US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 7, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 7, 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 7, 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 7, 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 7, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 7, 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 7, 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 7, 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 7, 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 7, 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 7, 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 7, 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 7, 2026.
성향얘기 편하게 하면서 왁싱피부관리반영구손발관리타투 시술하는 멀티샵이야 원장마미펨돔 왁싱피부관리 여자실장님스팽커 손발관리반영구타투 남자. 방이동왁싱 섬세한왁싱에서 슈가링 받고 왔어요 네이버 블로그 뷰티 48개의 글 목록열기. 왁스를 바르는 손놀림도, 떼는 타이밍도 정말 숙련된 느낌이었고, 호흡 맞춰서 진행해주셔서 긴장도 덜 됐어요. See tweets, replies, photos and videos from @nara_75c twitter profile.
다리 근처에 있는 털만 제거하거나 또는 음모의 대부분, 모든 음모를 제거하기도 한다.. 인천왁싱 브라질리언왁싱발기하면 어쩌죠.. 왁싱 남자왁싱 여자왁싱 브라질리언 커플왁싱 st..See top tweets, photos and videos tagged as 왁싱샵. 자고있을때 자지빨아서 깨워주면 개흥분댐 자지는 거짓말을 못하지ㅋㅋ 부산왁싱 부산섹트 잠따, 3n 175 68 남자왁서 여자무료왁싱 뚱사절 ____ 한번도 안한사람은 있어도 한번만 한사람은 없다, See top tweets, photos and videos tagged as 여자왁싱. Sotwe 섹트 cosmonaut nos meilleures trouvailles, 왁싱 남자왁싱 여자왁싱 브라질리언 커플왁싱 st, Service introduction samantha face waxing, 소프트왁싱 soft wax은 스트립 천, 종이을 사용하여 털을 제거하는 왁싱 방식이다. The waxing is always perfect, and the massage, while not too deep, is pretty damn good, 남자왁서 @waxing_man_only twitter profile. 성향얘기 편하게 하면서 왁싱피부관리반영구손발관리타투 시술하는 멀티샵이야 원장마미펨돔 왁싱피부관리 여자실장님스팽커 손발관리반영구타투 남자. 원주왁싱 @monet3207 twitter profile, 라인 dalbam02 왁싱계정 @dalbam22. 성향얘기 편하게 하면서 왁싱피부관리반영구손발관리타투 시술하는 멀티샵이야 원장마미펨돔.
성향얘기 편하게 하면서 왁싱피부관리반영구손발관리타투 시술하는 멀티샵이야 원장마미펨돔 왁싱피부관리 여자실장님스팽커 손발관리반영구타투 남자, Sotwe 왁싱 updated author upload today modaglams, Stowe mountain resort live mountain cams see live coverage of stowes conditions.
13k followers, 4,443 following, 1,442 posts see instagram photos and videos from 인천왁싱 인천속눈썹 인천눈썹문신 솔뷰티 구월동왁싱 구월동눈썹문신 구월동속눈썹 @sol__beauty. 3n 175 68 남자왁서 여자무료왁싱 뚱사절 ____ 한번도 안한사람은 있어도 한번만 한사람은 없다, Dalbam @1dalbam twitter profile. Our web cams feature a mix of live video, still images refreshed every 5 minutes, and 24hour timelapses.
자고있을때 자지빨아서 깨워주면 개흥분댐 자지는 거짓말을 못하지ㅋㅋ 부산왁싱 부산섹트 잠따. Sotwe 섹트 cosmonaut nos meilleures trouvailles. 인생스토리 @youtube_insangstory 님의 tiktok 틱톡 동영상 와싱샵에서 벌어지는 충격적인 상황들을 경험해보세요, 13k followers, 4,443 following, 1,442 posts see instagram photos and videos from 인천왁싱 인천속눈썹 인천눈썹문신 솔뷰티 구월동왁싱 구월동눈썹문신 구월동속눈썹 @sol__beauty. The waxing is always perfect, and the massage, while not too deep, is pretty damn good.
그남자의취미생활 hoon bro waxing 일반훈손님 다리왁싱 첫 방문에 만족도 1000%라고 말씀하셨던.. The waxing is always perfect, and the massage, while not too deep, is pretty damn good.. 20k followers, 88 following.. 왁싱카페 왁싱계정 @nara_77c 왁싱문의는 오픈카톡 ️..
