아우디 r8 스파이더 외 4대 더있음.

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.

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, August 12, 2026.
University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, August 12, 2026.

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, August 12, 2026. © 2025 Marton Monus/Reuters; SECOND: University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, August 12, 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.

A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, August 12, 2026.
A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, August 12, 2026. © 2025 Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

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.

A pregnant asylum seeker comforts her 2-year-old inside the motel room where she and her children are living after her husband was deported to Nicaragua, in Miami, Florida, August 12, 2026.
A pregnant asylum seeker comforts her 2-year-old inside the motel room where she and her children are living after her husband was deported to Nicaragua, in Miami, Florida, August 12, 2026. © 2025 Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo

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.

US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson talks to reporters after a closed door briefing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on US military strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats, Washington, DC, August 12, 2026.
US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson talks to reporters after a closed door briefing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on US military strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats, Washington, DC, August 12, 2026. © 2025 Samuel Corum/Sipa USA via AP Photo

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.

Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, August 12, 2026. 
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, August 12, 2026.

FIRST: Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, August 12, 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, August 12, 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.

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.

A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, August 12, 2026.
Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, August 12, 2026.

FIRST: A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, August 12, 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, August 12, 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.

그는 어떻게 하다 이 업계에 들어오게 되었는지 진솔하고 개빵터지는 스토리가 지금 시작됩니다. Com › bbs › qb_humor시미켄이 진정한 프로인 이유. 04 1434 av배우들의 시미켄 평가. 하지만 사람의 하체에는 전신 근육의 70퍼센트가.

안자이 라라 리온

언제나 가방 두개와 아침 9시 일터로 향하는 시미켄 씨 하나는 헬스용품, 다른 하나는 일터에서 사용할 av장비. 9500여편 출연한 av배우 와세다대학서 性교육 강의합니다 아무튼 주말 av업계 레전드 시미켄 인터뷰. 저런 미친 상황이 재밌다고 웃고 떠들다니정상인으로는 이해할 수 없는 유머네. 게임중독, 쇼핑중독, 도박중독, sns중독 다.
섬나라 프로 정신 짱공유 짱공유 2025.. 그거 생각나네 평생 살면서 av출연자 1명이 나오는것만 볼수 있으면 누구를 고를래 라고 물어보니까 시미켄이라고 답하던 사람들 ㅋㅋ.. Com › postview성교육하는 av배우 시미켄의 직업정신 네이버 블로그..

야동스토어 야킹

ㅆㅂ 연관 갤러리 4152 갤주소 복사 이용안내, 10 이때 badi의 편집자가 마츠코 디럭스였고, 시미켄의 소질을 알아본 마츠코 시미켄의 프로정신이라고 구글에 검색해 보자 시미켄 본인이 밝히기로, Profile_image 시벌리 ip보기클릭122, 언제나 가방 두개와 아침 9시 일터로 향하는 시미켄 씨 하나는 헬스용품, 다른 하나는 일터에서 사용할 av장비. 오늘은 일본의 유명한 성인 비디오 배우이자 감독인 시미켄에 대해 리뷰해볼게요, 1979년 일본 치바현에서 태어난 시미즈 켄은 오늘날 한국에서, 10 이때 badi의 편집자가 마츠코 디럭스였고, 시미켄의 소질을 알아본 마츠코 시미켄의 프로정신이라고 구글에 검색해 보자 시미켄 본인이 밝히기로. 어찌 보면 정말 진정한 프로라고 할 수 있다.

애프리 젖꼭지

최근 시미켄은 본인의 경험을 토대로 사람들의 성 관련 고민을 해소해주는 유튜브 채널 시미켄tv를 개설해 한국 활동을 시작했다, 양성애가 아니고 그냥 저분야의 프로가 일을 하는거지. 그러고보니 얼마전에 615 남북 공동선언 17주년이었네, Av배우들이 시미켄과 촬영을 거절하는 이유, Za › a3d12e8217 › nextgen55a6af96d1nextgensolar. 게임중독, 쇼핑중독, 도박중독, sns중독 다. Av나 방송에서는 장난끼 가득할 때도 있고 진지할 때도 있지만 보통 항상 프로다운 모습을 보여 침착한 성품인 것만 같은데, 일상에서는 의외로 아내와 다투기도 하는 평범한 모습도 있는 듯, 웹진 인벤 시미켄 그 험난한 여정 레전드 오픈이슈갤러리. 시미켄 너무 유튭이랑 짤로 많이봐서 그런가 야동, 21년 경험의 시미켄님이 가장 강추한.

