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.

제리 김연정 연세대학교 의과대학 20학번 9기 유디 임유진 고려대학교 간호학과 20학번 임유디 바니 박소영 고려대학교 의과대학 20학번 소영 디노 공태식 연세대학교 기계공학과 20학번 10기 써니 정서현 연세대학교 경영학과 19학번 로이 정승민 연세대학교 식품. 연고티비 제리 님 인스타 궁금하시다면 직접 아이뒤 검색하셔서 들어가보시면 좋을 것 같아요 _ 출처 김연정 인스타. 두산은 11일 잠실 nc전에 선발로 내정돼 있던 이재우의 등판 순번을 뒤로 돌리고 볼스테드를 정상적으로 오늘 경기에 내세. 추천 32 0 이미지 연세대 김연정 얘 리플리 증후군 있나보네.

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이미지 그러니까 제리 예전 논란됐던 사건이.. 수능보기전에 미리 갔었던 수험장 전날에는 공부가 손에 안잡혀 괜히 독서실 정리를 하고 사람들의 응원을 왕창받고 초콜렛, 엿 등 간식도 풍족했다..

제리 김연정님 샤프 정보 비공개 조회수 677 2022. 그러니까 제리 예전 논란됐던 사건이 연고티비 마이너 갤러리. 10대 이야기 드루와 본인만 갖고있을 수 있는 증명사진 찐원본 올라와있음ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 나무위키 없다가 갑자기 생겼는데 자기가 본인 나무위키 문서 만들고 내용 손수 입력하고 등록했나봄. 제리 이런애들이 진짜 무서운 애들임.

논란이 있었죠 이 장면은 팬들 사이에서 화제를 모았고, 체크스윙의 `김연정 반응`ㅋㅋㅋ kbo 크보 야구 프로야구 야구하이라이트, 두산은 11일 잠실 nc전에 선발로 내정돼 있던 이재우의 등판 순번을 뒤로 돌리고 볼스테드를 정상적으로 오늘 경기에 내세. 연고티비 제리 김연정 연고티비 연고전, 와 수능본지 거의 78년이 된 것 같은데 여전히 그때를 생각하면 추웠던 날들이 생각난다, 과거 연고티비에서 김연정 제리님이 내신 꿀팁 영상에서 이 샤프 사용하셨는데 정보 공유 부탁드려요.

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225k views 3 years ago. 연고티비 제리 님 인스타 궁금하시다면 직접 아이뒤 검색하셔서 들어가보시면 좋을 것 같아요 _ 출처 김연정 인스타, 과거 연고티비에서 김연정 제리님이 내신 꿀팁 영상에서 이 샤프 사용하셨는데 정보 공유 부탁드려요. 정혜찬의 혼전 임신 고백과 고현정의 감정적인 첫 만남. 정혜찬 혼전 임신 고백, 고현정의 눈물.

Com › topstarnews › 223722416281연고티비 제리 김연정, 누구, 03 1202 조회 56,432 +2021년 05월 04일 랭킹 더보기 톡톡 10대 이야기 채널보기. 비례 정당, 비례 의원 때문에 논란도 많았는데 그런 걸 떠나서, 19일인가 남았죠.

ㄹㅇ팩트 연고티비 제리가 인성 개쓰레기인 이유 한석원. 유명하던데의대 파업 공개적으로 엄청 활발히 지지하고 다녔네 ㅋㅋ. 포토s 마마무 화사, 한파에도 섹시하게 오픈한 어깨. 따라서 질문하신 내용처럼 연대 의대 김연정 제리는 현재 생존해 있고 sns 활동도 이어가고 계십니다. 이 얼굴에 연대 의대라니 인스티즈 instiz 일상 카테고리 정말 갓생이다.

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Com › mgallery › boardㄹㅇ팩트 연고티비 제리가 인성 개쓰레기인 이유 한석원 마이너 갤러. 제리김연정으로 2001년생으로 올해 20살로 알려졌다, Com › topstarnews › 223722416281연고티비 제리 김연정, 누구. 10대 이야기 드루와 연의대에 이 얼굴이 말이 돼. 03 1202 조회 56,432 +2021년 05월 04일 랭킹 더보기 톡톡 10대 이야기 채널보기.

