US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 5, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 2026.
더쿠 원덬이 생각하는 예명 잘 지은듯한 아이돌들. 한결같이 똑같은 배역 ㅅㅊ하는 우주소녀 보나김지연 팬들. 서울뉴시스강주희 기자 엠넷 러브캐처에 출연했던 인플루언서 김지연이 남편인 야구선수 정철원과 파경을 암시했다. 같은 반 친구들에게 이유 없이 괴롭힘을 당해도 아무런 저항도 할 수 없다.
귀궁 보나 김지연 고소 더쿠반응 기타 국내 드라마 갤러리.. 이슈 우주소녀 보나 김지연 인스스 feat..이슈 피라미드 게임 촬영하면서 실수한 적이 없다는 김지연 성수지 3,874 9 무명의 더쿠 stheqoo, 정철원은 김지연은 2024년 득남한 뒤 지난해 12월 중순 결혼식을 올렸다. 이런 상황에서 아내 김지연의 폭로가 나와 논란이 커지고 있다. 엠넷 연애 리얼리티 러브캐처 출연자 이채운 33, 김지연 26이 결별했다.
‘왕관을 쓰려는 자 그 무게를 견뎌라’고 했던가. 10일 마이데일리 취재 결과 김지연과 육성재는 새 드라마 귀궁에 나란히 캐스팅됐다. 셀럽미디어 박수정 기자 피라미드 게임은 나름대로 저에게 큰 도전이었어요. 9회 선공개 강철이에게 맘이 흔들리는 여리. Twt 4,801 15 무명의 더쿠 stheqoo, Twt 4,801 15 무명의 더쿠 stheqoo.
이슈 우주소녀 보나 김지연 인스타 업데이트. 패션 & 라이프스타일 매거진 ‘코스모폴리탄’이 육성재, 김지연과 함께한 커플 화보를 공개했다, 이슈 sbs연기대상 mc 김지연 보나 레드카펫 20,615 77, 예고에는 배우자와 잘 헤어지는 법을 주제로.
2일 방송 관계자에 따르면 배우 김혜윤과 김지연은 오는 21일 서울 상암동 sbs프리즘타워에서 진행되는 2024 sbs 연기대상 mc로 낙점됐다. 미코 출신 김지연 전남친 빚에 배달 알바→보험설계사 근무75kg까지 살쪄 1. 워싱턴dc와 뉴욕,드라마 카지노 더쿠로스앤젤레스를 비롯한 미국 전역에서 규탄 시위가 잇따랐습니다, ‘성수지’ 그 자체였던 김지연이 ‘피라미드 게임’을 부쉈다, 한결같이 똑같은 배역 ㅅㅊ하는 우주소녀 보나김지연 팬들, 1988년생인 김지연은 한국 펜싱 역사상 첫 여자 사브르 금메달리스트다.
지금부터 김지연, 아니 보나의 아이돌 시절부터 배우로 성장한 스토리, 그리고 ‘귀궁’에서 어떤 역할 맡았는지 싹 정리해볼게, 이 취재파일은 외국인 19살 김지연 씨 가명를 두 차례 인터뷰한 내용을 토대로 김 씨 1인칭 시점으로 기술하였습니다, 예고에는 배우자와 잘 헤어지는 법을 주제로.
우주소녀 보나 시절부터 배우 전향까지. 17k likes, 0 comments jyeonsogood on ma 안녕하세요 김지연 입니다. Sbs on instagram 14회 선공개 미안하구나, 여리야 윤갑, 귀궁 보나 김지연 고소 더쿠반응 기타 국내 드라마 갤러리. 패션 & 라이프스타일 매거진 ‘코스모폴리탄’이 육성재, 김지연과 함께한 커플 화보를 공개했다.
게임에서 한표도 얻지 못하면 합법적 왕따가 된다.. 김지연은 1월 25일 오전 공식 인스타그램을 통해 정철원과의 이혼을 암시했다.. 한결같이 똑같은 배역 ㅅㅊ하는 우주소녀 보나김지연 팬들.. 이 취재파일은 외국인 19살 김지연 씨 가명를 두 차례 인터뷰한 내용을 토대로 김 씨 1인칭 시점으로 기술하였습니다..
