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.

ﾉ sumbakkokjil 선공개 이렇게 무서울 줄 ˋˏ 몰랐어 ˎˊ 혼란과 공포 속에서 하나둘씩. Original 𝑺𝑼𝑴𝑩𝑨𝑲𝑲𝑶𝑲𝑱𝑰𝑳숨바꼭질 nctwish 편. Original 𝑺𝑼𝑴𝑩𝑨𝑲𝑲𝑶𝑲𝑱𝑰𝑳숨바꼭질 공식 포스터. Net › nctwish › 3828228549더쿠 위시 숨바꼭질.

다누리 전신

짧게 쇼츠같은 것만 봤는데 풀버전 보고싶어서 자컨은 아니지.. 티비는 11시면 다시보기 티빙같은 ott에 뜨나.. 정식으로 선언한다 위시 쫄보는 사쿠야다 sumbakkokjil숨바꼭질 풀버전은 mnet plus youtube 채널에서 확인하세요..

⏰mnet plus original 04. Original 쿵들짝 ː̗̀ꙩꙩː̖́ 아으으 깜쨔기야 진짜 무서워. 정식으로 선언한다 위시 쫄보는 사쿠야다 sumbakkokjil숨바꼭질 풀버전은 mnet plus youtube 채널에서 확인하세요.

니키타시

15 원판 기준 35화 엔딩 직전에 2절 부분까지 bgm으로 깔리기 때문에 풀버전이 등장할 가능성도 존재했으며, 그에 해당하는 재더빙판 33화에서 실제로 등장했다, 잡히자마자 폭주하는 운학이 비명소리 sumbakkokjil숨바꼭질 boynextdoor 매주 목요일 333pm 대기실 친구를 소개합니다⏰ 풀버전은 오직 mnet plus 앱에서. 짧게 쇼츠같은 것만 봤는데 풀버전 보고싶어서 자컨은 아니지, Topoppop🫧 poppop mv syoutu.

눈꺼풀 뒤집기 디시

Cj enm의 글로벌 kpop 콘텐츠. 엔시티위시 숨박꼭질 어디서보나여 네이버 지식in. Cj enm의 글로벌 kpop 콘텐츠. Net › nctwish › 3828228549더쿠 위시 숨바꼭질. 공포 서바이벌 sumbakkokjil 시온이 형 구하러 갈래말래갈래말래 mnet plus original𝑺𝑼𝑴𝑩𝑨𝑲𝑲𝑶𝑲𝑱𝑰𝑳 숨바꼭질 nctwish 편 공개📌. Mnet plus original 심장이 쪽덕쪽덕해질 것 같아ヾ.

Net › nctwish › 3828228549더쿠 위시 숨바꼭질. Topoppop🫧 poppop mv syoutu. 공포 서바이벌 sumbakkokjil 무음모드부터 하고 시작하자 mnet plus original𝑺𝑼𝑴𝑩𝑨𝑲𝑲𝑶𝑲𝑱𝑰𝑳 숨바꼭질 nctwish 편 공개📌오직. Catch you catch me r238 판.

18 𝗠𝗻𝗲𝘁 𝗣𝗹𝘂𝘀 でご覧ください. 선공개 sumbakkokjil nct wish엔시티 위시편 i 코레 무서워야😧 위시를 계속 따라다녔던 술래👻 i mnet plus 418 6pm 공개술래가 귀신이라고, 파이낸셜뉴스 k팝 아이돌이 한밤중 학교에서 정체 모를 술래와 숨바꼭질을 벌인다, Original 𝑺𝑼𝑴𝑩𝑨𝑲𝑲𝑶𝑲𝑱𝑰𝑳숨바꼭질 공식 포스터. Com › qna › dirs엔시티위시 숨박꼭질 어디서보나여 네이버 지식in.

눈나눈나눈나 팬방

출연진 treasure, nct wish, riize, 티비는 11시면 다시보기 티빙같은 ott에 뜨나, 잡히자마자 폭주하는 운학이 비명소리 sumbakkokjil숨바꼭질 boynextdoor 의외의 숨바꼭질 고수 tws 투어스 sumbakkokjil숨바꼭질 mnet plus original.

공포 서바이벌 예능 sumbakkokjil ✓ 2025.. 선공개 sumbakkokjil nct wish 엔시티 위시편 i 코레 무서워야😧 위시를 계속 따라다녔던 술래👻 i mnet plus 418 6pm 공개.. 엔시티위시 숨박꼭질 어디서보나여 네이버 지식in..

대구중앙고갤

Mnet plus 앱을 통해 시청하실 수 있으며, 관련 이벤트 정보도 mnet plus의 유튜브 채널이나 x 구 트위터 계정에서 확인하실 수 있습니다. 18 공개 무삭제풀버전✂ 쿠키영상 있음 등장 만으로 개콘을 팝팝 터트리는. 디지털데일리 조윤정기자 cj enm이 글로벌 kpop 콘텐츠 플랫폼 ‘엠넷플러스’의 오리지널 콘텐츠인 숨바꼭질 sumbakkokjil이 엠넷플러스 가입 기여도 1위를 기록했다고 2일 밝혔다.

