US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 6, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 6, 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 6, 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 6, 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 6, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 6, 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 6, 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 6, 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 6, 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 6, 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 6, 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 6, 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 6, 2026.
쿠팡플레이 예능 ‘저스트 메이크업’은 대한민국을 넘어 세계적으로 k뷰티를 대표하는 메이크업 아티스트들이 자신만의 색깔로 치열하게 맞붙는 초대형 메이크업 서바이벌이다. 립스틱으로만 메이크업led 조명털 구현까지눈물의. 먼저, 3라운드 미션인 그룹 투어스tws 무대 메이크업 미션에서는 팬 투표와 심사위원 평가가 엇갈린 가운데 팀 파리 금손이 극적인 승리를 거뒀다. 출처 저스트메이크업 저스트메이크업 손테일 파리금손 이효리 투어스 스테이씨.
25일 방송된 tv조선 식객 허영만의 백반기행이하 백반기행에서는 쿠팡플레이 저스트 메이크업 우승자 파리금손 민킴이 게스트로 출연했다, 파리 금손은 저승사자를 콘셉트로 카리스마가 돋보이는 스모키 메이크업을 선보여 호평 받았다, 7일 ‘저스트 메이크업’ 최종 10회가 공개된 가운데 최종 우승은 파리 금손이 거머쥐었다. 우승자로 지명된 후 파리 금손은 준비하면서 내가 20살 때 메이크업 시작한 당시만큼의 열정을 가지고 할 수 있을까 생각했다. 먼저, 3라운드 미션인 그룹 투어스tws 무대 메이크업 미션에서는 팬 투표와 심사위원 평가가 엇갈린 가운데 팀 파리 금손이 극적인 승리를 거뒀다, 스스로 무언가를 뚫고 나온 느낌이다라고 울먹이며 소감을 전했다. 메이크업금손 시네 레오제이 대왕퍼프 메이크업아티스트 싸우는거아님. Kr › news › read저스트 메이크업, 3억 원의 주인공 탄생파리금손 우승, 최후의 3인인 파리 금손손테일오 돌체비타가 맞붙은 대망의 파이널 미션 ‘dreams 드림스’에서는 단순한 메이크업을. 400점 만점에 396점을 얻으며 저스트 메이크업 우승자가. 모델로는 김영옥, 반효정, 정혜선 등이 참여했다. 이번 주엔 쿠팡플레이 예능 저스트 메이크업의 우승자 파리 금손 민킴과 인천 연수구로 떠난다. Top3 메이크업 아티스트들은 뭘 쓸까. 파리 금손이 ‘저스트 메이크업’에서 최종 우승했다. 모델로 참여한 반효정은 경악을 금치 못했다는 극찬을 남겼다, Com › terraodor › 224068639871파리 금손, 저스트 메이크업 최종 우승.사진쿠팡플레이 파리 금손이 ‘저스트 메이크업’ 최종 우승 영예를 안았다.. 보도자료 쿠팡플레이 예능 저스트 메이크업 6화도 터졌다.. 메이크업, 감정 시각화한 예술저스트 메이크업 최종.. 파리 금손‘저스트 메이크업’은 메이크업 아티스트들이 최고의..
7일 공개된 쿠팡플레이 예능프로그램 ‘저스트 메이크업’ 최종화에서는 톱3 오 돌체비타, 손테일, 파리 금손이 ‘꿈’을 주제로 파이널 대결을 펼쳤다. 우승자로 지명된 후 파리 금손은 준비하면서 내가 20살 때 메이크업 시작한 당시만큼의 열정을 가지고, 1라운드 메이크업 풀버전 파리 금손 심플한데 하나도 안 심플해 그래픽적인 아이 패치와 블랙립에 시선집중 쿠플 인기작 1위, 3억 주인공 나왔다이효리도 감동한 파리금손, 저스트 메이크업 우승 종합 osen하수정 기자 쿠팡플레이 예능 저스트 메이크업이 지난 7일금 공개된 최종화를 통해, 단 하나의 k뷰티 레전드 자리를 놓고 펼친 서바이벌의 대장정을 화려하게 마무리했다. 최후의 3인인 파리 금손손테일오 돌체비타가 맞붙은 대망의 파이널 미션 ‘dreams 드림스’에서는 단순한 메이크업을.
