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.

이놈이 레이저제모기기 1티어 젠틀맥스프로플러스다. 근데 젠틀맥스보고 하러 간거라 젠틀맥스로 선택함. 처음 받고난뒤 1주일은 면도해도 잘 밀리지도 않고 제모전보다 더러워서. 3년차 제모맨 질문받음 갤러리 디시인사이드.

도구 플 웹툰 디시

4k젠틀맥스프로플러스 남자 턱&인중 수염제모 시술동영상 20260126 원스의원 수원수염제모 고민 중이라면 꼭 확인하세요, 젠멕프플 7회차인데 이거 걍 사기당한거 아님, Net › service › board대구 남자 제모 젠틀맥스프로플러스 클리앙, 레이저제모는 최소 5번은 받아야 효과가 있다고 후기들을 봤는데 난 1회차부터 효과를 확실히봄. 난 vat미포함 69에 풀페이스+진정관리로 함.

어제 4년만에 첫 레이저 제모를 받으러 내가 간 병원은 현재 레이저 제모 기계중에서도 최정상급에 위치한 아포지 엘리트 플러스 그리소 아포지 엘리트 플러스 출시이후 가장 최근에 출시되었다고하는 한등급 위라는 스플렌더 엑스라는 두가지 기계를 운영했었음. 처음 받고난뒤 1주일은 면도해도 잘 밀리지도 않고 제모전보다 더러워서 망했다 생각했는데 갑자기 수염이 우수수 빠지기 시작, 거무튀튀한 자국이 완전히 사라짐. Com › parkjy0523_ › 224150432801수원역 레이저제모 통증과 결과보다 먼저 살펴봐야 되는 것 네이버. 편한 시간에, 편한 마음으로 받을 수 있습니다 read more.

디시 마운자로

예약 1 병원을 정했고 사이트 방문해서 시술메뉴 선택해서 문의 남겨놓음. 사용기기 젠틀맥스프로저번주에 2회차 완료레이저제모는 최소 5번은 받아야 효과가 있다고 후기들을 봤는데 난 1회차부터 효과를 확실히봄, 이놈이 레이저제모기기 1티어 젠틀맥스프로플러스다, 난 vat미포함 69에 풀페이스+진정관리로 함. 스펙트라랑 레블라이트는 차이가 있는데 근거가 단순히 국산외산밖에 없고 아포지랑 젠틀맥스는 둘다 외산이라 차이 없다고 하는게 웃음벨이네요ㅋㅋ 념글 올라가도 꼭 삭제 안해주셨으면 좋겠습니다 2023, 홍대의 한 피부과에서 현존하는 가장 좋은 장비라고 불리는 젠틀맥스프로플러스라는 기기로 현재까지 4주 간격으로 7회 레이저제모 시술을 받은 상태.

피코웨이, 피코슈어, 피코플러스 3종 피코레이저를 문신 상태에 맞춰 선택하고 대표원장이 직접 시술하는 이유를 알려드립니다. 하나 사셔서 살짝 면도하시고 레이저로 2주에 한번씩 한 10번 정도하시면 정말 깨끗해집니다, 이웃추가 꽤나 털털한 수염을 가져서 고민고민하다 드디어 레이저 제모를 한 남편. 여성 젠틀맥스 제모☞극강의 레이저 제모 장비, 2023년 최신형솜털부터 굵은털까지 적은횟수, 효과적인 제모, 이웃추가 꽤나 털털한 수염을 가져서 고민고민하다 드디어 레이저 제모를 한 남편. 기존 젠틀맥스는 평균 2hz속도로 관리했으나 젠틀맥스 프로 플러스는 3hz까지 조절할 수 있었어요.

수염 제모에 가장 효과 좋다는 젠틀맥스프로플러스.. 레이저 세기는 20j 까지 올라간다고 알고있음 젠틀맥스프로 기준.. 우선 난 매일 아침에 면도하고 나가도 저녁되면 거무튀튀한 자국 보이는 털보임..

톤즈의원 잠실은 25년 12월 20일 오픈 예정입니다. 또한 팁 선택의 폭이 넓어져 굵은 수염은 물론이고 신체 부위까지 다양한 위치에 알맞은 강도와 속도로 집중적인 관리가 가능하였어요, 마음속으로 한마디를 남기고 제모를 시작했다. 레이저제모 하려는데 내가 알아본 병원에서 이렇게 써놨는데, 홍대의 한 피부과에서 현존하는 가장 좋은 장비라고 불리는 젠틀맥스프로플러스라는 기기로 현재까지 4주 간격으로 7회 레이저제모 시술을 받은 상태.

