Trump-led abuses amid ‘democratic recession’ put human rights in peril, HRW report says

Rights group says growing authoritarianism and abuses in US, Russia and China threaten global rules-based order

The world is in a democratic recession" with almost three-quarters of the global population now living under autocratic rulers - levels not seen since the 1980s, according to a new report.

The system underpinning human rights was in peril", said Philippe Bolopion, executive director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), with a growing authoritarian wave becoming the challenge of a generation", he said.