Human Rights & Justice Crises in 2026

Afghanistan’s health system remained in severe distress in 2025, driven by funding cuts and long-running structural fragility. WHO reported that by 4 March 2025, 167 health facilities had closed, cutting off lifesaving care for 1.6 million people across 25 provinces, and warned that more than 220 additional facilities could shut by June if funding was not restored. WHO also said 80% of WHO-supported essential health services were at risk of shutdown, with the worst-affected areas in the north, west, and northeast. The crisis was accompanied by worsening disease pressure and access barriers. WHO reported more than 16,000 suspected measles cases and 111 deaths in the first two months of 2025, alongside outbreaks of malaria, dengue, polio, and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever; measles vaccination coverage was critically low at 51% for the first dose and 37% for the second. WHO’s 2025 Health Emergency Appeal said over 22.9 million people required urgent health support, while the broader humanitarian response was further strained by refugee returns, displacement, and restrictions that disproportionately affected women and girls.

Sudan’s health system remains near collapse in 2026 amid the ongoing war, mass displacement, repeated attacks on healthcare, and widespread hunger. WHO reported in January 2026 that more than one third of health facilities nationwide were non-functional, and it reiterated in April 2026 that 37% of facilities remained non-functional across the country’s 18 states. WHO also said the conflict had driven the system to the brink of collapse and left millions without access to essential care. The crisis is being compounded by attacks on hospitals and ambulances, disease outbreaks, and severe humanitarian needs. WHO reported 217 verified attacks on healthcare since April 2023, causing 2,052 deaths and 810 injuries by April 2026; earlier January 2026 figures were 201 attacks, 1,858 deaths, and 490 injuries. The 2026 humanitarian plan says 33.7 million people need assistance, including about 21 million who need health assistance, while outbreaks of cholera, malaria, dengue, measles, and polio continue to strain an already fragile system.

Myanmar’s post-coup conflict remains a severe, multi-front civil war, with the junta still under pressure from the People’s Defence Force, the National Unity Government, and multiple ethnic armed organizations. Recent reporting cited by the Council on Foreign Relations says the military government controls about 21% of territory while rebel forces and ethnic armies hold about 42%, and the United Nations and Human Rights Watch report more than 3 million people displaced, with the 2026 Human Rights Watch estimate at least 3.6 million internally displaced. The humanitarian situation remains extremely acute. Human Rights Watch says more than 15 million people face acute food insecurity, and AP reported in early 2025 that nearly 20 million people needed humanitarian aid and about 3.5 million were internally displaced; Amnesty reported in January 2025 that the junta had killed more than 6,000 people and that more than 20,000 had been arbitrarily detained since the coup. The Rohingya crisis remains unresolved, with Amnesty noting 2024 was the worst year of violence against the Rohingya since 2017 and the conflict in Rakhine continuing to block safe repatriation. The conflict is concentrated in Rakhine, Shan, Kachin, Sagaing, Magway, Mandalay, Karen, and Chin, with continued fighting and airstrikes against civilian infrastructure. UNHCR reported in May 2026 that around 299,000 people had fled Myanmar to neighboring countries such as Bangladesh, India, and Thailand, while Rohingya refugees remain largely in Bangladesh with no safe return in sight.

The United States is experiencing a major immigration enforcement crisis marked by expanded detention, faster removals, and tighter asylum access. Rights-group reporting cited in the provided materials says more than 290,000 people had been detained since the start of Trump’s second term through mid-October 2025, and that ICE detention held 68,442 people as of December 13, 2025, indicating sustained strain on detention capacity and due-process protections. Earlier 2025 reporting also described detention levels around 41,500 people per day, underscoring the scale of enforcement activity. Access to asylum has also been sharply restricted. The American Immigration Council reports the administration has effectively shut down asylum access at the U.S.-Mexico border, while Vera reporting says asylum decisions were halted in November 2025, leaving many people in legal limbo. The same reporting says temporary protected status was revoked for some migrant groups and denaturalization policies were advanced, increasing the risk of detention and deportation for affected communities. The most directly affected areas are the United States overall, especially the U.S.-Mexico border, ICE detention sites nationwide, and high-enforcement metropolitan areas; economic analyses also warn of spillover harm to labor markets, households, and state and local tax bases in states with large immigrant populations such as California, Florida, and Texas.

