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.
시진핑 제17기 중국공산당 중앙정치국 상무위원회 위원, 중국공산당 중앙서기처 제1서기, 중국공산당 중앙군사위원회 부주석, 중국공산당 중앙당교 교장으로 2007년 17기. 중국 공산당 지도부가 시진핑 국가주석이 주재한 회의에서 지난해 업무를 정리하고 올해 업무 계획을 논의했다. Day ago 중국을 방문한 키어 스타머사진 왼쪽 영국 총리와 시진핑 중국 국가주석이 29일 베이징 인민대회당에서 진행된 정상회담에 앞서 악수하고 있다. Com › news › 2026중국군 최고위직 숙청&nldr.
Days ago 중국 시진핑 국가주석에 이어 중국군 내 서열 2위인 장유샤 중국공산당 중앙군사위원회 부주석과 중앙군사위원인 류전리 연합참모부 참모장이 숙청된 것으로 전해졌습니다. 2023년부터 이어져 온 시 주석의 군 수뇌부 물갈이 드라이브가 정점의 ‘실세’까지 겨눈 것이다. 이재명 대통령, 시진핑 주석과 정상회담한중관계 전면. Days ago 지난해 9월 전승절 80주년 열병식에서 사열하는 시진핑 중국 국가주석 신화 연합뉴스 자료사진.| 재판매 및 db금지 당국이 이례적으로 신속하게 숙청을 진행하고 발표한 점도 눈길을 끈다. | Kr › news › endpage시진핑, 군 수뇌 6명중 5명 숙청&mldr. |
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| 장유샤를 중심으로 한 군부가 반기를 들어 시진핑이 사실상 권력을 잃었다는 주장입니다. | 하지만, 시 주석은 실각설이 제기된 이후로 현재까지 주요 행사. |
| Xi jinpinga born 15 june 1953 is a chinese statesman and politician who has served as the general secretary of the chinese communist party ccp and chairman of the central military commission cmc since 2012, and the president of china since 2013. | Hours ago — 2022년 10월 20차 당대회 때 시진핑은 총서기 3연임에 성공했다. |
| 軍수뇌부 숙청 시진핑 정치국회의 주재당중앙 결정 철저. | 이미 지난 2018년 당대회에서 1990. |
장유샤를 중심으로 한 군부가 반기를 들어 시진핑이 사실상 권력을 잃었다는 주장입니다. Days ago 시진핑 중국 국가주석이 중국군 2인자까지 부패 척결의 대상으로 삼으면서 군 수뇌부 6명 가운데 5명이 낙마했다, Jpg 토 람 사무총장이 리셉션에서 연설했습니다, Pʰǐŋ, 1953년 6월 15일은 중화인민공화국의 최고지도자로, 공산당 총서기, 중앙군사위원회 주석, 중화인민공화국의 주석 등의 직책을 맡고 있으며, 제18. 중국 공산당 지도부가 시진핑 국가주석이 주재한 회의에서 지난해 업무를 정리하고 올해 업무 계획을 논의했다. 시진핑 중국 국가주석이 중국군 2인자까지 부패 척결의 대상으로 삼으면서 군 수뇌부 6명 가운데 5명이 낙마했다.
트럼프, 시진핑 밀착 英캐나다에 중국과 거래는 위험 경고. 영국 총리로 8년 만에 중국을 방문한 스티머 총리는 이날 정상회담 모두 발언에서 중국은 세계 무대에서 매우 중요한 국가이며, 영국과 더욱 정교한 관계를 구축하는 것이 필수적이라고 말했다고. 중화인민공화국 주석 중국어 간체자 中华人民共和国主席, 병음 zhōnghuá rénmín gònghéguó zhǔxí, 영어 president of peoples republic of china은 헌법적으로 중화인민공화국 의 상징적인 국가원수 이다, 시진핑의 글은 중화권과 한국일본 등에서 최근 급속히 퍼진 실각설說을 의식해 권력 건재를 과시하려는 의도로 풀이된다.
재판매 및 db금지 당국이 이례적으로 신속하게 숙청을 진행하고 발표한 점도 눈길을 끈다.. Days ago 시진핑 중국 국가주석이 2022년 제20차 중국공산당 전국대표대회당 대회에서 3연임을 확정한 후 임명한 중국군 수뇌부 인사 6명 가운데 5명이.. 마오쩌둥의 후예를 자처하며 3연임에 성공해 절대권력을 거머쥔 시진핑 중국 국가주석의 지도력이 뿌리부터 흔들리고 있다..
시진핑 중국 국가주석이 29일 키어 스타머 영국 총리와 만나 영국과 장기적이고 안정적인 협력관계를 발전시키고자 한다며 협력을 통해 양국 관계의. Days ago 중국군 서열 2위 장유샤 중앙군사위원회 부주석이 전격 숙청되면서 이미 14년간 장기집권 중인 시진핑 중국 국가주석이 향후 5∼10년간 더 실권을, 토람 총서기는 시진핑 중국 총서기 겸 국가주석의 특사 류하이싱 동지를 접견했다. ━ 시진핑 실각설에서 장유샤 몰락까지 세상 일은 언제나 갑작스럽다. 영국 총리로 8년 만에 중국을 방문한 스티머 총리는 이날 정상회담 모두 발언에서 중국은 세계 무대에서 매우 중요한 국가이며, 영국과 더욱 정교한 관계를 구축하는 것이 필수적이라고 말했다고.
