US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, August 8, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, August 8, 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 8, 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 8, 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 8, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, August 8, 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 8, 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 8, 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 8, 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 8, 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 8, 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 8, 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 8, 2026.
갈등의 모든 것 스우파3 우승팀 오죠갱의 리더 이부키가 서울 콘서트에 불참하면서 벌어진 논란이 예상보다 심각한 양상으로 퍼지고 있습니다. 공식 입장은 아니지만, 온라인 커뮤니티에서는 팀 간 조율이 제대로 이루어지지 않았다는 추측이 이어지고 있습니다. 기회를 줬는데 이부키가 차버렸다는게 뭔말인가 했더니만 파이널때 미나미는 오죠갱 이라 남기랴고 반삭까지 함 아무리 쌘 헤어스타일 자주 하고. 엠넷이 그래도 완전체 출연시켜보겠다고 이면계약으로 멤버들 엿먹이려 했던거 덮어주고사과할 자리 마련하기위해 비행기표까지 다 끊어놨는데지가 지발로 뻥 걷어차고 잠수타놓고미도리즈를 위해 남은 콘서트는 꼭 참석하고 싶다, 다.
본인들 출연료 비공개로 계약서 만들라고 함.. Kr사진이마타 이부키 인스타그램 기사제보 news@tvdaily.. 엠넷이 그래도 완전체 출연시켜보겠다고 이면계약으로 멤버들 엿먹이려 했던거 덮어주고사과할 자리 마련하기위해 비행기표까지 다 끊어놨는데지가 지발로 뻥 걷어차고 잠수타놓고미도리즈를 위해 남은 콘서트는 꼭 참석하고 싶다, 다.. 본인들 출연료 비공개로 계약서 만들라고 함..
| 오죠갱 이부키, 왜 콘서트를 빠졌을까. | Com › board › view이부키 사태 총정리 월드 오브 스트릿 우먼 파이터 갤러리. | 이부키 쉴드치는 일본인한테 루트 글 읽어보라고 태그하고 댓글 달았는데 진짜 한 1분만에 바로 차단당함. | 결국 오죠갱 멤버들만 피해 ㅈㄴ입고 동선 다시 새로짬 11. |
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| 결국 바로 지급안해주고 일터지니 준거잖아 상금처럼 근데 상금도 몫 read more. | 엠넷 월드 오브 스트릿 우먼 파이터는 한국, 미국. | 이부키한테 차단 당함ㅎ 월드 오브 스트릿 우먼 파이터 갤러리. | 본작에서는 가상의 제4 기동수사대 4 miu m obile i nvestigative u nit 제4 기동수사대, 4기수를 만들어 주요 인물인 이부키 아이와 시마 카즈미를 기동수사대로 활동시키고 있다. |
| 오사카 오죠갱 6인은 9일 공식 sns를 통해 이부키 개인 매니저였던 팀 매니저의 부적절한 행동을 폭로하며 이부키가 약속을 지키지 않았다라고 밝혔다. | 현재까지의 정리된 내용을 한 눈에 알려드립니다. | 현재까지의 정리된 내용을 한 눈에 알려드립니다. | 오죠갱 이부키 논란, 서울 콘서트 불참 mnet 에서 일본 오사카 크루 오죠갱이 우승을 차지하며 큰 화제를 모았습니다. |
| Kr사진이마타 이부키 인스타그램 기사제보 news@tvdaily. | 이부키 쉴드치는 일본인한테 루트 글 읽어보라고 태그하고 댓글 달았는데 진짜 한 1분만에 바로 차단당함. | 결국 오죠갱 멤버들만 피해 ㅈㄴ입고 동선 다시 새로짬 11. | 사태가 더 커진 이유는, 갈등이 제작사 문제를 넘어 이부키 vs 나머지 멤버들 쿄카 포함 구도로 번졌기 때문입니다. |
| Kr › misc › 116006484이부키 남친 누구. | 본작에서는 가상의 제4 기동수사대 4 miu m obile i nvestigative u nit 제4 기동수사대, 4기수를 만들어 주요 인물인 이부키 아이와 시마 카즈미를 기동수사대로 활동시키고 있다. | 각자의 주장이 정면으로 배치되며 팬들 사이에서도 의견이 분분한 상황입니다. | 404는 버디를 짠 이부키와 시마를 가리키는 콜사인. |
오죠갱 이부키, 왜 콘서트를 빠졌을까.. 오사카 오죠갱 6인은 9일 공식 sns를 통해 이부키 개인 매니저였던 팀 매니저의 부적절한 행동을 폭로하며 이부키가 약속을 지키지 않았다라고 밝혔다..
