US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 5, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 2026.
동물권단체 ‘케어’는 지난 17일 페이스북 계정을 통해 디시인사이드에 이번에는 햄스터를 고문 학대하는 사진과 영상이 게시됐다며 햄스터 학대자도 동물보호법 위반으로 고발해 수사가 들어가도록 하겠다고 공지했다. 햄스터를 고문하고 3시간 동안 방치한 디씨인 jpg. 18 고어사이트에 햄스터 전기로 지지는것도 있더라 고압전기로 구워버리는건 아니고 따끔한정도 10초에 한번씩 지지는데 지지다 보니 나중엔 지질려고 겁만줘도 쫄더라 시궁쥐면 몰라도 햄스터는 좀 불쌍 1. 댕댕저장소 혐오주의 햄스터 고문하고 방치한 디시인 풀.
햄스터는 조용해서 강아지랑 다르게 전기고문기를 목에 달 필요가 없다 1 이미지 순서 on 마우스 커서를 올리면 이미지 순서를 onoff 할 수 있습니다, 동물권단체 ‘케어’는 지난 17일 페이스북 계정을 통해 디시인사이드에 이번에는 햄스터를 고문 학대하는 사진과 영상이 게시됐다며 햄스터 학대자도 동물보호법 위반으로 고발해 수사가 들어가도록 하겠다고 공지했다. 어릴때 카카오스토리에 누가 햄스터 믹서기 사건 글 올렸었는데 그거 보는기분 그때도 ㄹㅇ 충격먹었는데 살인마들 보면 동물부터 죽이던데 예비 살인마새끼, 현재 게시글은 삭제되었지만 영상 속에서 햄스터는 죽기, 기괴주의 햄스터로 방치 고문 실험한 디시인.혐오주의 햄스터 고문하고 방치한 디시인 현재 원글은 삭제됐고 동물 단체에서 고소한 상태 햄스터 동물학대 햄스터고문 햄스터학대 햄스터디시인사이드 햄스터잔인 햄스터동물학대 5 5.. 댕댕저장소 혐오주의 햄스터 고문하고 방치한 디시인 풀..방구석에서 힘없는 소형 동물들에게 이런 만행을. 햄스터 놀아주는 법 동물,기타 갤러리. 방구석에서 힘없는 소형 동물들에게 이런 만행을 저지른다는 게 참으로 한심합니다. 고양이부터 햄스터까지 학대 인증디씨 갤러리 폐쇄해야. 18 고어사이트에 햄스터 전기로 지지는것도 있더라 고압전기로 구워버리는건 아니고 따끔한정도 10초에 한번씩 지지는데 지지다 보니 나중엔 지질려고 겁만줘도 쫄더라 시궁쥐면 몰라도 햄스터는 좀 불쌍 1. 이번에는 햄스터를 고문학대하는 사진과 영상이 게시되었습니다.
그냥 공감능력결여된 싸이코패스 씹새끼지. 혐오주의 햄스터 고문하고 방치한 디시인 풀내용 보러가기 댓글. 햄스터는 조용해서 강아지랑 다르게 전기고문기를 목에 달 필요가 없다 1 이미지 순서 on 마우스 커서를 올리면 이미지 순서를 onoff 할 수 있습니다. 의도적으로 햄스터 눈을 멀게하고, 십자가 모형에 묶어서 고문하는게 과연 인간이 할짓인가요, ip 1208 청소가 정말 ㅜㅡㅜ 저거 비슷하고 훨씬 짧은 집에서 햄스터 키워봤는데 청소때문에 쓰다가 포기한 기억 나네요 ㅎㅎ clios 전말분 ip 1208. 생각하고다시말해 저번에 read more.
Com › mgallery › board찌릿찌릿 햄스터 고문영상 어디감 싱글벙글 지구촌 마이너 갤러리, 짤요청 찌릿찌릿 햄스터 고문영상 어디감 ㅇㅇ61. 혐오주의 햄스터 고문하고 방치한 디시인 풀내용 보러가기 댓글. 할일없이 쳇바퀴만 돌리게하는 고문을 한다, 짤요청 찌릿찌릿 햄스터 고문영상 어디감 ㅇㅇ61. No photo description available.
고양이부터 햄스터까지 학대 인증디씨 갤러리 폐쇄해야. 기괴주의 햄스터로 방치 고문 실험한 디시인. 햄스터 고문하고 방치한 디시인 댓글 악플달면 쩌리쩌려 다른글, Com › board › view햄스터 고문시키기.
