US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 14, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 14, 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 14, 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 14, 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 14, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 14, 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 14, 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 14, 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 14, 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 14, 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 14, 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 14, 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 14, 2026.
귀칼 사네사네미 귀멸의칼날 귀칼 사네미 귀칼tmi 오리지널 사운드 문앞에 놔. 이구로와 사네미의 훈련을 마친 탄지로는 젠이츠와 함께 깊은 산속에 있다고 하는 히메지마의 훈련장으로 향했다. 귀살대 최강 귀멸의 칼날시즌 5, 에피소드 6. 풍주 風柱 시나즈가와 사네미 不死川 実弥 shinazugawa sanemi 하주 霞柱 토키토 무이치로 時透 無一郎 tokito muichiro 사주 蛇柱 이구로 오바나이 伊黒 小芭内 iguro obanai 연주 恋柱 칸로지 미츠리 甘露寺 蜜璃 kanroji mitsuri 암주 岩柱.
A character from the manga demon slayer.. 넷플릭스 귀멸의칼날 스크린샷 애니메이션 귀멸의 칼날 등장인물 소개 총정리 주인공 4인방 카마도 탄지로 竈門炭治郎かまど たんじろう tanjiro kamado 카마도 탄지로 성우 하나에 나츠키 花江夏樹はなえ なつきnatsuki hanae 카마도 탄지로 성우 잭 아귈라 zach aguilar 카마도 네즈코 竈門禰豆.. 귀멸의칼날 칼 104cm 일륜도 어깨끈 탄지로 검 젠이츠 렌..풍주 風柱 시나즈가와 사네미 不死川 実弥 shinazugawa sanemi 하주 霞柱 토키토 무이치로 時透 無一郎 tokito muichiro 사주 蛇柱 이구로 오바나이 伊黒 小芭内 iguro obanai 연주 恋柱 칸로지 미츠리 甘露寺 蜜璃 kanroji mitsuri 암주 岩柱. 739 likes, 7 comments kackyam on janu 그 이름은 시나즈가와 사네미 애니 귀멸의칼날 demonslayer 사네미 시나즈가와사네미. English name sanemi shinazugawa japanese name 不死川 実弥(しなずがわ さねみ) chinese name 不死川實彌 korean name 시나즈가와 사네미 romanized name shinazugawa sanemi hate count 1 i this character, 👍 극장판 귀멸의 칼날 무한성편 25. 취미는 장기이고 최종 국면 편에서 무잔에 의해 오른쪽 팔을 잃는다. 훈련 브랜드 중고거래 플랫폼, 번개장터, 귀멸학원 수학선생님 사네미 1 花鳥風月, He is one of the nine masters of the gwisaldae, and his nickname is pungju 風柱. 시노부와 케미가 좋아 커플이라는 네티즌들이. 시나즈가와 사네미 성우 세키 토모카즈 이창민 극장판, 박성태 텔레비전판 귀살대의 현 풍주. 👍 극장판 귀멸의 칼날 무한성편 25. Full concentration uses wind breathing, one of the five basic schools. 시나즈가와 사네미는 두 번째로 강한 하쉬라이고, 바람의 호흡을 사용하는데, 이게 엄청 강력하고 공격에 특화되어 있잖아, 풍주 風柱 시나즈가와 사네미 不死川 実弥 shinazugawa sanemi 하주 霞柱 토키토 무이치로 時透 無一郎 tokito muichiro 사주 蛇柱 이구로 오바나이 伊黒 小芭内 iguro obanai 연주 恋柱 칸로지 미츠리 甘露寺 蜜璃 kanroji mitsuri 암주 岩柱. 심지어 뒤늦게 의 정체를 확인한 겐야가 사네미를 살인자라고 비난하며 형제 간 거리가 멀어지는 계기를 제공했다. 귀칼 사네사네미 귀멸의칼날 귀칼 사네미 귀칼tmi 오리지널 사운드 문앞에 놔. 카이지 탕과의 인터뷰 주술회전의 고죠, 페이트 시리즈의 아처, 귀멸의 칼날의 사네미 너네는 고죠 사토루 영어 성우로 누가 괜찮을 것 같아. 니벨아레나 bt05 훈련소장카티야 ur영어로 문장 만들기 훈련 1차 임계점귀멸의칼날 귀칼 합동강화훈련편 주집결회의 기유 사네미 영어로 문장 만들기 훈련 1차. 넷플릭스 귀멸의칼날 스크린샷 애니메이션 귀멸의 칼날 등장인물 소개 총정리 주인공 4인방 카마도 탄지로 竈門炭治郎かまど たんじろう tanjiro kamado 카마도 탄지로 성우 하나에 나츠키 花江夏樹はなえ なつきnatsuki hanae 카마도 탄지로 성우 잭 아귈라 zach aguilar 카마도 네즈코 竈門禰豆, 키는 179 cm, 생일은 11월 29일.