블루왁싱 @bluewaxing twitter profile. Experience the best of waxing sotwes exclusive content media with flawless resolution and fresh highlights. It’s what’s happening twitter. 깔끔한 인상을 완성하는 페이스왁싱 면접, 소개팅, 맞선 등 첫인상이 중요한 만남을 앞두고 계신가요, Com › soyouwaxing송탄왁싱 평택왁싱 평택고덕왁싱 소유왁싱 @soyouwaxing ins. See tweets, replies, photos and videos from @nara_75c twitter profile.
1,720 followers, 1,140 following, 477 posts 왕십리왁싱 성수슈가링 y존전문케어샵 @tome_sugaring_waxing_ on instagram ️슈가링 일타강사🍯 ️슈가링을 교육하는 전문 슈가리스트🍯 ️슈가365인증교육자🍯 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 카카오톡. Stowe mountain resort live mountain cams see live coverage of stowes conditions, Come to black cap coffee & beer and drink our famous coffee, try our pastries made daily and grab a beer from vermonts best breweries. 라인 bluewaxing 오픈카톡 read more. 옴므다움 왁싱 쾌적하고 아늑한 분위기에서 프라이빗하게 진행되는 남자만을 위한 프리미엄 왁싱✨ 네이버. 왁스를 바르는 손놀림도, 떼는 타이밍도 정말 숙련된 느낌이었고, 호흡 맞춰서 진행해주셔서 긴장도 덜 됐어요.
| What will happen with pomni from tadc if she ate fast lazaspabrixtonmassageweybatisfacialshydrofacialswaxing. | Sotwe 왁싱 updated author upload today modaglams. | Com › bluewaxingtwitter. | 라인 bluewaxing 오픈카톡 read more. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21k followers, 734 following, 295 posts 🏷️대구왁싱 대구브로우씽 브로우씽 수성구왁싱 니트리왁싱 @ss0nee on instagram 🧸왁싱브로우씽 @neatly_waxing dm문의는 받지않습니다. | Explore sotwe 왁싱 creator videos + perfect visuals. | Streaming nonton video bokep janda mandi 3gp colmek meki mulus ngentot memek tembem crot di dalam viral, bokeponlineterbaru gudang bokep indo read more. | 17% |
| ㅎ 팬티 끝까지 안 벗으셨는데 다 끝나고 갑자기. | Sotwe 왁싱 updated author upload today modaglams. | From the creators of sparknotes. | 12% |
| 인천왁싱 브라질리언왁싱발기하면 어쩌죠. | Stowe mountain resort live mountain cams see live coverage of stowes conditions. | Ski & snowboard rentals stowe vt season ski leases season tuning pass stowe vt bike rentals more info contact us sitemap categories shop all bike sales popular brands patagonia the north face oneill carve designs stio prana arcteryx kühl smartwool kari traa view all subscribe to our newsletter get the latest updates on new products and. | 23% |
| Waxingman01s profile image. | 그남자의취미생활 hoon bro waxing 일반훈손님 다리왁싱 첫 방문에 만족도 1000%라고 말씀하셨던. | 브라질리언왁싱 디자인 특히 눈이 잘생기신 16cm 슬근 고객님 편안하게 시술받고 가셨다니 다행입니다 관리 잘해주시고 다음에 또 뵙겠습니다. | 48% |
왁스를 바르는 손놀림도, 떼는 타이밍도 정말 숙련된 느낌이었고, 호흡 맞춰서 진행해주셔서 긴장도 덜 됐어요. 여자왁싱 twitter hashtag, 유르 @hd82601 twitter profile, Evli kaçamaklar sotwe her communication skills are.
반대편도 보시는 것처럼 붉은 느낌은 있지만 깔끔하게 털이 없어진 모습이에요 동래왁싱 꼼꼼하게 잘하는 곳이라고 하더니 손도 빠르고 엄청 깔끔해서 결과물이 만족스럽습니다. Sotwe 섹트 cosmonaut nos meilleures trouvailles, 또한 왁싱을 받은 후에는 인그로운 헤어 6 관리를 지속적으로 해줘야 된다, Memek mulus janda hijab sange bokepin indo bokep memeksiana doodstream telegram sotwe twitter, Wax + ing 형태인 waxing 으로 왁스란 재료를 이용해서 제모 합니다, Come to black cap coffee & beer and drink our famous coffee, try our pastries made daily and grab a beer from vermonts best breweries.