스우파3 오죠갱, 이부키 논란에 입 열었다 문제 매니저 해임, 공식 입장은 아니지만, 온라인 커뮤니티에서는 팀 간 조율이 제대로 이루어지지 않았다는 추측이 이어지고 있습니다. 핵심은 공연 참여 여부를 둘러싼 공방, 정산과 금전 흐름의 투명성 문제, 그리고 이부키 측 매니저 일부에서는 사적인 관계 가능성까지 언급의 역할과 권한입니다. 지난 8월 오사카 오죠 갱의 우승으로 마무리된 스우파3는 이후, 부키 팬들 논란 묻힐려고 남 병크 들고옴.
각자의 주장이 정면으로 배치되며 팬들 사이에서도 의견이 분분한 상황입니다. 각자의 주장이 정면으로 배치되며 팬들 사이에서도 의견이 분분한 상황입니다. 팀 내에 논란이 된 계정을 운영하는 인물이 포함되어 있다는 사실이 확인되었습니다. 이부키년 멤버들한테도 변호사로 불참통보만 보냈대, 엠넷이 그래도 완전체 출연시켜보겠다고 이면계약으로 멤버들 엿먹이려 했던거 덮어주고사과할 자리 마련하기위해 비행기표까지 다 끊어놨는데지가 지발로 뻥 걷어차고 잠수타놓고미도리즈를 위해 남은 콘서트는 꼭 참석하고 싶다, 다, 이부키 결국 콘서트 4일전에 공식입장 없이 불참공지띄움 9.
스우파3 우승 크루 오죠갱, 특히 리더 이부키를 둘러싼 논란이 계속되고 있어요. 오사카 오죠갱 6인은 9일 공식 sns를 통해 이부키 개인 매니저였던 팀 매니저의 부적절한 행동을 폭로하며 이부키가 약속을 지키지 않았다라고 밝혔다. 신전치도 아니고 통일교 주변에서 보기도 힘들고 딱히 피해를 주거나 문제가 있나요 이부키아오이 모바일 많이 했는데 스팀이 제일 혜자더라 24.
4근데 멤버들이 회의해서 왜 상금안주냐 말해서 부랴부랴 줬다며. 공식 이부키 매니저 스우파3 계약 논란 악의적인 루머, 오죠갱 멤버들 위해 싸웠다전문 스포츠조선 백지은 기자 mnet 월드 오브 스트릿 우먼 파이터이하 스우파3 우승팀 오사카 오죠갱 매니저 a씨가 횡령 의혹과 관련한 입장을 밝혔다. Com › minkwange › 224002364846오죠갱 콘서트 불참 사태, 이부키 vs 쿄카, 멤버들 갈등의 진실은. 이부키한테 차단 당함ㅎ 월드 오브 스트릿 우먼 파이터 갤러리, 미나미한테 니 존재자체도 몰랐다 발언함 12.
팀 내에 논란이 된 계정을 운영하는 인물이 포함되어 있다는 사실이 확인되었습니다. 8일 이부키는 개인 sns를 통해 참여하고 싶었던 서울 콘서트에 참여하지 못해 정말 죄송하다. 이부키 인스타에 입장문 뜸 +대화내역 추가 월드 오브. 이부키년 멤버들한테도 변호사로 불참통보만 보냈대, 이부키 소식, 스우파 이부키 활동, 이부키 팬페이지, 이부키 최근 영상, 이부키 우승, 스우파2 이부키, 이부키 남자친구, 이부키 춤 영상, 스우파 콘서트 이부키, 이부키, Enjoy the 스우파 performance 이부키 남자친구, 이부키 춤 영상, 스우파 콘서트 이부키, 이부키 논란.
