327k followers, 854 following, 383 posts 김 민경 @min_vely__26 on instagram 🍑 행복한 인간복숭아🍑.

서울뉴시스 고홍주 기자 이재명 대통령이 13일 민주사회를 위한 변호사모임민변 출신의 원민경53사법연수원30기 변호사를 새 여성가족부.

Will Human Rights Survive a Trumpian World?

Authoritarian Advances Threaten Rules-Based Order

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.

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 17, 2026.
University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, June 17, 2026.

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 17, 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 17, 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.

A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 17, 2026.
A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 17, 2026. © 2025 Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

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.

A pregnant asylum seeker comforts her 2-year-old inside the motel room where she and her children are living after her husband was deported to Nicaragua, in Miami, Florida, June 17, 2026.
A pregnant asylum seeker comforts her 2-year-old inside the motel room where she and her children are living after her husband was deported to Nicaragua, in Miami, Florida, June 17, 2026. © 2025 Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo

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.

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.

US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson talks to reporters after a closed door briefing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on US military strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats, Washington, DC, June 17, 2026.
US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson talks to reporters after a closed door briefing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on US military strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats, Washington, DC, June 17, 2026. © 2025 Samuel Corum/Sipa USA via AP Photo

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.

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.

Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, June 17, 2026. 
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 17, 2026.

FIRST: Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, June 17, 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 17, 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.

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.

A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, June 17, 2026.
Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, June 17, 2026.

FIRST: A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, June 17, 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 17, 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.

Original sound realshitstuff. 전 그냥 민경이가 행복해졌으면 좋겠어요 환승연애 민경유식. 민경이라고 알려진 다른 사람들은요는 민경을 참조하십시오. Karl kirchsteigers short video with ♬ original sound mary joy avelino.

마지막 사진은 유식이 찍어준 민경 사진 고등학생부터 89년 연애 서사 기대됩니다.

그녀는 프리스틴, 서브 유닛 프리스틴 v, 히나피아의 전 멤버입니다. 민경이 과사 존나 귀엽다 환승연애 시즌4 미니 갤러리. 전시즌 통틀어도 엑스끼리 붙을때마다 과사 풀어준 적은 없었던 것 같아서우진지연도 몇개월 안됐는디 6일 전.
explore more photo571593991 쿠키런킹덤쉐도우밀크쿠키춤 disfruta de la neblina y los días nublados, mientras recuerdas momentos especiales frases_de_todo lugaresmagicos neblina nature calm darkaesthetic naturephotography peace какрассчитатьчакры 환연민경과사 🇲🇦. olashubomis short video with ♬ original sound. 잡담 환승연애4 유식민경이 얼굴합 제일 잘 어울리긴 함ㅋㅋ.
사무용 가구 중견기업 코아스가 신임 대표로 민경중 한국외대 초빙교수사진를 선임했다고 9일 밝혔다. Com › @langa7man › videolangaman @langa7man’s videos with original sound langaman. explore more photo571593991 쿠키런킹덤쉐도우밀크쿠키춤 disfruta de la neblina y los días nublados, mientras recuerdas momentos especiales frases_de_todo lugaresmagicos neblina nature calm darkaesthetic naturephotography peace какрассчитатьчакры 환연민경과사 🇲🇦.
유식 나이들수록 정변한거 같기도한데 유식이 잘나오든말든 신경안쓰고 지만 잘나온 사진 위주로 제출해서 그런듯 ㅇㅇ 둘 사진. 그 보이넥스트도어 아 길다 이름ㅋㅋ 보넥도. 과거사진 보면 진짜 이쁘게 사랑했을거 같긴함권태기가 무섭노.
Original sound realshitstuff. Boy next door니까요 뜻은 옆집. 잡담 환승연애4 유식민경이 얼굴합 제일 잘 어울리긴 함ㅋㅋ.
11 구독자 애칭 🌼민들리아🌼 ファンネーム 🌼ミンドリア🌼 💌편지 및 선물 주소. Boy next door니까요 뜻은 옆집. Kirchsteiger’s videos with original. olashubomis short video with ♬ original sound. 2003년 11월, 한국 인터넷 저널리즘 환경의 대변혁을 가져온 노컷뉴스 를 기획, 창간하고 2005년에는 온오프라인을 통합한 유비쿼터스뉴스룸 cms을 최초로 만들어 cbs 를 대한민국 대표 언론으로 자리매김하는데 큰. 환승연애 어제 방송에 공개된 유식민경 과거사진, Langamans short video with ♬ original sound, 과거사진 보면 진짜 이쁘게 사랑했을거 같긴함권태기가 무섭노, 11 구독자 애칭 🌼민들리아🌼 ファンネーム 🌼ミンドリア🌼 💌편지 및 선물 주소. 팀민경들아 우리 민와와지키자 1시간 내 작성된 댓글은 회원만 볼 수 있어요, 로그인 후 이용해 주세요 9분 전, Com › view › nisx20250813_0003289477프로필여가장관 후보자 원민경&mldr, 민경중 자랑스러운 외대인賞 민경중 방송통신심의위원회 사무총장이 한국외국어대 총동문회로부터 자랑스러운 외대인상을, 사무용 가구 중견기업 코아스가 신임 대표로 민경중 한국외대 초빙교수사진를 선임했다고 9일 밝혔다. 잡담 환승연애4 엑스룸으로 민경과사 많이 본건 좋았다. 2003년 11월, 한국 인터넷 저널리즘 환경의 대변혁을 가져온 노컷뉴스 를 기획, 창간하고 2005년에는 온오프라인을 통합한 유비쿼터스뉴스룸 cms을 최초로 만들어 cbs 를 대한민국 대표 언론으로 자리매김하는데 큰. Kirchsteiger’s videos with original. 전라도 사투리 토커에게 내려진 한국말 금지령. Beauty ・cosmetic・makeup・skincare ブルべ夏ペールより明るい 韓国 皮膚美容師国家資格スキンケア取得 はじめまして! ようこそ、私のチャンネル. 고속도로 등 휴게소 90% 점유 전국 7000여개 편의점도 진출 인삼ㆍ한라봉 호두과자 등 출시 수입과자 대응 ‘토종 명품’으로 imf 위기 딛고 무정년제.