보도자료 쿠팡플레이 예능 저스트 메이크업 희로애락, 보도자료 쿠팡플레이 예능 저스트 메이크업 희로애락, 저스트 메이크업 파리 금손 1라운드 필살기 메이크업 풀버전 대, Top3 메이크업 아티스트들은 뭘 쓸까, 에이치아이피 hip on instagram 천만 달성. 우승자로 지명된 후 파리 금손은 준비하면서 내가 20살 때 메이크업 시작한 당시만큼의 열정을 가지고.
1라운드 메이크업 풀버전 파리 금손 심플한데 하나도 안 심플해 그래픽적인 아이 패치와 블랙립에 시선집중 쿠플 인기작 1위, 7일 ‘저스트 메이크업’ 최종 10회가 공개된 가운데 최종 우승은 파리 금손이 거머쥐었다. 이번 주엔 쿠팡플레이 예능 저스트 메이크업의 우승자 파리 금손 민킴과 인천 연수구로 떠난다. 쿠팡플레이 예능 ‘저스트 메이크업’은 대한민국을 넘어 세계적으로 k뷰티를 대표하는 메이크업 아티스트들이 자신만의 색깔로 치열하게 맞붙는 초대형 메이크업 서바이벌이다. 민킴은 샤넬루이비통입생로랑 등 글로벌 패션.
| 모델로는 김영옥, 반효정, 정혜선 등이 참여했다. | 최후의 3인인 파리 금손손테일오 돌체비타가 맞붙은 대망의 파이널 미션 ’dreams 드림스’에서는 단순한. | 7일 오후 쿠팡플레이를 통해 k뷰티 서바이벌 예능 저스트 메이크업 최종화가 공개됐다. |
|---|---|---|
| 25일 방송된 tv조선 식객 허영만의 백반기행이하 백반기행에서는 쿠팡플레이 저스트 메이크업 우승자 파리금손 민킴이 게스트로 출연했다. | 대한민국을 넘어 세계적으로 k뷰티를 대표하는 메이크업 아티스트들이 자신만의 색깔로 치열하게 맞붙는 초대형 메이크업 서바이벌 프로그램. | 28% |
| 파리금손 꿀팁 공개 네추럴 스모키 아이메이크업 ✓ 계정 팔로우 후 댓글에 링크 남겨주시면 dm 전송됩니다. | 파리 금손이 ‘저스트 메이크업’ 최종 우승을 차지했다. | 20% |
| 한쪽 눈빛으로만으로도 굳은 인상과 깊은 감정을 전달하는 아이 메이크업은, 파리 금손 특유의 감각과 스토리텔링이 집약된 결과물이었다. | 파리 금손은 저승사자를 콘셉트로 카리스마가 돋보이는 스모키 메이크업을 선보여 호평 받았다. | 52% |
우승자로 지명된 후 파리 금손은 준비하면서 내가 20살 때 메이크업 시작한 당시만큼의 열정을 가지고 할 수 있을까 생각했다, 모델로 참여한 반효정은 경악을 금치 못했다는 극찬을 남겼다, 오늘25일 방송되는 tv chosun 식객 허영만의 백반기행에서는 쿠팡플레이 예능 저스트 메이크업의 우승자, 파리금손 민킴이 인천 연수구로 떠난다.
에이치아이피 hip on instagram 천만 달성.. 25일 tv조선 식객 허영만의 백반기행에는 쿠팡플레이 저스트 메이크업 우승자인메이크업 아티스트 민킴이 출연했다.. 팀 파리금손 고급진 세련미가 압도적입니다️.. 파리 금손, 저스트 메이크업 최종 우승한계 뚫었다 눈물..
특히 파리금손 아티스트한테 가장 깊은. Com › entertainments › broadcast3억 주인공 나왔다이효리도 감동한 파리금손, 저스트 메이크업. 파리 금손‘저스트 메이크업’은 메이크업 아티스트들이 최고의. 오늘7일 쿠팡플레이 예능 저스트 메이크업의 최종 우승자 공개를 앞두고 후보자 손테일, 오 돌체비타, 파리 금손이 소감을 전했다.
‘손테일’은 김영옥, ‘파리 금손’은 반효정, ‘오 돌체비타’는 정혜선을 선택해 미션에 임했다. 배우의 얼굴에 숨결을 불어넣는 시간, 분장, 파리 금손이 ‘저스트 메이크업’ 최종 우승을 차지했다.
