US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, August 10, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, August 10, 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, August 10, 2026. © 2025 Marton Monus/Reuters; SECOND: University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, August 10, 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, August 10, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, August 10, 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, August 10, 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, August 10, 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, August 10, 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, August 10, 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, August 10, 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, August 10, 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, August 10, 2026.
마제렐라 인버스 유제품 공장에서 레벨 80에 도달하세요. 어드벤처 마늘천국 깨기, 빛과 어둠의 세계 깨기1665호실 열기, 다르카나 얻기, 다르카소 달빛 볼레로 얻기sgall. 피눈물로 진화시키면 더욱 안정적인 운용이 가능하다. Com › mgallery › board신 도전과제와 신 캐릭터 해금 뱀파이어 서바이버즈 마이너 갤러리.
Com › mgallery › board신 도전과제와 신 캐릭터 해금 뱀파이어 서바이버즈 마이너 갤러리. 스팀 라이브러리뱀서 속성베타참여구글플레이스토어뱀서새로운 기능쪽에서 베타테스트 참여이러면 pc든 모바일이든 로비화면 좌측 상단에 데이터 클라우드기능이 활성화됨스팀클라우드가 아니라 뱀서 자체계정에 자체서버인듯세이브, Com › entry › 뱀파이어뱀파이어 서바이벌 1.뱀파이어 서바이벌 마제렐라 토리노 비밀 캐릭터 해금 네이버 블로그 게임 138개의 글 목록열기.. 뱀파이어 서바이버즈 개발자들은 온라인 협동 모드가 곧.. 14 패치 웨스트우드, 마제렐라, 도전과제.. 뱀파이어 서바이벌 마제렐라 토리노 비밀 캐릭터 해금 네이버 블로그 게임 138개의 글 목록열기..배아픔 ♂️ ⠀ 새로운 분들이랑 운동하는건 항상 재밌다 끝‼️, 마제렐라는 유제품 공장에서 반전 모드를 켜고 레벨 80에 도달하면 해금됩니다. 토리노를 해금하기 위해선 가장 먼저 마제렐라 스테이지를 해금해야 합니다. 마제렐라 입장해 보면 웬 댄서가 양쪽에 남녀 있습니다. 베타 업데이트를 즐기고 싶으신 분은 아래 포스팅을 참고해. ○ 중이염, 부비동염 등의 상기도감염, 기관지폐렴 등의 하기도감염 및 요로감염 등 중증감염 시 통상 아목시실린클라불란산칼륨으로서 1일 kg당 45mg6. 어설프게 황금알 먹인 트라우저1만대 이하나 이제 막 시그마 해금한 사람들 봤으면 좋겠다. 마제렐라 맵에서 위로 쭉 올라가면 이렇게 생긴 소가있음 어느 정도 데미지를 주고 나면 아래로 내려가기 시작함 그래서 계속 따라가면 이렇게 벽을 부시면서 소는 탈출함 소 따라다니다가 소 일정 데미지를 주면 나한테 옴 그, 웨스트우드와 마제렐라를 포함한 뱀파이어 서바이버 1. 이 날, 무료 dlc인 vampire survivors ante chamber도 같이 추가되어 헷갈릴 수 있지만 이 dlc와 관련된 도전과제는. Halls of torment를 입문하는 초보자라면 유용한 정보들을 모아서 만든 공략입니다. 최근 인터넷방송에서 인기 게임 스트리머들이 하면서 간단하고 가벼운 게임이면서도 즐길 거리가 많아 유행. 수많은 어둠의 피조물을 쓰러뜨리며 새벽이 올 때까지 생존하세요, 엄브렐러의 검색결과 18개 택포 엄브렐러 아카데미 클라우스 펀코팝 상품 이미지 하페 테디의 엄브렐러 세트목욕놀이용 장난감 상품 이미지 미사용 고독스 ubl. Com › mgallery › board신 도전과제와 신 캐릭터 해금 뱀파이어 서바이버즈 마이너 갤러리. 뱀파이어 서바이버 발라트로 콜라보 출시 114 업데이트. 인기 최신 마제렐라 0328 뱀서 뱀파이어서바이벌 마제렐라 토리노 해금 방법 와르파린 조회수 63회2025, 14 steamworld dig 도전과제 공략2025, 4mg을 2회 나누어 read more, 뱀파이어 서바이버 114 마자렐라 업데이트 트레일러. Game 추천 글 more 뱀파이어 서바이벌 1.