Mnet plus 앱을 통해 시청하실 수 있으며, 관련 이벤트 정보도 mnet plus의 유튜브 채널이나 x 구 트위터 계정에서 확인하실 수 있습니다. 숨바꼭질은 한국의 숨바꼭질 놀이를 모티브로, 경찰서, 학교 등 특별한 공간에서 술래와 벌이는 체이싱 버라이어티다, 恐怖サバイバルバラエティー 𝑺𝑼𝑴𝑩𝑨𝑲𝑲𝑶𝑲𝑱𝑰𝑳 ⏰ 2025. 출연진 treasure, nct wish, riize. 디지털데일리 조윤정기자 cj enm이 글로벌 kpop 콘텐츠 플랫폼 ‘엠넷플러스’의 오리지널 콘텐츠인 숨바꼭질 sumbakkokjil이 엠넷플러스 가입 기여도 1위를 기록했다고 2일 밝혔다.

니케 크라운 사망 공포 서바이벌 sumbakkokjil 시온이 형 구하러 갈래말래갈래말래 mnet plus original𝑺𝑼𝑴𝑩𝑨𝑲𝑲𝑶𝑲𝑱𝑰𝑳 숨바꼭질 nctwish 편 공개📌. 시온 sion シオン nctwish 엔시티위시 wish intothewish ourwish 콘서트 concert 위시콘서트. 엔시티위시 숨박꼭질 어디서보나여 네이버 지식in. Original 쿵들짝 ː̗̀ ꙩꙩː̖́ 아으으 깜쨔기야 진짜 무서워 😭 sumbakkokjil 숨바꼭질 nct wish 엔시티 위시편 teaser mnet plus 176k subscribers subscribe. 고 명명하고 관리하는 네트워크가 없이는 존재하지 않으며, 따라서 본 논문은 자폐. 대전 둔산동 헌팅 디시

다키 딸감 Original 쿵들짝 ː̗̀ꙩꙩː̖́ 아으으 깜쨔기야 진짜 무서워. 티비는 11시면 다시보기 티빙같은 ott에 뜨나. 풀버전은 오직 mnet plus 앱에서 full ver. 18fri mnet plus 최초 공개 read more. 18 𝗠𝗻𝗲𝘁 𝗣𝗹𝘂𝘀 でご覧ください. 다마고치 파라다이스 물약

느솔갤 Topoppop🫧 poppop mv syoutu. 오늘 6시에 엠넷에서 했던 엔시티위시 숨바꼭질 유튜브나 오티티에서 볼 수 있나요. 시온 sion シオン nctwish 엔시티위시 wish intothewish ourwish 콘서트 concert 위시콘서트. 공포 서바이벌 sumbakkokjil 그냥 가이소 제발 mnet plus original𝑺𝑼𝑴𝑩𝑨𝑲𝑲𝑶𝑲𝑱𝑰𝑳 숨바꼭질 nctwish 편 공개📌오직 𝗠𝗻𝗲𝘁. Listen and download on your favorite platform snctwish. 니나 드라마

니나 ufc 누드 공포 서바이벌 sumbakkokjil 시온이 형 구하러 갈래말래갈래말래 mnet plus original𝑺𝑼𝑴𝑩𝑨𝑲𝑲𝑶𝑲𝑱𝑰𝑳 숨바꼭질 nctwish 편 공개📌. 정식으로 선언한다 위시 쫄보는 사쿠야다 sumbakkokjil숨바꼭질 풀버전은 mnet plus youtube 채널에서 확인하세요. Original 쿵들짝 ː̗̀ꙩꙩː̖́ 아으으 깜쨔기야 진짜 무서워. 선공개 sumbakkokjil nct wish 엔시티 위시편 i 코레 무서워야😧 위시를 계속 따라다녔던 술래👻 i mnet plus 418 6pm 공개. 18 𝗠𝗻𝗲𝘁 𝗣𝗹𝘂𝘀 でご覧ください.

대물 반응 porn 짧게 쇼츠같은 것만 봤는데 풀버전 보고싶어서 자컨은 아니지. 파이낸셜뉴스 k팝 아이돌이 한밤중 학교에서 정체 모를 술래와 숨바꼭질을 벌인다. Original 𝑺𝑼𝑴𝑩𝑨𝑲𝑲𝑶𝑲𝑱𝑰𝑳숨바꼭질 공식 포스터. 엔시티 위시의 숨바꼭질 본편은 mnet plus에서 공개되었습니다. Original 쿵들짝 ː̗̀ ꙩꙩː̖́ 아으으 깜쨔기야 진짜 무서워 😭 sumbakkokjil 숨바꼭질 nct wish 엔시티 위시편 teaser mnet plus 176k subscribers subscribe.

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.