Today marks one year since the beginning of Donald Trump’s second term in office, a period that has seen dramatic threats to human rights, environmental protection, democracy, and the rule of law, with far-reaching domestic and global implications. As the administration’s policies erode basic protections and place our clients, partners, and neighbors at greater risk in their daily lives, we reaffirm our long-term commitment to stand with communities and advance justice, accountability, and rights.
Through its statements and actions, the administration has made clear that power, profit, and self-interest, not law or cooperation, are its guiding principles. We have seen growing impunity, unchecked self-dealing, abuse of law enforcement authorities, retaliation against critics, and shrinking space for civil society to organize and dissent.
The harms resulting from these policies have clarified what is at stake, and why people and organizations across movements, sectors, and political ideologies have a shared interest in defending democratic values. There is much to oppose and to fear, but we also believe this moment calls for reflection on the kind of society that we want: a society where all people have the right to advocate for their communities’ interests and speak up when they witness injustice, where people and countries resolve conflicts and disagreements through fair and broadly accepted processes, where governments protect the resources on which so many lives depend – such as water, air, land, and a stable climate – and where those in power are accountable to the law.
Even in the best of times, democracy and human rights require constant defense and vigilance. EarthRights believes that this defense has always begun at the community level. Communities and local organizations understand in real, concrete terms why freedom of expression, clean air and water, secure land rights, food security, cultural preservation, a livable planet, and economic security are so essential. For over 30 years, we have stood shoulder to shoulder with affected communities to confront state and corporate attacks on human rights, environmental protections, and democratic norms. We have shown what is possible when legal action is paired with grassroots leadership: communities stopping destructive projects, winning justice in court, and building a more just and sustainable future.
That same model of people power and principled law is not only possible here – it is exactly what this moment demands. This is why we will continue to bring strategic litigation against abusive corporations and complicit governments, advocate for and train community leaders and human rights defenders, expose corruption and corporate misconduct, and work with diverse cross-border coalitions to reverse policies that sacrifice people and the planet for short-term political or corporate gain.
We do this not only because these policies are unjust, but because our clients – farmers, fishers, Indigenous peoples, workers, and frontline communities – are paying for them with their bodies, their land, and their futures. Justice requires that their voices shape the decisions that govern their lives.
But we cannot face these challenges without critical funding support. This is precisely the moment when sustained investment in U.S. human rights, climate, and environmental work matters most, because attacks on democracy, civil society, and environmental protections here reverberate globally and set dangerous precedents for other governments to follow. And if we turn away from the fights in the U.S. now, we are turning our backs on the communities most harmed by these policies, and the movements working to defend them.
Together, we can use the power of the law and the power of people to hold powerful actors accountable and to pursue more peaceful, sustainable, and responsible pathways into the future. The threats facing our communities are interconnected, and so too must be our response. Defending human rights and standing with communities cannot be the work of any single movement or sector. We stand together with civil society, labor, faith leaders, advocates, journalists, neighbors, and the funding community acting together to hold those in power to account, to defend communities under attack, and to recommit to a vision of a society grounded in dignity, justice, and collective care.
