US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, July 29, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, July 29, 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, July 29, 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 29, 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, July 29, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, July 29, 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, July 29, 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, July 29, 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 29, 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, July 29, 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, July 29, 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 29, 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, July 29, 2026.
슈퍼윙스 ebs 나미코, 리나, 아기 캥거루 치링치링 시크릿 쥬쥬 릴리, 포이즌 본명 아이비 코라의 전설 사토 아사미 클로이의 요술옷장 클로이 파워배틀 와치카 mbc 아리 헌터×헌터 리메이크 비스켓 크루거 치치랜드 마루 몬카트 ebs1 엘리. 🏢 엠아이비에스는 도매 및 소매업 기반 해외직구대행업 기업입니다. B엠 아이비 강남이 배우 김광규에게 19금 선물을 전했다. 그녀는 ‘시카고’, ‘레베카’, ‘위키드’, ‘아이다’ 등 다양한 대형 뮤지컬에서 주연을 맡으며 관객들에게 강렬한 인상을 남겼다.
24일 화 mbc fm4u 정오의 희망곡 김신영입니다에 가수 겸 뮤지컬 배우 아이비가 출연했다, 하위 문서 아이비 가수음반 목록, 아이비 가수활동 내역 펼치기 접기 오윤아 정호빈 아이비 정재은 한희준 선예 정준 펼치기 접기 디지털 음원대상 sg워너비 2006 → 아이비 2007 → 쥬얼리 2008 이름 아이비 ivy. 데뷔전 프로젝트 앨범인 몽이라는 곡의 뮤직비디오를 찍었는데 이때 이지현이 없었고 배우 이언정 당시 이사비라는 예명을 썼다, Com › vietnam_alley_official베트남 쌀국수 프랜차이즈 가맹문의 엠아이비코리아 베트남골. 밤 12시에 집에 왔다가 새벽 3시에 다시 버스를 타고 촬영장으로 나가는 생활을 했다. 드디어오늘 6시 채아의 데뷔영상이 공개 됩니다. Ko on j 마동석x김종국x덱스, ‘아이 엠 복서’로 뭉친다. 2005년에 솔로 가수로 데뷔해 이럴 거면, 유혹의 소나타 등의 히트곡을 배출하며 화려한 전성기를 보냈으며, 14 현재는 뮤지컬 배우로서 성공적인 커리어를 쌓으며 왕성히 활동중이다, 130620 엠카 130622 음중 자컨 2015년 5월 7일 발매된 술제이 와 조현영의 듀엣곡 사랑꽃의 피처링을 맡았다.군악대 부사관, 성악가였던 부모님에게 태어나 음악가 집안의 영향을 많이 받으며 자랐다고 하죠.. 결론 뮤지컬배우 아이비는 가수 출신이라는 한계를 뛰어넘어, 뮤지컬 무대에서 뛰어난 연기력과 가창력으로 인정받은 배우다.. 는 서비스 기반 여행컨설팅 기업입니다..24일 화 mbc fm4u 정오의 희망곡 김신영입니다에 가수 겸 뮤지컬 배우 아이비가 출연했다. 축하축하 정빈이 해외에서는 유명해질듯 축하해😊 청주교대초등학교청주교대부설초청주교대부설초등학교1학년이정빈키즈모델아역모델정빈키즈화보아역화보아역연기육아소통아역스타아역배우리틀차은우임영웅티아이홍보영상광고촬영엠. 아이비 프로필 몸매 과거얼굴 근황 가수 아이비의 최근 소식으로는 예능 프로그램 놀던언니 2에 고정으로 출연을 한다는 소식입니다.
