A country half a point from the benchmark's highest confirmed band is simultaneously rolling back the safeguard that earned it the climb.
“Bangladesh's published score sits 0.2 points below the benchmark's Functional boundary after its Accountability dimension fell on evidence of a lapsed anti-disappearance ordinance. What would the replacement bill's final text need to preserve for the score to hold at its current reading?”
Thailand's score held near its published 32.8 out of 100, and Cambodia's held near its published 12.5, both in bands the evidence already supported. The nightly scan had flagged both countries over a border war with at least 38 people killed and about 300,000 displaced, sourced to a single undated Wikipedia summary page.
Why it matters
A border war between Thailand and Cambodia was reported as happening this week. It actually happened a year earlier, and the mistake was caught before either country's score moved.
Any Ecuadorian or US government response to Human Rights Watch's inquiries, or a first prosecution arising from the documented incidents, is the next event to watch.
A coordinator-level comparison of Mali's score against Burkina Faso's for comparable government conduct. Now roughly thirty-one days open with no set date.
How to read this briefing— Bands, scores, and terms
Schema guide
The 5 performance bands
critical0–20
developing20–40
functional40–60
established60–80
exemplary80–100
Two scales
Each of the 8 dimensions is scored 1.0–5.0; these combine into a 0–100 composite score, mapped to the 5 bands above.
Key terms
Band crossing
A score change large enough to move an entity from one performance band into an adjacent one — the most structurally significant finding in a given cycle.
Boundary watch
An entity whose current score is within 3 points of a band threshold, flagged for priority reassessment in the next cycle.
Carry-forward
A dimensional credit retained from a prior assessment when new evidence is insufficient to revise a specific dimension; disclosed explicitly.
First baseline
An entity's inaugural composite score — no published score exists to compare against, so delta is not shown.
Floor designation
The most serious finding: all 8 dimensions resolve at the lowest behavioral anchor (1.0/5.0) across multiple cycles, yielding a composite of 0.
Forward trigger
A scheduled future reassessment event (e.g., a policy implementation date or legislative deadline) that may materially change an entity's score.
A retailer's layoff notice, an airline's settlement, and a record war casualty count were all a year out of date in tonight's scan. Catching stale dates before they reach a score is basic hygiene, and it worked.
Best Buy's score held near its published 62.5 after a second check found the 161-person Best Buy Health layoff notice that had flagged the company was filed in July 2025, not 2026.
Where this sits
Read the full signal
Delta Air Lines held near its own published 62.5 the same way: the $8.1 million government settlement the scan cited was announced in July 2025. Ukraine's and Russia's scores held after the scan's civilian-casualty count, described as a record month, turned out to be the United Nations' July 2025 figure. The genuine June 2026 figure, published by the UN's human rights monitoring mission on July 14, 2026, is itself the deadliest month since April 2022: 293 people killed and 1,990 injured.
Security forces tortured detainees, dropped munitions on family farms, and fired on fishing boats, and no one was prosecuted. A lower score reflecting that has been proposed, but the public score has not moved yet.
Ecuador's published score remains 35.9 out of 100, in the Developing band.
Where this sits
Read the full signal
A Human Rights Watch investigation published July 21, 2026, based on 62 interviews, documents Ecuadorian security forces torturing detainees with electric shocks and water, dropping munitions on rural properties during a March 2026 operation in San Martin, and firing on a fishing vessel from an armed drone. Prosecutors brought no charges, because, HRW found, the soldiers involved provided no evidence. Neither the Ecuadorian nor the US government responded to HRW's questions. Ecuador's first individual review, in May 2026, had already flagged the published 35.9 as an unreviewed placeholder and scheduled a 60-day check on exactly this kind of evidence. A review triggered by the new HRW report proposed a lower score of 25.6. Because competitive elections, an active Constitutional Court, and a broadly free press still function, Ecuador remains in the Developing band under the proposed score too, well above Pakistan's 17.2. The proposal has not been applied.
They tortured me with electricity, with a taser. They poured water on me and then shocked me, and I passed out.
Bangladesh let its anti-disappearance rules lapse and proposed a replacement law that would stop its own human rights body from investigating security forces. Its score sits a fraction of a point from the benchmark's highest confirmed band.
Bangladesh's published score of 39.8 sits just 0.2 points below the boundary of the Functional band.
