US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, August 11, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, August 11, 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, August 11, 2026. © 2025 Marton Monus/Reuters; SECOND: University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, August 11, 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, August 11, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, August 11, 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, August 11, 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, August 11, 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, August 11, 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, August 11, 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, August 11, 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, August 11, 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, August 11, 2026.
Com › @saurerkloeroic › video대만의 여름, 이주은 치어리더의 열정 tiktok. 이주은 치어리더 대만 푸본 엔젤스 이적 및 계약금 논란 이주은 치어리더는 2025년 대만 프로야구 푸본 엔젤스에 합류하며 국제적인 활동을 시작했습니다. 2023년 데뷔해 활동 기간은 짧은 편. 이번 계약으로 이주은은 대만 프로야구 무대에서 활동하며 새로운 도전을 시작하게 됐다.
이아영, 남민정과 함께 한국인 치어리더로 활동하게. ‘삐끼삐끼’ 댄스로 사랑받았던 그녀가 대만 팬들에게 어떤 즐거움을 선사할지 기대가 모인다. 대만 진출 소식은 국내외 팬들 사이에서 단숨에 큰 화제가 됐습니다. 최근 치어리더 팬들 사이에서 큰 화제를 모은 소식이 있습니다, 이주은 치어리더의 경우 계약금이 약 4억 4000만 원 이라는 보도도 나왔을 정도이며.
이주은 출생 2004년 7월 24일 20세 경상남도 합천군 국적 대한민국 신체 169cm, 55kg, 250mm, ab형 데.. `삐끼삐끼 춤` 치어리더 이주은, 대만 진출계속.. Kr › news › 5076664억 받고 대만행 택한 삐끼삐끼 치어리더 이주은, 응원 중 갑자기.. 한눈에 보는 오늘 해외야구 뉴스 삐끼삐끼 댄스로 유명한 이주은 치어리더가 올해 대만 프로야구 무대에서 활동한다..
치어리더 이주은, kbo대만 리그 누비는 글로벌. 지난해까지 kia 타이거즈의 치어리더로 활약하던 이주은은 화장을 고치다 자연스럽게 ‘삐끼삐끼춤’을 추는 영상으로 큰 인기를 얻었으며 시즌을 마치고 대만 ‘푸본 스포츠&엔터테인먼트’와 계약해 대만 프로야구에 진출했다. 작년 대만 tvbs 등 현지 매체는 cpbl 푸본 엔젤스가 이주은 치어리더를 영입하며 계약금 1000만 대만달러 약 4억 4000만 원를 지급했다고 보도한 바 있다. 분명 대만 팀과 계약했다던데 왜 잠실에 있지. 대만 프로야구 팀 푸본 엔젤스가 한국 출신 치어리더 이주은을 영입하며 계약금 논란이 일고 있다, 지난 13일 대만 프로야구 푸본 가디언즈의 새로운 치어리더로 입단한 이주은이 타이베이에서 성대한 입단식을 가졌다.
푸본현대생명은 이주은과 대만 연예 활동에 대한 전속 계약을 맺었다고 23일 밝혔다. 치어리더 이주은, kbo대만 리그 누비는 글로벌. 푸본현대생명은 22일 푸본 스포츠&엔터테인먼트 조이스, 치어리더 이주은이 올해부터 대만 프로야구팀 푸본 가디언스에서 활동한다. Day ago 이다혜 치어리더가 대만 코카콜라 광고를 찍고 현지에서 ‘특급 연예인’ 대우를 받는 모습, 그리고 최근 이주은 치어리더가 약 4억 4,000만 원 1,000만 대만 달러에 달하는 파격적인 계약금을 제안받았다는 보도를 보며 깨달았습니다, 치어리더 야구치어리더 대만치어리더 대만진출 kbo 외주 협력업체 치어리더소속 치어리더연봉 cpbl 대만프로야구리그 mnn.
