Philippe Bolopion on the ‘perfect storm’ of factors challenging the human rights movement

For Philippe Bolopion, the stakes could not be clearer. “I can’t remember, in my lifetime, a more challenging moment for the human rights movement,” said the executive director of Human Rights Watch during a conversation hosted by the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs on September 28.

The grim state of human rights and human rights advocacy took center stage during the conversation with Bolopion, who joined Human Rights Watch in 2010 and rose to executive director in 2025. Speaking with Jonathan Fanton, President Emeritus of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he explained that this diagnosis is not due to one root cause but rather a “perfect storm” of forces converging at once: worldwide democratic decline, the growing influence of authoritarian governments, the weakening of multilateral institutions, increasing armed conflict and atrocity crimes, and attacks on institutions such as the International Criminal Court. 

As one example, Bolopion pointed to the Responsibility to Protect, a norm adopted by UN member states in 2005 that established a responsibility to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.

“Today, the norm is almost dead, or certainly nobody’s ever mentioning this very idea,” he said. “So, we are trying to revive that.” He argued that as conflict has returned around the world, international humanitarian law is being increasingly disregarded. “We need to… regain the universality of human rights.”

Defending human rights has never been an easy task, Bolopion explained, which inspires hope even in the most dire circumstances.

“I don’t want to convey the impression that there is nothing that we can do about it. . .  even in a difficult environment, you can find ways of pushing back.” 

In a time of scarce resources and funding — even for an organization as established  as Human Rights Watch — Bolopion emphasized the importance of coordination, cooperation, and coalition-building among nations, as well as among individual organizations.

When asked about how testimony can translate into action, Bolopion stressed the importance of making distant violations feel human. “At the end of the day, to trigger international attention or international reaction, you have to make people care,” he said, “and often you do that by connecting to the humanity of people.”

“It’s a long game. The odds are not in our favor now and, despite that, we are always able to achieve impact.”