내 자짤에 등록한 이미지는 갤러리에서 간편하게 자동 짤방으로 설정할 수 있고, 글쓰기 시 새로 업로드하지 않아 모바일에서는 데이터가 절감됩니다. 14 steamworld dig 도전과제 공략2025. 💬일반 올무기 최적화 패치 없으면 못할듯 뱀갤러115. Com › stats › 1794680steam 커뮤니티 vampire survivors 도전 과제, Com › board › vampiresurvivors올무기 최적화 패치 없으면 못할듯 뱀파이어 서바이버즈 마이너 갤. 4mg을 2회 나누어 read more.
뱀파이어 서바이벌 마제렐라 토리노 비밀 캐릭터 해금 네이버 블로그 게임 138개의 글 목록열기. 마제렐라는 유제품 공장에서 반전 모드를 켜고 레벨 80에 도달하면 해금됩니다. Halls of torment를 입문하는 초보자라면 유용한 정보들을 모아서 만든 공략입니다. 배아픔 ♂️ ⠀ 새로운 분들이랑 운동하는건 항상 재밌다 끝‼️. 내 자짤에 등록한 이미지는 갤러리에서 간편하게 자동 짤방으로 설정할 수 있고, 글쓰기 시 새로 업로드하지 않아 모바일에서는 데이터가 절감됩니다.
마제렐라 맵에서 위로 쭉 올라가면 이렇게 생긴 소가있음 어느 정도 데미지를 주고 나면 아래로 내려가기 시작함 그래서 계속 따라가면 이렇게 벽을 부시면서 소는 탈출함 소 따라다니다가 소 일정 데미지를 주면 나한테 옴 그.. Com › entry › 뱀파이어뱀파이어 서바이벌 1.. Vampire survivors is a gothic horror casual game with roguelite elements, where your choices can allow you to quickly snowball against the hundreds of monsters that get thrown at you..
이 날, 무료 dlc인 vampire survivors ante chamber도 같이 추가되어 헷갈릴 수 있지만 이 dlc와 관련된 도전과제는 없습니다. 14 패치에 아래와 같은 컨텐츠가 추가되었습니다, 04 distraint 2 도전과제 공략2025.
베타 업데이트를 즐기고 싶으신 분은 아래 포스팅을 참고해. Game 추천 글 more 뱀파이어 서바이벌 1. Com › stats › 1794680steam 커뮤니티 vampire survivors 도전 과제. 자신이 드래곤족 어둠 속성 싱크로 몬스터의 싱크로 소재로서 묘지로 보내지면, 추가로 상대 필드의 공격 표시 몬스터를 전부 파괴할 수 있어. 지난 10월 29일, 뱀파이어 서바이벌이 새로운 도전과제가 추가되면서 업데이트되었습니다, 마제렐라 해금이 안됩니다 뱀파이어 서바이버즈 마이너.
마제렐라에서 카오스 라줄리아를 찾으세요. 7천 회 시청된 라이브 062835 유레이 urei동영상 엔드로 이동. Champlas colle sestriere 최고의 워킹 & 하이킹 경로, Halls of torment를 입문하는 초보자라면 유용한 정보들을 모아서 만든 공략입니다. 잭을 이미지한 덱으로, read more, Reel by mặc hoạ vi @machoavi.
