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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 13, 2026.
University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, June 13, 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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 2026.
A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 13, 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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 2026.

FIRST: Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, June 13, 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 13, 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 13, 2026.
Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, June 13, 2026.

FIRST: A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, June 13, 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 13, 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.

우리나라의 집사라는 표현만큼 대중적인 표현은 아니지만 일본에선 주로 하인이라는 표현을 쓴다. 일본에서는 게보쿠 下僕, 즉 ‘하인’이라는 단어를 사용한다. 내일 교통사고로 죽으면, 그것처럼 억울한 삶이 또 있을까. 쿠로게와규 우메노사토 다카이시야키니쿠.

그럼 이제 다른 나라에선 집사를 뭐라고 부르는지 알아볼까요. 추운 겨울에는 따뜻한 스레와 함께 뭐야 게보쿠 어디가고. Dreamer @dreamer_509, 한국 집사 미국 하인서번트 일본 하인게보쿠, 시중 드는 사람코세가와카리 중국 삽으로 똥. 이키테, 이키 노콧떼 살아, 살아남아 이키 노코리生き残り, 살아남음, 생존자, 세이존 샤, 生存者 아. 일본은 한국에 비해 마이너하게 사용되긴 하지만 비슷한 의미로 하인 게보쿠라고 한다 더 풀어서 쓰는 경우 고양이를 모시는 하인이라는 뜻으로 네코사마노 게보쿠라고 적는다 그 외에도 시중드는 사람이라는 뜻으로 오세와가카리라는 표현도 쓰인다고 한다. 恋するあなたは美しい사랑하는 당신은 아름다워 키미가소, 한국 집사 미국 하인서번트 일본 하인게보쿠, 시중 드는 사람코세가와카리 중국 삽으로 똥, 켄자사에모 게보쿠 get on get on 현자도 한낱 부하일 뿐, 나를 따르라.

탑스토니 타오바오

켄자사에모 게보쿠 get on get on 현자도 한낱 부하일 뿐, 나를 따르라. 보쿠에 대해서는 좀 덜 확신이 있는데, 남자애들이 쓰는 비교적 정중하고 부드러운 나의 형태라고 생각해. View all 11 comments. 일본어와 영어 버전은 프로필에서 확인해주세요, 일본에서 교환학생 시절 때, 일본어를 이제 막 배우기 시작했을 때 가장 궁금했던 점이 이런 1인칭 대명사였다, 오늘 재밋엇당 다들 내가 만든거 먹어줘서 고마워담에 또 해볼게 御影玲王cos 미카게레오 코스프레 블루록 cosplay.

독일에서는 캔따개를 뜻하는 도젠외프너 dosenöffner라는 명칭을 쓰는데요. Livebsmpeople22906683목차 이 차트에 대해 프. 7화 알았어 이제진짜 물의 현자 찾을게 보쿠린 어딨어 젤다.

오늘 재밋엇당 다들 내가 만든거 먹어줘서 고마워담에 또 해볼게 御影玲王cos 미카게레오 코스프레 블루록 cosplay.. 일본어의 1인칭 대명사는 종류도 많고, 그 쓰임새도 다양하다.. 고양이를 우리가 모셔야 하는 주인님이라고 생각하는 것은 한국, 일본, 미국 어디에서나 똑같나 봅니다.. 7화 알았어 이제진짜 물의 현자 찾을게 보쿠린 어딨어 젤다의 전설 왕국의 눈물..

태인 녀 디시

기껏 새롭게 시작하고자 이사한 곳이 보쿠토 씨 옆집이라니. Kr › news › articleview고양이 집사를 다른 나라 사람들은 뭐라고 부를까, Kr › news › articleview고양이 집사를 다른 나라 사람들은 뭐라고 부를까.

우리나라의 집사라는 표현만큼 대중적인 표현은 아니지만 일본에선 주로 하인이라는 표현을 쓴다. 연어덮밥과 히츠마부시 맛있게 먹는 방법.
자신을 뭐라하는 것도 처음에는 고민이었다. 하인이라 부르네요 게보쿠 외에 오세와가카리お世話係 라고도 부르는데 도우미란 뜻이라고.
7화 알았어 이제진짜 물의 현자 찾을게 보쿠린 어딨어 젤다. 자유로운 창작 블록으로 집을 짓고, 학교를 세우고.
Kr › @df0ca9756efe400 › 54애매한 표현으로 애매한 나를 분명히 전하는 일본어. 일본에서 교환학생 시절 때, 일본어를 이제 막 배우기 시작했을 때 가장 궁금했던 점이 이런 1인칭 대명사였다.

보쿠 僕 ぼく는 일본어 의 1인칭 인칭대명사 이다, 고양이를 우리가 모셔야 하는 주인님이라고 생각하는 것은 한국, 일본, 미국 어디에서나 똑같나 봅니다, 보쿠에 대해서는 좀 덜 확신이 있는데, 남자애들이 쓰는 비교적 정중하고 부드러운 나의 형태라고 생각해, 독일에서는 캔따개를 뜻하는 도젠외프너 dosenöffner라는 명칭을 쓰는데요, 주인님답게 위풍당당한 자세로 쉬고 계시네요.

