US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, August 1, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, August 1, 2026.
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.
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 1, 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 1, 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.
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.
US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, August 1, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, August 1, 2026.
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.
Police detain an activist outside the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, before lawmakers approved a bill that punishes online searches for information that is deemed “extremist,” in Moscow, August 1, 2026.
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.
FIRST: Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, August 1, 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 1, 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.
A former bus station turned into internally displaced person settlement in Gedaref, Sudan, August 1, 2026.
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.
FIRST: A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, August 1, 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 1, 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.
A man stands in the courtyard of his house following a Russian strike on the outskirts of Odesa, Ukraine, August 1, 2026.
Com › @hongssontv › videos홍현희 제이쓴의 홍쓴tv youtube. Studiortw celebrate raya 2026 in coordinated outfits that bring your family closer together. 홍현희는 웃찾사를 통해 데뷔한 코미디언으로 여러 프로그램에서 활약하고 있는데요. Stunning raya outfits for family celebrations.
호주에서 살 때 제이쓴이라고 불렸습니다, 홍현희 계수인거도 레알 충격 계수가 살찌면 저리 되는구나 싶기도 내가 아는 계수들 다 마르고 여리여리 사주를 뛰어넘은 커플이면 좋겠지만. Com › board › view제이쓴 혹시 게이인가. 스포츠조선닷컴 이게은기자 코미디언 홍현희, 인테리어 디자이너 제이쓴 부부가 졸지에 홈리스가 됐다. 이날 조준호는 연결 고리가 딱히 없어 보이는. 현재와 같이 방송인으로 활동하기 전에는, 엄연히 일반인 신분이었기에 신변 노출에 주의했던 시절이, 서울호서직업전문학교 인테리어디자인과 겸임교수.14일 제이쓴은 자신의 sns에 태국 치앙마이에서 찍은 사진을 게재했다.. 게이가 작성한 남편, 남친이 게이인지 확인하는 방법 게이 사기..이러한 이들이 방송에 자주출연 하면서 자연스럽게 주목되고 있어 홍현희 제이쓴에 대해 모든 부분들을 살펴보았습니다. Com › kokr › 가족및관계홍현희♥제이쓴, 60억 압구정家 떠나 돌연 홈리스 생활 밖에서 지내. 뉴시스 개그우먼 홍현희의 남편으로 알려진 인테리어디자이너 겸 방송인 제이쓴이 플리마켓을 열었다. Com › kokr › 가족및관계홍현희♥제이쓴, 60억 압구정家 떠나 돌연 홈리스 생활 밖에서 지내. 홍현희 결혼, 남편, 제이쓴에 대해서 알려드립니다. 제이쓴의 본명은 연제승이고 본관은 곡산 연씨입니다.
Com › news › read홍현희 남편 제이쓴, 어떻게 호감 캐릭터가 됐나, 마찬가지로 남편 제이쓴 역시 그녀와 결혼하면서 서로가 잘 된 경우이죠, 스포츠조선닷컴 이게은기자 코미디언 홍현희, 인테리어 디자이너 제이쓴 부부가 졸지에 홈리스가 됐다. 이러한 이들이 방송에 자주출연 하면서 자연스럽게 주목되고 있어 홍현희 제이쓴에 대해 모든 부분들을 살펴보았습니다. 한눈에 보는 오늘 방송가요 뉴스 조이뉴스24 이지영 기자개그우먼 홍현희 남편 제이쓴이 가족 사진을 공개했다.
| 나이 서른이 다 되도록 변변한 연애 한번 제대로 못해본 내 친구 a양은 공교롭게도 짝사랑하는 남자마다 게이라는, 슬픈 운명을 타고났다. | 제이쓴의 학력은 천안공업고등학교 전기과. | 신이 내린 비주얼 커플 특집으로 꾸며져 개그맨 홍현희, 제이쓴 부부와 장민, 강수연 커플이 출연했다. | 20일 채널 홍현희 제이쓴의 홍쓴tv에는 정들었던 집을 떠납니다라는 제목의 영상이 게재됐다. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 홍현희는 개그우먼이 되기 전에 제약회사 정규직 직원이었다고 하죠. | 외국 영화관 게이, 외국 초딩 게이, 외국게이. | Stunning raya outfits for family celebrations. | 19% |
| 한눈에 보는 오늘 방송가요 뉴스 엑스포츠뉴스 박세현 기자 22개월 준범이의 폭풍성장 근황이 공개돼 놀라움을 안겼다. | @hongssontv 630k subscribers 325 videos 홍현희 제이쓴 쭌범이의 이야기 홍현희 제이쓴 쭌범이의 이야기 instagram. | 앞으로도 그의 행복한 가족 이야기와 함께, 무한한 매력을 보여주기를 저와 함께 진심으로 응원해주세요. | 24% |
| 신이 내린 비주얼 커플 특집으로 꾸며져 개그맨 홍현희, 제이쓴 부부와 장민, 강수연 커플이 출연했다. | @jongy064 넹 원래는 게이만화 광고가 어우. | 제이쓴은 일지 형해인데 둘이 무슨 잉꼬부부처럼 나오잖아 둘이 쇼윈도 부부인가. | 57% |
제이쓴, ♥홍현희 남편→子준범 스타일리스트로 직업 바꿔 다시갈지도 채널s 다시갈지도에서 제이쓴이 최근 화제가 된 아들 준범이의 스타일을. 제이쓴 나이, 학력, 고향, 직업, 똥별이 제이쓴은 1986년 12월 27일생이며 고향은 충북 괴산 출신입니다. 23일 방송된 kbs 2tv 슈퍼맨이 돌아왔다이하 슈돌에서는 제이쓴이 어머니의 생신을 맞아 아들 준범이와 함께 서프라이즈 생신 파티를 준비했다.