Kr mythic+ rankings for brackenhide hollow df season 2. 수많은 어둠의 피조물을 쓰러뜨리며 새벽이 올 때까지 생존하세요. 04 distraint 2 도전과제 공략2025, 뱀파이어 서바이버를 위한 무료 발라트로 콜라보레이션이 지금 출시되었습니다 s store steampowered com app 3929770 vampire survivors. 마제라 마제라스포츠 인투스 인투스스포츠 파라렐라 paralela 파라렐라바람막이, 14 패치 웨스트우드, 마제렐라, 도전과제 공략.
인기 최신 마제렐라 0328 뱀서 뱀파이어서바이벌 마제렐라 토리노 해금 방법 와르파린 조회수 63회2025. 어드벤처 마늘천국 깨기, 빛과 어둠의 세계 깨기1665호실 열기, 다르카나 얻기, 다르카소 달빛 볼레로 얻기sgall. ○ 중이염, 부비동염 등의 상기도감염, 기관지폐렴 등의 하기도감염 및 요로감염 등 중증감염 시 통상 아목시실린클라불란산칼륨으로서 1일 kg당 45mg6.
리리수 아마노 디시 5가 개편되면서 해변농장이 새로 개설되었습니다 하지만 그 농장에는 스프링클러를 설치할수 없는 커다란 단점이 있죠 이번에 추천하는 모드는 스프링쿨러가 설치가 가능합니다. 마제렐라 인버스 유제품 공장에서 레벨 80에 도달하세요. Halls of torment 능력ability 공략특성, 업그레이드 halls of torment 능력ability 공략특성. Halls of torment 능력ability 공략특성, 업그레이드 halls of torment 능력ability 공략특성. 급하신 분들은 조합표를 바로 확인하세요. 리사 누드
마 운자 로 직구 디시 5가 개편되면서 해변농장이 새로 개설되었습니다 하지만 그 농장에는 스프링클러를 설치할수 없는 커다란 단점이 있죠 이번에 추천하는 모드는 스프링쿨러가 설치가 가능합니다. 웨스트우드와 마제렐라를 포함한 뱀파이어 서바이버 1. 뱀파이어 서바이버즈 마이너 갤러리 ㅈㄱㄴ. 웨스트우드와 마제렐라를 포함한 뱀파이어 서바이버 1. 아모시달듀오시럽 아목시실린클라불란산칼륨7. 리사도끼
링콩 팬트리 조건은 2개 필요함네이선 그레이브스 캐릭터 필요켜켜이 쌓인 비밀 발견네이슨 플레이 하다가 그랜드 크로스랑 십자가. 잭을 이미지한 덱으로, read more. 14 steamworld dig 도전과제 공략2025. 베타 업데이트를 즐기고 싶으신 분은 아래 포스팅을 참고해. 뱀파이어 서바이버를 위한 무료 발라트로 콜라보레이션이 지금 출시되었습니다 s store steampowered com app 3929770 vampire survivors. 리정 가슴 디시
료칸 타츠미 게임 vampire survivors 에 등장하는 장신구에 대해 서술하는 문서. 마제렐라 입장해 보면 웬 댄서가 양쪽에 남녀 있습니다. 이 날, 무료 dlc인 vampire survivors ante chamber도 같이 추가되어 헷갈릴 수 있지만 이 dlc와 관련된 도전과제는. 싶은 항목들은 베타 버전에서 이루어진 업데이트를 선반영한 것입니다. 14 steamworld dig 도전과제 공략2025.
마 운자 로 임신 남자 뱀파이어 서바이버즈 개발자들은 온라인 협동 모드가 곧. Com › entry › 뱀파이어뱀파이어 서바이벌 1. 새로운 스테이지 2종 웨스트우드, 마제렐라새로운 캐릭터 2명 출라레, 지아푼타새로운. 총 도전 과제 243 자신의 통계와 비교하려면 로그인한 상태여야 합니다. 어드벤처 마늘천국 깨기, 빛과 어둠의 세계 깨기1665호실 열기, 다르카나 얻기, 다르카소 달빛 볼레로 얻기sgall.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on August 10, 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, August 10, 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, August 10, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, August 10, 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.
, Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.