00:01In its latest annual World Report, Human Rights Watch has warned that the global human rights
00:07system is in peril. The report states that the world has experienced a democratic decline
00:13over the last 20 years, pointing to countries like China and Russia. But the latest warning
00:20signs are coming out of the U.S., Executive Director Philippe Olopion told Euronews.
00:25And then there is the new player, the Trump administration, which has, you know, experienced
00:31a very, or triggered a very rapid decline of democracy in the U.S. at home, but is also
00:39now turning against the entire ecosystem of human rights, the entire architecture of the
00:45rules-based world order that was patiently built over the last few decades, since Second
00:50World War, and on which we, as human rights organizations, have relied to advance rights,
00:57whether it's at the Human Rights Council, with the International Criminal Court, with treaties,
01:02norms, that were helping make the world a better place, but are now under unprecedented threats
01:09from the Trump administration.
01:11This threat, Olopion says, is reverberating in other parts of the world, including in Europe.
01:16What steps should Europe, and European countries in particular, be taking to ensure that the
01:23defense of human rights and the human rights system around the world, not just in Europe,
01:27but everywhere in the world?
01:28Yeah, yeah.
01:29We believe it has to come from a coalition of countries, a global coalition of countries
01:34of democracies that are still attached to international law, that are still attached to human rights,
01:40to democracy, who can band together to protect each other against the US, against China, against Russia,
01:48by protecting this ecosystem, this rules-based world order that is preventing, that is keeping superpowers in check.
01:58And the European Union can be playing a key role in fostering this new alliance,
02:07a bit along the lines of what the Prime Minister, Mark Carney, called for in his speech at the World
02:13Economic Forum.
02:15The EU has a real responsibility and a real interest in doing that.
02:19Is it still possible to reverse this trend that you're warning about?
02:24Look, if we didn't believe it was possible, we wouldn't be in this line of work.
02:28You know, I think we have to be clear-eyed about the moment in which we are, which is a
02:35dangerous moment,
02:36a moment where we are losing ground, where the most basic rights are under attack all over the world,
02:42but also in the US.
02:44And so we have to recognize that it's a new, dangerous reality.
02:48But it should not be a call for despair.
02:51It should be a call for action.
02:52It should be a call for action.
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