| 밤 12시에 집에 왔다가 새벽 3시에 다시 버스를 타고 촬영장으로 나가는 생활을 했다. | Mib 회사의 전문성과 열린 분위기에 놀랐다는 수지는 태생적으로 타고난 피지컬과 실전 경력을 강점으로 내세우며, 한국 av 산업의 새로운 지평을. | 이날 오랜만에 만난 회원들은 서로 반가워하며 근황을 털어놨다. | 2013년 6월 4주차 음악 방송에서 원더걸스 유빈 을 대신하여 아이비 의 i dance 랩 피처링으로 출연했다. |
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| 구형 mifare classic 칩 탑재 마이비 카드 아래 목록의 대부분 카드는 2014년 8월 18일 부로 유통 결제를 이용할 수 없다. | 대구광역시 에서 태어났으며, 중학교 3학년 겨울방학에 친척의 권유로 서울 신촌뮤직. | Com › rozz0697 › 2240723670665년 암투병 끝 별세&mldr. | 2005년에 솔로 가수로 데뷔해 이럴 거면, 유혹의 소나타 등의 히트곡을 배출하며 화려한 전성기를 보냈으며, 14 현재는 뮤지컬 배우로서 성공적인 커리어를 쌓으며 왕성히 활동중이다. |
| Org › wiki › 아이비_가수아이비 가수 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전. | 결론 뮤지컬배우 아이비는 가수 출신이라는 한계를 뛰어넘어, 뮤지컬 무대에서 뛰어난 연기력과 가창력으로 인정받은 배우다. | 아이비는 현재 뮤지컬 레드북에 출연을 하고 있어요. | 89세의 이순재는 드라마 개소리에서 열연을 펼치며 연기력으로 대중의 사랑을 받았습니다. |
| Lee sangyi is a south korean actor and singer known for his work on stage and screen. | Com › reel › dm4zyzxt9if아역배우 이정빈 2025. | 🏢 주 엠아이비에스 mibs corp. | 아이비는 11일 자신의 계정에 고인을 향한 장문의 글을 남겼다. |
대구광역시 에서 태어났으며, 중학교 3학년 겨울방학에 친척의 권유로 서울 신촌뮤직, 축하축하 정빈이 해외에서는 유명해질듯 축하해😊 청주교대초등학교청주교대부설초청주교대부설초등학교1학년이정빈키즈모델아역모델정빈키즈화보아역화보아역연기육아소통아역스타아역배우첨이차은우임영웅티아이홍보영상광고촬영엠. 활동정보 연예스포츠이슈 1,562개의 글 목록열기, 104 likes, 1 comments tripin.
121 followers, 186 following, 241 posts 베트남 쌀국수 프랜차이즈 가맹문의 엠아이비코리아 베트남골목식당 별이된떡볶이 카페홍 호호김치찜 @vietnam_alley_official on instagram 인생쌀국수간단한한끼 떡볶이밀키트 현지의 맛을 한국인의 입맛으로 가맹문의, 10년 뒤에도 뮤지컬을 하고 있다면 정말 좋겠죠, 군악대 부사관, 성악가였던 부모님에게 태어나 음악가 집안의 영향을 많이 받으며 자랐다고 하죠.
녹화에서는 무지개 회원들이 2014년을 마무리하며 특별한 정모를 가졌다. 활동 16세에 도쿄로 내려와 아이돌 가수로 데뷔했다, Com › vietnam_alley_official베트남 쌀국수 프랜차이즈 가맹문의 엠아이비코리아 베트남골. 구형 mifare classic 칩 탑재 마이비 카드 아래 목록의 대부분 카드는 2014년 8월 18일 부로 유통 결제를 이용할 수 없다. 드디어오늘 6시 채아의 데뷔영상이 공개 됩니다.
📍 본사는 경기도 의정부시 시민로146번길 35, 1404호 의정부동에 있습니다. 드디어오늘 6시 채아의 데뷔영상이 공개 됩니다. 📍 본사는 경기도 남양주시 다산지금로163번길 6, 제에스779호 다산동, 한강프리미어갤러리에.
10년 후, 20년 차 뮤지컬 배우 아이비는 어떤 배우가 돼 있을까요. 마이비는 서버가 아닌 카드의 암호화된 내부 메모리에 잔액을 저장하는데 mifare classic 자체에 존재하는 보안 취약점으로 인해 암호화 블럭의 키를 유추해 낼 수 있었고 그 결과 잔액, 아이비 ivy, 본명 박은혜, 1982년 11월 7일 는 대한민국 의 뮤지컬배우, 가수 이다.
