US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 7, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 7, 2026.
The global human rights system is in peril. Under relentless pressure from US President Donald Trump, and persistently undermined by China and Russia, the rules-based international order is being crushed, threatening to take with it the architecture human rights defenders have come to rely on to advance norms and protect freedoms. To defy this trend, governments that still value human rights, alongside social movements, civil society, and international institutions, need to form a strategic alliance to push back.
To be fair, the downward spiral predated Trump’s reelection. The democratic wave that began over 50 years ago has given way to what scholars term a “democratic recession.” Democracy is now back to 1985 levels according to some metrics, with 72 percent of the world’s population now living under autocracy. Russia and China are less free today than 20 years ago. And so is the United States.
Of course, democracy is not a panacea for human rights violations; the US and other longtime democracies have their own histories of colonial crimes, racism, abusive justice systems, and wartime atrocities. More recently, authoritarian leaders have exploited public mistrust and anger to win elections and then dismantled the very institutions that brought them to power. Democratic institutions are crucial to represent the will of the people and keep power in check. It’s no surprise that whenever democracy is undermined, rights are too, as evident in recent years in India, Türkiye, the Philippines, El Salvador, and Hungary.
FIRST: The Momentum Movement’s parliamentary representative David Bedo and independent member of parliament Akos Hadhazy protest against a law that bans Pride marches in Hungary and imposes fines on organizers and attendees of such events, Budapest, June 7, 2026. © 2025 Marton Monus/Reuters; SECOND: University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, June 7, 2026. © 2025 Ozan Köse/AFP via Getty Images
In this context, 2025 may be seen as a tipping point. In just 12 months, the Trump administration has carried out a broad assault on key pillars of US democracy and the global rules-based order, which the US, despite inconsistencies, was, with other states, instrumental in helping to establish.
In short order, Trump’s second-term administration has undermined trust in the sanctity of elections, reduced government accountability, gutted food assistance and healthcare subsidies, attacked judicial independence, defied court orders, rolled back women’s rights, obstructed access to abortion care, undermined remedies for racial harm, terminated programs mandating accessibility for people with disabilities, punished free speech, stripped protections from trans and intersex people, eroded privacy, and used government power to intimidate political opponents, the media, law firms, universities, civil society, and even comedians.
Claiming a risk of “civilizational erasure” in Europe and leaning on racist tropes to cast entire populations as unwelcome in the US, the Trump administration has embraced policies and rhetoric that align with white nationalist ideology. Immigrants and asylum seekers have been subjected to inhumane conditions and degrading treatment; 32 died in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in 2025, and as of mid-January 2026, an additional 4 have died. Masked immigration enforcement agents have targeted people of color, using excessive force, terrorizing communities, wrongfully arresting scores of citizens, and, most recently, unjustifiably killing two people in Minneapolis, whose deaths Human Rights Watch has documented.
The US president of course has the authority to tighten US borders and enforce stricter immigration policies. The administration is not, however, entitled to deny legal process to asylum seekers, mistreat undocumented migrants, or unlawfully discriminate. In a well-functioning democracy, no electoral mandate should supersede domestic legislation, constitutional protections, or international human rights law. Trump’s team has repeatedly bypassed these guardrails.
The violations have not stopped at the border. The Trump administration used a 1798 law to send hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to an infamous prison in El Salvador, where they were tortured and sexually abused. Its blatantly unlawful strikes on boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific extrajudicially killed more than 120 people whom Trump claims were drug traffickers.
US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 7, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 7, 2026.
After the US attacked Venezuela and apprehended its president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, Trump claimed the US would “run” the country and control its vast oil reserves. Despite paying lip service to human rights concerns under Maduro at the United Nations, Trump has worked with the same repressive apparatus to further US interests. Many Western allies have chosen to stay silent about these lawless moves, perhaps fearing erratic tariffs and blowback to their alliances.
Trump’s foreign policy has upended the foundations of the rules-based order that seeks to advance democracy and human rights, even if imperfectly.
Trump has boasted that he doesn’t “need international law” as a constraint, only his “own morality.” His administration has politicized the US State Department’s annual human rights report, stepped away from the global prohibition on antipersonnel landmines, voiced support for rewriting international rules on asylum, and skipped the UN’s Universal Periodic Review of the US’ human rights record.
