The world is entering a "perilous new era" marked by attacks on multilateralism, international law and human rights, Amnesty International warned on Tuesday in its annual report.
The report, covering the human rights situation in 144 countries, said powerful states, corporations and anti-rights movements increasingly acted with impunity in 2025, undermining international institutions and fueling conflict.
"We are confronting the most challenging moment of our age," Agnes Callamard, head of the rights group headquartered in London, said in a statement.
"What marks this moment as fundamentally different is that we're no longer documenting erosion around the system's edges. This is a direct assault on the foundations of human rights and the international rules-based order by the most powerful actors for the purpose of control, impunity and profit."
Amnesty pointed to conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of Congo as examples of the growing collapse of international law.
The report accused Israel of maintaining "its genocide against Palestinians in Gaza" while expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
It said the US carried out "over 150 extrajudicial executions by bombing boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific," while Russia intensified attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.
Amnesty said the US, Israel and Russia all undermined international accountability mechanisms, especially the International Criminal Court.
The organization also criticized European governments for failing to stop Israel's genocide in Gaza and for remaining silent on attacks against international law.
"To appease aggressors is to pour fuel on a fire that will burn us all and scorch the future for generations to come," Callamard said.
The report highlighted a growing crackdown on civil society, protesters and human rights defenders worldwide.
Authorities in countries including Afghanistan, China, Egypt, India, Kenya, the US and Venezuela were accused of violently repressing protests, criminalizing dissent and using surveillance technologies against activists.
In the UK, Amnesty criticized the decision to ban Palestine Action under counterterrorism laws and arrest thousands of people opposing the move.
The report also said aid cuts by countries such as the US, Canada, France, Germany and the UK risked causing millions of avoidable deaths.
Despite the bleak picture, Amnesty said protesters, activists and some governments continued to resist authoritarianism and defend human rights around the world.
"Let 2026 be the year we assert our agency and demonstrate that history is not merely something imposed upon us; it is ours to make," Callamard said.
