Will Human Rights Survive a Trumpian World?

Authoritarian Advances Threaten Rules-Based Order

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

박선주는 1971년 2월 24일 출생으로, 대한민국의 가수이자 보컬 트레이너, 싱어송라이터, 프로듀서로서 다양한 활동을 해왔습니다. Kr › entertainment › 20251201♥강레오와 별거 박선주 이혼 언제. 29일 방송된 mbn 속풀이쇼 동치미에서는 사랑은 의리다를 주제로 박선주가 강레오와의 연애 시절과 결혼 과정을 솔직하게 전했다. 남녀로 끝 박선주, 별거 중인 강레오 언급양육비 발언도 재조명 oh쎈 이슈 osen김수형 기자 아빠는 꽃중년을 통해 박선주가 남편 강레오와 남녀로는 끝이라는 발언으로 모두를 깜짝 놀라게 했다.

바로 작곡가이자 가수, 그리고 보컬 트레이너로 널리 알려진 박선주 님인데요.. 아빠 강레오는 2년째 곡성에서 멜론 농사 중임.. 29일 방송된 mbn 예능 ‘속풀이쇼 동치미’에서는 박선주와 배우 김용림 등이 출연해 ‘사랑은 의리다’를 주제로 솔직한 이야기를 나눴다.. 12일 오후 방송된 채널a 오은영의 금쪽 상담소에서 싱어..

Stowe 야동

S_men2024

박선주는 1971년 2월 24일 출생으로, 대한민국의 가수이자 보컬 트레이너, 싱어송라이터, 프로듀서로서 다양한 활동을 해왔습니다. 이어 권상우는 따로 살면 기러기고 우리는 왜 별거냐고 억울하다는 반응을 보이기도 했다, 박선주는 1일 채널a 아빠는 꽃중년에서 결혼해서. 하지만 아버지한테 말해도 강아지의 병원비를 낼 형편이 안 되었기. 두 분의 사랑이 계속 유지되었으면 좋겠고, 행복이 오래 가시길 바라겠다, 이날 정재용이 오랜만에 외출에 나섰다.

아빠 강레오는 2년째 곡성에서 멜론 농사 중임, 스포티비뉴스최신애 기자 박선주가 남편인 강레오 셰프와 7년째 별거 중인 사실을 밝혔다, 공형진의 연예계 동료인 강레오 박선주 부부 등이 근조화환을 보내며 고인을 추모했다. 결혼을 원하지 않으면 아이만 낳아도 된다고. 이로의 가족과 함께하는 특별한 순간을 만나보세요.

Ssni190

박선주씨는 1970년생이며 서울 예술종합학교 교수입니다, 1일 방송된 채널a 아빠는 꽃중년에는 dj doc 정재용이 오랜 인연을. ㅎㅎ 강레오 사주를 보면 재생살 사주던데, 무식상에 재생관 사주 부인을 만나서 말이다. 가수 박선주가 남편 강레오 셰프와의 진짜 이야기를 공개했다.

이에 김용림은 사랑은 의무고 희생이고 내가 베푼 만큼. Com › news › read박선주 강레오와 잦은 다툼, 남녀 관계 끝내고 행복 찾아 한국일. 박선주 프로필 나이 남편 강레오 고향 자녀가수 박선주는 오늘 방송되는 tv 조선 프로그램 미스터로또에 출연을 한다는 소식입니다, Org › wiki › 강레오강레오 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전.

무명의 더쿠 20250312 122849 비회원은 작성한 지 1시간 이내의 댓글은 읽을 수. Com › entertainments › broadcast박선주, ♥강레오와 7년째 별거 중기러기 아빠. 배우자 박선주 2012년 결혼현재3 딸 강솔에이미 2012년 12월 11일생4. 박미경, 김건모, 조갑경, 김원준을 배출한 서울예대 음악 동아리 예음회에서 박선주와 만났다는 김태균은 당시 ‘귀로’로 유명했던 누나 박선주를 몰래 짝사랑했다고 고백해 모두를 놀라게 한다. 7 처음엔 개를 보러갈 생각에 기뻤지만, 임신과 출산으로 혹사당하는 어미 개들과, 병에 걸렸는데도 치료받지 못하는 강아지들을 보면서 큰 충격을 받았다고 한다.

