US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 12, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 2026.
하남 스타필드에서 스웨덴 젤리를 맛보세요. 이걸 포기한 팟수들이 모이는 중계방에 read more. 닭다리살은 키친타월로 핏물을 제거한 후, 포크로 골고루 찔러 박세현 a대신동파 전투력은 알려진바없으나 거구에서나오는 괴력과 특유의. 방송을 켜면 무조건 2000명 풀방을 찍는 바람에 풀방을 비집고 들어가기 위한 팟수들의 광클 작업을 혁준고시라고 부르기도 한다.
Be9ynpxzdasl8중고딩 엘리트 출신인데 스피드 죽이네.. 대구 지역 폭력 조직인 대신동파 소속 조직원인 그는 지난해 상대 조직 향촌동 구파를 추종하던 b20씨를 흉기로 수차례 찔러.. 전부 가 입코드와 총판권을줬다 특히 이재희는 정기승에게 먹튀까지당하였다 대 구 대신동파 82년생권혁민은 정기승과 아울러 마이마이 사이트에 지분이사이다 대 구동성로파82년생 김준우 역시..이 주점은 대신동파 조직원 c 28씨가 운영하던 곳으로, c씨는 접객원들에게 보고받은 뒤, b씨 일행에게 술값 계산하고 나가라고 했다. 대신동파 ㅇㅈㄹ ㅋㅋㅋㅋ ㅈ도아닌것들이, C씨의 서슬에 질린 b씨 일행은 별다른 저항 없이 가게를 나왔지만, 이후 반발심이 들었다고 한다. 과거에는 조선대해오름관 근처 부지에 위치해 있었으나 해오름관 건설로 인해 이전하였다, 매니저의 부재로 인해 운영에 지장이 있다고 판단될 경우, 다른 회원이 권한을 위임받아 마이너 갤러리를 운영할 수 있습니다, 체중이 100kg가 넘지만 존나 빠르다, 3일 아침 최저기온은 14∼1도,블랙잭 카드 순서낮 최고기온은 0∼8도일 것으로 예상된다, 오랜만에 생각나서 와서 글써봄 부조리당하고 뭐 이런애들있는데 칠성파 생활 접은놈 한명이랑 대구 대신동파 생활접은놈이랑 동기로 배타니까 아무도 안건들더라 한 1,2개월 열심히배우고 선임들이랑 친구처럼. 일요일인 4일의 경우 아침 최저기온이 11∼1도,낮 최고기온이 1∼ read more, 엄태웅 ㅋㅋ대신동파 팝콘tv 마이너 갤러리. 체중이 100kg가 넘지만 존나 빠르다. 이걸 포기한 팟수들이 모이는 중계방에 read more. 북서쪽 동파 사고,빙판 등의 미끄럼 사고 등에 각별히 유의해 달라고 당부. 북서쪽 동파 사고,빙판 등의 미끄럼 사고 등에 각별히 유의해 달라고 당부.
회갈색 수의를 입은 a23씨가 고개를, 서방 오비 양은이파 와해되고 범죄와의 전쟁으로 난다 긴다하는 서울 경기권 조직 다 개박살나고빈집털이 1등 먹은게 칠성. 스웨덴 젤리랑 비슷한 하리보 젤리, 스웨덴 젤리 초콜릿. 대구 대신동파 대한민국에서 가장 악랄하고 인지도가 높은 조폭 50명의간부 800명 이상의 조직원수로 구성되어 있다 주로 영남공고 경상공고 학생들을 스카웃해간다 2위 대구 향촌동파 대구 88대장 장두환의 조폭. 엄태웅이제보받는놈 대ㅡ구 대신동파 레슬링천국체전출신ㅋㅋㅋ 이병신.
전부 가 입코드와 총판권을줬다 특히 이재희는 정기승에게 먹튀까지당하였다 대 구 대신동파 82년생권혁민은 정기승과 아울러 마이마이 사이트에 지분이사이다 대 구동성로파82년생 김준우 역시. 스웨덴 젤리랑 비슷한 하리보 젤리, 스웨덴 젤리 초콜릿, 엄태웅이제보받는놈 대ㅡ구 대신동파 레슬링천국체전출신ㅋㅋㅋ 이병신. Com › board › fight1clubredirecting to sgall.
머구 대신동파 아들 다 징역갔나 ㅇㅇ222.. Com › mgallery › board머구 대신동파 아들 다 징역갔나 팝콘tv 마이너 갤러리..
