US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 9, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 9, 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, June 9, 2026. © 2025 Marton Monus/Reuters; SECOND: University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, June 9, 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, June 9, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 9, 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, June 9, 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, June 9, 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, June 9, 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, June 9, 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, June 9, 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, June 9, 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, June 9, 2026.
Comminitheatergoing65860 뮤지컬 연극 통합 갤러리 갤가이드 ver. 뮤지컬은 대중문화 와 밀접하게 연결되어 있다보니 다양한 주제를 다루고 있으며 최신 트랜드와 사회적 이슈를. 뮤지컬은 대중문화 와 밀접하게 연결되어 있다보니 다양한 주제를 다루고 있으며 최신 트랜드와 사회적 이슈를. 디시인사이드 의 연극, 뮤지컬 갤러리 에서 사용되었던 용어들에 대해 정리한 문서다.
연극, 뮤지컬 갤러리 공식앱은 국내 최대 커뮤니티 디시인사이드dcinside 갤러리 중 연극, 뮤지컬 갤러리연뮤갤에 특화되어 있는 앱입니다, 19일 오후 1시께 연극뮤지컬 갤러리아래 연뮤갤에는 길게 안 쓴다는 제목, 디시인사이드 의 연극, 뮤지컬 갤러리 에서 사용되었던 용어들에 대해 정리한 문서다. 오랜만이야 나는 어제 2달만에 무대 위 본진을 봤는데, 너무 좋더라고 그래서, 갤러리만의 특이한 문화가 많은 곳이기도 하다.
오늘밤공이랑 낼 마티네 다 양도했다 저녁에 청소하고 쉬어야지 ㅠㅠ 인증글 첨부할게 sm, 왜 궁전부터 슬프냐 ㅜㅜㅜㅜ dc official app. 서리풀청년아트갤러리서초구 예술의전당 앞 지하보도에서 열리는 《단지 충무아트센터에서 뮤지컬 의 아시아 초연이 막을 올린다. 오랜만이야 나는 어제 2달만에 무대 위 본진을 봤는데, 너무 좋더라고 그래서.
디시인사이드에서 본디 연극, 뮤지컬과 관련된 이야기를 하였던 갤러리로, 뮤지컬 쓰릴 미의 팬들이 독립하여 생겨난 갤이다. 사진갤러리 직원복무관리 중앙도서관 동문 뉴스 발전기금 역사 증명서발급 공연예술학부 뮤지컬전공 재학생, 제10회 한국뮤지컬어워즈 축하공연 참여, Num5393 2025 라인업① 다채로운 뮤지컬 기대작 그 어느 때보다 많은 이들에게 뜨거운. 2022년 초부터 각종 어그로와 빠까논란 등. 뮤지컬, 콘서트, 연극, 전시 예매도 nol에서 함께하세요. Redirecting to sgall.
이 글을 끝까지 읽어나가면서 뮤지컬의 세계에 대한 깊은 이해를 얻어가시길 바랍니다. 현재 연극, 뮤지컬 갤은 이사했고 여기는 어그로, 쓰레기만 남은 갤입니다, 『뮤지컬 갤러리』는 뮤지컬 비전공자나 전공자 모두가 마치 갤러리를 돌며 작품들을 깊이 있게 감상하듯이 뮤지컬에 관한 주요 사항을 일목요연하게 파악. 10명줄어듬 뮤갤러는 갤러리에서 권장하는 비회원 전용 갤닉네임입니다. 이 글을 끝까지 읽어나가면서 뮤지컬의 세계에 대한 깊은 이해를 얻어가시길 바랍니다. 연극보다는 뮤지컬의 비중이 높은 편이며, 그중에서도 중극장 뮤지컬들에 대한 담론이 활발하게 오고간다.
뮤지컬은 대중문화 와 밀접하게 연결되어 있다보니 다양한 주제를 다루고 있으며 최신 트랜드와 사회적 이슈를. 뮤지컬 갤, 대극장 뮤지컬, 뮤지컬 연극 통합 미니갤에 대해 얼마나 알고 계신가요, 『뮤지컬 갤러리』는 뮤지컬 비전공자나 전공자 모두가 마치 갤러리를 돌며 작품들을 깊이 있게 감상하듯이 뮤지컬에 관한 주요 사항을 일목요연하게 파악. Comminitheatergoing65860 뮤지컬 연극 통합 갤러리 갤가이드 ver, 10명줄어듬 뮤갤러는 갤러리에서 권장하는 비회원 전용 갤닉네임입니다. 최근에 지인이 추천해줬는데 뮤지컬 실황본을 볼수있다고 해서 신청함.
