That's a great question. We're seeing basically every metric globally resurging with authoritarianism and the backsliding of democracies, with severe implications for human rights, especially over the course of the pandemic. It has exacerbated not only poverty inequalities, but also repression.
In Russia, for example, there has been a lot of interest lately. Before the military buildup, there was already a backslide through repressive policies. Perhaps the most disturbing recently was the shutdown of the leading human rights organization in Russia, Memorial, under the foreign agent law.
These sorts of things have been happening around the world. That's why it's so important to have studies like this, and re-engaging after the pandemic, because we've slipped back.
In the Philippines, too, as I mentioned, there is an election in May. There has been an escalation and an internal, domestic crackdown in the past few years during Duterte's time in office, including the crackdown on journalists, lawyers and political opponents killed. Nobel laureate Maria Ressa called it “death by a thousand cuts” to democracy and media freedom. It has included over 200 attacks and threats, including the murders of 22 journalists in the Philippines. As I said, there is an increase in the murders of human rights defenders worldwide.
I briefly mentioned this, but in China, there have been increasingly repressive measures and more restrictive measures to accessing the Xinjiang region, where a genocide is under way against the Uighurs.
Those are just a few examples of these trends worldwide.