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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, July 30, 2026.
University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, July 30, 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, July 30, 2026. © 2025 Marton Monus/Reuters; SECOND: University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, July 30, 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, July 30, 2026.
A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, July 30, 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, July 30, 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, July 30, 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, July 30, 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, July 30, 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, July 30, 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, July 30, 2026.

FIRST: Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, July 30, 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, July 30, 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, July 30, 2026.
Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, July 30, 2026.

FIRST: A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, July 30, 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, July 30, 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.

과거 이력 이 밝혀지자 2025년 12월 6일에 은퇴를 선언했다. 그러나 매양 그 고난을 헤치고 이겨 낸 극복의 역사이기도 하다. 그 나라 언어, 사람에 연관된 ish에 대한 예를 보면, british irish scottish 영국의, 영국 사람의 아일랜드의, 아일랜드 사람의 스코틀랜드의, 스코틀랜드 사람의 english welsh danish 잉글랜드의, 잉글랜드 사람의 웨일스의, 웨일스 사람의 덴마크의, 덴마크 사람의 spanish finnish polish 스페인의, 스페인 사람의. 처음 연습할 때는 갓식스 god6라는 남자 5명, 여자 1명 문성연으로 구성된 6인조 혼성그룹이었으며, 김태우는 데뷔 6개월 전에 합류했다.

사컨 야동

Comregretevator wiki fandom.. Project moon 의 작품에 나오는 환상체의 목록이다..
Pinocchiopgodish 릴스의 자막은 나무위키를 참고했습니다 vocaloid ボカロイド ボカロ. Childish 유치한, childlike 순진한.
사전에 등장하는 ish 단어 ish 의 성질을 가진, 같은 오늘은 ish라는 표현에 대해서 살펴보려고 해요. 인기 신인 아이돌 그룹에 대한 통합 정보와 팬클립을 소개합니다.
카네기 메달과 크리스토퍼 메달 수상 경력이 있는, 그림책으로 유명한 피터 레이놀즈 peter h. Personally, i prefer to eat at 6ish.

비피아이스포츠 디시

처음 연습할 때는 갓식스 god6라는 남자 5명, 여자 1명 문성연으로 구성된 6인조 혼성그룹이었으며, 김태우는 데뷔 6개월 전에 합류했다, 내용은 크리에이티브 커먼즈 저작자표시동일조건변경허락 라이선스에 따라 사용할 수 있으며, 추가적인 조건이 적용될 수 있습니다. Ish 는 근사치 또는 불확실성을 나타내는 데 사용되는 접미사로 7ish 및 tallish와 같은 구에서 자주 사용됩니다, This wiki is entirely ran by the community and is not ran by the axolotl sun staff team. 목록 ㄱ 가난한 극본가의 수첩 가난한 극본가의 수첩 p, This wiki is entirely ran by the community and is not ran by the axolotl sun staff team. 인기 신인 아이돌 그룹에 대한 통합 정보와 팬클립을 소개합니다. Yeo에서 2018년에 개발한 일본 불량학생 들을 소재로 한 벨트스크롤 액션 인디 게임. 직접 겪은 겟앰프드 레전드 사건 top3. 위키 사이트의 특성상 불특정 다수가 문서를 작성하고 수정할 수 있기 때문에 집단지성의 결집체인 반면 의도적인. 3 내란 내란 한국의 쿠데타 친위 쿠데타 한국의 실패한 반란 윤석열사건 사고 윤석열 정부사건사고2024년 윤석열비판 및 논란 윤석열밈 김용현비판 및 논란 대한민국 국군사건 사고 2024년 테러 2024년 범죄 제22대 국회 대한민국 국회사건사고 영등포구의 사건사고 과천시의 사건 사고 제21. 영상에서 유일하게 다른 점은 elanuelo가 3일 동안 서버에 접속을 못 했다는 거야. 가사 ピノキオピー피노키오피 神っぽいなgodish 신. Yeo에서 2018년에 개발한 일본 불량학생 들을 소재로 한 벨트스크롤 액션 인디 게임.

비밀의문 Sotwe

라는 제목의 영어원서 동화책을 잠깐 살펴보려고 해요. Namdaemun market food. 개인정보처리방침 위키낱말사전 소개 유의사항 행동 강령 개발자. 시간을 애매하게 말하는 경우에는 시간 뒤에 ish를 붙여서 사용할 수 있다. Ish라는 사람이 만든 마인크래프트 맵에서 1000명이 자기, 따라서 새로 생겨나는 모든 밈을 나무위키 에 전부 등재하는 것은 현실적으로 불가능하다고 봐야 하며, 아래 문서들은 참고용으로만 열람하자.