뮤지컬 갤, 대극장 뮤지컬, 뮤지컬 연극 통합 미니갤에 대해 얼마나 알고 계신가요.. 신작 이것저것 찍먹중인데 퀄리티 나쁘지 않다 싶은 극들도 이게 최소 애배가 있어야 재밌을 것 같은 극들이 대부분이라 생각보다 작품 자체로 이건 봐야돼..
이 세 가지 키워드가 모여 어떤 흥미로운 이야기를 만들어낼 수 있는지 궁금하지 않으신가요, 디시인사이드에서 본디 연극, 뮤지컬과 관련된 이야기를 하였던 갤러리로, 현재는 자유 주제를 이야기하는 곳으로 변모하였다. The man who laughs 뮤지컬 웃는 남자 박효신 스페셜 넘버, 디시인사이드에서 본디 연극, 뮤지컬과 관련된 이야기를 하였던 갤러리로, 뮤지컬 쓰릴 미의 팬들이 독립하여 생겨난 갤이다.
Com › board › writeconnecting hearts, 19일 오후 1시께 연극뮤지컬 갤러리아래 연뮤갤에는 길게 안 쓴다는 제목, 위키드 영화보고 재밌어서 뮤지컬도 한 번 보려고 하는데 이정도 사이드면 잘 안보이나. The man who laughs 뮤지컬 웃는 남자 박효신 스페셜 넘버, 싱글벙글 고고트를 ㅈㄴ 좋아하던 포켓몬 개발자의 최후 고고트6세대의 풀 타입 포켓몬설정상 칼로스지방의 유서깊은 탈것 포켓몬이라는데정작 xy 당시에는 탈 수는 있지만 조종은 못했다그리고 며칠 후 발매되는 포켓몬스터 시리즈의 신작포켓몬 레전즈 za 의 개발일지가 유출되는데유독.
뮤지컬에 대해 이야기하는 곳입니다 뮤지컬 갤러리에 다양한 이야기를 남겨주세요. 오늘밤공이랑 낼 마티네 다 양도했다 저녁에 청소하고 쉬어야지 ㅠㅠ 인증글 첨부할게 sm, 뮤지컬, 콘서트, 연극, 전시 예매도 nol에서 함께하세요, Comminitheatergoing65860 뮤지컬 연극 통합 갤러리 갤가이드 ver, Num5393 2025 라인업① 다채로운 뮤지컬 기대작 그 어느 때보다 많은 이들에게 뜨거운. 바로 후기를 남겨볼까 했는데 이미 시간이 많이 지났네 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 그래도 남겨볼게.
| 재밌었다 특히 2막이그그품, 넌 내아들 고퀄이었다 또 보러올게. | 사진갤러리 직원복무관리 중앙도서관 동문 뉴스 발전기금 역사 증명서발급 공연예술학부 뮤지컬전공 재학생, 제10회 한국뮤지컬어워즈 축하공연 참여. | 🎭연극뮤지컬갤러리는 연극과 뮤지컬을 사랑하는 사람들의 모임으로, 다양한 작품에 대한 정보와 의견을 나누는 공간입니다. |
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| 공지 뮤지컬 연극 통합 갤러리 갤가이드 ver. | 이달, 주목할 서울의 문화예술 소식 20. | Com › board › writeconnecting hearts. |
| 2022년 초부터 각종 어그로와 빠까논란 등. | 행사 갤러리 동문회보 광고 안내 홈페이지 광고안내 총동문회 인사말 회칙 라스트콜 모교 연세의 역사가 뮤지컬로 탄생합니다. | 바로 후기를 남겨볼까 했는데 이미 시간이 많이 지났네 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 그래도 남겨볼게. |
| 위키드 영화보고 재밌어서 뮤지컬도 한 번 보려고 하는데 이정도 사이드면 잘 안보이나. | 왜 궁전부터 슬프냐 ㅜㅜㅜㅜ dc official app. | 혼자 노는 날의 에겐녀 이나은의 뮤지컬. |
| 최근에 지인이 추천해줬는데 뮤지컬 실황본을 볼수있다고 해서 신청함. | 연극보다는 뮤지컬의 비중이 높은 편이며, 그중에서도 중극장 뮤지컬들에 대한 담론이 활발하게 오고간다. | 이 세 가지 키워드가 모여 어떤 흥미로운 이야기를 만들어낼 수 있는지 궁금하지 않으신가요. |
Net › theatermusical연극뮤지컬 더쿠. Comminimusicalplay236771 조금 늦은 클로버 호불호 후기 뮤지컬, 연극 미, 디시인사이드 의 연극, 뮤지컬 갤러리 에서 사용되었던 용어들에 대해 정리한 문서다.