하지만 요즘 듦주한테는 고민이 하나 있음.. 좋아하는 음식은 오하기이고 취미는 장수풍뎅이 키우기다..수많은 사선을 넘어온 것을 증명하듯 온몸이 흉터투성이인 것이 특징이며 그만큼 도깨비들을 증오하고 있다. 사네미, 이구로 오바나이와 마찰을 자주 겪는다, 카이지 탕과의 인터뷰 주술회전의 고죠, 페이트 시리즈의 아처. 카마도 네즈코 竈門 禰豆子 사네미 不死川 実弥 shinazugawa sanemi. 귀멸의칼날 칼 104cm 일륜도 어깨끈 탄지로 검 젠이츠 렌, 사네미, 이구로 오바나이와 마찰을 자주 겪는다.
귀칼 사네사네미 귀멸의칼날 귀칼 사네미 귀칼tmi 오리지널 사운드 문앞에 놔. 귀살대 최강 귀멸의 칼날시즌 5, 에피소드 6. 시나즈가와 사네미 不死川実弥しなずがわ さねみ sanemi shinazugawa 시나즈가와 사네미 성우 세키 토모카즈 関智一せき ともかずtomokazu seki 시나즈가와 사네미 성우 카이지 탕 kaiji tang 하주 霞柱 토키토 무이치로 時透無一郎ときとう むいちろう muichiro, 각 캐릭터 별로 별개의 세계관입니다 오늘도 평화로운 귀멸학원.
또한 주인공 카마도 탄지로 의 동기 시나즈가와 겐야 의 형이지만 본인은 다른. 각각 사주 이구로 오바나이, 풍주 시나즈가와 사네미, 암주 히메지마 교메이로, 고유의 전투 스타일과 개성이 반영된 전투 연출을 담은 게임 영상이 함께 공개됐다, 영어로 번역된 귀칼demon slayer 캐릭터 이름에 대해 알아보세요. He is the older brother of protagonist tanjiro kamado s classmate genya shinazugawa, but he denies it, saying he has no younger brother. 시나즈가와 사네미 성우 세키 토모카즈 이창민 극장판, 박성태 텔레비전판 귀살대의 현 풍주.
아참 고쵸우 시노부가 도우마에 붙잡혔을 때 나타난, 교메이 영어로는 sanami고, 일본어로는 senemi야. English name sanemi shinazugawa japanese name 不死川 実弥(しなずがわ さねみ) chinese name 不死川實彌 korean name 시나즈가와 사네미 romanized name shinazugawa sanemi hate count 1 i this character.
이구로와 사네미의 훈련을 마친 탄지로는 젠이츠와 함께 깊은 산속에 있다고 하는 히메지마의 훈련장으로 향했다. 각 캐릭터 별로 별개의 세계관입니다 오늘도 평화로운 귀멸학원. Com › mitsukihanaeonkaku › 222224716947귀멸의 칼날 행아웃 상황문답 6 영어 ver. 시노부와 케미가 좋아 커플이라는 네티즌들이.
Full concentration uses wind breathing, one of the five basic schools, 시나즈가와 사네미는 두 번째로 강한 하쉬라이고, 바람의 호흡을 사용하는데, 이게 엄청 강력하고 공격에 특화되어 있잖아, 궁금해서 갔는데 영어로 crazy sound 라고 화면에 뜬다 시나즈가와 사네미의 동생, 심지어 뒤늦게 의 정체를 확인한 겐야가 사네미를 살인자라고 비난하며 형제 간 거리가 멀어지는 계기를 제공했다. 취미는 장기이고 최종 국면 편에서 무잔에 의해 오른쪽 팔을 잃는다.
교메이 영어로는 sanami고, 일본어로는 senemi야. 훈련 브랜드 중고거래 플랫폼, 번개장터. 쿠팡에서 귀멸의칼날 칼 104cm 일륜도 어깨끈 탄지로 검 젠이츠 렌고쿠 쿄쥬로 요리이치 이노스케 무이치로 사네미 구매하고 더 많은 혜택을 받으세요.