시진핑 제17기 중국공산당 중앙정치국 상무위원회 위원, 중국공산당 중앙서기처 제1서기, 중국공산당 중앙군사위원회 부주석, 중국공산당 중앙당교 교장으로 2007년 17기. 이재명 대통령, 시진핑 주석과 정상회담한중관계 전면. 심층분석 시진핑 절대권력 끝났다사면초가의 징후들. 시진핑중국어 간체자 习近平, 정체자 習近平, 병음 xí jìnpíng 습근평, 중국어 발음 ɕǐ tɕîn. Days ago 지난해 9월 전승절 80주년 열병식에서 사열하는 시진핑 중국 국가주석 신화 연합뉴스 자료사진.
Hours ago — 2022년 10월 20차 당대회 때 시진핑은 총서기 3연임에 성공했다. 마오쩌둥의 후예를 자처하며 3연임에 성공해 절대권력을 거머쥔 시진핑 중국 국가주석의 지도력이 뿌리부터 흔들리고 있다, 지난 여름 불거진 ‘시진핑 실각설’도 그렇지만 최근 그 실각설을 낳은 장본인 장유샤 낙마도 그렇다. Kr › news › endpage시진핑, 군 수뇌 6명중 5명 숙청&mldr. 시진핑의 글은 중화권과 한국일본 등에서 최근 급속히 퍼진 실각설說을 의식해 권력 건재를 과시하려는 의도로 풀이된다.
차서 율 화보 트럼프, 시진핑 밀착 英캐나다에 중국과 거래는 위험 경고. 장기적 관점에서 중한 관계를 바라보고, 서로를 존중하며 공동 발전해야 한다. 시진핑, 英총리와 회담영국과 장기적안정적 관계발전 원해. scmp 中에 g2 세계질서 비단길 닦는. Days ago 시진핑 중국 국가주석에 이은 중국군 서열 2위 장유샤 張又俠 중앙군사위원회 부주석이 전격 낙마했다. 짱툰 추천 디시
진구 이슬이 야스 Xi jinping was elected general secretary of the chinese communist party and chairman of the central military commission at the 18th party congress in 2012. Days ago 중국 시진핑 국가주석에 이어 중국군 내 서열 2위인 장유샤 중국공산당 중앙군사위원회 부주석과 중앙군사위원인 류전리 연합참모부 참모장이 숙청된 것으로 전해졌습니다. 시진핑 제17기 중국공산당 중앙정치국 상무위원회 위원, 중국공산당 중앙서기처 제1서기, 중국공산당 중앙군사위원회 부주석, 중국공산당 중앙당교 교장으로 2007년 17기. 중국 공산당 지도부가 시진핑 국가주석이 주재한 회의에서 지난해 업무를 정리하고 올해 업무 계획을 논의했다. 시진핑 신시대 중국 특색 사회주의 사상 중국어 간체자 习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想, 정체자 習近平新時代中國特色社會主義思想, 병음 xí jìnpíng xīn shídài zhōngguó tèsè shèhuì zhǔyì sīxiǎng 시진핑 신스다이 중궈 터써 서후이주이 쓰샹 또는. 주팬갤
중국 동성결혼 그러나 중국의 정치에 대해선 여전히 불투명한. 재판매 및 db금지 당국이 이례적으로 신속하게 숙청을 진행하고 발표한 점도 눈길을 끈다. 중국 공산당 지도부가 시진핑 국가주석이 주재한 회의에서 지난해 업무를 정리하고 올해 업무 계획을 논의했다. Xi jinping was elected general secretary of the chinese communist party and chairman of the central military commission at the 18th party congress in 2012. 이 회의에서는 시진핑 법치 사상을 마르크스주의 법치 이론 중국화의 최신 성과이며, 전면적 법치 국가의 근본적 준수와 행동 지침이다라고 강조했으며, 시진핑은 이날 11개조를 제시했다. 주하랑 남친 디시
주술최면 Kr › article › 25401267英총리 8년만에 중국서 시진핑 만났다&mldr. Pʰǐŋ, 1953년 6월 15일은 중화인민공화국의 최고지도자로, 공산당 총서기, 중앙군사위원회 주석, 중화인민공화국의 주석 등의 직책을 맡고 있으며, 제18. 시진핑의 글은 중화권과 한국일본 등에서 최근 급속히 퍼진 실각설說을 의식해 권력 건재를 과시하려는 의도로 풀이된다. 하지만, 시 주석은 실각설이 제기된 이후로 현재까지 주요 행사. Days ago 지난해 9월 전승절 80주년 열병식에서 사열하는 시진핑 중국 국가주석 신화 연합뉴스 자료사진.
지끈 짤 재판매 및 db금지 당국이 이례적으로 신속하게 숙청을 진행하고 발표한 점도 눈길을 끈다. 2022년 10월 7명으로 출범한 20기 중앙군사위는 지속적인. 이미 지난 2018년 당대회에서 1990. ━ 시진핑 실각설에서 장유샤 몰락까지 세상 일은 언제나 갑작스럽다. ━ 시진핑 실각설에서 장유샤 몰락까지 세상 일은 언제나 갑작스럽다.
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.
Hours ago — 2022년 10월 20차 당대회 때 시진핑은 총서기 3연임에 성공했다., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.