In 2025, Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and Benjamin Netanyahu have pursued a strategy of economic and political domination through destruction, repression, and large-scale global violence,” stated Agnès Callamard, Secretary-General of Amnesty International, during a presentation of the report in London.
A challenge to international frameworks: The United States has engaged in extrajudicial killings beyond its borders, illegally targeting Venezuela and Iran, and threatening Greenland, according to the report. The Trump administration has undermined years of efforts to defend women’s rights. Meanwhile, the Israeli government has continued its genocide against the Palestinian population in Gaza, despite an October ceasefire agreement, with little international action.
“Facing these brutes and pillagers, nearly all international leaders have shown cowardice,” lamented Agnès Callamard. The report calls on states, international organizations, and civil society to reject appeasement policies and collectively resist these attacks.
Under pressure: According to Amnesty International, international institutions have faced the worst attacks since 1948, with American sanctions against certain judges and prosecutors of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the US withdrawing from numerous conventions like the IPCC’s climate treaty. The ongoing conflict in the Middle East illustrates a “shift towards contempt for the law,” with illegal attacks by the US and Israel leading to Iran’s “blind reprisals.”
The report also details human rights abuses in countries like Myanmar, torn by civil war since 2021, and Sudan, where the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) committed massacres and sexual violence during the siege of El-Fasher.
Citizen and judicial initiatives: Amid this bleak outlook, Amnesty International highlights the creation of a special tribunal for the Ukraine war and the indictment of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte for crimes against humanity at the ICC. The organization applauds actions by dockworkers in Spain, France, and Morocco to disrupt arms shipments to Israel, as well as American citizens who have resisted ICE immigration operations, sometimes at great personal risk.
