US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 8, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 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, June 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, June 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, June 8, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 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, June 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, June 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, June 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, June 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, June 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, June 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, June 8, 2026.
Ai에게 일정한 단어를 입력해 아청물을 그리도록 하고 그 그림을 저장할때 이 행동은 아청물을 만드는 행위인가요 소지하는 행위인가요. 머스크의 ai 그록, x에 아동성착취 이미지 쏟아냈다각국. 이번에는 내부 직원들이 이를 폭로했다. Xai의 인공지능ai 챗봇 ‘그록’이 성적 콘텐츠를 전면에 내세운 전략으로 논란에 휘말렸다.
일론 머스크의 인공지능ai 기업 xai가 개발한 챗봇 그록grok이 아동 성 착취물 제작에 악용되고 있다는 조사 결과가 나오면서 영국과 유럽 규제. 49 단순히 중국의 ai 콘텐츠 검열에 따른 위반, 49 단순히 중국의 ai 콘텐츠 검열에 따른 위반. 포커스 xai 직원들 폭로, 그록에서 아동 성학대 ai 콘텐츠 확산. 일론 머스크의 인공지능ai 기업 xai가 개발한 챗봇 그록grok이 아동 성 착취물 제작에 악용되고 있다는 조사 결과가 나오면서 영국과 유럽 규제, 일론 머스크의 인공지능ai 기업 xai가 개발한 챗봇 그록grok이 아동 성 착취물 제작에 악용되고 있다는 조사 결과가 나오면서 영국과 유럽 규제, 나체 입력했다ai 아동 성착취물 만든 40대, 국내 첫 기소. Ai에게 일정한 단어를 입력해 아청물을 그리도록 하고 그 그림을 저장할때 이 행동은 아청물을 만드는 행위인가요 소지하는 행위인가요.| 이번에는 내부 직원들이 이를 폭로했다. | |
|---|---|
| 서울뉴스1 김민석 기자 일론 머스크의 인공지능ai 스타트업 xai가 운영하는 챗봇 그록이 성 상품화성적 대상화 논란에 이어 아동 성학대물csam 생성 의혹에 휩싸였다. | 나체 입력했다ai 아동 성착취물 만든 40대, 국내 첫 기소. |
| 26일 it 업계와 외신에 따르면 비즈니스인사이더가 인터뷰한 xai 현전직 직원 12명은 그록의 ai 컴패니언동반자 훈련. | 40대 남성 a씨는 불법유출 성인영상물 배포 혐의로 수사를 받던 중 2023년 4월부터 자신의 노트북에 이미지 생성 ai 프로그램을 설치하여 여아의 신체를 노출하고 성적 read more. |
| 36% | 64% |
Com › news › articleviewxai 전현직원 그록에 아동 착취물까지 등장기본 설계에 문제 &l, 인도 전자정보기술부는 2일 x가 그록을 통해 음란, 포르노, 저속, 외설, 성인물, 소아성애적 또는 법률로 금지된 콘텐츠를 생성하지 못하도록 조치해야, 옛 트위터인 엑스x에선 전 세계 이용자들을 대상으로 인공지능 챗봇인 그록을 서비스하고 있는데요. 일론 머스크의 인공지능ai 기업 xai가 개발한 챗봇 그록grok이 아동 성 착취물 제작에 악용되고 있다는 조사 결과가 나오면서 영국과 유럽 규제. 옛 트위터인 엑스x에선 전 세계 이용자들을 대상으로 인공지능 챗봇인 그록을 서비스하고 있는데요. Com › news › articleviewxai 전현직원 그록에 아동 착취물까지 등장기본 설계에 문제 &l.
머스크의 ai 그록, x에 아동성착취 이미지 쏟아냈다각국. 검찰은 a씨가 ai를 활용해 제작한 이 영상물이 실제 아동을 출연시킨 것과 동일한 것으로 판단해 아청법 위반 혐의를 적용했다. 40대 남성 a씨는 불법유출 성인영상물 배포 혐의로 수사를 받던 중 2023년 4월부터 자신의 노트북에 이미지 생성 ai 프로그램을 설치하여 여아의 신체를 노출하고 성적 read more, 이번에는 내부 직원들이 이를 폭로했다.
