Dear friend of HRMI,

It's been an important month for HRMI, with the release of our 2026 Rights Tracker update and the early impact already unfolding across regions. As you'll see in the updates below, partners, journalists, and advocates are putting the data to work in meaningful ways, helping bring greater visibility to people's lived experiences of human rights. We're grateful for your support and excited to share this snapshot of what's emerging.

Yours in service and solidarity,

Thalia, Melissa, and the HRMI team.

HRMI 2026 human rights data are sparking global conversations

It's been just one month since we released HRMI's 2026 human rights data, and the response has already been wide-ranging and encouraging. Journalists, advocates, and civil society organisations around the world are drawing on the new findings to illuminate urgent human rights issues and push for greater accountability. The breadth of this early engagement underscores how vital independent, people-centered data have become for understanding and addressing today's human rights landscape.

This year’s Rights Tracker release is our most comprehensive yet, offering:

• New economic and social rights scores for 200 countries and territories
• New civil and political rights scores for more than 50 countries, including our first-ever data for Argentina, Burkina Faso, North Korea, the Philippines, Republic of Congo, and Zambia
• ‘People at risk’ findings covering 43 vulnerable groups across 50+ countries
• Specialised measures for the Pacific on cultural and Indigenous rights, climate impacts, and community-level violence

We’re grateful to everyone who has shared, cited, and engaged with the data so far. Every use of the Rights Tracker helps strengthen the global evidence base for human rights and ensures that people’s experiences are visible and valued.

If you haven’t explored the new data yet, we’d love for you to spend a few minutes on RightsTracker.org, a certified Digital Public Good, and see how human rights are being realised — and where they’re under threat — around the world.

HRMI in the media

Over the past month, HRMI’s data have been showing up in newsrooms, radio studios, and advocacy spaces around the world, helping spark conversations about accountability, lived experience, and the state of human rights. Here’s a snapshot of how different outlets are using our findings to illuminate local and regional challenges:

• 🇳🇿 New Zealand – Amnesty International New Zealand
  In 'New human rights data shows New Zealand failing to protect basic rights', Amnesty International New Zealand drew on HRMI’s latest scores to examine where New Zealand is falling short on protecting fundamental human rights, challenging its reputation as a consistent human rights leader.
  
  
• 🇨🇳 🇭🇰 China and Hong Kong – New Bloom Magazine
  New Bloom Magazine featured analysis from HRMI Co-Executive Directors Thalia Kehoe Rowden and Melissa del Aguila, and East Asia Lead Patrick Poon, highlighting alarming declines in rights protections in China and Hong Kong in ‘China and Hong Kong’s Human Rights Performance are Among the Worst in East Asia, Drop in Major Democracies are Alarming‘.
  
  
• 🇺🇸 United States – The Conversation
  In an op-ed titled ‘Americans are not as well off as people in peer nations – US safety net’s shortfalls show up in global data‘, HRMI Co-Founder Susan Randolph and Economic and Social Rights Lead Stephen Bagwell explored how gaps in the US social safety net show up clearly in our global data — and what that means for Americans compared to peer nations.
  
  
• 🇲🇾 Malaysia – BFM 89.9 Radio
  HRMI Southeast Asia Lead, Keshia Mahmood joined BFM 89.9 Radio for ‘Human Rights: Are We Reaching Our Potential?‘, discussing Malaysia’s performance and the story behind the latest scores: where progress is emerging, and where persistent challenges remain.
  
  
• 🇳🇬 Nigeria – Premium Times
  Premium Times’ report, ‘Despite its wealth, Nigeria fails millions on education, healthcare, jobs — Report used HRMI’s data to show how millions of Nigerians are being denied essential economic and social rights, despite the country’s capacity to deliver far better outcomes.
  
  
• 🇵🇭 The Philippines – Inquirer  
  Filipino human rights activists at the United Nations cited HRMI’s findings in their advocacy around shrinking civic space and the use of counterterrorism measures to suppress dissent, as reported in the Inquirer’s ‘Fil-Am activists protest PH counterterrorism agencies at UN conference’.
  