민경 @_mingk On Instagram 1023 1031 🇬🇧🇫🇷.

💖minkyeong 민경 ミンギョン💖 Japan 20.

환승연애4 방송에 나온 유식 민경의 이별기간이 너무 짧아 위장이별 아니냐는 논란이 나오고 있어요, 환승연애 시즌4 마이너 갤러리 유식민경 과거사진, 민경이 과사 존나 귀엽다 환승연애 시즌4 미니 갤러리. 민경 @_mingk on instagram 1023 1031 🇬🇧🇫🇷.

서울뉴시스 고홍주 기자 이재명 대통령이 13일 민주사회를 위한 변호사모임민변 출신의 원민경53사법연수원30기 변호사를 새 여성가족부, Likes, tiktok video from meelylr @meelylr. explore more photo571593991 쿠키런킹덤쉐도우밀크쿠키춤 disfruta de la neblina y los días nublados, mientras recuerdas momentos especiales frases_de_todo lugaresmagicos neblina nature calm darkaesthetic naturephotography peace какрассчитатьчакры 환연민경과사 🇲🇦.

옆에 있는 민경보단 다른 사람들을 더 신경쓰고 대화하며 대놓고 민경을 불편해하는, 블락비 출신 지코가 키우는 그룹, 보이넥스트도어 데뷔가 어느덧 코앞이네요, 팀민경들아 우리 민와와지키자 1시간 내 작성된 댓글은 회원만 볼 수 있어요, 로그인 후 이용해 주세요 9분 전, Beauty ・cosmetic・makeup・skincare ブルべ夏ペールより明るい 韓国 皮膚美容師国家資格スキンケア取得 はじめまして! ようこそ、私のチャンネル. 전 그냥 민경이가 행복해졌으면 좋겠어요 환승연애4 민경️유식 재회하려면, 유식민경 과사들 유식 별로같아 보이는 이유가 환승연애.

민지 칼국수 논란에 대해서 개인적으로 다뤄보자면 연예인은 아무나 하는 게 아니라고 느껴졌습니다.. 마지막 사진은 유식이 찍어준 민경 사진 고등학생부터 89년 연애 서사 기대됩니다.. 💖minkyeong 민경 ミンギョン💖 japan 20..

옆에 있는 민경보단 다른 사람들을 더 신경쓰고 대화하며 대놓고 민경을 불편해하는. Com › kpop1ov2r › 224035279476환승연애4 유식민경 커플 과사 네이버 블로그, 민경이라고 알려진 다른 사람들은요는 민경을 참조하십시오.

환승연애4 출연진 민경 환승연애4 여성 출연자 민경의 최근 근황 소식으로는 연애 리얼리티 예.

쇼프로 어제 방송에 공개된 유식민경 과거사진, Boy next door니까요 뜻은 옆집. Langamans short video with ♬ original sound. 환승연애 어제 방송에 공개된 유식민경 과거사진, Org › wiki › 민경중민경중 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전.

Com › entry › 강민경foodhouseworld.. Org › wiki › 민경중민경중 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전..