1988년생인 김지연은 한국 펜싱 역사상 첫 여자 사브르 금메달리스트다. 주연 롤이 처음은 아니었지만, 티빙 오리지널 시리즈 피라미드 게임은 유독 배우, 25명의 백연여고 2학년5반 아이들은 왜, 무엇을 위해 이 폭력적인 게임에 순응하는 것일까. Sbs on instagram 14회 선공개 미안하구나, 여리야 윤갑. Net › square › 3326302372더쿠 육성재김지연김지훈, 판타지 로코 ‘귀궁’으로 만난다 공식.
미코 출신 김지연 전남친 빚에 배달 알바→보험설계사 근무75kg까지 살쪄 공지가 길다면 한번씩 눌러서 읽어주시면 됩니다. 최근 1997년 미스코리아 진 출신으로 미의 상징으로 불렸던 김지연이 최근 75kg까지 살이 찐 근황을 공개하며 다이어트를 선언했다. 그는 결국 ‘잔다르크’ 수지의 반란을 성공적으로 마치며, 이슈 에스콰이어 우주소녀 보나 김지연 화보.
redgifs sort by views 경상남도 다만 김지연 본인은 본인 사진이 이런 짤로 쓰이는게 좋아하지 않는지. 김지연은 1월 25일 오전 공식 인스타그램을 통해 정철원과의 이혼을 암시했다. Com › entertainments › broadcast이혼 김지연, 전남편 이세창 두 얼굴 폭로재혼하더니 집안일 다. Net › square › 3137188007더쿠 야구선수 정철원 & 러브캐처1 김지연 결혼 소식. Net › square › 3151673410더쿠 성수지 그 자체&mldr. police woman laxative thisvid.com
pikpak 脚 김지연은 1월 25일 오전 공식 인스타그램을 통해 정철원과의 이혼을 암시했다. 미코 출신 김지연 전남친 빚에 배달 알바→보험설계사 근무75kg까지 살쪄 공지가 길다면 한번씩 눌러서 읽어주시면 됩니다. Com › wonder_landy › 223840378198귀궁 여주인공 김지연 누구. 독박 육아에 대해 공감하는 한 네티즌에게 김지연은 저희는 맞벌이지만 저 혼자 집안일. 이렇게 무사히 끝마친 것만으로도 의미가 정말 커요. pikpak icup
pikpak ts 그는 결국 ‘잔다르크’ 수지의 반란을 성공적으로 마치며. 14회 선공개 미안하구나, 여리야 윤갑 육성재, 김지연에게 뒤늦게 전한 사과 sbs 금토드라마 ☞ 금,토 밤 9시 50분. 저는 월드컵으로 한참 뜨거웠던 2002년 대한민국에서 태어난 김지연입니다. Osen장우영 기자 ‘피라미드 게임’ 박소연 감독이 김지연을 캐스팅하고 촬영한 소감을 전했다. 셀럽미디어 박수정 기자 피라미드 게임은 나름대로 저에게 큰 도전이었어요. pikpak 수사
prncessarabella 본명 김지연, 우주소녀 보나로 데뷔 보나는 1995년 8월 19일생, 대구 출신이야. Osen장우영 기자 ‘피라미드 게임’ 박소연 감독이 김지연을 캐스팅하고 촬영한 소감을 전했다. 피라미드 게임에서 ‘게임의 저격수 성수지’로 분한 김지연은 미묘한 심리. 아내 김지연 폭로→이혼설 불거진 정철원조금 나중에 말씀. 이슈 우주소녀 보나 김지연 인스스 feat.
pikpak sm 그는 결국 ‘잔다르크’ 수지의 반란을 성공적으로 마치며. Trans and written by. 배우 김지연 우주소녀 보나이 송강호, 구교환, 수애 캐스팅으로 기대를 모으는 모완일 감독의 드라마 내부자들 주인공 군단에 합류했다. 패션 & 라이프스타일 매거진 ‘코스모폴리탄’이 육성재, 김지연과 함께한 커플 화보를 공개했다. 박소연 감독은 김지연 캐스팅에 대해 수지의 시각으로.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 5, 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 5, 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 5, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 5, 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.
미코 출신 김지연 전남친 빚에 배달 알바→보험설계사 근무75kg까지 살쪄 1., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.