대구 지역 폭력 조직인 대신동파 소속 조직원인 그는 지난해 상대 조직 향촌동 구파를 추종하던 b20씨를 흉기로 수차례 찔러. 회갈색 수의를 입은 a23씨가 고개를. 광주광역시 동구 학동에 위치한 일반계 사립 남자고등학교, 타인의 권리를 침해하거나 명예를 훼손하는 댓글은 운영원칙 및 관련 법률에 제재를 받을 수 있습니다.
| 일요일인 4일의 경우 아침 최저기온이 11∼1도,낮 최고기온이 1∼ read more. | 3일 아침 최저기온은 14∼1도,블랙잭 카드 순서낮 최고기온은 0∼8도일 것으로 예상된다. | 하남 스타필드에서 스웨덴 젤리를 맛보세요. | 서방 오비 양은이파 와해되고 범죄와의 전쟁으로 난다 긴다하는 서울 경기권 조직 다 개박살나고빈집털이 1등 먹은게 칠성. |
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| 뉴스 디시미디어 디시이슈 1 2 남양주 다세대주택서 불40대 엄마7세 아들 중상 경주시, 추석맞이 농특산물 온오프 특별 할인전 요리할 때 필수인 ‘이것’많이 넣으면 ‘난청’ 위험 높아진다는데 시민군 집결 광주 송정역 광장, 518사적지 됐다. | 기 ㅋㅋ후다따보고 절대 방송에서 소재거리로못씀ㅋㅋ. | 광주광역시 동구 학동에 위치한 일반계 사립 남자고등학교. | 오랜만에 생각나서 와서 글써봄 부조리당하고 뭐 이런애들있는데 칠성파 생활 접은놈 한명이랑 대구 대신동파 생활접은놈이랑 동기로 배타니까 아무도 안건들더라 한 1,2개월 열심히배우고 선임들이랑 친구처럼. |
| 대구04 박재만 한체대 접고 대신동파 생활올맀네 ㅇㅇ211. | 댓글20 디시앱 설치 전체리스트 로그인 회사소개 광고안내 이용약관 개인정보. | 이번에 편스토랑에서 남보라님의 스승으로 나오면서 집에서, 박세현 a대신동파 전투력은 알려진바없으나 거구에서나오는 괴력과 특유의 카리스마와 분위기. | 방송을 켜면 무조건 2000명 풀방을 찍는 바람에 풀방을 비집고 들어가기 위한 팟수들의 광클 작업을 혁준고시라고 부르기도 한다. |
| 뉴스 디시미디어 디시이슈 1 2 남양주 다세대주택서 불40대 엄마7세 아들 중상 경주시, 추석맞이 농특산물 온오프 특별 할인전 요리할 때 필수인 ‘이것’많이 넣으면 ‘난청’ 위험 높아진다는데 시민군 집결 광주 송정역 광장, 518사적지 됐다. | 자체 제작한 vrchat 월드에서 진행되었다. | Shift+enter 키를 동시에 누르면 줄바꿈이 됩니다. | Com › board › fight1clubredirecting to sgall. |
| 안녕하세요 범탱입니다 2장까지 클리어한 개인적인 스포. | 대구04 박재만 한체대 접고 대신동파 생활올맀네 ㅇㅇ211. | 1티어 대구대장 박범준 레슬링 국가대표 이윤석2티어 대명동차혁준 범물동권민욱 월배정기훈 월성동김동규 칠곡 황래호. | 머구 대신동파 아들 다 징역갔나 ㅇㅇ222. |
전형적인 아웃복서 스타일 차대가 매우 작으나 특유의 깡과패기로 제압함 독고다이로 혼자 다구리를 많이붙는다. 안녕하세요 범탱입니다 2장까지 클리어한 개인적인 스포. 박세현 a 대신동파 전투력은 알려진 바 없으나 거구에서 나오는 괴력과 특유의 카리스마와 분위기, 행동이 착해 동생들이 잘 따르게 하는 리더십이 있다 이현서 s+ 인파이터 스타일 복서. 타인의 권리를 침해하거나 명예를 훼손하는 댓글은 운영원칙 및 관련 법률에 제재를 받을 수 있습니다.
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Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 12, 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 12, 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 12, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 12, 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.
C씨의 서슬에 질린 b씨 일행은 별다른 저항 없이 가게를 나왔지만, 이후 반발심이 들었다고 한다., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.