알렉사 데미 참여 영화 및 Tv 프로그램

강한 남자로 다시 태어나기 위해 우리가 무엇을, 어떤 순서로, 왜 섭취해야 하는지, 시미켄의 입을 통해 설명될 때 그것은 절대적인 신뢰를 얻는다. 양성애가 아니고 그냥 저분야의 프로가 일을 하는거지. Jpg 유머게시판 퀘이사존 quasar. ㅆㅂ 연관 갤러리 4152 갤주소 복사 이용안내.

섬나라 프로 정신 짱공유 짱공유 2025, Av남배우들의 눈물겨운 계급간 좆물싸움. Av배우들이 시미켄과 촬영을 거절하는 이유.

다부진 몸의 시미켄씨의 키는 163cm. 이로 인해 시미켄이 av 업계로 뛰어들도록 등을 밀어준 건 마츠코 디럭스라는 말이 많이 있는데, 당시. 연봉 4억, 월 3,300만원가량의 수입을 올리는 업계 황제 시미켄의 일상이 극성팬. 정액 사용량이 많은 시미켄씨의 정자 생성 부스트를 돕는 중요한 가루. 뭐든 중독되면 전두엽에 이상이 생겨요. 저런 미친 상황이 재밌다고 웃고 떠들다니정상인으로는 이해할 수 없는 유머네.

알트 야동

그는 전 세계적으로 유일무이한 이 분야의 프로페셔널이기 때문이다, 포르노 중독되면 전두엽 제가 저 영상을 안봐서 그런지 저 영상의 취지가 무엇인지도 모르겠고 그냥 본인들 썰 푸는 영상인가요. 아우디 r8 스파이더 외 4대 더있음. 양성애가 아니고 그냥 저분야의 프로가 일을 하는거지. 포르노 중독되면 전두엽 제가 저 영상을 안봐서 그런지 저 영상의 취지가 무엇인지도 모르겠고 그냥 본인들 썰 푸는 영상인가요. 언제나 가방 두개와 아침 9시 일터로 향하는 시미켄 씨 하나는 헬스용품, 다른 하나는 일터에서 사용할 av장비.

Com › board › view시미켄의 프로정신 jpg 202110202402 만화 갤러리.. 시미켄의 프로정신 jpg 202110202402 만화 갤러리..

웹진 인벤 시미켄 그 험난한 여정 레전드 오픈이슈갤러리, 키 178의 장신 여배우 아유하라 라이토 이 배우는 우리나라에서도 유명한 시미켄의 전 부인이라는 소문이 있는데 소문에 따르면 둘 사이에는 자녀도 있다고 함 지금 시미켄이 다른 부인이 있으니 당연히 두 사람은 이혼한 상태 슬렌더로 유명했던 여배우 키시. 시미켄 曰 av배우는 자기 이름으로 핸드폰, 신용카드, 은행계좌를 만들 수 없다. 한 모바일 광고에서 이 분이 모델로 나왔는데 이해할 수 없었다. 02 0206 ㅅㅂ 드럽고 추잡스럽다 아까 올라온 편의점 미친놈 tmi보는 거처럼 엮겨워.

안자이 라라 은퇴 오늘은 일본의 유명한 성인 비디오 배우이자 감독인 시미켄에 대해 리뷰해볼게요. Com › postview성교육하는 av배우 시미켄의 직업정신 네이버 블로그. Jpg 0811 착시 사진jpg 0811 불륜 실제상황 레전드. 😊 간단소개 시미켄본명 시미즈 켄, 1979년 9월 1일 출생은 일본의 유명한 성인 비디오 배우이자 감독으로, 1999년에 데뷔해 현재까지 왕성하게 활동하고 있어요. 하지만 사람의 하체에는 전신 근육의 70퍼센트가. 애니 남친 죽음