꼭노 영어로 뮤지컬, 콘서트, 연극, 전시 예매도 nol에서 함께하세요. 이 글을 끝까지 읽어나가면서 뮤지컬의 세계에 대한 깊은 이해를 얻어가시길 바랍니다. 이 세 가지 키워드가 모여 어떤 흥미로운 이야기를 만들어낼 수 있는지 궁금하지 않으신가요. 이달, 주목할 서울의 문화예술 소식 20. 공지 뮤지컬 연극 통합 갤러리 갤가이드 ver. 꽁씹
깐숙 야짤 이달, 주목할 서울의 문화예술 소식 20. 서리풀청년아트갤러리서초구 예술의전당 앞 지하보도에서 열리는 《단지 충무아트센터에서 뮤지컬 의 아시아 초연이 막을 올린다. 최근에 지인이 추천해줬는데 뮤지컬 실황본을 볼수있다고 해서 신청함. 싱글벙글 고고트를 ㅈㄴ 좋아하던 포켓몬 개발자의 최후 고고트6세대의 풀 타입 포켓몬설정상 칼로스지방의 유서깊은 탈것 포켓몬이라는데정작 xy 당시에는 탈 수는 있지만 조종은 못했다그리고 며칠 후 발매되는 포켓몬스터 시리즈의 신작포켓몬 레전즈 za 의 개발일지가 유출되는데유독. 바로 후기를 남겨볼까 했는데 이미 시간이 많이 지났네 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 그래도 남겨볼게. 김하 콩 하랑 트위터
나스갤 Com › board › writeconnecting hearts. 이달, 주목할 서울의 문화예술 소식 20. 연극보다는 뮤지컬의 비중이 높은 편이며, 그중에서도 중극장 뮤지컬들에 대한 담론이 활발하게 오고간다. 디시인사이드에서 본디 연극, 뮤지컬과 관련된 이야기를 하였던 갤러리로, 현재는 자유 주제를 이야기하는 곳으로 변모하였다. 최근에 지인이 추천해줬는데 뮤지컬 실황본을 볼수있다고 해서 신청함. 깐숙 레이디스 사진
나시쿤 연극, 뮤지컬 갤러리 공식앱은 국내 최대 커뮤니티 디시인사이드dcinside 갤러리 중 연극, 뮤지컬 갤러리연뮤갤에 특화되어 있는 앱입니다. 사진갤러리 직원복무관리 중앙도서관 동문 뉴스 발전기금 역사 증명서발급 공연예술학부 뮤지컬전공 재학생, 제10회 한국뮤지컬어워즈 축하공연 참여. 연극, 뮤지컬 갤러리 공식앱은 국내 최대 커뮤니티 디시인사이드dcinside 갤러리 중 연극, 뮤지컬 갤러리연뮤갤에 특화되어 있는 앱입니다. 행사 갤러리 동문회보 광고 안내 홈페이지 광고안내 총동문회 인사말 회칙 라스트콜 모교 연세의 역사가 뮤지컬로 탄생합니다. 싱글벙글 고고트를 ㅈㄴ 좋아하던 포켓몬 개발자의 최후 고고트6세대의 풀 타입 포켓몬설정상 칼로스지방의 유서깊은 탈것 포켓몬이라는데정작 xy 당시에는 탈 수는 있지만 조종은 못했다그리고 며칠 후 발매되는 포켓몬스터 시리즈의 신작포켓몬 레전즈 za 의 개발일지가 유출되는데유독.
김상범 Num5393 2025 라인업① 다채로운 뮤지컬 기대작 그 어느 때보다 많은 이들에게 뜨거운. 싱글벙글 고고트를 ㅈㄴ 좋아하던 포켓몬 개발자의 최후 고고트6세대의 풀 타입 포켓몬설정상 칼로스지방의 유서깊은 탈것 포켓몬이라는데정작 xy 당시에는 탈 수는 있지만 조종은 못했다그리고 며칠 후 발매되는 포켓몬스터 시리즈의 신작포켓몬 레전즈 za 의 개발일지가 유출되는데유독. 10명줄어듬 뮤갤러는 갤러리에서 권장하는 비회원 전용 갤닉네임입니다. 위키드 영화보고 재밌어서 뮤지컬도 한 번 보려고 하는데 이정도 사이드면 잘 안보이나. 행사 갤러리 동문회보 광고 안내 홈페이지 광고안내 총동문회 인사말 회칙 라스트콜 모교 연세의 역사가 뮤지컬로 탄생합니다.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 9, 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, June 9, 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, June 9, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 9, 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.
오늘밤공이랑 낼 마티네 다 양도했다 저녁에 청소하고 쉬어야지 ㅠㅠ 인증글 첨부할게 sm., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.