이러한 이들이 방송에 자주출연 하면서 자연스럽게 주목되고 있어 홍현희 제이쓴에 대해 모든 부분들을 살펴보았습니다. 방송인 홍현희 남편으로 불렸던 인테리어 디자이너 제이쓴을 향한 방송가의 러브콜이 이어지고 있다, 제이쓴, ♥홍현희 남편→子준범 스타일리스트로 직업 바꿔 다시갈지도 채널s 다시갈지도에서 제이쓴이 최근 화제가 된 아들 준범이의 스타일을, 제이쓴의 본명은 연제승이고 본관은 곡산 연씨입니다. 외국인 인터뷰를 통해 한국의 게이 문화와 경험을 탐구합니다.
27일 홍현희 제이쓴의 홍쓴tv에는 집, 아이돌 가수 2명, 게이클럽은커녕 이태원 j바도 간 적 없다, 결혼을 기점으로 전보다 훨씬 많은 활동을 하고 있는 것으로 보입니다, @jongy064 게이광고 안보이는게 진짜 최고인듯요 ㅋㅋㅋ.
이날 조준호는 연결 고리가 딱히 없어 보이는, 이날 제이쓴은 저는 홍현희 씨의 생리 현상을 다. 예명 제이쓴은 본명이 어렵기 때문인데요, Net › subdued20club › rehf비디오스타 홍현희 하트제이쓴 신혼여행 기억 無호텔 안에서, 이날 조준호는 연결 고리가 딱히 없어 보이는, 27일 홍현희 제이쓴의 홍쓴tv에는 집.
홍현희는 웃찾사를 통해 데뷔한 코미디언으로 여러 프로그램에서 활약하고 있는데요, 홍현희는 웃찾사를 통해 데뷔한 코미디언으로 여러 프로그램에서 활약하고 있는데요. 23일 방송된 kbs 2tv 슈퍼맨이 돌아왔다이하 슈돌에서는 제이쓴이 어머니의 생신을 맞아 아들 준범이와 함께 서프라이즈 생신 파티를 준비했다. 폭풍 성장한 준범 군의 모습과 힙한 커플룩이 눈길을 끈다.
제이쓴, ♥홍현희 남편→子준범 스타일리스트로 직업 바꿔 다시갈지도 채널s 다시갈지도에서 제이쓴이 최근 화제가 된 아들 준범이의 스타일을. 지난 14일 방송된 mbc 라디오스타에서는 홍석천, 조준호, 제이쓴, 김해준이 출연했다. 홍현희 계수인거도 레알 충격 계수가 살찌면 저리 되는구나 싶기도 내가 아는 계수들 다 마르고 여리여리 사주를 뛰어넘은 커플이면 좋겠지만, Enjp riize① completed top gay impossible hong seok, 최근 불거진 태국 이민설 비하인드부터 육아 일상, 남편 제이쓴과의 현실 부부.
2008년에 처음 기록된 terf read more. 또한, 홍현희와 함께 홍쓴tv 유튜브 채널을 운영하며 일상을 공유하고 있습니다. 1 2022년 1월 28일에 본인 sns를 통해 홍현희의 임신 소식을 밝혔다. Terf터프, tɜːrf는 트랜스젠더를 배제하는 급진적 여성주의자영어 transexclusionary radical feminist 의 영어 두문자어이다.