Where this sits
Read the full signal
Human Rights Watch reported on July 19, 2026, the first enforced disappearance since the July 2024 uprising: fisherman Miraj Sheikh was seen being detained by Coast Guard officers on April 10, 2026, and his family was told the next day that he had never been there. The elected government allowed the ordinances that had earned Bangladesh a score increase in June 2026 to lapse, and HRW says the replacement bill would bar the National Human Rights Commission from investigating security forces. The assessed score of 35.0 sits 4.8 points below the published figure, just inside the benchmark's five-point confirmation range, so the published score holds with a watch flag for the next review cycle.
Dozens of self-driving cars stalled in San Francisco days after Waymo said the issue was solved. Regulators have given the company until the end of July 2026 to fix how its cars detect emergency vehicles.
Waymo's score held near its published 35.9 out of 100. On July 4, 2026, dozens of Waymo vehicles stalled in San Francisco traffic with depleted batteries, and some had to be towed.
Where this sits
Read the full signal
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration then gave robotaxi operators until the end of July 2026 to fix emergency-responder detection, a deadline that falls after this review's evidence window closes. San Francisco firefighters have filed at least 31 internal reports since April 2025 describing robotaxis obstructing emergency operations. The assessed score of 31.3 sits 4.6 points below the published figure, inside the confirmation range, so the score holds with a watch flag on the NHTSA deadline outcome.
A city that resisted federal detention policy saw its score rise. Countries attacked by someone else did not see their scores fall for it. Only a government's own conduct moves its score.
Ukraine's score held at its published 50.0 after a Russian strike on a defense-industry event in the Kyiv region killed ten people and wounded more than 100 on July 24, 2026.
Where this sits
Read the full signal
Ukraine's own response, opening an investigation into whether officials properly assessed the risk of holding the event, is what the benchmark scored. Russia's score held at the absolute floor of 0.0 because that strike is Russia's own conduct. Iran's score held near the floor at 2.5 after it executed five political prisoners between July 16 and July 22, 2026, roughly one execution a day. Kansas City's score rose slightly, from a published 35.9 to an assessed 36.9, after federal agents detained at least 30 residents during the World Cup, conduct the benchmark attributed to the federal government, not the city. Kansas City's own mayor joined a 38-government amicus brief, and its council passed a five-year moratorium on new non-municipal detention facilities.
Countries -- A Torture Investigation Proposes a Downgrade for Ecuador, and a Scanning Error Nearly Aged a Border War
Ecuador's published score holds at 35.9 while a torture investigation proposes 25.6; Thailand and Cambodia held after a mis-dated border war was corrected before scoring.
Read the full signal
Ecuador (35.9 published, 25.6 proposed): a Human Rights Watch investigation into torture, air-dropped munitions, and drone strikes on fishing boats by security forces, with no prosecutions, produced a proposed downgrade that has not been applied.
Thailand (32.8) and Cambodia (12.5): both held after the benchmark caught a scanner date error citing a July 2025 border war as 2026 news.
Pakistan (17.2), Tunisia (23.8), Bangladesh (39.8): all confirmed; Bangladesh sits just 0.2 points below the Functional boundary with a watch flag for next cycle.
Ukraine (50.0), Iran (2.5), Russia (0.0): all confirmed under the benchmark's attribution rule, which scores a government's own conduct rather than harm inflicted on it by others.
9 signals shown
Risk signals
Developments that may affect future scores. Watch items from the Jul 24 briefing.
Risk
Undated aggregator pages, including a Wikipedia year-in-review summary, were the common link across all five of tonight's scanner date corrections.
Risk
Ecuador continues to accumulate the structural torture and extrajudicial-killing evidence a May 2026 review specifically flagged as the trigger for re-evaluation.
Risk
Bangladesh's score sits 0.2 points below the Functional line while its own anti-disappearance protections lapse, a combination that puts its next review within reach of a downgrade.
Risk
A second stalling episode after Waymo's own end-of-July NHTSA deadline would test whether the safety fix the company announced actually holds.
Risk
Guinea-Bissau continues to sit at its published score while a coup-era review proposing a move into the Critical band remains unapplied for a second consecutive cycle.
Risk
Mali and Burkina Faso's relative scores remain an open question after roughly a month, with neither country reviewed this cycle to test whether their scores reflect comparable government conduct.
Score movements
Entities with score changes this cycle, followed by confirmed positions.
Further ECOWAS or CPLP action on detained political figures, or additional documentation of the transitional government's conduct, is the next event to watch.
A worsening of the UN-backed hunger alert without a matching expansion of health-insurance or school-enrolment coverage would be the next event to move this score down.
