US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, August 10, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, August 10, 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 10, 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 10, 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 10, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, August 10, 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 10, 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 10, 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 10, 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 10, 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 10, 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 10, 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 10, 2026.
2024살 한정 스키장 알바 갓 고1때 수련회간 느낌 존나남 보지들이랑 썸타면 존나 두근두근됨 대신 알바끝나고 본 지역으로 돌아가는 순간헤어짐 일은 파트마다 다름 주관적으로 군필자들한텐 개꿀이라고보면됨2228살 한. 클럽서 20살 만나서 4섹함 나 잘생겻누. 클럽에서 존잘 만난썰, 상하이 클럽 썰, 상하이 클럽썰. 나이 20중반이면 나이트 가고 ㅇㅇ 원나잇을 원하면 나이트가 오히려 성공률이 높다.
나 막 20살 때 첫 홈런썰클럽에서 떡 말해줄게.. Net › name › 50019269썸녀가 20대 초반에 클럽 헌포 많이가봤다는데 인스티즈 instiz..20살 오르가즘 재수생 홍대서 광질하다가 옆에서 역디오길래 보니까 애가 존나 애기임 막 볼꼬집하니까 개부들부들거리고 그래서 몇살이냐했더니 재수 기숙학원다니는데 친구랑 한달만에 나와서 클럽왔다는거 ㅋㅋ, 본인 24살노가다 1년차 지금까지 살아온 생애 적어보겠음20살집에서 대학안갈거면 그냥 나가라고함. 주워들은 것처럼 얼굴이랑 피지컬 떨어지면 컷하고 그런건 없더라 ㅇㅇ 그렇게 들어갔는데, Com › board › view홍대 클럽충 6년차 20대 마감하며 여행동남아 갤러리.
2024살 한정 스키장 알바 갓 고1때 수련회간 느낌 존나남 보지들이랑 썸타면 존나 두근두근됨 대신 알바끝나고 본 지역으로 돌아가는 순간헤어짐 일은 파트마다 다름 주관적으로 군필자들한텐 개꿀이라고보면됨2228살 한, 그렇게 클럽 앞으로 가니까 가드가 막더라 남자는 입장료 받는다고. ㅆㅂ 젊을때 이쁘고 잘생긴게 최고야 클럽같은 즉석 만남은 여자가 무조건 갑인데 그 중에서 존나 잘생긴 애들은 그런거도 없이 프리패스. 클럽 안 가는 2025세 청년들 rdkbrevkasse.
27세 클럽 27 club은 27세에 요절 한 아티스트들을 묶어서 부르는 말이다. 27세 클럽 27 club은 27세에 요절 한 아티스트들을 묶어서 부르는 말이다. 아가리에도 있고 내 주니어에도 있고 ㅋ 아직도 기억나는게 21살때 감주에서 꼬셨던년인데, 존나 예쁜년이었음 개 씨발 도도하게 ㅍㅌㅊ 친구랑와서 남자 다 커트하는데 나랑 내친구랑 개 지랄병떨어서 겨우 합석해서 자빠뜨린년. 그래서 인당 만원씩 결제하고 신분증 검사하고 팔목에 띠 두르고 입장함.
Com › board › view20살이 되어서 클럽을 가는 여자들이 주의해야 할점 실시간 베스트, 홍대클럽 xx 바틀, 꽤 푸짐함 결론 돈이 최고다. 홍대 클럽 나이에 구애받지 않고 즐기기 위해서는 사전탐색이 필수.
이 글을 보시는 분들은 일b본 클럽에 관련 된 정보를 원하셔서 들어오신 걸로 확인 되오니 끝까지 자세히 읽어주시면 될 듯, 장점이라하면 최대한 다양한 남자들을 볼수있다는건데 그중에 성격도 괜찮아보이고 뭐 알고지내면 괜찮겠다싶은사람이랑 친해지는게 조각의 가장큰메리트가 아닌가싶음 그래서 클럽초보면 조각가서 여자들 보지말고 친해질만한 괜찮은남자 서치하는게 나음. 왜냐하면 30살 이상 되서 철없이 클럽 다니는 여자들이 생각보다 많진 않거든. 본인 진리 2세였는데 생긴것도 아깝고 부동산 경매로 빵떠서. Net › name › 50019269썸녀가 20대 초반에 클럽 헌포 많이가봤다는데 인스티즈 instiz. 클럽안과밖 클럽 복장, 백구 사귈때, jsb1106.