쿠팡플레이 서바이벌 예능 ‘저스트 메이크업’ 최종 우승자가 공개됐다. 립스틱으로만 메이크업led 조명털 구현까지눈물의. Com › article › view상금 3억원 주인공은 파리 금손&mldr.
kuzu 사이트 25일 방송된 tv조선 식객 허영만의 백반기행이하 백반기행에서는 쿠팡플레이 저스트 메이크업 우승자 파리금손 민킴이 게스트로 출연했다. 보도자료 쿠팡플레이 예능 저스트 메이크업 희로애락. 메이크업금손 시네 레오제이 대왕퍼프 메이크업아티스트 싸우는거아님. 사진쿠팡플레이 파리 금손이 ‘저스트 메이크업’ 최종 우승 영예를 안았다. 먼저, 3라운드 미션인 그룹 투어스tws 무대 메이크업 미션에서는 팬 투표와 심사위원 평가가 엇갈린 가운데 팀 파리 금손이 극적인 승리를 거뒀다. kyoshii twitter
korean porn rapidgator 대한민국을 넘어 세계적으로 k뷰티를 대표하는 메이크업 아티스트들이 자신만의 색깔로 치열하게 맞붙는 초대형 메이크업 서바이벌 프로그램. 모델로 참여한 반효정은 경악을 금치 못했다는 극찬을 남겼다. 파리금손 꿀팁 공개 네추럴 스모키 아이메이크업 ✓ 계정 팔로우 후 댓글에 링크 남겨주시면 dm 전송됩니다. Com › view › 20251107n32590파리 금손, 상금 3억 주인공 됐다&mldr. 한쪽 눈빛으로만으로도 굳은 인상과 깊은 감정을 전달하는 아이 메이크업은, 파리 금손 특유의 감각과 스토리텔링이 집약된 결과물이었다. korean hentai
kuzu v0 21 Com › terraodor › 224068639871파리 금손, 저스트 메이크업 최종 우승. 립스틱으로만 메이크업led 조명털 구현까지눈물의. 파리금손 꿀팁 공개 네추럴 스모키 아이메이크업 ✓ 계정 팔로우 후 댓글에 링크 남겨주시면 dm 전송됩니다. 7일 ‘저스트 메이크업’ 최종 10회가 공개된 가운데 최종 우승은 파리 금손이 거머쥐었다. 1라운드 메이크업 풀버전 파리 금손 심플한데 하나도 안 심플해 그래픽적인 아이 패치와 블랙립에 시선집중 쿠플 인기작 1위. leeaeae
kuz u Kr › news › read저스트 메이크업, 3억 원의 주인공 탄생파리금손 우승. 파리 금손은 저승사자를 콘셉트로 카리스마가 돋보이는 스모키 메이크업을 선보여 호평 받았다. 쿠팡플레이 예능 저스트 메이크업은 대한민국을 넘어 세계적으로 k뷰티를 대표하는 메이크업 아티스트들이 자신만의 색깔로 치열하게 맞붙는 초대형 메이크업 서바이벌이다. Com › article › 202511071719385703억 주인공 나왔다이효리도 감동한 파리금손, 저스트 메이크업. 한쪽 눈빛으로만으로도 굳은 인상과 깊은 감정을 전달하는 아이 메이크업은, 파리 금손 특유의 감각과 스토리텔링이 집약된 결과물이었다.
k여대생 지우의 흑인과 첫경험 먼저, 3라운드 미션인 그룹 투어스tws 무대 메이크업 미션에서는 팬 투표와 심사위원 평가가 엇갈린 가운데 팀 파리 금손이 극적인 승리를 거뒀다. 파리 금손이 ‘저스트 메이크업’ 최종 우승을 차지했다. 쿠팡플레이 예능 ‘저스트 메이크업’은 대한민국을 넘어 세계적으로 k뷰티를 대표하는 메이크업 아티스트들이 자신만의 색깔로 치열하게 맞붙는 초대형 메이크업 서바이벌이다. Com › article › 202511071719385703억 주인공 나왔다이효리도 감동한 파리금손, 저스트 메이크업. 메이크업, 감정 시각화한 예술저스트 메이크업 최종.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 6, 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 6, 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 6, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 6, 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.
400점 만점에 396점을 얻으며 저스트 메이크업 우승자가., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.