Atrocities reaching record levels<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nThe United States is at high risk for mass atrocities in the coming years, the report states. Recent events, including crackdowns on women\u2019s rights, widespread use of U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement to engage in repression, attacks on free speech, attacks on education and restricting the right to protest factor into the country\u2019s high-risk status. The report notes, however, that the U.S. judiciary will play an important role in limiting the government\u2019s ability to commit mass atrocities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Based on the research, Mark says the U.S. bears some responsibility for the rise in ongoing atrocities worldwide by reversing its commitment toward international human rights. He says countries can get away with committing violent acts against their own people because the U.S. has abandoned human rights as a foreign policy goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Using the latest CIRIGHTS data, researchers found that 2022 saw 47 countries commit brutality-based atrocities\u2014widespread killings of more than 50 civilians by the state or by non-state actors working with the state and widespread violations of at torture, political imprisonment, or disappearances\u2014the highest number seen over the last 40 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report also notes 20 countries that committed atrocities for at least 16 years between 2000 and 2022. Four countries\u2014Bangladesh, Pakistan, Venezuela and India\u2014committed atrocities every single year during that time frame. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leaders within oppressive countries, Mark says, are becoming savvy in continuing atrocities by limiting their scope. In other words, they have come to realize if they kill too many at once, their actions gain worldwide attention, he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is a sign that leaders are oppressing their people in different ways, and human rights groups are not adapting to those changes,\u201d Mark said. \u201cThese are all to me red flags noting that we are likely to face real turbulent times in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of those countries determined to have committed widespread extrajudicial killings, CIRIGHTS data shows that 99% of them engage in torture and violating the right to a fair trial, the report states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Digital oppression by some countries<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nAccording to the report, many governments use either surveillance or legal pressure to steer journalists away from criticizing the state. Laws in Pakistan, for example\u2014such as the Anti-Terrorist Act and the Defamation Ordinance\u2014enabled authorities to arrest journalists, censor publications and punish the spread of materials deemed offensive. The report notes Pakistani authorities cite the need to prevent terrorism and blasphemy to legitimize censorship and surveillance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kuwait presents a more complex example, the report states. While citizens there have some degree of free expression, the country\u2019s authorities monitor online activity, restrict certain websites, and use defamation and security laws to intimidate critics. Plus, online restrictions were justified under national unity and religious respect, the report states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the report notes that repression adapts to new technologies. Most censorship two decades ago was focused on print and radio. Now, that logic is applied to social media, online news sites and encrypted communication. That, Mark says, can lead to dire consequences regarding human rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe could be heading toward a world that looks like George Orwell\u2019s 1984<\/em>,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just about censorship. It\u2019s about the complete erasure of privacy. The belief that everything you do is monitored and that if you are critical of the government, they will find ways to make your life miserable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nExamining Iranian public attitudes <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nIranian citizens who were surveyed in 2024 by Mark and Izadi for the GRIP report expressed significantly more negative views about the security forces primarily associated with internal repression. The 2,667 surveyed Iranians viewed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as more corrupt and violent than any of the other security forces in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The surveyed individuals also said conservative attire significantly shapes perception. While conservative respondents prefer officers signaling ideological conformity, those supporting women\u2019s rights strongly reject them, the report states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mark and Izadi also found that Iranian officials use failed movements within other countries to deter their own citizens from protesting in support of various causes. Izadi says autocratic societies, including Iran, used Syria, which fell into civil war from 2011 through last year, as a scenario to instill fear in citizens that democracy could fail if they choose to protest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, Izadi says, that strategy doesn\u2019t work with Iranian citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPeople still want freedom and still want to go out and protest,\u201d she said, \u201cno matter if their governments are scaring them off. Nonviolent resistance is the key for change.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
U.S. not fully sure what \u201chuman rights\u201d means<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nAccording to the report, only 34.2% of 3,333 U.S. citizens surveyed in 2025 by Mark and Izadi could say in their own words what the term \u201chuman rights\u201d means. Correct answers included recognizing that rights apply to all human beings, a focus on dignity or a broad conception of many rights. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A total of 1,341 people, or 39.8%, partially defined \u201chuman rights,\u201d providing statements such as \u201cThat all people should be treated equally\u201d or \u201cIt means to be able to have free speech,\u201d the report states. But, 875 total respondents either gave incorrect, non-serious or uncertain definitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mark says the problem is twofold. One is either that human rights are not taught in schools or it is taught in school as a vague concept. Human rights, he says, are taught based on how the government views them\u2014the Bill of Rights, for example\u2014in lieu of how human rights are defined internationally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFrom an international standpoint, we in the U.S. could adopt better educational practices to improve teaching on human rights and the U.S.\u2019s role in the creation of the human rights regime (systems of international law that protect and promote human rights),\u201d Mark said. \u201cAnother way is teaching about the success stories of the U.S. intervening in other places and having a positive effect while also being realistic on how we have ignored human rights and the consequences of that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report notes that survey respondents are strongly in support of courts being the primary enforcement mechanism for human rights, allowing for such rights to be protected. However, despite Democrats and liberal-identifying individuals being more likely in support of immigration rights regardless of status, Americans consistently prioritize protecting the rights of authorized immigrants over those unauthorized, according to the report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPeople do not know what human rights are and also whatever idea they have about human rights, they don\u2019t want it for outgroups, such as immigrants,\u201d Izadi said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Compiling the report<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nThe 2025 GRIP report was authored by Mark, Izadi, and Thupten Tendhar, director of the 溏心vlog免费B站 International Nonviolence Summer Institute. The CIRIGHTS Data Project is led by Mark and David Cingranelli of Binghamton University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The project is also supported by the work of numerous undergraduate and graduate students. The students wrote the human rights spotlights featured in the report that shed light on topics such as incarceration, digital repression, and abuses. They also review international human rights reports and process data for the annual GRIP report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Friday, Dec. 12, the 溏心vlog免费B站 Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies will host a presentation of the 2025 report, along with presentations of the spotlight reports by their authors\u2014Ava Palma, Amanda Queiroz, Isabella Pizzo, Zahra Kahn, Emma Arcieri, Alex Bolland, Breana Knight, Zach Hurwitz, James Tomb and Tiffany Morel. The event will be held in the Hope Room of the Robert J. Higgins \u201967 Welcome Center, 45 Upper College Road on the Kingston Campus, starting at 2 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report, including information about methodology, is available on the project website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Dec. 12, 2025 \u2013 Global human rights are in decline according to the findings of a recent study from researchers at the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies. As governments around the world are increasingly using surveillance or legal pressure to discourage journalists and citizens from criticizing top […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":105868,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12,1906,1909,1905],"class_list":["post-105867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","tag-college-of-arts-and-sciences","tag-experiential-learning","tag-international","tag-research"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105867"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105874,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105867\/revisions\/105874"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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