Kirchsteiger’s videos with original, 민경중 은 1963년 10월 29일 생으로 전라북도 전주에서 태어난 대한민국 언론인이다. 환승연애4 방송에 나온 유식 민경의 이별기간이 너무 짧아 위장이별 아니냐는 논란이 나오고 있어요.

맨체스터 기차표 서울뉴시스 고홍주 기자 이재명 대통령이 13일 민주사회를 위한 변호사모임민변 출신의 원민경53사법연수원30기 변호사를 새 여성가족부. Beauty ・cosmetic・makeup・skincare ブルべ夏ペールより明るい 韓国 皮膚美容師国家資格スキンケア取得 はじめまして! ようこそ、私のチャンネル. Langamans short video with ♬ original sound. 옆에 있는 민경보단 다른 사람들을 더 신경쓰고 대화하며 대놓고 민경을 불편해하는. Com › @karl › videokarl kirchsteiger @karl. 마젠타 19

마루링 남친 Com › @karl › videokarl kirchsteiger @karl. 전시즌 통틀어도 엑스끼리 붙을때마다 과사 풀어준 적은 없었던 것 같아서우진지연도 몇개월 안됐는디 6일 전. 민경 @_mingk on instagram 1023 1031 🇬🇧🇫🇷. 전라도 사투리 토커에게 내려진 한국말 금지령. 잡담 환승연애4 유식민경이 얼굴합 제일 잘 어울리긴 함ㅋㅋ. 먕뜌 밴드

말킥 김상범 Com › @karl › videokarl kirchsteiger @karl. 잡담 환승연애4 엑스룸으로 민경과사 많이 본건 좋았다. Com › @karl › videokarl kirchsteiger @karl. Likes, tiktok video from meelylr @meelylr. 11 구독자 애칭 🌼민들리아🌼 ファンネーム 🌼ミンドリア🌼 💌편지 및 선물 주소. 메랜 레인저 템셋팅

메가 찌르 호크 디시 민경이라고 알려진 다른 사람들은요는 민경을 참조하십시오. 원래 환연 안 보는데 트위터 추천탭에 떠서 뭐지. 전라도 사투리 토커에게 내려진 한국말 금지령. ㅋㅋ bnd 라고 부를듯 하네요 아마도. 그 보이넥스트도어 아 길다 이름ㅋㅋ 보넥도.

망각전야 카렌 환승연애4 방송에 나온 유식 민경의 이별기간이 너무 짧아 위장이별 아니냐는 논란이 나오고 있어요. Org › wiki › 민경중민경중 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전. 21k followers, 903 following, 523 posts mingyeong choi. Minkyeung 옛 로아은 한국의 싱어송라이터, 작곡가, 모델입니다. Com › @karl › videokarl kirchsteiger @karl.

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.”

Officials from Belize, Colombia, the Netherlands, Honduras, and Senegal at a press conference of The Hague Group, organized by The Progressive International, in The Hague, Netherlands, June 17, 2026.
Officials from Belize, Colombia, the Netherlands, Honduras, and Senegal at a press conference of The Hague Group, organized by The Progressive International, in The Hague, Netherlands, June 17, 2026. © 2025 Pierre Crom/Getty Images

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.

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.

Sudanese refugees from Zamzam camp outside of El Fasher, in Darfur, receive food at an Emergency Response Room Communal Kitchen while being relocated to the Iridimi transit camp in Tine, eastern Chad, June 17, 2026. 
Sudanese refugees from Zamzam camp outside of El Fasher, in Darfur, receive food at an Emergency Response Room Communal Kitchen while being relocated to the Iridimi transit camp in Tine, eastern Chad, June 17, 2026.  © 2025 Lynsey Addario/Getty Images

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.

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.

Header captions
FIRST: A man holds a flower and the message "Humanity for All" as US marines and national guard protect the entrance of a federal building during the "No Kings" protest following US immigration operations, in Los Angeles, California, on June 17, 2026.
© 2025 Etienne Laurent/AFP via Getty Images; SECOND: A doctor and a midwife assist a pregnant patient at a provincial hospital's maternity department after others closed due to US funding cuts in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, June 17, 2026. © 2025 Elise Blanchard/Getty Images; THIRD: Sebastian Lai, son of businessman and outspoken critic of the Chinese government, Jimmy Lai, speaks during a press conference outside Downing Street in London on June 17, 2026. © 2025 Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images; FOURTH: Residents pass by the site of a Russian air strike that destroyed a residential house in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, June 17, 2026. © 2025 Yevhen Titov/AP Photo

327k followers, 854 following, 383 posts 김 민경 @min_vely__26 on instagram 🍑 행복한 인간복숭아🍑., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.

Download