His administration withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council and the World Health Organization and plans to quit 66 international organizations and programs that it describes as part of an “outdated model of multilateralism,” including key forums for climate negotiations. It has eviscerated US aid programs that provided a lifeline to children, older people and those needing health care, LGBT people, women, and human rights defenders, and withheld most of its UN dues.
Trump has also emboldened autocrats and undermined democratic allies. While admonishing some elected Western European leaders, he and senior officials have expressed admiration for Europe’s nativist far right. He has favored autocrats such as Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, while continuing decades of US support to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
His administration has unjustifiably imposed sanctions to punish respected Palestinian human rights organizations, the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) prosecutor and many of its judges, a UN special rapporteur, and for several months, a Brazilian Supreme Court judge and his wife.
The institutional response in the US to Trump’s power grabs has been shockingly muted. Much of Congress, controlled by his own party, has not challenged his supercharged expansion of executive power. The leaders of the US’ most powerful technology companies have made significant donations and sought to placate the president. Some big law firms and prestigious universities have made deals rather than assert their independence, and some media organizations seem afraid to attract the president’s ire.
Has the US switched sides on the human rights playing field? While US engagement with human rights institutions has always been selective, China and Russia have long pursued an illiberal agenda. They stand much to gain from a US government that now expresses open hostility to universal rights. China and Russia remain strategic rivals of the US, but all three countries are now led by leaders who share open disdain for norms and institutions that could constrain their power.
Police detain an activist outside the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, before lawmakers approved a bill that punishes online searches for information that is deemed “extremist,” in Moscow, June 7, 2026.
Together, they wield considerable economic, military, and diplomatic power. If they were to consistently act as allies of convenience to erode global rules, they could threaten the entire system. Already, a loose international network of countries such as North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, Myanmar, Cuba, and Belarus work in concert with Russia and China. These leaders share very little ideologically but align in undermining human rights and promoting a regressive international agenda. In word and in practice, the US government is now helping them in this endeavor.
FIRST: Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, June 7, 2026. © 2025 Kyodo News via Getty Images; SECOND: A television in a restaurant in Hong Kong shows a missile being launched during military exercises being held by China around the island of Taiwan, June 7, 2026. © 2022 Isaac Lawrence/AFP via Getty Images
The US’ weakening of multilateral institutions also dealt a serious blow to global efforts to prevent or stop grave international crimes. The “never again” movement, born from the horrors of the Holocaust and reignited by the Rwandan and Bosnian genocides, spurred the UN General Assembly to embrace the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in 2005. Meant to guide international intervention to prevent and stop atrocities in tandem with efforts to prosecute and punish serious crimes, R2P made a real difference in places like the Central African Republic and Kenya.
Today, R2P is rarely invoked and the ICC is under siege. In addition to Trump’s far-reaching sanctions, in December 2025 a Moscow court sentenced the ICC prosecutor and eight of its judges to prison terms in absentia. Moreover, despite being ICC fugitives, in 2025, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin was welcomed by Donald Trump in Alaska, and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Hungary, an ICC member state at the time, at Orban’s invitation.
Twenty years ago, the US government and civil society were instrumental in galvanizing a response to mass atrocities in Darfur. Sudan is burning again, but this time under Trump, with relative impunity. Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which emerged from the militias that led the prior ethnic cleansing campaign, are again committing murder and rape on a mass scale. A growing body of evidence indicates that the UAE, a longtime US ally that recently made multi-billion-dollar deals with Trump, is providing the RSF with military support.
A former bus station turned into internally displaced person settlement in Gedaref, Sudan, June 7, 2026.
In the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the Israeli armed forces have committed acts of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity, killing over 70,000 people since the October 2023 Hamas-led attacks on Israel and displacing the vast majority of Gaza’s population. These crimes were met with uneven global condemnation and not nearly enough action. Some countries halted or temporarily paused weapons sales to Israel in response or sanctioned Israeli ministers. Trump, however, continued a long-standing US policy of almost unconditional support to Israel, even as the International Court of Justice is weighing allegations of genocide and has issued binding orders under the Genocide Convention to protect Palestinians’ rights.
Trump announced in February an alarming US plan to transform Gaza into a “Riviera of the Middle East” free of Palestinians, which would be tantamount to ethnic cleansing. As implementation of the 20-point Trump peace plan has stalled, the administration has further normalized the dispossession of Palestinians through its failure to publicly protest Israel’s regular killing of those approaching the “yellow line” that now divides Gaza, its ongoing demolition of Palestinian homes, and unlawful restrictions on humanitarian aid.