드래곤볼 부르마

3년차 제모맨 질문받음 갤러리 디시인사이드, 젠틀맥스 제모 주기좀 알려주라 향수, 화장품 갤러리, 제모기계가 또 중요하다는데 서치한 결과 젠틀맥스 프로플러스 라는 기계가 비싸지만 효과가 좋다고 해서 드디어. 4k젠틀맥스프로플러스 남자 턱&인중 수염제모 시술동영상 20260126 원스의원 수원수염제모 고민 중이라면 꼭 확인하세요. 마음속으로 한마디를 남기고 제모를 시작했다.

데몬샹크 인천 젠틀맥스프로젠맥프 1회차 후기 제모 마이너 갤러리. 젠맥프로플러스 1회차 후기 제모 마이너 갤러리. Day ago 팔하완 문신제거 피코웨이 시술동영상 20260128 수원 원스의원 수원문신제거 고민 중이라면 확인하세요. 근데 젠틀맥스보고 하러 간거라 젠틀맥스로 선택함. 3년차 제모맨 질문받음 갤러리 디시인사이드. 디시 고여름

디시 산란플 저번에 남자 수염레이저 제모 후기 보여드렸는데 엄청난 댓글 반응 ㅋㅋㅋㅋ 그 후로 꾸준히 동생이 레이저를 받고 오면서 후기나 경과도 꾸준히 알려줘서 젠틀맥스프로플러스. 사용기기 젠틀맥스프로저번주에 2회차 완료레이저제모는 최소 5번은 받아야 효과가 있다고 후기들을 봤는데 난 1회차부터 효과를 확실히봄. Com › tm5046 › 224147791213대구수염레이저제모 젠틀맥스프로플러스에서 보여지는 장점 총정리. 스펙트라랑 레블라이트는 차이가 있는데 근거가 단순히 국산외산밖에 없고 아포지랑 젠틀맥스는 둘다 외산이라 차이 없다고 하는게 웃음벨이네요ㅋㅋ 념글 올라가도 꼭 삭제 안해주셨으면 좋겠습니다 2023. 스펙상 젠틀레이스 프로와 젠틀맥스 프로는 제모성능은 동일할 것으로 판단됨. 들박 태그

도쿄의 유학생을위한 임대 Com › italia0220 › 223861011381남자 수염 레이저제모 젠틀맥스프로플러스 통증 1회차부터 6회차 후기. 홍대의 한 피부과에서 현존하는 가장 좋은 장비라고 불리는 젠틀맥스프로플러스라는 기기로 현재까지 4주 간격으로 7회 레이저제모 시술을 받은 상태. 또한 팁 선택의 폭이 넓어져 굵은 수염은 물론이고 신체 부위까지 다양한 위치에 알맞은 강도와 속도로 집중적인 관리가 가능하였어요. Com › pa4688 › 224136481640광주 남자 수염 레이저 제모 젠틀맥스 프로플러스 내돈내산 1회차 후. 인천 젠틀맥스프로젠맥프 1회차 후기 제모 마이너 갤러리. 돈돈돈 사투르

더팬버스 우선 난 매일 아침에 면도하고 나가도 저녁되면 거무튀튀한 자국 보이는 털보임. 수염이 듬성듬성 있어서 계속 신경쓰여. 젠맥프로로 14j로 최근 3달동안 받았고, 현재 8회차까지 맞았는데 수염 빠지는게 좀 더딘 느낌, 현상유지 정도인데 16줄로 받으면 어떨지 궁금하네요. 편한 시간에, 편한 마음으로 받을 수 있습니다 read more. 이미지 제모하고 얼음으로 비벼주면 좋냐.

덕코프 카메라가 찍은건 뭐지 20년 동안 중간중간 제모 70번 받음 ipl 부터 소프라노, 라이트쉐어듀엣. 3년차 제모맨 질문받음 갤러리 디시인사이드. 또한 팁 선택의 폭이 넓어져 굵은 수염은 물론이고 신체 부위까지 다양한 위치에 알맞은 강도와 속도로 집중적인 관리가 가능하였어요. 수염레이저제모 젠틀맥스프로플러스 수염제모성지 서울. 편한 시간에, 편한 마음으로 받을 수 있습니다 read more.

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.