푸본 엔젤스는 22일한국시간 공식 발표를 통해 이주은의 영입 소식을. 2004년생인 이주은은 기아 타이거즈 소속이던 시절 응원단 치어리더들이 상대 팀 타자를 삼진으로 아웃 카운트를 잡을 때마다 추는 일명 아웃송 댄스로, Com › national › people삐끼삐끼 이주은, 거액 계약금설&mldr. 푸본현대생명은 22일 푸본 스포츠&엔터테인먼트 조이스. 작년 대만 tvbs 등 현지 매체는 cpbl 푸본 엔젤스가 이주은 치어리더를 영입하며 계약금 1000만 대만달러 약 4억 4000만 원를 지급했다고 보도한 바 있다. 특히 2024년 프로야구 kia 타이거즈의 치어리더로 활동하며 응원석에 앉아 화장을 고치 다가도 음악이 나오자 곧바로 일어나 삐끼삐끼 춤을 추는 모습이 read more.
| 이주은 눈물에 팬들 걱정 쏟아지자구단 해명 나서 지난해까지 kia 타이거즈 치어리더로 활동하며 삐끼삐끼 춤으로 유튜브 1억 뷰를 돌파, 세계적인 주목을 받은 치어리더 이주은. | 이아영, 남민정과 함께 한국인 치어리더로 활동하게. | 한눈에 보는 오늘 해외야구 뉴스 삐끼삐끼 댄스로 유명한 이주은 치어리더가 올해 대만 프로야구 무대에서 활동한다. | `삐끼삐끼 춤` 치어리더 이주은, 대만 진출계속. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 그녀는 뛰어난 외모와 화려한 퍼포먼스로 단기간에 스타 치어리더 반열에 올랐다. | 대만 프로야구 치어리더 겸업 금지 선언한 4개 구단은. | 대만 언론에 따르면 지난 13일 대만 프로야구 푸본 가디언즈는 이주은의 입단식을 열었다. | 29% |
| Mhn스포츠 박연준 기자 전 세계적으로 ‘삐끼삐끼’ 댄스로 유명해진 전 kia 타이거즈 이주은 치어리더가 대만 프로야구 푸본 가디언스의 응원단인 푸본 엔젤스fubon angels로 이적했다. | 2004년 7월 24일생인 이주은은 20살이라는 어린 나이에 일찍이 한국에서 가장 인기있는 치어리더가 된 인물이다. | 푸본현대생명은 22일 푸본 스포츠&엔터테인먼트 조이스. | 19% |
| 대만에서는 치어리더가 연예인 못지않은 대우를 받는 만큼, 팬들의 관심도 뜨거웠다. | Com › @saurerkloeroic › video대만의 여름, 이주은 치어리더의 열정 tiktok. | 치어리더 이주은이 올해부터 대만 프로야구팀 푸본 가디언스에서 활동한다. | 52% |
삐끼삐끼 이주은 계약 종료여신님 모셔오자 대만, 삐끼삐끼 이주은 계약 종료여신님 모셔오자 대만. 삐끼삐끼 이주은 계약 종료여신님 모셔오자 대만 난리 야구장에서 삐끼삐끼 춤을 추는 모습으로 화제가 된 kia 타이거즈 치어리더 이주은이, Hours ago 대만 매체 setn는 소식통을 인용해 2025년 말 kbo 소속 4개 구단이 치어리더들의 한국대만 동시 활동을 금지하는 방안을 논의하기 위한 회의를.
`삐끼삐끼 춤` 치어리더 이주은, 대만 진출계속.. 이주은 치어리더의 대만 이적료가 약 4억 4천만 원으로 알려지며 선수 연봉을 넘어서는 대우가 화제입니다.. ‘삐끼삐끼 춤’으로 전세계적인 주목을 받은 기아타이거즈 치어리더 이주은이 대만 프로야구로 무대를 옮겼다.. 이주은 눈물에 팬들 걱정 쏟아지자구단 해명 나서 지난해까지 kia 타이거즈 치어리더로 활동하며 삐끼삐끼 춤으로 유튜브 1억 뷰를 돌파, 세계적인 주목을 받은 치어리더 이주은..
`삐끼삐끼 춤` 치어리더 이주은, 대만 진출계속, 대만서 눈물 치어리더 이주은, 몸 곳곳에 안쓰러운. 대만서 눈물 치어리더 이주은, 몸 곳곳에 안쓰러운.
2004년생인 이주은은 기아 타이거즈 소속이던 시절 응원단 치어리더들이 상대 팀 타자를 삼진으로 아웃 카운트를 잡을 때마다 추는 일명 아웃송 댄스로. Com › @saurerkloeroic › video대만의 여름, 이주은 치어리더의 열정 tiktok. 푸본 엔젤스는 22일한국시간 공식 발표를 통해 이주은의 영입 소식을.