  
• 🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of Congo – Actualite.co
  In ‘RDC: HRMI relève des défis persistants et des marges de progrès dans la protection des droits humains‘' Actualite.co explored both the persistent human rights challenges facing the DRC and the areas where meaningful progress remains possible.
  
  
• 🇮🇳 India – The Leaflet
  In ‘Dalits, Adivasis, Christian pastors and Bengali Muslims among most likely to face arbitrary arrest and detention by the Indian state, new data indicates,’ The Leaflet examined HRMI’s new ‘people at risk’ data, spotlighting how arbitrary arrest and detention disproportionately affect vulnerable communities in India.
  
  
• 🇦🇴 Angola – HoldOnAngola
  In ‘HRMI: Angola entre os campeões africanos da tortura, prisões arbitrárias e desaparecimentos‘,' HoldOnAngola reported on Angola’s poor performance on protections from torture, arbitrary arrest, and enforced disappearances, placing the country among the worst performers in Africa.
  
  
• 🇿🇦 South Africa – People’s Gazette
  In ‘HRMI report scores South Africa ‘very bad’ on rights to education, food‘, People’s Gazette highlighted deep concerns about South Africa’s ability to guarantee basic economic and social rights, particularly with respect to education and food.
  
  
• 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan – КазТАГ
  In ‘HRMI оценила соблюдение прав человека в Казахстане‘, КазТАГ reported on Kazakhstan’s latest scores, offering readers a clear picture of the country’s performance across multiple human rights indicators.

HRMI's latest data received strong media coverage, particularly in the Philippines, Nigeria, and Angola. Visit the Data in the media page on our website to explore the full range of news stories and articles featuring HRMI's data. If you use HRMI's data in your own work, or spot it being referenced elsewhere, we'd love to hear from you—please let us know so we can celebrate and share its impact.

HRMI’s upcoming events

Unpacking Africa Regional Rights Trends: Insights from HRMI’s 2026 Rights Tracker Data

We’re excited to partner with the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria for a hybrid briefing, 'Unpacking Africa Regional Rights Trends: Insights from HRMI’s 2026 Rights Tracker Data.'

This session will take a closer look at emerging regional trends in economic and social rights, civic space, and safety from the state — including what the data reveal about access to food, housing, health, and education, as well as the growing risks faced by journalists and human rights defenders across the continent.

📅 Monday, 20 July 2026
🕘 09:00 (SAST)
📍 Graduate Centre, University of Pretoria

🔗 REGISTER HERE to join online.

CID's Regional Insights Forum on East Africa

Join HRMI at the Council for International Development's next Regional Insights Forum on East Africa. HRMI team members will be sharing insights on how human rights data can strengthen accountability and advocacy across the region.

The forum brings together New Zealand and regional experts to explore the political, humanitarian, and development landscape across Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, South Sudan, Somalia, and Sudan. Attendees will hear from practitioners working in the region, discuss emerging trends and challenges, and connect with others engaged in East Africa.

The event is open to CID members, affiliates, and associates with an interest or connection to East Africa.

📅 29 July 2026
🕘 5:00 - 7:00PM (NZT) 
🔗 REGISTER HERE

AICHR Consultation on Human Rights Index 2026

Our Co-Executive Director, Thalia, will be speaking virtually at the upcoming ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) Consultation on the Human Rights Index 2026, taking place on 28–29 July 2026 in Tangerang, Banten, Indonesia.

Thalia will share insights from HRMI's work measuring human rights performance and the role of data in strengthening accountability across the region.

Our global launch continues in the coming months, with events in development across South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, Australia, and Latin America. Keep an eye on our social media for announcements, details, and opportunities to take part — we’d love to see you there!

Support our work

HRMI is doing impactful work with very limited resources, and we are delighted to see the global coverage, recognition, and use that our data is getting. Building on our people power and expertise, HRMI is poised to scale its global and thematic reach.  

Our aim is to measure every country’s performance of every human right in international law.  

But we cannot do this alone. We need sustained operational funding to increase our resiliency and strengthen our capacity to ensure the continuity of the Rights Tracker, HRMI’s ground-breaking digital public good.    

 
If you can help with suggestions of potential funders or by making a small donation to HRMI yourself, please get in touch by replying to this email or visiting our donations page.