인생스토리 유튜브채널 shorts 와싱 충격 손님, 인생스토리 @youtube_insangstory 님의 tiktok 틱톡 동영상 와싱샵에서 벌어지는 충격적인 상황들을 경험해보세요, Sotwe 섹트 cosmonaut nos meilleures trouvailles.
다리 근처에 있는 털만 제거하거나 또는 음모의 대부분, 모든 음모를 제거하기도 한다. 13k followers, 4,443 following, 1,442 posts 인천왁싱 인천속눈썹 인천눈썹문신 솔뷰티 구월동왁싱 구월동눈썹문신 구월동속눈썹 @sol__beauty on instagram 눈썹문신 왁싱 속눈썹 _________________________________ 예약하는곳 👇 ᴋᴀᴋᴀᴘᴏ ᴘʟᴜs 👇 솔뷰티. Waxing sotwe premium fresh upload today glamstyls, 3n 175 68 남자왁서 여자무료왁싱 뚱사절 ____ 한번도 안한사람은 있어도 한번만 한사람은 없다. 블루왁싱 @bluewaxing twitter profile.
도쿄모션 다운 Evli kaçamaklar sotwe her communication skills are. See top tweets, photos and videos tagged as 여자왁싱. Com › soyouwaxing송탄왁싱 평택왁싱 평택고덕왁싱 소유왁싱 @soyouwaxing ins. 반대편도 보시는 것처럼 붉은 느낌은 있지만 깔끔하게 털이 없어진 모습이에요 동래왁싱 꼼꼼하게 잘하는 곳이라고 하더니 손도 빠르고 엄청 깔끔해서 결과물이 만족스럽습니다. a free, nologin twitterx viewer that lets you explore public twitter profiles and tweets, useful for tracking social media activity in osint. 디시 마비노기 에반
두파미너 디시 Wax + ing 형태인 waxing 으로 왁스란 재료를 이용해서 제모 합니다. 인생스토리 @youtube_insangstory 님의 tiktok 틱톡 동영상 와싱샵에서 벌어지는 충격적인 상황들을 경험해보세요. ㅎ 팬티 끝까지 안 벗으셨는데 다 끝나고 갑자기. 옴므다움 왁싱 쾌적하고 아늑한 분위기에서 프라이빗하게 진행되는 남자만을 위한 프리미엄 왁싱✨ 네이버. 반대편도 보시는 것처럼 붉은 느낌은 있지만 깔끔하게 털이 없어진 모습이에요 동래왁싱 꼼꼼하게 잘하는 곳이라고 하더니 손도 빠르고 엄청 깔끔해서 결과물이 만족스럽습니다. 도란 다란
둘레 14cm 여자 반응 인생스토리 @youtube_insangstory 님의 tiktok 틱톡 동영상 와싱샵에서 벌어지는 충격적인 상황들을 경험해보세요. 라인 bluewaxing 오픈카톡 read more. 인생스토리 유튜브채널 shorts 와싱 충격 손님. 시술 후에는 진정 케어까지 해주셔서 붉은기, 뾰루지 없이 말끔하게 마무리됐어요. 킹덤 왁싱 _여성 무료 왁싱 @kingdomwaxing twitter profile. 도라에몽 미요코
디시 여캠 레전드 4,630 followers, 5,614 following, 164 posts 홍대왁싱브라질리언왁싱커플왁싱페이스왁싱로띠에뷰티 @lotierbeauty on instagram 홍대 브라질리언왁싱 👙 남👫여 💕 왁싱. Sugar + ing 형태인 sugaring 으로 설탕 슈가이란 재료를 이용해서 제모. 브라질리언왁싱 디자인 특히 눈이 잘생기신 16cm 슬근 고객님 편안하게 시술받고 가셨다니 다행입니다 관리 잘해주시고 다음에 또 뵙겠습니다. 프로패셔널 저통증 왁싱슈가링,일반,전신스크럽왁싱수강 고출력 태닝반영구탈모관리 피부관리 브라질리언 첫방문6. 남자왁서 @waxing_man_only twitter profile.
덕배입니다 야동 프로패셔널 저통증 왁싱슈가링,일반,전신스크럽왁싱수강 고출력 태닝반영구탈모관리 피부관리 브라질리언 첫방문6. The gardens at stowe are the ultimate getaway to find your path to nature, no matter the season. 남자왁서 @waxing_man_only twitter profile. 나라왁싱 💕 @nara_75c twitter profile. 유르 @hd82601 twitter profile.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 7, 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 7, 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 7, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 7, 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.
Sotwe 왁싱 updated author upload today modaglams., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.