일론 머스크의 인공지능ai 스타트업 xai의 챗봇인 그록grok이 아동 성착취 이미지를 게시했다가 신고를 받고 삭제해 논란이 일고 있다, 일론 머스크가 이끄는 xai가 차세대 ai 모델 그록4grok 4를 한국 시간으로 10일목 정오 12시에 라이브스트림을 통해 선보일 예정이다, 26일 it 업계와 외신에 따르면 비즈니스인사이더가 인터뷰한 xai 현전직 직원 12명은 그록의 ai 컴패니언동반자 훈련.
48 그록을 차단하면 본인의 그림에 트롤러가 붙어도 알림이 오지 않아 대처할 수 없기에 오히려 비추한다는 의견도 있다. ⚠️ 이 게시물은 작성자가 삭제할 수 없도록 설정되어 있습니다, 이번 조치는 그록의 이미지 생성 기능을 이용해 간단한 명령어 입력만으로도 여성과 아동의 사진을 이용한 성착취물을 만들 수 있다는 사실이 알려지면서.
아일랜드 개인정보보호위원회 dpc는 머스크의 ai 기업 xai가 개발한 대규모 언어 모델 그록에 대한 조사에, 그런데 이 서비스가 딥페이크 성 착취물을, Xai의 인공지능ai 챗봇 ‘그록’이 성적 콘텐츠를 전면에 내세운 전략으로 논란에 휘말렸다, 서울뉴스1 김민석 기자 일론 머스크의 인공지능ai 스타트업 xai가 운영하는 챗봇 그록이 성 상품화성적 대상화 논란에 이어 아동 성학대물csam 생성 의혹에 휩싸였다, 일론 머스크의 인공지능ai 스타트업 xai의 챗봇인 그록grok이 아동 성착취 이미지를 게시했다가 신고를 받고 삭제해 논란이 일고 있다.
48 그록을 차단하면 본인의 그림에 트롤러가 붙어도 알림이 오지 않아 대처할 수 없기에 오히려 비추한다는 의견도 있다. 정부, 아동 성착취 이미지 생성 그록에 보호장치 마련 요구, 그록 쪽은 원래 안전장치가 마련돼 있었으나, 일부 이용자가 이를 우회해서 성착취물을 생성했으므로 안전장치를 보완하겠다는 입장이다.
아동 성착취물 생성 머스크의 그록, 인도네시아.. Kr › news › 6451034머스크의 ai 그록, 아동성착취 사진 올렸다 삭제&mldr..
아일랜드 개인정보보호위원회 dpc는 머스크의 ai 기업 xai가 개발한 대규모 언어 모델 그록에 대한 조사에. 인도 전자정보기술부는 2일 x가 그록을 통해 음란, 포르노, 저속, 외설, 성인물, 소아성애적 또는 법률로 금지된 콘텐츠를 생성하지 못하도록 조치해야. Kr › news › 6451034머스크의 ai 그록, 아동성착취 사진 올렸다 삭제&mldr. Xai의 인공지능ai 챗봇 ‘그록’이 성적 콘텐츠를 전면에 내세운 전략으로 논란에 휘말렸다. 그런데 이 서비스가 딥페이크 성 착취물을.
머스크의 ai 그록, x에 아동성착취 이미지 쏟아냈다각국, 그록 쪽은 원래 안전장치가 마련돼 있었으나, 일부 이용자가 이를 우회해서 성착취물을 생성했으므로 안전장치를 보완하겠다는 입장이다. 정부, 아동 성착취 이미지 생성 그록에 보호장치 마련 요구. 이번 조치는 그록의 이미지 생성 기능을 이용해 간단한 명령어 입력만으로도 여성과 아동의 사진을 이용한 성착취물을 만들 수 있다는 사실이 알려지면서.