김연정은 자신의 인스타그램을 통해서도 근황을 전하며 많은 인기를 얻고 있다.. 한눈에 보는 오늘 스포츠 일반 뉴스 12일 잠실구장에서 열린 2014 프로야구 두산 베어스와 nc 다이노스 경기, nc 치어리더 김연정이 열띤 응원을 펼치고 있다..

포토s 마마무 화사, 한파에도 섹시하게 오픈한 어깨. 보다,스포츠 104개의 글 목록열기. 보다,스포츠 104개의 글 목록열기. Com › topstarnews › 223722416281연고티비 제리 김연정, 누구. 과거 연고티비에서 김연정 제리님이 내신 꿀팁 영상에서 이 샤프 사용하셨는데 정보 공유 부탁드려요.

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포토s 마마무 화사, 한파에도 섹시하게 오픈한 어깨. 과거 연고티비에서 김연정 제리님이 내신 꿀팁 영상에서 이 샤프 사용하셨는데 정보 공유 부탁드려요. 추가로 궁금하신 점 있으면 언제든지 도와드릴게요. 그거를 쌩둥맞게 뒷광고 안 한거라고 이상한 소리 하면서 억울한 척 한거고, 해당 영상은 유튜브 연고티비를 통해 시청 가능하다, 08 234734 조회 15217 추천 200 댓글 122.

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hitomi.lia 포토s 마마무 화사, 한파에도 섹시하게 오픈한 어깨. 연고티비 제리 김연정 연고티비 연고전. 10대 이야기 드루와 연의대에 이 얼굴이 말이 돼. 18 428 연대 김연정 전 연고티비 제리 ㄹㅇ아줌마상이다 3 ㅇㅇ125. 방송에서 기부한다고 인터뷰 read more. hentaipaw

hitomi 귀신 비례 정당, 비례 의원 때문에 논란도 많았는데 그런 걸 떠나서, 19일인가 남았죠. 연고티비 채널에 등장하는 ‘제리’라는 이름의 연세대 의대생 김연정 학생은 현재도 건강히 활동 중이며, 개인 인스타그램 계정 ‘more_treasured’에서 활발히 사진과 일상을 업데이트하고 있습니다. ㄹㅇ팩트 연고티비 제리가 인성 개쓰레기인 이유 한석원. 연대 김연정 전 연고티비 제리 ㄹㅇ아줌마상이다 ㅇㅇ 125. 10대 이야기 드루와 본인만 갖고있을 수 있는 증명사진 찐원본 올라와있음ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 나무위키 없다가 갑자기 생겼는데 자기가 본인 나무위키 문서 만들고 내용 손수 입력하고 등록했나봄. hihihhh0825_

hypnotube censored 수능보기전에 미리 갔었던 수험장 전날에는 공부가 손에 안잡혀 괜히 독서실 정리를 하고 사람들의 응원을 왕창받고 초콜렛, 엿 등 간식도 풍족했다. 논란이 있었죠 이 장면은 팬들 사이에서 화제를 모았고, 체크스윙의 `김연정 반응`ㅋㅋㅋ kbo 크보 야구 프로야구 야구하이라이트. 인스타그램 계정에는 2021년 및 2024년 사진들이 있고 팔로워 수와 게시물도 꾸준히 유지 중입니다. 10대 이야기 드루와 본인만 갖고있을 수 있는 증명사진 찐원본 올라와있음ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 나무위키 없다가 갑자기 생겼는데 자기가 본인 나무위키 문서 만들고 내용 손수 입력하고 등록했나봄. 그거를 쌩둥맞게 뒷광고 안 한거라고 이상한 소리 하면서 억울한 척 한거고.

hitomi きぃう 추천 32 0 이미지 연세대 김연정 얘 리플리 증후군 있나보네. ㄹㅇ팩트 연고티비 제리가 인성 개쓰레기인 이유 한석원. 정혜찬의 혼전 임신 고백과 고현정의 감정적인 첫 만남. 이미지 그러니까 제리 예전 논란됐던 사건이. 연고티비는 연세대학교 와 고려대학교 재학생 크루원이 출연하고 활동하는 에듀테인먼트 edu cation + en.

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.