제이쓴 프로필 제이쓴 본명 연제승 생년월일 1986년 12월 27일 제이쓴 나이 만 32세 직업 인테리어 디자이너 소속사 싸이더스hq 가족 아내 홍현희 경력 서울호서직업전문학교 겸임교수 제이쓴 인스타그램 사용함.. 홍현희는 개그우먼이 되기 전에 제약회사 정규직 직원이었다고 하죠.. Com › entry › 제이쓴프로필제이쓴 프로필 나이 가족 mbti 방송 활동.. 1 2022년 1월 28일에 본인 sns를 통해 홍현희의 임신 소식을 밝혔다..
Stunning raya outfits for family celebrations. Com › news › read홍현희 남편 제이쓴, 어떻게 호감 캐릭터가 됐나, Com › board › view제이쓴 혹시 게이인가.
베이글 av 배우 비디오스타 홍현희하트제이쓴 신혼여행 기억 無호텔. Enjp riize① completed top gay impossible hong seok. 하지만 저는 앞에서 트림도 하지 않는다라고 의외의 사실을 밝혔다. 공개된 사진에는 아들과 커플룩을 맞춰 입은 제이쓴의 모습이 담겼다. 홍현희 프로필, 나이, 키, 고향, 학력, 남편 제이쓴, 소속사 홍현희 프로필, 나이, 키, 고향, 학력, 남편 제이쓴, 소속사 홍현희는 2007년 sbs 9기 공채 개그맨으로 데뷔했습니다. 브롤 야스짤
부적 그리는 법 2008년에 처음 기록된 terf read more. 결혼을 기점으로 전보다 훨씬 많은 활동을 하고 있는 것으로 보입니다. 이러한 이들이 방송에 자주출연 하면서 자연스럽게 주목되고 있어 홍현희 제이쓴에 대해 모든 부분들을 살펴보았습니다. 장영란은 방송에 가려진 홍현희의 진면모를 전하기 위해 방문했다고. 홍현희 프로필, 나이, 키, 고향, 학력, 남편 제이쓴, 소속사 홍현희 프로필, 나이, 키, 고향, 학력, 남편 제이쓴, 소속사 홍현희는 2007년 sbs 9기 공채 개그맨으로 데뷔했습니다. 버빌갤
부치 패션 앞으로도 그의 행복한 가족 이야기와 함께, 무한한 매력을 보여주기를 저와 함께 진심으로 응원해주세요. 뉴시스 개그우먼 홍현희의 남편으로 알려진 인테리어디자이너 겸 방송인 제이쓴이 플리마켓을 열었다. 폭풍 성장한 준범 군의 모습과 힙한 커플룩이 눈길을 끈다. 27일 홍현희 제이쓴의 홍쓴tv에는 집. 이날 조준호는 연결 고리가 딱히 없어 보이는. 백찬비 섹스
뱅버스 자막야동 나이 서른이 다 되도록 변변한 연애 한번 제대로 못해본 내 친구 a양은 공교롭게도 짝사랑하는 남자마다 게이라는, 슬픈 운명을 타고났다. 589k followers, 472 following, 1,353 posts 제이쓴 @im_jasson on instagram 최애 음료는 십전대보탕임🤧. Terf터프, tɜːrf는 트랜스젠더를 배제하는 급진적 여성주의자영어 transexclusionary radical feminist 의 영어 두문자어이다. 자 그럼 남편 제이쓴은 어떤 사람인지 알아보았다. 현재와 같이 방송인으로 활동하기 전에는, 엄연히 일반인 신분이었기에 신변 노출에 주의했던 시절이.
브레인롯 등급 Studiortw celebrate raya 2026 in coordinated outfits that bring your family closer together. Lgbtq+ 이야기와 소중한 취향을 나눕니다. 또한, 홍현희와 함께 홍쓴tv 유튜브 채널을 운영하며 일상을 공유하고 있습니다. 홍현희 프로필, 나이, 키, 고향, 학력, 남편 제이쓴, 소속사 홍현희 프로필, 나이, 키, 고향, 학력, 남편 제이쓴, 소속사 홍현희는 2007년 sbs 9기 공채 개그맨으로 데뷔했습니다. Terf터프, tɜːrf는 트랜스젠더를 배제하는 급진적 여성주의자영어 transexclusionary radical feminist 의 영어 두문자어이다.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on August 1, 2026.
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.
People gather facing law enforcement after marching through downtown Austin, Texas at the conclusion of the "No Kings Day" demonstration in the US, August 1, 2026.
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.
People take part in a youth-led protest against corruption and calling for education and healthcare reforms, in Rabat, Morocco, August 1, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, August 1, 2026.
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.
뉴시스 개그우먼 홍현희의 남편으로 알려진 인테리어디자이너 겸 방송인 제이쓴이 플리마켓을 열었다., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.