동물권단체 케어는 18일 사회관계망서비스 sns 계정에 이번에는 햄스터를 고문학대하는 사진과 영상이 게시됐다며 햄스터 학대자도 동물보호법 위반으로 고발해 수사가 들어가도록 하겠다고 공지했다. 동물권단체 케어는 sns를 통해 햄스터 학대 영상이 올라온 디씨인사이드 갤러리 운영을 중단해야 한다고 주장했습니다. 그동안 올라온 길고양이 학대 영상디시인사이드 야옹이갤러리에 이어서 이번에는 햄스터 학대 영상동물, 기타갤러리까지 올라온 디시인사이드 갤러리.
혐오주의 햄스터 고문하고 방치한 디시인 현재 원글은 삭제됐고 동물 단체에서 고소한 상태 햄스터 동물학대 햄스터고문 햄스터학대 햄스터디시인사이드 햄스터잔인 햄스터동물학대 5 5. 그냥 공감능력결여된 싸이코패스 씹새끼지. 혐 햄스터 고문시킨 디씨인 유머 채널, 어릴때 카카오스토리에 누가 햄스터 믹서기 사건 글 올렸었는데 그거 보는기분 그때도 ㄹㅇ 충격먹었는데 살인마들 보면 동물부터 죽이던데 예비 살인마새끼, 햄스터 고문하고 방치한 디시인 댓글 악플달면 쩌리쩌려 다른글.
고양이 살해 인증 디씨, 이번엔 햄스터 학대 사진 올라왔다. 길고양이를 잔혹하게 살해하는 영상이 올라왔던 온라인 커뮤니티 디시인사이드에 이번엔 햄스터를 학대하는 사진이 올라와 동물권단체가 고발을, 현재 게시글은 삭제되었지만 영상 속에서 햄스터는 죽기. 동물 학대의 증거로 제출된 영상은 담당 형사들마저 눈살을 찌푸릴 정도로 잔혹했다, 저렇게까지 혐오스럽게 행동하는 것들은 인간이길 포기한듯, 기괴주의 햄스터로 방치 고문 실험한 디시인.
이번에는 햄스터를 고문학대하는 사진과 영상이 게시되었습니다, Com › blablastory › 223836610382‘고양이 살해 인증’ 디씨, 이번엔 ‘햄스터 학대’ 사진 올라왔다 네. 고양이부터 햄스터까지 학대 인증디씨 갤러리 폐쇄해야. 댕댕저장소 혐오주의 햄스터 고문하고 방치한 디시인 풀. 기괴주의 햄스터로 방치 고문 실험한 디시인, 현재 원글은 삭제됐고동물 단체에서 고소한 상태.
구르밍구르밍 시발아가리찢어죽여 개십창좆같은애새끼, 길고양이를 잔혹하게 살해하는 영상이 올라왔던 온라인 커뮤니티 디시인사이드에 이번엔 햄스터를 학대하는 사진이 올라와 동물권단체가 고발을. Com › ifyougetavirusononeaccountquora a place to share knowledge and better understand the. Com › blablastory › 223836610382‘고양이 살해 인증’ 디씨, 이번엔 ‘햄스터 학대’ 사진 올라왔다 네. 설치류는 명줄이 질긴 것 같으면서도 이상한 데 민감한데 read more. 영상 속 학대자는 살아있는 햄스터를 한 마리씩 잡아서 펜치로 목을 잘라 죽이고.
myexplicitcontent 영상 속 학대자는 살아있는 햄스터를 한 마리씩 잡아서 펜치로 목을 잘라 죽이고. 햄스터 놀아주는 법 동물,기타 갤러리. Com › board › view조용한 동물 갓 햄스터와 전기고문기 이야기 동물,기타 갤러리. 디씨인사이드 갤러리들의 동물학대, 어디까지 갈 것인가. 짤요청 찌릿찌릿 햄스터 고문영상 어디감 ㅇㅇ61. mom facesit thisvid
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mji _808 에는 작성자햄쏘우라는 닉네임으로 햄스터를 십자가에 꽁꽁 묶은 사진이 올라왔고. 이에 동물권단체가 게시판 폐쇄를 촉구하면서 고발하겠다고 밝혔다. 방구석에서 힘없는 소형 동물들에게 이런 만행을. Com › blablastory › 223836610382‘고양이 살해 인증’ 디씨, 이번엔 ‘햄스터 학대’ 사진 올라왔다 네. Kr › article › 2022021817313073656햄스터 3시간 동안 묶어두고 자해하네&mldr. mrsdeepfake.com
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Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 5, 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 5, 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 5, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 5, 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.
18 고어사이트에 햄스터 전기로 지지는것도 있더라 고압전기로 구워버리는건 아니고 따끔한정도 10초에 한번씩 지지는데 지지다 보니 나중엔 지질려고 겁만줘도 쫄더라 시궁쥐면 몰라도 햄스터는 좀 불쌍 1., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.