대만 프로야구팀과 계약했다는 소식이 알려진 지 얼마 지나지 않아 그녀가 lg 트윈스 응원단에 합류해 국내 경기에 등장했기 때문입니다. 이주은, 대만 푸본 엔젤스와의 계약 소식 2025년 초, 이주은은 대만 프로야구팀 푸본 가디언스의 치어리더팀 푸본 엔젤스와 계약을 체결했습니다. 대만의 더위를 느낀 이주은 치어리더가 열정 넘치는 모습을 보여줍니다, 대만의 k치어리더 열풍 26만원 사인회도 북적 이다혜이주은 등 10여명 활약.
자라 가격 디시 치어리더 최근 삐끼삐끼 춤으로 큰 주목을 받으며, 국내외에서 활발한 활동을 이어가고 있습니다. 푸본 스포츠&엔터테인먼트의 조이스 첸 사장이 이날 서울을 직접 방문해 서울 푸본현대생명. 2025년 1월 22일, 대만 프로야구 리그 소속의 푸본 엔젤스 팀으로 진출했다는 소식이 공식적으로 발표되었다. 지난해 ‘삐끼삐끼’ 춤으로 화제가 된 전 kia 타이거즈 치어리더 이주은이 대만에서 성대한 입단식을 가졌다. Com › @won78780 › video이주은 치어리더의 대만 활동 tiktok. 장종근 한화
인스타 존예 야동 실제로 대만 치어리더의 길을 열은 이다혜, 삐끼 삐끼송으로 인기를 끌고 대만에 진출한 이주은의 경우 엄청난 수입을 벌고 있는 상황입니다. 치어리더 대만 여름 이주은 keywords 대만 치어리더 여름 이주은 열정 더위 this is an aigenerated summary of the content, and is not intended to provide factual context. 삐끼삐끼로 글로벌스타 된 치어리더 이주은, 대만. 이 행사에는 100여 개 이상의 매체가 참석해 큰 관심을 보였다. 치어리더 대만 여름 이주은 keywords 대만 치어리더 여름 이주은 열정 더위 this is an aigenerated summary of the content, and is not intended to provide factual context. 임 이지 라이 키
적당히,위험하게 2회말이 끝날 무렵 갑자기 고개를 푹 숙이고 얼굴을 가리고 펑펑 울기 시작했고, 동료 치어리더는 안아주었다. Allaboutball ・ 12시간 전 url 복사 이웃추가. 삐끼삐끼 이주은의 2025년 새 둥지는 대만. 치어리더 이주은, 대만서 서럽게 눈물팬들도 당황. Allaboutball ・ 12시간 전 url 복사 이웃추가. 장원영
일루미나티 사이트 Mhn스포츠 박연준 기자 전 세계적으로 ‘삐끼삐끼’ 댄스로 유명해진 전 kia 타이거즈 이주은 치어리더가 대만 프로야구 푸본 가디언스의 응원단인 푸본 엔젤스fubon angels로 이적했다. 치어리더 이주은, 대만서 서럽게 눈물팬들도 당황. 삐끼삐끼 이주은, lg트윈스 응원단 합류 대만. 푸본 스포츠&엔터테인먼트의 조이스 첸 사장이 이날 서울을 직접 방문해 서울 푸본현대생명. 지난달 30일 대만 tvbs 방송 등 보도에 따르면 최근 현지에서 대만 푸본 엔젤스가 이주은을 영입하면서 지급한 계약금이 1000만 대만달러한화 약 4억.
임병장 이주은은 13일 대만 타이베이에서 진행된 입단식 및 기자간담회에서 치어리더가 된 과. 일명 삐끼삐끼 춤으로 전 세계적인 관심을 받은 kia 타이거즈의 치어리더 이주은에 대만이 러브콜을 보내고 있다는 보도가 나왔다. 이아영, 남민정과 함께 한국인 치어리더로 활동하게. 대만 프로야구 팀 푸본 엔젤스가 한국 출신 치어리더 이주은을 영입하며 계약금 논란이 일고 있다. 이번 계약으로 이주은은 대만 프로야구 무대에서 활동하며 새로운 도전을 시작하게 됐다.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on August 11, 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, August 11, 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, August 11, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, August 11, 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.
대만 프로야구 팀 푸본 엔젤스가 한국 출신 치어리더 이주은을 영입하며 계약금 논란이 일고 있다., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.