On April 21, Amnesty International released its annual report, The State of the World’s Human Rights. Citing human rights abuses and armed attacks such as Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, the expansion of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, Russia’s intensified aerial attacks on critical civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, and the unlawful use of force by the United States and Israel against Iran, the report condemned the leaders of the powerful states as “political and economic predators” who disregard international law, turn their backs on multilateralism, and seek to control and exploit people through force.

The report further warns of the expanding violent repression of civilians not only in major powers such as the United States, China, and Russia, but also in many countries across Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and South America, where dissent against the government is criminalized and protesters are arbitrarily detained. It asserts that their operating principle is built on silencing dissent and dehumanizing those deemed “others.”

Two major indices measuring the state of democracy worldwide---the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) Democracy Index published by the British media company the Economist Group and Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) report produced by the V-Dem Institute at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden---both point to a global stagnation or decline in democracy. According to the EIU, as of 2024, only 25 countries representing 15% of all nations and just 6.6% of the world’s population, were qualified as “full democracies.” Likewise, the V-Dem report concludes that democracy for the average person worldwide has fallen back to the level of the late 1970s, citing the emergence of authoritarian leaders and accelerating autocratization across the globe. In particular, the United States’ Liberal Democracy index dropped sharply from 0.79 in 2024 to 0.57 in 2025, causing the country to fall out of the category of “liberal democracy.”

The conduct of major powers—openly wielding their political, economic, and military might in pursuit of naked national self-interest—is dramatically reshaping the global climate. As trust in the UN Charter and international law fades, countries around the world are recasting the “increasingly severe security environment” into narratives that serve their own political positions and geopolitical circumstances. This, in turn, is creating fertile ground for the rise of authoritarianism. “The political and economic predators, and their enablers, are declaring the multilateral system dead,” observes Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès Callamard. Yet, she cuts through the rhetoric, saying they do so “not because it is inefficient, but because it is not serving their hegemony and control.” Can the world restore an international order grounded in the rule of law, as we now stand at a critical crossroads?

Takashi Mizukoshi, the President
This Week’s Focus, April 19 - April 30, 2026