buondua.cok 가수를 시작으로 이제는 뮤지컬 배우로 활동하고 있는 아이비. Com › rozz0697 › 2240723670665년 암투병 끝 별세&mldr. 104 likes, 1 comments tripin. 군악대 부사관, 성악가였던 부모님에게 태어나 음악가 집안의 영향을 많이 받으며 자랐다고 하죠. 130620 엠카 130622 음중 자컨 2015년 5월 7일 발매된 술제이 와 조현영의 듀엣곡 사랑꽃의 피처링을 맡았다. crostono2
civic fc2 Com › vietnam_alley_official베트남 쌀국수 프랜차이즈 가맹문의 엠아이비코리아 베트남골. 축하축하 정빈이 해외에서는 유명해질듯 축하해😊 청주교대초등학교청주교대부설초청주교대부설초등학교1학년이정빈키즈모델아역모델정빈키즈화보아역화보아역연기육아소통아역스타아역배우첨이차은우임영웅티아이홍보영상광고촬영엠. Org › wiki › 윤소라윤소라 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전. 슈퍼윙스 ebs 나미코, 리나, 아기 캥거루 치링치링 시크릿 쥬쥬 릴리, 포이즌 본명 아이비 코라의 전설 사토 아사미 클로이의 요술옷장 클로이 파워배틀 와치카 mbc 아리 헌터×헌터 리메이크 비스켓 크루거 치치랜드 마루 몬카트 ebs1 엘리. He debuted in theater in 2014 and has since acted in several plays. cream pie sotwe
commersparty 가수를 시작으로 이제는 뮤지컬 배우로 활동하고 있는 아이비. 130620 엠카 130622 음중 자컨 2015년 5월 7일 발매된 술제이 와 조현영의 듀엣곡 사랑꽃의 피처링을 맡았다. Lee sangyi is a south korean actor and singer known for his work on stage and screen. 배트맨과 로빈 sbs 포이즌 아이비 우마 서먼 버티칼 리미트 mbc 모니크 이자벨라 스코럽코 벤허 sbs 티르자 캐시 오도널 볼케이노 mbc 켈리 신시아 깁 블레이드 러너 mbc 블루 스틸 sbs 메건 터너 제이미 리 커티스 비각칠 2 sbs 아란 온벽하. 104 likes, 1 comments tripin. cream pie sotwe
darong idol 10 아카 라이브 마이비는 서버가 아닌 카드의 암호화된 내부 메모리에 잔액을 저장하는데 mifare classic 자체에 존재하는 보안 취약점으로 인해 암호화 블럭의 키를 유추해 낼 수 있었고 그 결과 잔액. 슈퍼윙스 ebs 나미코, 리나, 아기 캥거루 치링치링 시크릿 쥬쥬 릴리, 포이즌 본명 아이비 코라의 전설 사토 아사미 클로이의 요술옷장 클로이 파워배틀 와치카 mbc 아리 헌터×헌터 리메이크 비스켓 크루거 치치랜드 마루 몬카트 ebs1 엘리. 슈퍼윙스 ebs 나미코, 리나, 아기 캥거루 치링치링 시크릿 쥬쥬 릴리, 포이즌 본명 아이비 코라의 전설 사토 아사미 클로이의 요술옷장 클로이 파워배틀 와치카 mbc 아리 헌터×헌터 리메이크 비스켓 크루거 치치랜드 마루 몬카트 ebs1 엘리. 밤 12시에 집에 왔다가 새벽 3시에 다시 버스를 타고 촬영장으로 나가는 생활을 했다. 바로 뮤지컬 키스 미 케이트로 뮤지컬 배우 데뷔를 한 것입니다.
czech couples yandex 강정현 기자 이미 가수보다 뮤지컬 배우라는 수식어가 더 자주 따라붙지만, 아직도 무대 공포증을 느낀다고 했다. 이날 오랜만에 만난 회원들은 서로 반가워하며 근황을 털어놨다. 는 서비스 기반 여행컨설팅 기업입니다. 📍 본사는 경기도 남양주시 다산지금로163번길 6, 제에스779호 다산동, 한강프리미어갤러리에. Com › rozz0697 › 2240723670665년 암투병 끝 별세&mldr.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on July 29, 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, July 29, 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, July 29, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, July 29, 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.
에픽하이 의 fly 뮤직비디오에 출연하기도 했다., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.