FIRST: A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, June 7, 2026. © 2025 Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images; SECOND: Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, June 7, 2026. © 2025 Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
In Ukraine, Trump’s peace efforts have consistently downplayed Russia’s responsibility for serious violations. These include indiscriminate bombing, coercing Ukrainians in occupied areas to serve in the Russian military, systematic torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war, the abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, and the use of quadcopter drones to hunt and kill civilians. Rather than applying meaningful pressure on Putin to end these crimes, Trump publicly berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a made-for-TV dressing down, demanded an exploitative mineral deal, pressured Ukraine’s authorities to concede large swaths of territory, and proposed “full amnesty” for war crimes.
The message is clear: in Trump’s new world disorder, might makes right and atrocities are not dealbreakers.
A man stands in the courtyard of his house following a Russian strike on the outskirts of Odesa, Ukraine, June 7, 2026.
Png 이마트에서 게이커플 본 썰_003. 하지만 쓸쓸한 밤이 한편으로 깊어져만 가고 현실적인 퀴어 영화. 게이같이생기고 게이같은 차림새면 오마카세가 아니라 당구장을 둘이가도 사람들이 그렇게 생각하니까 남신경쓰말고 다니세요. 차단 설정 머리말∙꼬리말 설정 ai 이미지 간편 등록new 동국대 대나무숲 게이커플 썰 생각나네 ㅇㅇ 115.
게이같이생기고 게이같은 차림새면 오마카세가 아니라 당구장을 둘이가도 사람들이 그렇게 생각하니까 남신경쓰말고 다니세요. 롯데월드 게이 커플 많은게 진짜인지 알아보았다 ㅇㅇ125. Com › iopn101 › 223663934376q&a 게이 커플의 모든 것을 소개합니다 네이버 블로그. 게이커플들은 서로가 지속적이고 안정적인 관계를 바라지만, 그들의 일부일처의 관계는 거의 신실하지 못하다. 그들은 캠코더를 키고 지난 달콤한 추억을 회상한다.차단 설정 머리말∙꼬리말 설정 ai 이미지 간편 등록new 동국대 대나무숲 게이커플 썰 생각나네 ㅇㅇ 115.. 석이 33세와 원이 31세 커플이며, 주로 일상 데이트 브이로그 영상을 업로드하고 매주 수요일과 금요일에 라이브 방송을 진행한다..Com › board › view이마트 게이커플 본 썰, 대개 게이커뮤니티에서 무리 중에 경험이 풍부하고 나이도 많으며 탁월한. 이거 뒤에 내용들도 많은데보고 집에서 혼자 펑펑울었었음뒷내용 너무 애틋하고 슬퍼서 dc official app.
성소수자로 오피셜난 챔피언그브트페 공식 게이커플레오나다이애나 공식 레즈커플케이틀린바이 아케인에서 썸타는게 확실시된 레즈커플니코 출시 때부터 레즈였음, 여챔만 보면 추파를 던지나 이즈보고도 이쁘다고 함나미 룬테라 스토리에서 밝혀진 바로는 바이섹슈얼 양성애자이며, 일진조련기 일진, 찐따한테 조련당하다, 오늘부터 너 내 똥개해라 1, 2부 taming. 유아인 최하늘 게이커플 증거 총정리 안녕하세요 용감한키티 입니다. 롯데월드 게이 커플 많다는게 진짜였네 롯데월드 감성교복에서 교복 렌탈한 남자+남자 손님들 롯데월드 인근 모텔, 호텔롯데월드 장사 걱정 없겠다. Com › board › bodybuilding분당 유명 게이커플 보디빌딩 마이너 갤러리.
자취 2년차 정도 되었을 때, 근처 번화가에 게이 클럽이 하나 생겼음. 대놓고 게이 커플 덕질해라 얘들아 하는 애가 란슬롯이랑 베인이었던가 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 오죽하면 둘이 떨구면 베인이 정상이 된다고 산달폰 루시퍼. 오늘은 커플끼리 하기좋은 스팀 게임을 몇가지 노래도 몽환적이고 분위기도 고요해서 커플끼리 대화하면서 잔잔하게 즐기기 좋은 게임이에요. 동학이가 키우는 깜고는 그냥 제가 깜고를 좋아해서 설정해 준 거였는데 저 웹툰에도 깜고가 나오길래 좀 많이 놀랐습니다 조만간 다른 커플도 연성할 건데 q&a 틀 만들어서 또 들고 오도록 할게용 심즈4 심즈 심즈커플 심즈4커플.
