TODAY MARKS THE hundredth day of President Donald Trump’s administration.
Amnesty International has compiled a list of 100 ways the Trump administration has tried to threaten human rights in the United States and around the world, sometimes succeeding, and sometimes being blocked by a powerful and growing resistance movement.
100 ways Trump threatens human rights
When we sat down to document the first 100 days, it didn’t take long to identify 100 ways this administration has threatened human rights. What’s incredible though isn’t just all the ways the Trump administration has tried to deny people freedom, justice, and equality, but all the ways that ordinary people have pushed back and refused to let it happen.
When President Trump signed an executive order banning people from Muslim-majority countries from entering the US, the protest movement was shift and persistent.
The ban tried to write bigotry into law. Instead, it energised a new movement. The Trump administration was forced to go on the defensive, rescinding the first order and issuing a second that is now mired in the courts.
Climate of hate
For American Muslims though, the climate of hate persists. The President’s ban and inflammatory rhetoric have emboldened anti-Muslim behaviour and attitudes.
Reports of harassment and violence against people who either are, or perceived to be Muslim are increasing. We must challenge this hate speech every time we hear it.
We must continue to stand in solidarity with all people whose human rights are threatened. Fear and hate will not succeed. Instead, they must motivate us to work harder.
The Trump administration is also clearly intent on curtailing sexual and reproductive rights, in the US and around the world. Two days after millions of people gathered for women’s marches, Trump reinstated and expanded the global gag rule which prohibits US international aid to groups which so much as educate their communities on safe abortion.
These policies deny essential reproductive health care services to women and girls and will almost certainly result in an increase in global maternal deaths. Paired with the Trump administration’s complete defunding of UNFPA, the UN’s lead agency on reproductive health, it is clear that this impact will be global, and not just restricted to the United States.
Rowing back on reproductive rights
President Trump signed a bill allowing states to withhold federal money from organisations that provide abortion services, including Planned Parenthood.
Allowing states to cut funding will mean thousands of people—particularly low income women and girls—will not be able to access basic healthcare, including cancer screenings, prenatal services, birth control, and safe abortion.
As the US is rowing back on fundamental reproductive rights, we’ve seen important progress in the campaign to protect women’s rights here in Ireland. Last Sunday, the Citizens’ Assembly voted overwhelmingly to recommend expanded access to abortion. Their call for complete constitutional and legal reform is an important vindication of women’s and girls’ human rights.
It is long past time to end the daily violations of women’s and girls’ human rights, and the Assembly has given the government a clear mandate for action. The special Oireachtas Committee set up to consider the Assembly’s recommendations must act quickly and decisively and a referendum must be scheduled without delay.
We will continue to campaign for reproductive rights, both here in Ireland and in the US. We will not stop until every woman and girl can realise her sexual and reproductive rights, regardless of where she lives or how much money she has.
A bleak outlook
The Trump administration’s threats to human rights go far beyond those that I’ve cited. It has repealed protections for LGBT workers and transgender students and granted permission for the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Trump has abandoning steps to address climate changes and its effect on human rights. Scott Pruitt, the new head of the EPA, has begun to staff the agency with climate change skeptics and roll back environmental regulations. It is a bleak outlook and one which we must not accept.
While the Trump’s first 100 days in office show how dangerous his agenda is for human rights in the US and around the world, it is equally clear that activism, grassroots organising and political opposition can make a difference. When we come together and fight back, we can make a difference.
The Trump administration’s ongoing threats to human rights remain but so does the resolve to defeat them. Join us in the fight to protect human rights during the next 100 days and beyond.
Colm O’Gorman is Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland.
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