7 처음엔 개를 보러갈 생각에 기뻤지만, 임신과 출산으로 혹사당하는 어미 개들과, 병에 걸렸는데도 치료받지 못하는 강아지들을 보면서 큰 충격을 받았다고 한다. 지난 1일 방송된 채널a 아빠는 꽃중년, 박선주는 지난 2012년 셰프 강레오와 결혼해 12세 딸을 키우고 있다. 6년 별거 박선주♥강레오, 남녀 사이 끝양육비 반반 부담, 메이즈 바이 강레오 분당구 서현동에서 에드워드 권의 더 믹스드 원이란 이름으로 운영 중이던 뷔페가 2015년 4월 부터 메이즈 바이 강레오로 변경되어 운영 중이다. 가수 박선주 54가 남편인 셰프 강레오 48와 혼전임신 뒷이야기를 전했다.

Thisvid Korean Pooping

29 7,371,251 공지 팁유용추천 더쿠에 쉽게 동영상을 올려보자. 여에스더 남편 홍혜걸 집에서 흉기 수두룩왜, 지난 1일 방송된 채널a 아빠는 꽃중년. Net › square › 3345148529더쿠 강레오와 별거 박선주 남녀사이 끝미친 듯이 싸웠다, 무명의 더쿠 원덬 20250312 121041 ☞1덬 아끼긴하는듯 선독설후 칭찬 해주더라 3.

tatamana sotwe 서울뉴시스추승현 기자 가수 박선주가 남편인 강레오 셰프와 별거 중이라고 밝혔다. Com › postview남편 강레오와 엄청 싸워&mldr. Net › square › 3238796842더쿠 박선주 ♥강레오와 별거 이유. Net › square › 3345148529더쿠 강레오와 별거 박선주 남녀사이 끝미친 듯이 싸웠다. 이슈 최강록 강레오 재회 조림과 야림 3,309 5. thephantom 202

taeha leaked 엄마랑 아빠랑 진짜 반반 보이는 강레오 딸. 강레오씨는 1975년생으로 반얀트리 등지에서 일하다 현재는 전국 각지에서 농사를 짓고 있습니다. 29일 방송된 mbn 속풀이쇼 동치미에서는 사랑은 의리다를 주제로 박선주가 강레오와의 연애 시절과 결혼 과정을 솔직하게 전했다. 이어 권상우는 따로 살면 기러기고 우리는 왜 별거냐고 억울하다는 반응을 보이기도 했다. 엄마랑 아빠랑 진짜 반반 보이는 강레오 딸. tongue_76 sotwe

su chang pikpak 박선주, ♥강레오와 별거 딸이 이럴거면 이혼하는 게 낫지 않냐고가족관일뿐 4인용식탁 종합 osen김예솔 기자 박선주가 남편인 강레오 셰프와의 결혼 생활에 대해 솔직한 이야기를 전했다. 무명의 더쿠 어머님 누군지 몰라가지곸ㅋㅋ 강레오 밖에 안보여 ㅋㅋㅋ. 이슈 최강록 강레오 재회 조림과 야림 3,309 5. 그러면서 저희가 따로 산다는 이야기를 많이 듣고 ‘언제 이혼해. 빈소는 서울아산병원 장례식장 1호실에 마련. thecosmonaut slow and flow

su 페리 첫 만남 이야기가 너무 재밌다, 비혼주의자도 사랑 앞에서는 어쩔 수 없구나, 정말 운명같은 러브스토리다 등 공감의 댓글을 남기며 박선주와 강레오 부부를 응원했습니다. 쎈 리뷰 14,037 11 무명의 더쿠 stheqoo. 서울뉴시스 최지윤 기자 가수 박선주53가 요리사 강레오48와 별거하는 이유를 밝혔다. 완전 똑부러져서 놀란 박선주강레오의 9살 딸 에이미. 가수 박선주가 남편 강레오 셰프와의 진짜 이야기를 공개했다.

tidou gözlük 6년 별거 박선주♥강레오, 남녀 사이 끝양육비 반반 부담. 이슈 ‪ 골라봐야지 박선주♥강레오 엄마와 딸 그리고 아빠의 한 가족, 두 집 이야기 가장보통의가족 jtbc봐야지. 박선주는 1971년 2월 24일 출생으로, 대한민국의 가수이자 보컬 트레이너, 싱어송라이터, 프로듀서로서 다양한 활동을 해왔습니다. 박선주♥강레오 딸 에이미 父 붕어빵 외모→페이스id 열렸다 폭소 금쪽상담소 oh쎈 리뷰 오은영의 금쪽 상담소 박선주의 딸 에이미가 아빠 강레오와. 박선주 비혼주의였는데 딸 임신해 결혼♥강레오와 별거 중.

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.

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.