Enforced disappearances remain a major human rights crisis in Pakistan, with the heaviest concentration in Balochistan and continued reporting from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh. Amnesty says enforced disappearances continue to scar communities across South Asia, and reporting in Pakistan describes activists, students, political dissenters, and other civilians being taken without due process and held incommunicado. Recent provincial monitoring in Balochistan suggests the problem intensified through 2025 into 2026: the Human Rights Council of Balochistan reported 106 enforced disappearances in November 2025 and 124 cases in April 2026, while also documenting dozens of killings in the same periods. Broader reporting also cites at least 10,078 enforced disappearance cases recorded by Pakistan’s Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances since 2011, with 3,485 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 2,752 in Balochistan. Human rights groups say families still face limited accountability, and recent legal measures in Balochistan have raised further concern about preventive detention powers.

Across Europe, unlawful pushbacks, denial of access to asylum procedures, and border mistreatment remain widespread concerns, especially at the EU’s external and some internal borders. The European Parliament’s 2025 briefing says pushbacks often involve excessive force, degrading and inhuman treatment, and arbitrary detention, while a consortium of nine human rights organizations recorded at least 120,457 pushback incidents at the EU’s external and internal borders in 2023, about 330 per day. Recent reporting suggests the problem persisted through 2024 and 2025. Human Rights Watch said EU migration and asylum policy increasingly focused on deterrence in 2024, contributing to unlawful pushbacks, deaths at sea, and returns of asylum seekers to places where they face abuse. The 2025 annual PRAB report documented at least 80,865 pushbacks in 2025, with Poland and Bulgaria among the most affected countries, and described routine violence including beatings, police dogs, forced stripping, forced river crossings, and theft of belongings. Investigations and accountability remain weak, and many cases are still documented by civil society rather than resolved through effective state inquiries. The crisis continues to affect migrants and asylum seekers trying to enter or move within the EU, especially in Greece, Bulgaria, Poland, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Spain, Italy, France, and border areas linked to Belarus and the Western Balkans.

Georgia’s civic space has sharply deteriorated since 2024, with authorities using restrictive laws, criminal investigations, and heavy policing to suppress protests, critical media, and independent civil society. Amnesty International says the government has built a “coordinated system to crush dissent,” and Human Rights Watch says the ruling Georgian Dream party adopted sweeping laws in 2025 that decimate civil society and silence critical voices. The most recent reporting shows the crackdown continued into 2026. HRW reported in January 2026 that amended assembly rules give police broad discretion to restrict roadway and sidewalk protests, with penalties including up to 15 days’ detention for protesters and up to one year in prison for repeat offenses. CIVICUS reported in July 2026 that Georgia remains on its Watchlist, is rated “Repressed,” and that authorities have continued jailing protesters, expanding punishment for online speech, and imposing massive fines; one person reportedly accumulated protest-related fines equivalent to about US$270,000. Amnesty said in June 2026 that since the start of the ongoing protest movement, thousands have been arbitrarily detained and fined, hundreds subjected to torture or other ill-treatment, and more than 150 imprisoned after unfair and politically motivated proceedings.

Far-right parties have expanded their influence across Europe, and by the 2024 European elections support had increased in 22 of 27 EU countries, with far-right parties holding just over a quarter of European Parliament seats when independent MEPs are excluded. The trend is increasingly shaping EU decision-making because far-right representatives now participate in major EU decisions through governments, the European Council, and the Council of the EU. Recent analysis also shows the political base for these parties has widened further: a June 2026 report found that nearly 25% of European voters now back far-right parties, up from around 10% a decade earlier and around 5% in 1995, with far-right parties taking part in governing coalitions in Croatia, Czechia, Italy, and Finland and supporting Sweden’s right-wing minority government. This normalization is tied to stronger anti-migrant and anti-democratic narratives, which researchers and watchdogs warn are undermining democratic safeguards and shifting policy debates toward harsher treatment of migrants, asylum seekers, and other targeted groups.