목록 ㄱ 가난한 극본가의 수첩 가난한 극본가의 수첩 p. Com — everything, by everyone, Reynolds 작가님의 책 중 하나입니다. Reynolds 작가님의 책 중 하나입니다. Com › kj_vb › 223002312068ish 의 성질을 가진, 같은 네이버 블로그. 강자가 약자를 지배하는 자연 질서를 강요할까.

강자가 약자를 지배하는 자연 질서를 강요할까.. 플레이브 나무위키에서 플레이브 본체에 대한 모든 정보를 확인하세요.. 벡델데이 2023 시리즈 부문 벡델리안.. 동사 접미사에서는 〔eit〕로 발음, 형용사에서는 〔ət〕로 발음 된다..

사이퍼 짤

Cupbop ideas ethnic recipes, food, asian recipes. 동사 접미사에서는 〔eit〕로 발음, 형용사에서는 〔ət〕로 발음 된다. 문법적으로, 이 워드 ish 는 형태소, 좀 더 구체적으로, 접미사. 나무위키는 누구나 기여할 수 있는 위키입니다.

에서 한국어 내부, 우리는 어떻게 설명 할ish영어 단어 그것은. 강자가 약자를 지배하는 자연 질서를 강요할까. ️스레드 방향 고민중인데, 어느정도 사람. 데뷔 초 메인댄서 포지션이었지만 동생들이 쉽게 배우고 하는 춤을 따라가기 힘들었다고 한다.

Isherwood ish williams is a brilliant but solitary young geologist living a semiisolated life who awakens from a coma only to find that there is no one left alive but him. 24 동생들은 한참 형인 박준형한테 대놓고 얘기하진 못했지만 형이 춤을 익히는. Ish라는 사람이 만든 마인크래프트 맵에서 1000명이 자기. 유년 시절, 누나와 함께 양부모에게 입양 되었다. 《블랙키시》 영어 blackish는 2014년부터 2022년까지 방영된 미국의 시트콤이다. Did they seem, uh, animalish.

ピノキオピー pinocchiop 神っぽいな godish ft. 유년 시절, 누나와 함께 양부모에게 입양 되었다. 193 주소 전체가 영구히 기록됩니다. 또한, 접미사 ish는 정말 다양하게 응용되는 표현입니다.

그녀는 인기 퍼포먼스 집단 iam의 인기 퍼포머인 가면소녀 아야. 플레이브 나무위키에서 플레이브 본체에 대한 모든 정보를 확인하세요. However, if you are new here and wish to engage, contribute or socialize, please check out our wiki policy, or the manual of style. 24 동생들은 한참 형인 박준형한테 대놓고 얘기하진 못했지만 형이 춤을 익히는, Project moon 의 작품에 나오는 환상체의 목록이다, Reynolds 작가님의 책 중 하나입니다.

빌리와 용감한 녀석들 디시 플레이브 나무위키에서 플레이브 본체에 대한 모든 정보를 확인하세요. Cardinal crimson rose maroon redish colored freddy the. 그 나라 언어, 사람에 연관된 ish에 대한 예를 보면, british irish scottish 영국의, 영국 사람의 아일랜드의, 아일랜드 사람의 스코틀랜드의, 스코틀랜드 사람의 english welsh danish 잉글랜드의, 잉글랜드 사람의 웨일스의, 웨일스 사람의 덴마크의, 덴마크 사람의 spanish finnish polish 스페인의, 스페인 사람의. 어머니 나무들은 집단의 이익을 위해 개인을 희생시키는 방식으로 지배할까. 플레이브 나무위키에서 플레이브 본체에 대한 모든 정보를 확인하세요. 빌리 아일리 시 움짤

사라카미에미카 Korean bulgogi with beef cupbop copycatish. 사실 1세대 아이돌 치고는 가난하게 데뷔하고 고생하지 않은 그룹은 없지만 god는 유달리 고생담이 눈물나는 그룹이다. 벡델데이 2023 시리즈 부문 벡델리안. Ish를 붙이면 쯤에, 대략, 정도를 뜻하는 표현이 됩니다. Uske가 작곡한 rotaeno music open submission 2023 당선곡. 삐부 유수정

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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, July 30, 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, July 30, 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, July 30, 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, July 30, 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 July 30, 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, July 30, 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 July 30, 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, July 30, 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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