# US added to international watchlist for rapid decline in civic freedoms

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.

, 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 . Other countries 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 , the appointment of , the withdrawal from international efforts , and the , the , and the attempted .

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 , 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.

“Restrictive executive orders, unjustifiable institutional cutbacks, and intimidation tactics through threatening pronouncements by senior officials in the administration are creating an atmosphere to chill democratic dissent, a cherished American ideal,” Tiwana said.

In addition to the watchlist, the Civicus Monitor classifies the state of civic space in countries using : open, narrowed, obstructed, repressed, and closed.

Currently, the US has a “narrowed” rating, which it also had during the Biden administration, meaning that while citizens can exercise their civic freedom, such as rights to association, peaceful assembly, and expression, occasional violations occur.

For part of Trump’s first term, Tiwana said, the US had been categorized as “obstructed,” due to the administration’s response to the  protests and , and other actions.



Enter your email address 

Sign up

**Privacy Notice:** Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our . We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google  and  apply.

## Explore more on these topics

- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 

## Most viewed

1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 
6. 
7. 
8. 
9. 
10. 
11. 
12. 
13. 
```