오나홀 구매처 ⚠️ 이 게시물은 작성자가 삭제할 수 없도록 설정되어 있습니다. 그런데 이 서비스가 딥페이크 성 착취물을. 아동 성착취물 생성 머스크의 그록, 인도네시아. 48 그록을 차단하면 본인의 그림에 트롤러가 붙어도 알림이 오지 않아 대처할 수 없기에 오히려 비추한다는 의견도 있다. Kr › news › 6451034머스크의 ai 그록, 아동성착취 사진 올렸다 삭제&mldr. 영서 엉밑살
여친 디시 포커스 xai 직원들 폭로, 그록에서 아동 성학대 ai 콘텐츠 확산. 머스크의 ai 그록, x에 아동성착취 이미지 쏟아냈다각국. 그록 쪽은 원래 안전장치가 마련돼 있었으나, 일부 이용자가 이를 우회해서 성착취물을 생성했으므로 안전장치를 보완하겠다는 입장이다. Com › news › articleviewxai 전현직원 그록에 아동 착취물까지 등장기본 설계에 문제 &l. 검찰은 a씨가 ai를 활용해 제작한 이 영상물이 실제 아동을 출연시킨 것과 동일한 것으로 판단해 아청법 위반 혐의를 적용했다. 여군 porn
영듀 침대 Ai에게 일정한 단어를 입력해 아청물을 그리도록 하고 그 그림을 저장할때 이 행동은 아청물을 만드는 행위인가요 소지하는 행위인가요. 검찰은 a씨가 ai를 활용해 제작한 이 영상물이 실제 아동을 출연시킨 것과 동일한 것으로 판단해 아청법 위반 혐의를 적용했다. 포커스 xai 직원들 폭로, 그록에서 아동 성학대 ai 콘텐츠 확산. 일론 머스크가 이끄는 xai가 차세대 ai 모델 그록4grok 4를 한국 시간으로 10일목 정오 12시에 라이브스트림을 통해 선보일 예정이다. 일론 머스크의 인공지능ai 기업 xai가 개발한 챗봇 그록grok이 아동 성 착취물 제작에 악용되고 있다는 조사 결과가 나오면서 영국과 유럽 규제. 여자 분수 디시
여자 가슴 젖꼭지 Xai의 인공지능ai 챗봇 ‘그록’이 성적 콘텐츠를 전면에 내세운 전략으로 논란에 휘말렸다. Kr › news › 6451034머스크의 ai 그록, 아동성착취 사진 올렸다 삭제&mldr. 26일 it 업계와 외신에 따르면 비즈니스인사이더가 인터뷰한 xai 현전직 직원 12명은 그록의 ai 컴패니언동반자 훈련. 26일 it 업계와 외신에 따르면 비즈니스인사이더가 인터뷰한 xai 현전직 직원 12명은 그록의 ai 컴패니언동반자 훈련. 40대 남성 a씨는 불법유출 성인영상물 배포 혐의로 수사를 받던 중 2023년 4월부터 자신의 노트북에 이미지 생성 ai 프로그램을 설치하여 여아의 신체를 노출하고 성적 read more.
연예인 실체 디시 그록 쪽은 원래 안전장치가 마련돼 있었으나, 일부 이용자가 이를 우회해서 성착취물을 생성했으므로 안전장치를 보완하겠다는 입장이다. Com › news › articleviewxai 전현직원 그록에 아동 착취물까지 등장기본 설계에 문제 &l. 일론 머스크가 이끄는 xai가 차세대 ai 모델 그록4grok 4를 한국 시간으로 10일목 정오 12시에 라이브스트림을 통해 선보일 예정이다. 48 그록을 차단하면 본인의 그림에 트롤러가 붙어도 알림이 오지 않아 대처할 수 없기에 오히려 비추한다는 의견도 있다. 이번 조치는 그록의 이미지 생성 기능을 이용해 간단한 명령어 입력만으로도 여성과 아동의 사진을 이용한 성착취물을 만들 수 있다는 사실이 알려지면서.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 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, June 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, June 8, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 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.
아동 성착취물 생성 머스크의 그록, 인도네시아., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.