본인 진리 2세였는데 생긴것도 아깝고 부동산 경매로 빵떠서, 20대 초반에 클럽가고 술먹고 노는거 좋아했던 사람들은 나이 들어도 계속 그럴까. 그중에서도 서울 마포구 2호선 홍대입구역을 중심으로 운영되고 있는. Com › mgallery › board내가경험한 클럽과 그에대한 나름의분석 알트 마이너 갤러리.
블라블라 추천 글 43살 아재인데 요즘 20대 여자한테는 이게 진짜 먹히는듯 근데 진짜 선섹후사있어.. 주워들은 것처럼 얼굴이랑 피지컬 떨어지면 컷하고 그런건 없더라 ㅇㅇ 그렇게 들어갔는데.. 홍대는 모르겠고 이태원 중에 메이드는 그냥 강남클럽 느낌이라고 생각하면 됨사진은 어차피 공식으로 뜬거라 검색하면 누구나 볼수.. 클럽서 20살 만나서 4섹함 나 잘생겻누 여행호주, 뉴질랜드..
27세 클럽 27 club은 27세에 요절 한 아티스트들을 묶어서 부르는 말이다, 20대 초반에 클럽가고 술먹고 노는거 좋아했던 사람들은 나이 들어도 계속 그럴까, 현타 기념으로 찌는기괴한 한국 클럽 문화. 20살이 되어서 클럽을 가는 여자들이 주의해야 할점 ㅇㅇ 2023, 음악 종류에 따라 다양한 곳이 있어요 tunnel, plastique, lime, bobino, the club, alcatraz, gattopardo.
그래서 인당 만원씩 결제하고 신분증 검사하고 팔목에 띠 두르고 입장함. 20대 초반 여자 인구가 엄청 줄어서 일명 여자 수량이 안됩니다 웬만하면 입뺀도 없습니다 실제로 뚱뚱한 여성분도 많이 보입니다 3, 60세 이상 노인일자리 종류 및 신청. 본인 24살노가다 1년차 지금까지 살아온 생애 적어보겠음20살집에서 대학안갈거면 그냥 나가라고함. 60세 이상 노인일자리 종류 및 신청. 왜냐하면 30살 이상 되서 철없이 클럽 다니는 여자들이 생각보다 많진 않거든.
| 20대 네트워크의 모든 것, 클럽트웬티에서 원하는 사람들과 원하는 방식으로 만나보세요. | 내 성적으로 인서울 무리일거같고 그렇다고 공부를 잘해서 장학금. |
|---|---|
| 차범근, 박주영, 손흥민, 권창훈, 황의조에 이어 대한민국 축구 역사상 유럽 5대 리그에서 read more. | 그중에서도 서울 마포구 2호선 홍대입구역을 중심으로 운영되고 있는. |
| 클럽서 20살 만나서 4섹함 나 잘생겻누. | 클럽에서 존잘 만난썰, 상하이 클럽 썰, 상하이 클럽썰. |
| Com › board › view홍대 클럽충 6년차 20대 마감하며 여행동남아 갤러리. | 디스코텍을 찾아보시는 게 좋을 거예요. |
개인적인 생각이지만 노답일 확률이 높아. 이 글을 보시는 분들은 일b본 클럽에 관련 된 정보를 원하셔서 들어오신 걸로 확인 되오니 끝까지 자세히 읽어주시면 될 듯. 이제 재밌어질 타이밍이니 친구들과 빠르게 술을 먹는데 그날따라 잘들어가는거 아니겠노. 나의 20살 클럽에서 납치당해 먹힌썰 소개팅 마이너 갤러리. Net › name › 50019269썸녀가 20대 초반에 클럽 헌포 많이가봤다는데 인스티즈 instiz. 홍대 클럽 나이에 구애받지 않고 즐기기 위해서는 사전탐색이 필수.
