Donald Trump's "toxic" and "poisonous" fear-mongering has made the world a "darker, unstable" place.  That's according to the latest human rights report from Amnesty International, which says Australia is part of the problem.

The veteran campaign group put Trump on a goon's list with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose "divisive fear-mongering has become a dangerous force in world affairs". 

Amnesty International Secretary-General Salil Shetty said, "Whether it is Trump, Orban, Erdogan or Duterte, more and more politicians calling themselves anti-establishment are wielding a toxic agenda that hounds, scapegoats and dehumanizes entire groups of people."  The group warns that as former world leaders like the United States renege on their human rights commitments, other countries may feel emboldened to do the same. 

"Even states that once claimed to champion rights abroad are now too busy rolling back human rights at home to hold others to account," Amnesty said.  "The more countries backtrack on fundamental human rights commitments, the more we risk a domino effect of leaders emboldened to knock back established human rights protections."

The watchdog group's 408-page report titled "The State of the World's Human Rights" (.pdf link) specifically calls out Trump's attempt to put a travel ban on immigrants and visa holders who are citizens of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, and Somalia.  US courts have put a halt to scheme since it seems designed to flagrantly defy constitutional bans on religious discrimination.  But Australia's system of off-shore detention is also roundly criticized as an example of bad government turning a cold shoulder to refugees.

"The Trump administration is just one of the many governments that has used this dangerous rhetoric, whether it be against drug dealers in the Philippines, or the way Australia has scapegoated asylum seekers," said Amnesty International Crisis Director Tirana Hassan in an interview with CNN.

"The limits of what is acceptable have shifted," notes the report.  "Politicians are shamelessly and actively legitimizing all sorts of hateful rhetoric and policies based on people's identity: misogyny, racism and homophobia.  The first target has been refugees and, if this continues in 2017, others will be in the crosshairs."  It labels 2016 as "the year when the cynical use of 'us versus them' narratives of blame, hate and fear took on a global prominence to a level not seen since the 1930s" when Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany.

"The big question in 2017 will be how far the world lets atrocities go before doing something about them".

“Even states that once claimed to champion rights abroad are now too busy rolling back human rights at home to hold others to account,” Amnesty said. “The more countries backtrack on fundamental human rights commitments, the more we risk a domino effect of leaders emboldened to knock back established human rights protections.”