US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 18, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 18, 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 18, 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 18, 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 18, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 18, 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 18, 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 18, 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 18, 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 18, 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 18, 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 18, 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 18, 2026.
N현장 씨름 선수 김민재가 피지컬 아시아 출연 소감을 밝혔다. 피지컬 아시아 방영전에 온통 김민재 리스펙으로 도배였음 피갤러58. 전국티비는 두 리그의 모든 주요 일정을 무료. 24일 웨스틴 서울 파르나스 하모니볼룸에서는 넷플릭스 새.
Com › board › view호주애가 한국 우승 스포한거 찐임. Kr › misc › 119753211피지컬 아시아 우승 스포 총정리. 인스타에서 해외선수들이 샤라웃 난리 어쩌고, Kr › misc › 119378946피지컬 아시아 참가자 김민재, 휘태커는 누구.씨름 김민재 140kg유도 소이치 73kg그래 소이치 감량안해서 80kg라 치자60키로 차이나는데 잡혀서 못일어나는게 말이야방구야ㅠ.. 넷플릭스 예능 피지컬 아시아 출연자 김민재는 11월 19일 자신의 sns에 대한민국..‘피지컬 아시아’ 한국팀 김민재와 호주팀 로버트 휘태커의 정체부터 우승 스포탈락 국가까지. 김민재랑 장은실 정도 리치차이면 김민재가 기둥의 3분의 2이상을 버티고 있고 장은실이 끝에 걸치고만 있었을, 24일 오후 서울 강남구 웨스틴서울 파르나스에서 넷플릭스 새 오리지널 예능 피지컬 아시아 연출 장호기 제작발표회가 진행됐다. ‘천하장사’ 김민재가 피지컬 아시아 우승 소감을 밝혔다, 김민재가 진짜 불쌍한이유 피지컬 아시아 갤러리. 에디가 김민재 씨름챔피언 축하해 준거잖아 ㅇㅇ 2025. 장승버티기는 리치가 제일 중요함 옆으로 기울어지는 기둥 특성상 리치가 긴사람이 제일 많은 무게를 견디고 있음. ‘씨름 괴물’ 김민재가 ‘피지컬 아시아’ 출연 소감을 밝혔다. 대한민국이 공인한 천하장사 김민재 피지컬. 민재가 제일 불쌍함 피지컬 아시아 갤러리. 사실 박지성이나 손흥민이나 그냥 몸은 전형적으로 동양인 피지컬이라서 운동신경으로 축구잘한다는 느낌인데 김민재는 걍 기본 피지컬,덩치 자체가 탈아시아 서양인 느낌이라 몸으로 유럽애들 찢겨바르는 느낌이 큼 dc. Com › mgallery › boardㄹㅇ 이부분은 킹받음ㅋㅋㅋ 말이되냐.
| 민재가 제일 불쌍함 피지컬 아시아 갤러리. | 혼자 여자랑해서 힘들어 뒤질거같은데장은실은 실실쪼개면서 컴온 휘태커. | 피지컬 100 아시아편 한국팀 선수로 나오는 190cm 145kg. |
|---|---|---|
| 김민재를 둘이나 보유한 나라 ㅋㅋㅋㅋ 피지컬아시아. | Com › community › board피지컬 아시아 한국인 씨름선수 김민재 괴물스펙gif. | 장은실 씨름 천하장사 대회에서 우승함. |
| 피지컬 아시아 한국팀이 출연 소감을 전했다. | 피지컬 아시아 방영전에 온통 김민재 리스펙으로 도배였음 피갤러58. | 김민재랑 장은실 정도 리치차이면 김민재가 기둥의 3분의 2이상을 버티고 있고 장은실이 끝에 걸치고만 있었을. |
| 26% | 19% | 55% |
경ㅅㅅㅅ김민재 세번째 천하장사 타이틀 획득ㅅㅅㅅ축.. Kr › misc › 119378946피지컬 아시아 참가자 김민재, 휘태커는 누구..
한눈에 보는 오늘 방송가요 뉴스 뉴스엔 박아름 기자 ‘천하장사’ 김민재가 피지컬 아시아 우승 소감을 밝혔다. 24일 오후 서울 강남구 웨스틴 서울 파르나스 하모니볼룸에서 넷플릭스 예능 ‘피지컬 아시아’ 제작발표회가 열렸다, 평소 체중이 140kg이 넘는데 100m를 12초 대에 달린다. 솔직히 이번에 민재 아녔음 한국 우승 못했어.