A documented own-conduct deterioration in epidemic response, such as government obstruction of WHO response corridors, would be the next event that could push Uganda back into the Critical band.
A coordinator-level comparison of Baxter's proposed reading against the Fortune-500 medical-device placeholder cohort, or a second Baxter recall, is the next event that would test this finding.
A second undisclosed telemetry episode, evidence the removed tracker was broader or retained longer than stated, or a regulator or court finding of deceptive practice would each independently move the score toward a change.
A documented change in Egypt's refugee-deportation practice, or a further Human Rights Watch or UNHCR finding, is the next event that would test this score.
Any material in-window labor or consumer-protection finding, distinct from the July 2025 layoff notice mistakenly scanned this cycle, is the next event to watch.
Independently documented deliberate targeting of Palestinian civilians by Palestinian authorities themselves, or systematic diversion of aid, would move the score down.
A coordinator-level review comparing Mali's conduct against Burkina Faso's (6.3 of 100) is the next scored event needed to resolve this gap. No review date has been set.
A coordinator-level review comparing Bolivia's conduct profile, as an elected government under economic and civil-unrest strain, against Critical-band peers facing state collapse or mass atrocity is the next event needed. No review date has been set.
methodology-evolution
Evidence ledger
Primary sources reviewed in this briefing cycle. 16 sources linked.
thailandTier 3 · NGO2026-01-15
Fighting in July 2025 killed and injured civilians, including children, displaced around 300,000 people, and damaged religious and cultural sites.
Human Rights Watch reported on July 13, 2026, that Thailand was holding four UNHCR-recognized Chinese refugees at Suan Phlu Immigration Detention Center under pressure from Beijing.
The UN's human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine found June 2026 was the deadliest month since April 2022, with 293 civilians killed and 1,990 injured; the scan's cited casualty record was actually the July 2025 figure.
ecuadorTier 3 · NGO2026-07-21
They tortured me with electricity, with a taser. They poured water on me and then shocked me, and I passed out.
On March 27, 2026, UN Special Procedures experts reported credible information about a rapid deterioration of civic space affecting Indigenous peoples and human rights defenders, including arbitrary detentions and terrorism accusations.
Human Rights Watch documented the first enforced disappearance since the July 2024 uprising: fisherman Miraj Sheikh was seen detained by Coast Guard officers on April 10, 2026, and his family was told the next day he had never been there.
NHTSA gave robotaxi operators until the end of July 2026 to fix emergency-responder detection after dozens of Waymo vehicles stalled in San Francisco on July 4, 2026.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas joined seven mayors and 38 local governments in a federal amicus brief, and the City Council passed a five-year moratorium on non-municipal detention facilities, after at least 30 residents were detained by federal agents during the World Cup.
Pakistan reported 129 militants killed between July 5 and July 16, 2026, in Operation Shaban; Baloch groups say some of the dead were civilians who had earlier been forcibly disappeared.
South Korea's Yellow Envelope Law, in effect since March 10, 2026, extended union rights to subcontractors and gig workers for the first time; on July 21, 2026, President Lee Jae-myung said union demands for a fixed share of operating profit may not count as a lawful subject of labor disputes.
Barbados' Protection of Wages Bill, debated July 21-22, 2026, makes payday a legal obligation, bans retention deductions and interest on salary advances, and sets penalties up to three years in prison for withholding deducted wages.
Between July 16 and July 22, 2026, Iran executed five political prisoners arrested during the January 2026 protests, close to one political execution per day; Amnesty International says at least 78 people are under sentence of death, including minors.
On July 23, 2026, a witness saw 85-year-old jailed opposition leader Rached Ghannouchi faint at Mornaguia prison, where the reported temperature was 52 degrees Celsius; 37 opposition figures remain detained after proceedings the UN calls politically motivated.
Floor designations
·8 entities at composite 0 with documented evidence pattern
Composite scores resolving at zero — methodology disclosure
These entities consistently score the worst result across all 8 dimensions of compassionate conduct — the benchmark's most serious classification.
What “floor” means: every one of the 8 dimensions (Recognition, Response, Reduction, and 5 others) resolves at the lowest behavioral anchor (1.0/5.0) across multiple assessment cycles, yielding a composite score of 0. Full methodology.
Daily briefings surface the headline finding. Full benchmark reports include all 40 subdimension scores, complete evidence trails, certified assessments, and sector-level analysis packages — the record researchers and journalists cite.
Independence note: entities never pay for inclusion, score changes, or suppression of findings. Commercial services support access, interpretation, and institutional use only.