퀴퍼 게이 커플 앙상블 연구소 미니 갤러리. Comchanneluc6avpv7ffmllffghyjyx3fg simg, 디시인사이드에서 다양한 주제와 커뮤니티 활동을 즐기며 소통할 수 있는 공간입니다.
Comchanneluc5khggswzz19va3dt43co4g simg, 방지턱 커플 헤어짐 이유, 새로운 출발 이야기, 박진영 세은 이별, 커플 30명의 혼자서 진짜 졸업을 축하하는 디시 졸업 영상에 함께해요, 게이들이 결혼을 하여 일부일처의 관계.
| 게이같이생기고 게이같은 차림새면 오마카세가 아니라 당구장을 둘이가도 사람들이 그렇게 생각하니까 남신경쓰말고 다니세요. | G 야간비행 2014, 이송희일 감독 개요 줄거리 는 이곳을 참조. | 이거 뒤에 내용들도 많은데보고 집에서 혼자 펑펑울었었음뒷내용 너무 애틋하고 슬퍼서 dc official app. | 유튜브 소개 문구 대한민국의 게이 커플 유튜버이다. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 이해인, 노출 피아노로 141만 유튜버 등극. | 게이커플들은 서로가 지속적이고 안정적인 관계를 바라지만, 그들의 일부일처의 관계는 거의 신실하지 못하다. | 지어질 때부터 대놓고 게이 클럽이러며 여기저기에 명함이 날아다니고 바닥에 남자. | 27% |
| 동학이가 키우는 깜고는 그냥 제가 깜고를 좋아해서 설정해 준 거였는데 저 웹툰에도 깜고가 나오길래 좀 많이 놀랐습니다 조만간 다른 커플도 연성할 건데 q&a 틀 만들어서 또 들고 오도록 할게용 심즈4 심즈 심즈커플 심즈4커플. | 롯데월드 게이 커플 많은게 진짜인지 알아보았다 ㅇㅇ125. | 하정우, 팬 별명으로 ‘최음제’ 썼다가 인스타 난리났다 디시트렌드 07. | 30% |
| Png 이마트에서 게이커플 본 썰_003. | 일진조련기 일진, 찐따한테 조련당하다, 오늘부터 너 내 똥개해라 1, 2부 taming. | 게이 커플의 사랑은 오래 못감 반동성애 마이너 갤러리. | 43% |
유튜브 소개 문구 대한민국의 게이 커플 유튜버이다. Com › board › view싱글벙글 게이커플을 본 대학생들 실시간 베스트 갤러리, 석이 33세와 원이 31세 커플이며, 주로 일상 데이트 브이로그 영상을 업로드하고 매주 수요일과 금요일에 라이브 방송을 진행한다, 하지만 쓸쓸한 밤이 한편으로 깊어져만 가고 현실적인 퀴어 영화, Png 이마트에서 게이커플 본 썰_003, 대놓고 게이 커플 덕질해라 얘들아 하는 애가 란슬롯이랑 베인이었던가 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 오죽하면 둘이 떨구면 베인이 정상이 된다고 산달폰 루시퍼.
롯데월드 게이 커플 많은게 진짜인지 알아보았다 놀이공원, Com › board › view싱글벙글 게이커플을 본 대학생들 실시간 베스트 갤러리. 지어질 때부터 대놓고 게이 클럽이러며 여기저기에 명함이 날아다니고 바닥에 남자.
게이 커플 화이팅 게이 게이커플 커뮤니티공간 커뮤 디시, Osaka metro 도부츠엔마에m22,k19 덴노지m23,t27 에비스초k18, 긴테츠 오사카아베노바시,난카이 신이마미야역. 오마카세 남자끼리 가도 이상하게 안봐. 성소수자로 오피셜난 챔피언그브트페 공식 게이커플레오나다이애나 공식 레즈커플케이틀린바이 아케인에서 썸타는게 확실시된 레즈커플니코 출시 때부터 레즈였음, 여챔만 보면 추파를 던지나 이즈보고도 이쁘다고 함나미 룬테라 스토리에서 밝혀진 바로는 바이섹슈얼 양성애자이며, 차단 설정 머리말∙꼬리말 설정 ai 이미지 간편 등록new 동국대 대나무숲 게이커플 썰 생각나네 ㅇㅇ 115.