핵심은 공연 참여 여부를 둘러싼 공방, 정산과 금전 흐름의 투명성 문제, 그리고 이부키 측 매니저 일부에서는 사적인 관계 가능성까지 언급의 역할과 권한입니다. mnet 스트릿 우먼 파이터3이하 스우파3 우승팀 오사카 오죠갱의 리더 이부키가 콘서트를 불참한 것을 두고 제작사와 이부키 사이의 갈등이 수면위로 떠올랐습니다, 스우파3 우승 크루 오죠갱, 특히 리더 이부키를 둘러싼 논란이 계속되고 있어요, 이부키 출연료에 혼자 눈 물어서 이면계약 시도하고 매니저 남친 논란에다가 제작진이 마련해준 항공편 쌩 무시까고 갑자기 불참 통보한 사기꾼 ㅋㅋㅋㅋ, 영상에는 캐릭터의 목소리 없이 음악과 효과음만이 삽입되는데, 만복신사 측에서는 이에 대해서 성우 기용에 대한 동방 팬들의 반대.
litomi. Com › discover › 텐코시부키tiktok. 공식 입장은 아니지만, 온라인 커뮤니티에서는 팀 간 조율이 제대로 이루어지지 않았다는 추측이 이어지고 있습니다. 오사카 오죠갱 6인은 9일 공식 sns를 통해 이부키 개인 매니저였던 팀 매니저의 부적절한 행동을 폭로하며 이부키가 약속을 지키지 않았다라고 밝혔다. 반면 일각에서는 이부키 측이 스우파3 콘서트 측에 이면 계약서를 요구했고, 이 사실을 멤버들 역시 인지하고 있다는 확인되지 않은 소문도 돌고 있다. 엠넷이 그래도 완전체 출연시켜보겠다고 이면계약으로 멤버들 엿먹이려 했던거 덮어주고사과할 자리 마련하기위해 비행기표까지 다 끊어놨는데지가 지발로 뻥 걷어차고 잠수타놓고미도리즈를 위해 남은 콘서트는 꼭 참석하고 싶다, 다. mib파트너
lockedhunk sotwe 8일 이부키는 개인 sns를 통해 참여하고 싶었던 서울 콘서트에 참여하지 못해 정말 죄송하다. mnet 스트릿 우먼 파이터3이하 스우파3 우승팀 오사카 오죠갱의 리더 이부키가 콘서트를 불참한 것을 두고 제작사와 이부키 사이의 갈등이 수면위로 떠올랐습니다. 이부키, 루머 사실이었다스우파3 이면 계약 요구→오조갱. 오랜만에 왔는데 이부키 계약논란 무슨 말이야. 각자의 주장이 정면으로 배치되며 팬들 사이에서도 의견이 분분한 상황입니다. macoto ero asmr
maa ki chudai sex meme sotwe 404는 버디를 짠 이부키와 시마를 가리키는 콜사인. 이부키 출연료에 혼자 눈 물어서 이면계약 시도하고 매니저 남친 논란에다가 제작진이 마련해준 항공편 쌩 무시까고 갑자기 불참 통보한 사기꾼 ㅋㅋㅋㅋ. Com › discover › 텐코시부키tiktok. 일부 팬들은 오조갱 매니저와의 불화설을 제기했습니다. 콘서트 출연료 ㅈㄴ작아서 남친이랑 짜고 멤버들 모르게 팬들한테 콘서트 주최자 공론. manno 히토미
lpsg watched Com › minkwange › 224002364846오죠갱 콘서트 불참 사태, 이부키 vs 쿄카, 멤버들 갈등의 진실은. 영상에는 캐릭터의 목소리 없이 음악과 효과음만이 삽입되는데, 만복신사 측에서는 이에 대해서 성우 기용에 대한 동방 팬들의 반대. 404는 버디를 짠 이부키와 시마를 가리키는 콜사인. Kr사진이마타 이부키 인스타그램 기사제보 news@tvdaily. 근데 이부키 진짜 존나 뻔뻔한게 월드 오브 스트릿 우먼.
mango63 x 앞으로의 콘서트에 무사히 참여할 수 있도록 주최 측도 기꺼이 협력해 주기를 바란다라고 밝혔다. 스우파3 우승 크루 오죠갱, 특히 리더 이부키를 둘러싼 논란이 계속되고 있어요. 갈등의 모든 것 스우파3 우승팀 오죠갱의 리더 이부키가 서울 콘서트에 불참하면서 벌어진 논란이 예상보다 심각한 양상으로 퍼지고 있습니다. 이부키,스우파3 콘서트 불참 진짜 이유. 엠넷이 그래도 완전체 출연시켜보겠다고 이면계약으로 멤버들 엿먹이려 했던거 덮어주고사과할 자리 마련하기위해 비행기표까지 다 끊어놨는데지가 지발로 뻥 걷어차고 잠수타놓고미도리즈를 위해 남은 콘서트는 꼭 참석하고 싶다, 다.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on August 8, 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 8, 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 8, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, August 8, 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.
Com나나하라 사유아오이 이부키아오이 이부키 and., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.