신지안 980112 ㅆㅂ 젊을때 이쁘고 잘생긴게 최고야 클럽같은 즉석 만남은 여자가 무조건 갑인데 그 중에서 존나 잘생긴 애들은 그런거도 없이 프리패스. 홍대클럽 입장료 정리 코로나 이후 최신버전 홍대 클럽 나이대별 방문 가능한 클럽들에 대해 간략히 소개해드렸습니다. Com › board › view홍대 클럽충 6년차 20대 마감하며 여행동남아 갤러리. 02 003740 삭제 보갤러3121. 이제 재밌어질 타이밍이니 친구들과 빠르게 술을 먹는데 그날따라 잘들어가는거 아니겠노. 아슬로 뜻 디시
아마추어 셀카 av Com › mgallery › board내가경험한 클럽과 그에대한 나름의분석 알트 마이너 갤러리. 그외 얼마전에 내 인생 처음이자 마지막으로 나이트 가본 썰ㅋㅋㅋ 11,521 12 무명의 더쿠 stheqoo. 블라블라 추천 글 43살 아재인데 요즘 20대 여자한테는 이게 진짜 먹히는듯 근데 진짜 선섹후사있어. 홍대는 모르겠고 이태원 중에 메이드는 그냥 강남클럽 느낌이라고 생각하면 됨사진은 어차피 공식으로 뜬거라 검색하면 누구나 볼수. 나 막 20살 때 첫 홈런썰클럽에서 떡 말해줄게. 신다혜 06 디시
아리 히토미 클럽서 20살 만나서 4섹함 나 잘생겻누. 이 글을 보시는 분들은 일b본 클럽에 관련 된 정보를 원하셔서 들어오신 걸로 확인 되오니 끝까지 자세히 읽어주시면 될 듯. Com › board › view홍대 클럽충 6년차 20대 마감하며 여행동남아 갤러리. 차범근, 박주영, 손흥민, 권창훈, 황의조에 이어 대한민국 축구 역사상 유럽 5대 리그에서 read more. 30대 이상인 여자인데 클럽을 다닌다. 신동민 셰프 논란 디시
신시아 성형 디시 클럽서 20살 만나서 4섹함 나 잘생겻누. 그래서 오늘은 복이가 은퇴 후 재취업을 꿈꾸는 어르신들을 위해 다양한 노인일자리의 종류와 신청방법을 한눈에 보기 쉽게 정리해 드릴게요. Com › talk › 369463131클럽 100번 가보고 느낀점 네이트 판. 디스코텍을 찾아보시는 게 좋을 거예요. 장점이라하면 최대한 다양한 남자들을 볼수있다는건데 그중에 성격도 괜찮아보이고 뭐 알고지내면 괜찮겠다싶은사람이랑 친해지는게 조각의 가장큰메리트가 아닌가싶음 그래서 클럽초보면 조각가서 여자들 보지말고 친해질만한 괜찮은남자 서치하는게 나음.
시빌 카일레나 보통 5 6명에 20 30만원 선에서 많이 모집. 클럽 안 가는 2025세 청년들 rdkbrevkasse. ㅆㅂ 젊을때 이쁘고 잘생긴게 최고야 클럽같은 즉석 만남은 여자가 무조건 갑인데 그 중에서 존나 잘생긴 애들은 그런거도 없이 프리패스. 이제 재밌어질 타이밍이니 친구들과 빠르게 술을 먹는데 그날따라 잘들어가는거 아니겠노. 부모님도 살면서 한번은 가봐야하지 않겠니 말씀하셨던지라ㅋㅋ 클럽잘알 친구한테 sos쳐서 토요일 이태원으로 갔음.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on August 10, 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 10, 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 10, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, August 10, 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.
20대 이야기 서울사는 22살 흔녀임 판에 글 처음써봐요 클럽 죽순이 친구를 따라 저번달에 난생 처음 클럽에감 입장할때 검은양복입은 덩치 큰 빡빡이 아찌가 신분증 검사를 하는데 너무 무., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.