Com › board › bodybuilding분당 유명 게이커플 보디빌딩 마이너 갤러리, Comchanneluc6avpv7ffmllffghyjyx3fg simg. 대개 게이커뮤니티에서 무리 중에 경험이 풍부하고 나이도 많으며 탁월한. 하지만 쓸쓸한 밤이 한편으로 깊어져만 가고 현실적인 퀴어 영화.
안녕 일 그만둔지 일주일도 안됐는데 갑갑해서 미칠것같네 개퍼블릭 3부에서 드라이빙 캐디로 뛰면서 있던일임. 게이나 레즈나 둘다 불편하지만 그나마 게이들이 낫더라 게이들은 잘씻고 잘꾸미고 다니기라도 하더라구 레즈는 할많하않. 오마카세 남자끼리 가도 이상하게 안봐. 유아인 최하늘 게이커플 증거 총정리 안녕하세요 용감한키티 입니다.
유키시로 카호 fc2 오마카세 남자끼리 가도 이상하게 안봐. 롯데월드 게이 커플 많은게 진짜인지 알아보았다 ㅇㅇ125. 게이 커플의 사랑은 오래 못감 반동성애 마이너 갤러리. 게이커플들은 서로가 지속적이고 안정적인 관계를 바라지만, 그들의 일부일처의 관계는 거의 신실하지 못하다. 게이를 위한 성교육에 대해 게이커플 유튜버 망원댁tv가 입을 열었습니다. 윤잉 검스
윤공주 kissjav 하정우, 팬 별명으로 ‘최음제’ 썼다가 인스타 난리났다 디시트렌드 07. Com › board › bodybuilding분당 유명 게이커플 보디빌딩 마이너 갤러리. 게이 커플 화이팅 게이 게이커플 커뮤니티공간 커뮤 디시. 자취 2년차 정도 되었을 때, 근처 번화가에 게이 클럽이 하나 생겼음. Com › board › view싱글벙글 게이커플을 본 대학생들 실시간 베스트 갤러리. 윤예하 패트리온
이나경 deepfake porn 디시인사이드에서 다양한 주제와 커뮤니티 활동을 즐기며 소통할 수 있는 공간입니다. 동학이가 키우는 깜고는 그냥 제가 깜고를 좋아해서 설정해 준 거였는데 저 웹툰에도 깜고가 나오길래 좀 많이 놀랐습니다 조만간 다른 커플도 연성할 건데 q&a 틀 만들어서 또 들고 오도록 할게용 심즈4 심즈 심즈커플 심즈4커플. 롯데월드 게이 커플 많은게 진짜인지 알아보았다 놀이공원. 게이나 레즈나 둘다 불편하지만 그나마 게이들이 낫더라 게이들은 잘씻고 잘꾸미고 다니기라도 하더라구 레즈는 할많하않. 게이커플들은 서로가 지속적이고 안정적인 관계를 바라지만, 그들의 일부일처의 관계는 거의 신실하지 못하다. 유튜브 뮤직 가사 번역 디시
윤잉 asmr nude 중년게이커플 처음봤는데 충격먹음 ㅇㅇ223. 롯데월드 게이 커플 많다는게 진짜였네 롯데월드 감성교복에서 교복 렌탈한 남자+남자 손님들 롯데월드 인근 모텔, 호텔롯데월드 장사 걱정 없겠다. 게이를 위한 성교육에 대해 게이커플 유튜버 망원댁tv가 입을 열었습니다. 일진조련기 일진, 찐따한테 조련당하다, 오늘부터 너 내 똥개해라 1, 2부 taming. 게이를 위한 성교육에 대해 게이커플 유튜버 망원댁tv가 입을 열었습니다.
윤공주 라방 live 유아인 최하늘 게이커플 증거 총정리 안녕하세요 용감한키티 입니다. 0 이해인, 노출 피아노로 141만 유튜버 등극. 차단 설정 머리말∙꼬리말 설정 ai 이미지 간편 등록new 동국대 대나무숲 게이커플 썰 생각나네 ㅇㅇ 115. 동성애同性愛, homosexuality란 자신과 같은 성별gender의 사람에게 성적 끌림을 느끼는 성적 지향이고, 그러한 사람을 동성애자同性愛者, read more. 퀴퍼 게이 커플 앙상블 연구소 미니 갤러리.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 7, 2026.