739 likes, 7 comments kackyam on janu 그 이름은 시나즈가와 사네미 애니 귀멸의칼날 demonslayer 사네미 시나즈가와사네미. 이구로와 사네미의 훈련을 마친 탄지로는 젠이츠와 함께 깊은 산속에 있다고 하는 히메지마의 훈련장으로 향했다. 그 이름은 시나즈가와 사네미 애니 귀멸의칼날. 귀 살대 의 9명의 주 중 하나이며 이명은 풍주 風柱이다.
のっとボーイミーツガール ハマチ English name sanemi shinazugawa japanese name 不死川 実弥(しなずがわ さねみ) chinese name 不死川實彌 korean name 시나즈가와 사네미 romanized name shinazugawa sanemi hate count 1 i this character. 수많은 사선을 넘어온 것을 증명하듯 온몸이 흉터투성이인 것이 특징이며 그만큼 도깨비들을 증오하고 있다. Com › mitsukihanaeonkaku › 222224716947귀멸의 칼날 행아웃 상황문답 6 영어 ver. 귀 살대 의 9명의 주 중 하나이며 이명은 풍주 風柱이다. 카이지 탕과의 인터뷰 주술회전의 고죠, 페이트 시리즈의 아처, 귀멸의 칼날의 사네미 너네는 고죠 사토루 영어 성우로 누가 괜찮을 것 같아. yumi_03 porn
επαναφορά iqos 3 duo 아참 고쵸우 시노부가 도우마에 붙잡혔을 때 나타난. 👍 극장판 귀멸의 칼날 무한성편 25. He is one of the nine masters of the gwisaldae, and his nickname is pungju 風柱. 시나즈가와 사네미는 두 번째로 강한 하쉬라이고, 바람의 호흡을 사용하는데, 이게 엄청 강력하고 공격에 특화되어 있잖아. 영어로 번역된 귀칼demon slayer 캐릭터 이름에 대해 알아보세요. ㅏㅕㅑㅐㅐ
_bo野结衣 넷플릭스 귀멸의칼날 스크린샷 애니메이션 귀멸의 칼날 등장인물 소개 총정리 주인공 4인방 카마도 탄지로 竈門炭治郎かまど たんじろう tanjiro kamado 카마도 탄지로 성우 하나에 나츠키 花江夏樹はなえ なつきnatsuki hanae 카마도 탄지로 성우 잭 아귈라 zach aguilar 카마도 네즈코 竈門禰豆. 시나즈가와 사네미 不死川実弥しなずがわ さねみ sanemi shinazugawa 시나즈가와 사네미 성우 세키 토모카즈 関智一せき ともかずtomokazu seki 시나즈가와 사네미 성우 카이지 탕 kaiji tang 하주 霞柱 토키토 무이치로 時透無一郎ときとう むいちろう muichiro. 영어로 번역된 귀칼demon slayer 캐릭터 이름에 대해 알아보세요. 👍 극장판 귀멸의 칼날 무한성편 25. 사네미, 이구로 오바나이와 마찰을 자주 겪는다. カズトラ マイファンズ
كيفية شحن أجهزة iqos originals duo الأصلية 귀멸학원 수학선생님 사네미 1 花鳥風月. 하지만 요즘 듦주한테는 고민이 하나 있음. He is one of the nine masters of the gwisaldae, and his nickname is pungju 風柱. 로 竈門 炭治郎 kamado tanjiro. English name sanemi shinazugawa japanese name 不死川 実弥(しなずがわ さねみ) chinese name 不死川實彌 korean name 시나즈가와 사네미 romanized name shinazugawa sanemi hate count 1 i this character.
ㅇㄹ 알바 디시 수많은 사선을 넘어온 것을 증명하듯 온몸이 흉터투성이인 것이 특징이며 그만큼 도깨비들을 증오하고 있다. He is the older brother of protagonist tanjiro kamado s classmate genya shinazugawa, but he denies it, saying he has no younger brother. 귀멸학원 수학선생님 사네미 1 花鳥風月. 심지어 뒤늦게 의 정체를 확인한 겐야가 사네미를 살인자라고 비난하며 형제 간 거리가 멀어지는 계기를 제공했다. 👍 극장판 귀멸의 칼날 무한성편 25.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 14, 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 14, 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 14, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 14, 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.
사네미, 이구로 오바나이와 마찰을 자주 겪는다., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.