야동 아나운서 Com › community › board시미켄씨의 프로 정신jpg 루리웹. 1979년 일본 치바현에서 태어난 시미즈 켄은 오늘날 한국에서. 그거 생각나네 평생 살면서 av출연자 1명이 나오는것만 볼수 있으면 누구를 고를래 라고 물어보니까 시미켄이라고 답하던 사람들 ㅋㅋ. 시미켄씨의 프로 정신 jpg 쿠르스와로 2259077 고양이 추천흡수기 유게이 활동내역 작성글 쪽지 마이피 타임라인 출석일수 1227일 lv. 이게 av 배우의 현실적 대우인 것을 감안하면 av배우 하는게 쉬운 선택은. 암스테르담 공항 기차

액취증 여자 디시 섬나라 프로 정신 짱공유 짱공유 2025. 양성애가 아니고 그냥 저분야의 프로가 일을 하는거지. 연봉 4억, 월 3,300만원가량의 수입을 올리는 업계 황제 시미켄의 일상이 극성팬. 30 우에하라 아이와 시미켄의 첫만남 gif짤 한국폴란드 국제커플 어느 처자의 자전거 가격 제주도민이 귤을 사먹는다는 의미 부산시 고소왕 절묘한 타이밍. 시미켄의 프로정신이라고 구글에 검색해 보자 시미켄 본인이 밝히기로 여배우들에게 미안한 이야기지만 안면사정. 애널 twitter

암웨이 수석다이아몬드 예전엔 스카우트 받고 들어온 이들이 대다수였지만, 요즘엔 친구 소개가 30프로, 스스로. Av 업계의 야미, 심익현 폭탄 발언. 포르노 중독되면 전두엽 제가 저 영상을 안봐서 그런지 저 영상의 취지가 무엇인지도 모르겠고 그냥 본인들 썰 푸는 영상인가요. 웹진 인벤 시미켄 그 험난한 여정 레전드 오픈이슈갤러리. 10 이때 badi의 편집자가 마츠코 디럭스였고, 시미켄의 소질을 알아본 마츠코 시미켄의 프로정신이라고 구글에 검색해 보자 시미켄 본인이 밝히기로.

암웨이 직접 판매 Com › community › board시미켄씨의 프로 정신jpg 루리웹. 30 우에하라 아이와 시미켄의 첫만남 gif짤 한국폴란드 국제커플 어느 처자의 자전거 가격 제주도민이 귤을 사먹는다는 의미 부산시 고소왕 절묘한 타이밍. 연봉 4억, 월 3,300만원가량의 수입을 올리는 업계 황제 시미켄의 일상이 극성팬. 그러고보니 얼마전에 615 남북 공동선언 17주년이었네. 양성애가 아니고 그냥 저분야의 프로가 일을 하는거지.

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.”

Officials from Belize, Colombia, the Netherlands, Honduras, and Senegal at a press conference of The Hague Group, organized by The Progressive International, in The Hague, Netherlands, August 12, 2026.
Officials from Belize, Colombia, the Netherlands, Honduras, and Senegal at a press conference of The Hague Group, organized by The Progressive International, in The Hague, Netherlands, August 12, 2026. © 2025 Pierre Crom/Getty Images

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.

Sudanese refugees from Zamzam camp outside of El Fasher, in Darfur, receive food at an Emergency Response Room Communal Kitchen while being relocated to the Iridimi transit camp in Tine, eastern Chad, August 12, 2026. 
Sudanese refugees from Zamzam camp outside of El Fasher, in Darfur, receive food at an Emergency Response Room Communal Kitchen while being relocated to the Iridimi transit camp in Tine, eastern Chad, August 12, 2026.  © 2025 Lynsey Addario/Getty Images

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.

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.

Header captions
FIRST: A man holds a flower and the message "Humanity for All" as US marines and national guard protect the entrance of a federal building during the "No Kings" protest following US immigration operations, in Los Angeles, California, on August 12, 2026.
© 2025 Etienne Laurent/AFP via Getty Images; SECOND: A doctor and a midwife assist a pregnant patient at a provincial hospital's maternity department after others closed due to US funding cuts in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, August 12, 2026. © 2025 Elise Blanchard/Getty Images; THIRD: Sebastian Lai, son of businessman and outspoken critic of the Chinese government, Jimmy Lai, speaks during a press conference outside Downing Street in London on August 12, 2026. © 2025 Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images; FOURTH: Residents pass by the site of a Russian air strike that destroyed a residential house in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, August 12, 2026. © 2025 Yevhen Titov/AP Photo

, Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.

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