Media Advisory
WHAT: A press briefing hosted by leading U.S. and international human rights organizations to take stock of the wholesale attack on human rights during the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term. The event will spotlight a coordinated pattern of human rights violations, both domestically and globally, highlighting policy changes, rhetoric, and actions that have exacerbated widespread harm, regression of rights, and international instability, including the Trump administration’s flagrant disregard for international law, unrelenting assault on immigrants, and dangerous rise in authoritarian practices.
WHEN: Wednesday, January 14, 2026, 10:30 AM ET
WHERE: Virtual over Zoom. Click link to RSVP and receive link to enter: https://amnestyusa-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_rY6DpxaRTF-rDjtWb_BgKg
WHO:
Amnesty International USA: Amanda Klasing, National Director Government Relations & Advocacy – Introduction and wrap-up
Alliance for Diplomacy and Justice:Jessica Stern, Co-Founder and Co-President – The State Department’s abandonment of human rights work
Human Rights Watch: Nicole Widdersheim, Deputy Washington Director – Cuts to USAID, third country deportations, corruption in minerals deals, and human rights harms across Africa
Human Rights First: Uzra Zeya, President and CEO – The escalating crackdown on refugee and immigrant rights, and the broader assault on constitutional protections
PEN America: Jonathan Friedman, Managing Director, U.S. Free Expression Programs – The unprecedented government censorship of colleges and universities and bending of academic research toward the administration’s ideology
Center for Reproductive Rights: Liz McCaman Taylor, Senior Federal Policy Counsel – The attacks on sexual and reproductive health and rights in the U.S. and abroad
WHY: The first year of President Donald Trump’s second term has been a human rights disaster at home and abroad. From the ICE-led assaults on communities, which has resulted in death, torture, family separation, and deportations, to assaults on free expression and reproductive rights as well as the gutting of USAID and the State Department’s abandonment of human rights, we are witnessing a full-scale assault on the very idea of human rights. The result is a climate of fear and division across the globe which makes all of us less safe. This press briefing will provide journalists with a clear, comprehensive assessment of the domestic and international human rights landscape during the last year, and call for urgent attention, resistance, and accountability.