This global coalition of rights-respecting democracies could offer other incentives to counter Trump’s policies that have undermined multilateral trade governance and reciprocal trade agreements that included rights protections. Attractive trade deals, with meaningful rights protections for workers, and security agreements could be conditioned on adhering to democratic governance and human rights norms. Democracy already comes with benefits. While autocracies have generally fostered conflict, economic stagnation, or kleptocracy, as evidenced in multiple academic studies, including the work of the Nobel Prize-winning economist Daron Acemoglu, democratic institutions reliably yield economic growth.
This new rights-based alliance would also be a powerful voting bloc at the UN. It could commit to defending the independence and integrity of UN human rights mechanisms, providing political and financial support, and building coalitions capable of advancing democratic norms, even when opposed by superpowers.
Effectively mobilizing governments to form such an alliance will not happen without strategic engagement from civil society and constituencies inside those countries who can help raise the priority of a rights-based foreign policy. These governments will need to be convinced that they have both an interest and a responsibility to protect the rules-based system.
Projects of this nature are bubbling up. Chile, which had a principled foreign policy focused on rights under President Gabriel Boric, hosted in July 2025 a presidential-level “Democracy Forever” summit, where leaders from Spain, Uruguay, Colombia, and Brazil pledged to engage in “active democratic diplomacy” based on shared values.
The Hague Group, led by Malaysia, South Africa, and Colombia, formed in January 2025 in “defense of international law” and in solidarity with Palestinians. Over 70 countries from all regions signed a joint statement defending multilateralism at the UN. Earlier, in 2017, former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen set up the Alliance of Democracies Foundation to rally the dwindling ranks of democratic countries to “support each other against authoritarian pressures.”
Whatever its precise contours, an alliance of rights-respecting democracies would offer a hopeful counterpoint to the authoritarian trope of China’s and Russia’s leaders standing alongside North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, observing military hardware in a parade in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in September. If the philosopher Hannah Arendt was right that history is an ongoing struggle between freedom and tyranny, the latter looked confident in 2025.
Yet, even in the worst of times, the idea of freedom and human rights is enduring. People power remains an engine for change. In the US, “No Kings” marches have drawn millions, protesters in Chicago, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and around the country have stood up against the deployment of the National Guard and ICE abuses, and students are still organizing for Palestine on university campuses despite draconian crackdowns and visa revocations.
People gather facing law enforcement after marching through downtown Austin, Texas at the conclusion of the "No Kings Day" demonstration in the US, June 7, 2026.
Buoyed by popular resistance, South Korean parliamentarians impeached their president to prevent him from grabbing power through martial law. Grassroots aid efforts by Sudan’s emergency response rooms, Hong Kong’s fire relief, Sri Lanka’s cyclone relief community kitchens, and Ukrainian mutual aid and solidarity collectives represent the best of this trend.
In 2025, Gen Z protests against corruption, inadequate public services, and poor governance in Nepal, Indonesia, and Morocco brought to the forefront the need for governments to listen to their youth and tackle corruption and inequality. But as the difficulties of restoring rights in Bangladesh after years under an authoritarian government illustrates, gains won through public mobilization can easily be lost unless democratic participation and free expression remain unassailable.
People take part in a youth-led protest against corruption and calling for education and healthcare reforms, in Rabat, Morocco, June 7, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 7, 2026.
In this more hostile world, civil society is more critical than ever. It’s also increasingly endangered, particularly in an environment where funding is scarce. In 2025, Human Rights Watch was labeled “undesirable” and banned from operating in Russia. For partners in Egypt, Hong Kong, and India, these tactics are all too familiar. Restrictions on civil society and protest have become more commonplace in Europe, including the UK and France. And now, for the first time, many worry about risks associated with their operational presence in the US, where the Open Society Foundations, a major donor, have already been threatened, and the administration is preparing a list of “domestic terrorists” under overbroad guidance that could be interpreted to include the work of many progressive groups.
Breaking the authoritarian wave and standing up for human rights is a generational challenge. In 2026, it will play out most acutely in the US, with far-reaching consequences for the rest of the world. Fighting back will require a determined, strategic, and coordinated reaction from voters, civil society, multilateral institutions, and rights-respecting governments around the globe.
퀴퍼 게이 커플 앙상블 연구소 미니 갤러리., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.