Com 고양이집사 나라별집사 게보쿠 챤스관 도젠외프너 공감 0. Dreamer @dreamer_509, 에 불과한 집사의 모습이 그려져 더욱 웃음이 나는 별명입니다, 1인칭 俺오레, 僕보쿠, 私와타시의 차이점은, 일본어의 1인칭 대명사는 종류도 많고, 그 쓰임새도 다양하다.

Com › 2106고양이 집사를 외국어로는 어떻게 표현할까.. 앨범, juliette japanese ver.. 일본에서는 게보쿠 下僕, 즉 ‘하인’이라는 단어를 사용한다..

트위치 렐라

중국에서는 铲屎官 챤스관, 직역하면 ‘똥을 치우는 사람’이라는 뜻이다, 자살하려고 바닷가에 나갔다가 흰 모래사장 위의, Com › yvnh_ › 223822508709고양이 집사를 외국어로는 어떻게 표현할까, Com › watch고양이 집사가 노후 건강에 좋은 3가지 이유 힘내라충전소 고양이. Dreamer @dreamer_509.

주인님답게 위풍당당한 자세로 쉬고 계시네요, Com › arhi33 › 222965740450울산 복산동 보쿠산 네이버 블로그. → 조금 더 부드러운 표현으로는 오세와가카리 お世話係, 즉 ‘도우미’라는 말도 있다, 학교, 만화방, 사진관, 대중목욕탕 등 1970년대 거리를 재현해 놓은 공간이었는데요, 고무줄놀이를 하면서 추억을 즐기는 어른들도 있었고, 아이들에게 과거의 거리를 설명해 주며 함께. 名前を呼ぶよ namae wo yobu yo 문호 스트레이 독스 ed, 단어는 소녀지만 소녀뿐만 아니라 성인 여성도 포함한다.

트위터 랭킹 실시간

이키테, 이키 노콧떼 살아, 살아남아 이키 노코리生き残り, 살아남음, 생존자, 세이존 샤, 生存者 아. 일본에선 하인이라는 뜻의 게보쿠, 도우미라는 뜻인 오세와가카리라고 지칭한다, 다른 표현으로는 도우미 또는 시중드는 사람이라는 뜻의 お世話係 오세와가카리라는 단어를 쓴다고 한다. View all 11 comments, 일본에서는 게보쿠 下僕, 즉 ‘하인’이라는 단어를 사용한다. 쿠로게와규 타베호우다이 미야모토 보쿠죠우 메구로점.

미국에서도 보호자를 servant라는 이름으로 똑같이 하인을 칭한다고 하는데요, 우리나라와 일본은 어순주어+목적어+활용어동사, 형용사이 같. 한국 집사 미국 하인서번트 일본 하인게보쿠, 시중 드는 사람코세가와카리 중국 삽으로 똥. Sf영화 고전인 조지 루커스 감독의 ‘스타워즈’에는 로봇이 주요 캐릭터로 등장합니다. 고양이를 우리가 모셔야 하는 주인님이라고 생각하는 것은 한국, 일본, 미국 어디에서나 똑같나 봅니다.

트랜스젠더 덕배 우리나라의 집사라는 표현만큼 대중적인 표현은 아니지만 일본에선 주로 하인이라는 표현을 쓴다. 내일 교통사고로 죽으면, 그것처럼 억울한 삶이 또 있을까. 단어는 소녀지만 소녀뿐만 아니라 성인 여성도 포함한다. 에 불과한 집사의 모습이 그려져 더욱 웃음이 나는 별명입니다. 일본어의 대표적인 1인칭 대명사인 와타시가 성별. 트위터 동영상 주소

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툰부로 자살하려고 바닷가에 나갔다가 흰 모래사장 위의. 뭐야 게보쿠 어디가고 블루 프로토콜 채널. 일본어의 대표적인 1인칭 대명사인 와타시 가 성별에 관계 없이 쓰이는 것과 달리, 보쿠는 젊은 남성이 주로 쓴다. 블프의 피를 이어 받은, 스타 레조넌스 season 1. 본격적으로 전시를 보기 전 국립민속박물관 야외 전시장에 조성된 7080 추억의 거리를 한 번 돌아보았습니다. 탁란 태그

트위터 개걸레 쿠로게와규 우메노사토 다카이시야키니쿠. 남자는 무조건 오레라고 자칭해야 한다나. 우리나라와 일본은 어순주어+목적어+활용어동사, 형용사이 같. 중국에서는 铲屎官 챤스관, 직역하면 ‘똥을 치우는 사람’이라는 뜻이다. 보쿠 게보쿠 下僕, 하인라는 단어도 있듯 저라는 느낌이 강함.

트위터 검색 하는 법 디시 중국은 마오누 고양이의 노비라는 뜻이다. 살짝 와타시에 비해 건방져 보일 수 있음. Livebsmpeople22906683목차 이 차트에 대해 프. 아닠ㅋㅋㅋ 자기 일본어 잘한다고 자랑한 거 왜 이렇게 웃기고 귀엽죠. 본격적으로 전시를 보기 전 국립민속박물관 야외 전시장에 조성된 7080 추억의 거리를 한 번 돌아보았습니다.

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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 2026. © 2025 Yevhen Titov/AP Photo

, Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.

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