Restrictions on Palestine advocacy and pro-Palestinian speech remain a major free-speech crisis in the United States, with spillover into Canada and parts of Western Europe. Recent reporting says the Trump administration has intensified campus, immigration, and funding pressure on universities and activists, including deportation threats, visa actions, and federal investigations aimed at people and institutions tied to pro-Palestinian protest. Documented repression has included campus discipline, police crackdowns, event deplatforming, and employment retaliation. Palestine Legal reported 1,037 requests for legal support in the first three months after Oct. 7, 2023, including 908 from people targeted for Palestine advocacy, and later said it received 1,131 legal-aid requests in 2025, with 851 from people targeted for their advocacy and 280 seeking advice on how to engage in it. FIRE reported 138 documented attempts to deplatform Palestine-related campus events and discipline faculty or students, along with at least 11 faculty terminations, while Arab Center reported university restrictions such as bans on encampments, tighter demonstration rules, face-covering bans, and ID requirements. In Western Europe, advocacy groups and academic analysis describe an expanding pattern of monitoring, criminalization, and administrative pressure on Palestine solidarity activism, especially in the United Kingdom through the Public Order Act and Prevent framework, with broader civic-space concerns also flagged by CIVICUS. The overall trend is worsening because legal, institutional, and immigration tools are being used more aggressively against speech and organizing linked to Palestine across multiple countries.

Pakistan’s Balochistan province remains the site of a serious and intensifying human rights crackdown, with UN experts warning in April 2025 that counter-terrorism measures there are causing “unrelenting” enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention risks, torture allegations, and repeated internet blackouts that restrict expression, assembly, and access to information. Amnesty International and partner organizations said in 2025 that Baloch human rights defenders and protesters have faced harassment, arbitrary detention, and legal pressure, including use of the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance and multiple FIRs against activists. Recent reporting also indicates the crackdown has continued through 2025 with restrictions on public life and expanded surveillance. Amnesty reported in October 2025 that Balochistan authorities placed 32 people from Khuzdar, Kech, and Chagai districts on the Anti-Terrorism Act Fourth Schedule, limiting movement and enabling asset freezes; the same report noted deaths, including children, during military operations in Zehri, Khuzdar district. Paank, the human rights wing of the Baloch National Movement, reported 84 enforced disappearances and 33 extrajudicial killings in June 2025 across 14 districts, including Kech and Mastung as the worst-affected areas, underscoring the scale of the ongoing crisis.

Nicaragua’s crackdown on human rights defenders and other critics has deepened in 2025–2026, with UN and rights-group reporting describing a systematic campaign of arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, ill-treatment in custody, forced exile, nationality revocations, and the dismantling of civic space. In July 2026, the UN said the government was still arbitrarily detaining 46 people for political reasons, after a 2025 OHCHR report documented the continuing erosion of the rule of law, severe restrictions on fundamental freedoms, and a sweeping constitutional overhaul that removed prohibitions on torture. The UN’s 2026 report says enforced disappearances have significantly increased, arbitrary detention and ill-treatment remain regular, and at least 199 people were arrested for political reasons from April 2025 to mid-January 2026; it also reported two political detainee deaths in custody in 2025. Human Rights Watch’s 2026 country chapter says authorities have continued to repress dissent through arbitrary arrest, prosecution, enforced disappearance, forced exile, citizenship revocation, and asset confiscation, while shuttering more than 5,500 organizations and at least 58 media outlets. Amnesty International reported in July 2026 that more than 5,000 civil society organizations had lost legal status and that hundreds of legal professionals were stripped of their licenses, further limiting access to independent defense for victims of repression.