed it, except the United States. Since then, many global governance institutions, domestic state institutions, civil society activists, and other corporate organizations have invoked the importance of human rights and the dignity of children-or human individuals aged eighteen years and below-in various policy actions, government strategies, organizational missions, diplomacy, and public advocacy (Regilme 2021(Regilme , 2022a(Regilme , 2022b. It has become increasingly clear, however, that the degree to which children's rights are effectively observed and respected in global governance and national government strategies varies greatly within and between countries, as well as in policy issue areas.…”

Conclusions

“…In conclusion, this edited volume is a testament to the resounding call to advance the dignity of children in a world facing diverse governance challenges. As we navigate a global order with human rights norms persistently under siege (Regilme 2022a(Regilme , 2023, we must ensure a more dignified existence for young members of humanity. Children must be considered full human persons, and as unique individuals, they deserve respect equal to that accorded to adults and protection, as deemed necessary (Regilme et al 2021(Regilme et al , 2022bUNICEF 2023).…”