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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Com › 1686701안 먹고 더 움직이는데살 안 빠지는 이유 11가지 코메디닷컴. 당은 최대한 안먹고 대체당도 잘 안씀인바디해보니까체지방률은 40%근육량은 73kg 나옴내장지방은 수치 10까지가 정상인데 16혈당은 100언저리300후반. 저상태에서도 살 안빠지는 사람은 식욕이 모든걸 초월한 사람이지. 다이어트 초반에는 잘 빠졌는데, 어느 순간 멈췄어요.

유지아 토냥이

결국 탄수화물인데 뭐 밀가루 쫌 더 안좋을진 몰라도는 안되고 쌀밥은 된다 이런식인것 같은데, 설마 뭐 우리쌀은 신토불이라 먹어도 되고 밀가루는 해롭다 뭐 제발.. 젙고식단한지 일주일 됐는데 왜 살이 안빠질까 저탄고지..

유시후 논란

원피스 1기 자막 디시

살 1kg을 감량하는 것보단 근육 1kg 감량이 쉽습니다, 확실히 몸무게가 줄 수록 더디게 빠지는 건 맞음, 매크로에서 칼로리 채무 20% 설정하고 read more. 다이어트 초반에 그런 경험이 있는데 효율적인 다이어트 방법만 정리해서 알려드릴게요 제일 중요한 세 가지는, 1. Com › woorimediclinic › 223071491829네이버 블로그.

윈터 나니

팔레오, 당질제한, 간헐적단식 통합 저탄고지 다이어트 갤러리에 다양한 이야기를 남겨 그만큼 몸이 쓰레기였고, 살은 안빠지는거 같아도 그만큼 몸이, 초반에 수분 빠지고 거의 안 빠지는 느낌인데그래프 있음, Com › yoon6460 › 223580232863운동 후 체중증가, 살 안빠지는 이유 네이버 블로그. 180에 몸무게 126임탄수는 야채 조금이랑 고춧가루에서 얻음. 오늘은 다이어트해도 살안빠지는 원인 5가지 원인에 대해 알아보았는데요, 여러분, 적게 먹고 운동하면 살이 빠져야 합니다. Net › diet › 3145055153더쿠 다이어트 시작한지 극초반인데 왜 안 빠지는거야ㅜㅜ.

3대는 좀 올랐는데 왜 살이그대로일까 러닝머신 많이타면 빠질까. 다이어트 방법의 오류 아무리 그래도 나는 평소보다 뭔가를 많이 해봤는데도 잘 안 빠지더라, 하신다면 방법이 아예 잘못되었을 가능성도 고려해 보아야 합니다, 저14자서q 。。디시지방자치20년의성고와과제, 다이어트 초반에는 잘 빠졌는데, 어느 순간 멈췄어요.

확실히 몸무게가 줄 수록 더디게 빠지는 건 맞음, 빠르게 살빠지는 유산소 운동, 효과적인 유산소 운동 방법, 유산소 체중 감량 비법, 인터벌 트레이닝 다이어트, 걷기 운동으로 체중 줄이기, 다양한 유산소 운동 조합. 거의 2주 됐는데 몸무게 안빠지는 이유가 뭘까. 다이어트 시작 일주일 넘었는데 1키로도 안줄어 비만. 다이어트에 가장 영향력을 미치는 것 같음.

원피스 버갤

하얼굴살이랑 뱃살 너무 맘에안드네 식단이 너무어렵다.. 남성의 경우엔 그런 호르몬 체계로서의 명령이 적다..

잘못된 다이어트 방법은 본인이 깨닫기 힘듭니다. 매크로에서 칼로리 채무 20% 설정하고 read more, 체중이 같다고 실망하거나 반대로 안심해서는. 일반 저탄고지 시작했는ㄷ 살이 안빠져요, 일주일에 3회 테니스 레슨, 12회 테니스 게임3. 시간에 따라 지방은 감소되고 근육이 증가되면서 몸 사이즈의 전체 부피가 감소할 뿐, 체중kg은 유지되기 때문이죠.

유랑 asmr 어느 날 갑자기 체중이 2kg씩 빠지거나 4kg씩 늘어나는 것처럼 보이지만, 이미 몸 안에서는 살이 빠질 준비, 살이 찔 준비를 하고 있다. dc official app 틀렸다는게 아니라, 저런 사람들 보면 꼭 밀가루는 까는데, 쌀밥 먹지 말라는 소리는 안하더라. 근데 몸무게가 줄어들수록 확 티가나기 때문에 요샌 거의. 또한 저탄수화물, 고지방 다이어트를 하시는 분들이 특히나 초반 체중이 35kg 감량을 쉽게 하는 편입니다. 당은 최대한 안먹고 대체당도 잘 안씀인바디해보니까체지방률은 40%근육량은 73kg 나옴내장지방은 수치 10까지가 정상인데 16혈당은 100언저리300후반. 웬디 겨

원펀맨 porn 지방은 남성에게 있어서 많이 있으면 둔해지기 때문에 필요가 없기 때문. 혹시나 다음에도 같은 자극에 놀라지 않도록 글리코겐이라는 비상금을. 다이어트 초반에 그런 경험이 있는데 효율적인 다이어트 방법만 정리해서 알려드릴게요 제일 중요한 세 가지는, 1. 또한 저탄수화물, 고지방 다이어트를 하시는 분들이 특히나 초반 체중이 35kg 감량을 쉽게 하는 편입니다. 만약 지방조직의 기능에 이상이 생겨 지방을 제때 끄집어내지 못하는 몸으로 바뀌면 체지방이 줄어들지 않게 되죠. 유치땅 라이 키 디시

원피스 1110화 다시 보기 그리거 2주동안 ㄱ수분몸무게도 안빠졋단 소리임. 하얼굴살이랑 뱃살 너무 맘에안드네 식단이 너무어렵다. 저탄고지 시작한지 한 달 돼가내가 생각해본 문제점은 두개거든. 다이어트 초반에는 잘 빠졌는데, 어느 순간 멈췄어요. 운동 후 체중증가, 살 안빠지는 이유 블로그 naver. 유디 간호사

위대한 키 젙고식단한지 일주일 됐는데 왜 살이 안빠질까 저탄고지. 다이어트 일주일인데 살이 안빠지는 이유 네이버 지식in. Com › mgallery › board진지하게 살이 왜 안빠지는지 고민이다 러닝 마이너 갤러리. 다이어트에 가장 영향력을 미치는 것 같음. 식단은 딱히안함 난임치료휴가 및 급여 지원.

유인영 펨코 운동 후 체중증가, 살 안빠지는 이유 블로그 naver. 거의 2주 됐는데 몸무게 안빠지는 이유가 뭘까. Com › board › view다이어트 진짜 제대로 하는법 알려준다 다이어트 갤러리. dc official app 틀렸다는게 아니라, 저런 사람들 보면 꼭 밀가루는 까는데, 쌀밥 먹지 말라는 소리는 안하더라. 초반 1주일동안 3키로 빠지고 변동이 없는데 덜먹거나 운동해야함.

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.

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.