24일 오후 서울 강남구 웨스틴서울 파르나스에서 넷플릭스 새 오리지널 예능 피지컬 아시아 연출 장호기 제작발표회가 진행됐다. 사실 박지성이나 손흥민이나 그냥 몸은 전형적으로 동양인 피지컬이라서 운동신경으로 축구잘한다는 느낌인데 김민재는 걍 기본 피지컬,덩치 자체가 탈아시아 서양인 느낌이라 몸으로 유럽애들 찢겨바르는 느낌이 큼 dc, 피지컬 아시아 한국인 씨름선수 김민재 괴물스펙gif.
커컬드 디시 김민재를 둘이나 보유한 나라 ㅋㅋㅋㅋ 피지컬아시아. Com › kingoor › 224056110097피지컬 아시아 김민재 누구. Com › mgallery › boardㄹㅇ 이부분은 킹받음ㅋㅋㅋ 말이되냐. 장승버티기는 리치가 제일 중요함 옆으로 기울어지는 기둥 특성상 리치가 긴사람이 제일 많은 무게를 견디고 있음. 24일 오후 서울 강남구 웨스틴 서울 파르나스 하모니볼룸에서 넷플릭스 예능 ‘피지컬 아시아’ 제작발표회가 열렸다. 캣 데닝스 av
카리나 보빨 이슈 피지컬 아시아 20년에 한번 나올까말까하는 씨름선수라는 한국팀 김민재 5,762 28 무명의 더쿠 stheqoo. ‘씨름 괴물’ 김민재가 ‘피지컬 아시아’ 출연 소감을 밝혔다. 피지컬 아시아, 상금 10억의 국가 대항전 ‘피지컬 아시아’는 한국, 일본, 태국, 몽골, 튀르키예, 인도네시아, 호주, 필리핀 등 8개국 대표 선수 48명이 10억 원 상금을 두고 벌이는 초대형 피지컬 서바이벌이에요. 넷플릭스 예능 피지컬 아시아 출연자 김민재는 11월 19일 자신의 sns에 대한민국. 경ㅅㅅㅅ김민재 세번째 천하장사 타이틀 획득ㅅㅅㅅ축. 케인 여울 떡방
카니발 축제 여자 Com › board › view김민재 존나 안쓰럽다 피지컬 아시아 갤러리. 장승버티기는 리치가 제일 중요함 옆으로 기울어지는 기둥 특성상 리치가 긴사람이 제일 많은 무게를 견디고 있음. 피지컬 아시아 방영전에 온통 김민재 리스펙으로 도배였음 피갤러58. 이슈 피지컬 아시아 20년에 한번 나올까말까하는 씨름선수라는 한국팀 김민재 5,762 28 무명의 더쿠 stheqoo. 김민재는 1200kg 기둥 돌리기, 성 점령전에서 타고난 피지컬과 엄청난 힘을 자랑하며 최종 우승을 차지했다. 카토모모카
칸리 피지컬 아시아, 상금 10억의 국가 대항전 ‘피지컬 아시아’는 한국, 일본, 태국, 몽골, 튀르키예, 인도네시아, 호주, 필리핀 등 8개국 대표 선수 48명이 10억 원 상금을 두고 벌이는 초대형 피지컬 서바이벌이에요. 행사에는 장호기 pd와 윤성빈, 김민재, 아모띠, 장은실, 최승연이 참석했다. 김민재 난파선에서 못했다는것도 잠깐 오버페이스 했다가 퍼졌을때 그 장면만 억지로 포커스 잡은 느낌임 성문공략 미션에서 수레에 혼자 상자 올리는. 행사에는 장호기 pd와 윤성빈, 김민재, 아모띠, 장은실, 최승연이 참석했다. 넷플릭스 피지컬 아시아 공개를 앞두고, 씨름 선수 김민재에 대한 관심이 뜨겁습니다.
카사노바 남자 디시 이건 장은실이 감당하는 기둥무게가 거의 없었기. 피지컬 아시아 한국팀이 출연 소감을 전했다. 장은실 씨름 천하장사 대회에서 우승함. 씨름 김민재 140kg유도 소이치 73kg그래 소이치 감량안해서 80kg라 치자60키로 차이나는데 잡혀서 못일어나는게 말이야방구야ㅠ. 피지컬 100 시리즈의 명성을 이어갈 이번 시즌은 아시아 각국의 대표 선수들이 모여 극한의 피지컬 경쟁을 펼칠 예정입니다.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 18, 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 18, 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 18, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 18, 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.
Com › board › view결승 호주 한국가고 한국이 우승했나봄ㅋㅋㅋㅋ 피지컬 아시아 갤러리., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.