Amnesty International said on Wednesday that US president Donald Trump's "poisonous" rhetoric on his way to winning the White House led a global trend towards increasingly divisive politics in 2016 that had made the world a "darker" place.

In its annual report covering 159 countries, the human rights group said principles of human dignity and equality had come under assault from politicians seeking election and it zeroed in on Mr Trump, who took office on January 20.

"Donald Trump's poisonous campaign rhetoric exemplifies a global trend towards angrier and more divisive politics," Amnesty said in a statement issued in Paris. The world, it said, had become a "darker ... unstable place", with a rise in hate speech targeting refugees across Europe and the United States.

"The early indications from (...) Trump suggest a foreign policy that will significantly undermine multilateral cooperation and usher in a new era of greater instability and mutual suspicion," Amnesty added.