Human rights groups are bracing for the worst under the presidency of Donald Trump - with one group calling for him to "abandon hateful rhetoric".

Rights group Amnesty International has called on Trump to publicly repudiate the use of torture and to close the detention centre at Guantánamo Bay. The human rights group also said it had “serious concerns” about Mr Trump’s proposed "Muslim registry" and his numerous statements on women, people of colour, the disabled, LGBTI people, activists and journalists.

“As president, Donald Trump must abandon the hateful rhetoric that riddled his campaign and commit to protecting human rights for everyone,” said USA’s Executive Director Margaret Huang in a statement.

Amnesty International joins numerous other civil rights and human rights groups that have sounded the alarm bell on either Mr Trump’s policy positions or ones backed by members of his proposed cabinet.

Human Rights Watch issued a 687 report earlier this week that called Trump “a threat to human rights”.

“(Trump’s) campaign floated proposals that would harm millions of people, including plans to engage in massive deportations of immigrants, to curtail women’s rights and media freedoms, and to use torture,” the report said, quoting Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth.

Both groups called on Trump to publicly repudiate the use of torture and to close the US detention centre at Guantánamo Bay.

Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Show all 14 1 /14 Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Isis: "Some of the candidates, they went in and didn’t know the air conditioner didn’t work and sweated like dogs, and they didn’t know the room was too big because they didn’t have anybody there. How are they going to beat ISIS?" Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On immigration: "I will build a great wall — and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me —and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Free Trade: "Free trade is terrible. Free trade can be wonderful if you have smart people. But we have stupid people." PAUL J. RICHARDS | AFP | Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Mexicans: "When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re sending people that have lots of problems. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists." Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On China: "I just sold an apartment for $15 million to somebody from China. Am I supposed to dislike them?... I love China. The biggest bank in the world is from China. You know where their United States headquarters is located? In this building, in Trump Tower." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On work: "If you're interested in 'balancing' work and pleasure, stop trying to balance them. Instead make your work more pleasurable." AP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On success: "What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate." Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On life: "Everything in life is luck." AFP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On ambition: "You have to think anyway, so why not think big?" Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On his opponents: "Bush is totally in favour of Common Core. I don't see how he can possibly get the nomination. He's weak on immigration. He's in favour of Common Core. How the hell can you vote for this guy? You just can't do it." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Obamacare: "You have to be hit by a tractor, literally, a tractor, to use it, because the deductibles are so high. It's virtually useless. And remember the $5 billion web site?... I have so many web sites, I have them all over the place. I hire people, they do a web site. It costs me $3." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Barack Obama: "Obama is going to be out playing golf. He might be on one of my courses. I would invite him. I have the best courses in the world. I have one right next to the White House." PA Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On himself: "Love him or hate him, Trump is a man who is certain about what he wants and sets out to get it, no holds barred. Women find his power almost as much of a turn-on as his money." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On America: "The American Dream is dead. But if I get elected president I will bring it back bigger and better and stronger than ever before and we will make America great again." GETTY

Mr Trump’s proposed DHS Secretary, Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly said during confirmation hearings that he would abide by US laws on waterboarding and that he thought the United States should abide by the Geneva Conventions.

“I don't think we should ever come close to crossing a line that is beyond what we as Americans would expect to follow in terms of interrogation techniques,” Mr Kelly told the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

Closing Guantánamo Bay is unlikely to happen, especially now that Mr Trump is president. Mr Trump has vowed to keep the detention facility open.

Anti-Trump protesters gather in downtown Washington

President Barack Obama took action on his third day of office in 2009 to shut down the notorious prison. But the question of where to transfer Guantánamo’s prisoners as well as restrictions from Congress on transferring the prisoners to the United States has made shutting down the military detention facility more difficult than anticipated. If the State Department is not able to find another nation willing to take the prisoners, they must remain in Guantánamo.

A total of 45 prisoners remain in the detention centre, although four more have been scheduled for release it was announced on Thursday. That is down from the 240 prisoners when Mr Obama first came into office in 2009.

“There should be no further releases from Gitmo,” Mr Trump tweeted in January. “These are extremely dangerous people and should not be allowed back onto the battlefield.”

The idea of a “Muslim ban” and a “Muslim registry” has been raised several times during confirmation hearings of Mr Trump’s proposed cabinet members. Mr Trump’s proposed DHS Secretary, Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly, has said that he is against creating a registry or imposing a ban on the basis of religion alone. Mr Trump’s pick to head the Justice Department, Sen. Jeff Sessions rejected the idea of a Muslim registry in last week’s confirmation hearings but suggested that religious institutions such as mosques could be put under surveillance if there was reason to suspect illegal activity.

Mr Trump’s transition team has maintained that the proposed “Muslim” ban on new immigrants would not be on the basis of religion, but instead target countries with high incidents of terrorism. The programme established shortly after 9/11 by the Bush administration—the National Security Entry Exit Registration System—also used country of origin as its qualifier. Under NSEERS, all males 16 and older from the following countries were required to register: Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Egypt, Eritrea, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

NSEERS didn’t affect US citizens, permanent residents, or those who were applying to settle in the United States permanently under a visa program.

The Obama administration dismantled the NSEERS registry in December, declaring that it no longer provided an increase in security in light of DHS’s evolving abilities to assess terrorism.

The wealth of data available online in 2016 —from social media like Facebook to public records to the intelligence already gathered by marketing firms— has raised speculation that the Mr Trump administration would easily be able to build a larger “Muslim” registry from scratch.