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Santhosh Guru PR
17 March 2026 |
The Human Rights Watch (HRW) World Report 2026 points to the shift in the Americas toward authoritarianism and raises concern over the dangers emanating from rising autocracy. The following are the five major takeaways of the report.
1. Structural and institutional deficiencies affect justice
External pressures on the judiciary, such as the US’ sanctions on Brazilian judges for convicting former President Bolsonaro and his supporters, may not be new in history, as authoritarians have always sought to curb the judiciary's independence. However, placing sanctions across the border to achieve this sets a new precedent for the emerging world order. Further, internal deficiencies, such as the lack of basic tools and security for judges investigating cases related to organised crime groups, and the various judicial challenges related to violence and corruption in Haiti, aggravate externally fostered troubles from the US administration under President Donald Trump.
El Salvador and Guatemala underline another layer of issues created by the executive. Executives in the region expand their control over the judiciary and prosecute people motivated by their political goals.
2. Women and children suffer from sexual violence and recruitment into armed groups respectively
Violence against women, especially sexual violence, is observed in many countries in the region, with Colombia, Ecuador and Honduras being the most affected. Another problem in these regions is the recruitment of children by armed groups, especially in Colombia, Ecuador and Haiti. A case in Ecuador reported by its Ministry of Education points to the horrific human rights violation committed against school children. Between 2014 and April 2025, 8,378 cases of school-related sexual violence were reported in the country.
Canada, which is usually known for its strong democratic institutions, also came under the hammer when its Prime Minister Mark Carney dissolved the Ministry of Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities. These reflect the broader issue of the lack of space for women and children to exercise their rights. The HRW report also includes questionable but repetitive mentions of LGBT+ and abortion-related developments in the region.
3. Democratic institutions face hurdles from autocracy
The report raises several allegations against US democracy, including voting restrictions, sweeping government measures to weaken core institutions and the use of the Department of Justice to threaten critics. There is a trickling down of democratic backsliding from US to the region have been drawn to indicate the dominos effect.
Backsliding of democracy in Peru, attempts by Argentinian President Javier Milei to undermine constitutional checks on power, widespread impunity in Mexico and questions over judicial independence in Venezuela before the kidnapping of its President Nicolás Maduro, all point toward this linear flow.
4. Migrants struggle due to deportation and stringent border controls
El Salvador’s detention of Venezuelan deportees from the US in mega prisons, the internal displacement of 1.4 million people in Haiti (of which 50% are children), Canada’s stringent ‘Bill C2’ border legislation and Brazil’s ‘voluntary relocation program’ which can accommodate only 150, 000 of the 700, 000 Venezuelans illustrate the profound struggles faced by migrants in the region. The situation worsens if one adds the hundreds of unnecessary violent and abusive raids by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and racial profiling of migrants by the US administration to the list, as noted in the report.
5. Indigenous people face injustice because of the executives’ disregard for the constitution and their attempt to amend it
Indigenous people’s rights remain a persistent challenge across the region. In Canada, they face ongoing violations. In Nicaragua, indigenous leaders face systematic persecution. In Ecuador, despite the constitutional court’s ruling to halt oil drilling, the government has expanded oil extraction in indigenous territories. In Venezuela, the report flags the lack of land demarcation and respect for indigenous territories as significant challenges.
In Mexico, the 2024 constitutional reform has undermined the rights previously given to indigenous people by excluding compulsory consultations on the decisions affecting these communities. In a nutshell, injustice on all fronts to those who were once the region’s majority population.
Santhosh Guru PR is an undergraduate student at the Department of Defence and Strategic Studies at SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai.
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