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.

이 시기 아리아인들의 베다 신앙에서 브라만교 가 탄생했고. 남주는 아내 커리어를 위해 자신의 밝은 미래를 포기하고 전업주부가 되었으나. 삼별초에 의하여 육지의 문명이 대량으로 유입되고 이후 대륙의 문물이 유입되는 것과 궤 read more. 현대 독일 건축에서 가장 중요한 인물로 손꼽히는 원로 건축사인 고트프리드 뵘gottfried böhm의 일생을 통해 건축사로서의.

전예진 다이빙 나무 위키

Мвс 라디오 김종배의 시선집중 출연 인터뷰 주택공급 대책 도나온다 빠르면 2월 조선비즈 빠르면 2월에 추가 read more.. 06화 live 다시보기❣️ 이번에 처음 입고된 aeron브랜드제품은 이번주 금요일 홈페이지 업로드 예정입니다 그 외 제품은 홈페이지에서 구매가능.. 06화 live 다시보기❣️ 이번에 처음 입고된 aeron.. 현대 독일 건축에서 가장 중요한 인물로 손꼽히는 원로 건축사인 고트프리드 뵘gottfried böhm의 일생을 통해 건축사로서의..

30 20131006 만호는 혜정에게 유진과 유리의 앞날을 생각하라며 이혼을 만류하고 혜정은 깊은 고민. 간략히 베니스의 상인의 줄거리를 요약하자면 이렇다, 지호에게는 결혼과 사랑의 모든 부담을 이해하지 못한 채 결혼을 결심하기 전에 마지막으로 자신의 감정을 확인하는 거였어. 정승환은 k팝스타 참가자로 무대에 섰던 제 과거와 참가자들이 겹쳐 보였다.

젼언니 이혼

그녀의 다채로운 매력과 새로운 활동 소식은 그녀의 공식 온리팬스 채널을 통해 직접 확인할 수 있습니다. 남주는 아내 커리어를 위해 자신의 밝은 미래를 포기하고 전업주부가 되었으나. 인도의 문명은 기원전 2500년경 인더스강 유역에서 발생한 인더스 문명 에서 기원한다. Minutes ago 뉴스토리 sbsi 정보 sbs뉴스 서울특별시 양천구 목동서로 161 고객센터 15771003 email newsservice@sbs. 이 시기 아리아인들의 베다 신앙에서 브라만교 가 탄생했고.

06화 live 다시보기❣️ 이번에 처음 입고된 aeron브랜드제품은 이번주 금요일 홈페이지 업로드 예정입니다 그 외 제품은 홈페이지에서 구매가능, 서울국제건축영화제 인기 상영작 다시보기, 인터넷 벗방 bjbroadcasting jockey. 간략히 베니스의 상인의 줄거리를 요약하자면 이렇다. 스스로 음란 행위를 하며 시청자를 끌어모은 뒤 ‘팝콘’ 등으로 불리는 유료 아이템을 받아 돈을 번다고 알려져 있다. 다시보기 사이트 티비착 microsoft research.

정심심 사이타마

인도의 문명은 기원전 2500년경 인더스강 유역에서 발생한 인더스 문명 에서 기원한다. 쓰레기 집에 사는 마케팅 천재, 콘텐츠에 잡아먹힌 유튜버의 비극 계모와 귓속말 그리고 의붓딸 사망사건 〈연예계 주사 이모 게이트〉그녀의 진짜 정체는 무엇인가. 쓰레기 집에 사는 마케팅 천재, 콘텐츠에 잡아먹힌 유튜버의 비극 계모와 귓속말 그리고 의붓딸 사망사건 〈연예계 주사 이모 게이트〉그녀의 진짜 정체는 무엇인가. Kr 등록번호 서울 자00540 등록일자 20170907.

무대와 스크린에서 발견한 영감의 조각 넷플릭스 공개와 동시에 한국에서 시청 1위를 기록한 액션 스릴러 의 인기는 순전히 할리우드의 보기 드문 ‘찐친’ 배우 맷 데이먼과 벤 애플렉 때문이다.. 29 이야기 더 다시보기 행복한 아침 1777회 채널a 건강 스페셜 79회 개와 늑대의 시간 시즌2 4회..

정액 공물

서울국제건축영화제 인기 상영작 다시보기, 스스로 음란 행위를 하며 시청자를 끌어모은 뒤 ‘팝콘’ 등으로 불리는 유료 아이템을 받아 돈을 번다고 알려져 있다, 이 시기 아리아인들의 베다 신앙에서 브라만교 가 탄생했고. 정부와 여권의 행정통합 추진 압박이 거세지는 가운데 박형준 부산시장과 박완수 경남도지사가 행정통합에 대한 공동입장을 발표 read more. Sbs 결혼의 여신 goddess of marriage 30회ep.

정부와 여권의 행정통합 추진 압박이 거세지는 가운데 박형준 부산시장과 박완수 경남도지사가 행정통합에 대한 공동입장을 발표 read more. Ailinkmoboreelsserial20ij2f3812 🌟 여기에서 이야기 계속 이어보기 👉🏻 📲 moboreels 앱에서 전체 시리즈 만나요 🔍 575441 를 검색해서 모든 에피소드를 즐기세요. 삼별초에 의하여 육지의 문명이 대량으로 유입되고 이후 대륙의 문물이 유입되는 것과 궤 read more, 바사니오는 벨몬트에 사는 포샤에게 구혼하기 위한 여비를 마련하기 위해 돈을 구하러 다니나 돈 read more. 정승환은 k팝스타 참가자로 무대에 섰던 제 과거와 참가자들이 겹쳐 보였다. Sbs 결혼의 여신 goddess of marriage 30회ep.

젠잇 버니홀 이 시기 아리아인들의 베다 신앙에서 브라만교 가 탄생했고. 삼별초에 의하여 육지의 문명이 대량으로 유입되고 이후 대륙의 문물이 유입되는 것과 궤 read more. 그녀의 다채로운 매력과 새로운 활동 소식은 그녀의 공식 온리팬스 채널을 통해 직접 확인할 수 있습니다. 06화 live 다시보기❣️ 이번에 처음 입고된 aeron. 지호에게는 결혼과 사랑의 모든 부담을 이해하지 못한 채 결혼을 결심하기 전에 마지막으로 자신의 감정을 확인하는 거였어. 제미나이 성인 디시

좀비고 도트 야짤 서울국제건축영화제 인기 상영작 다시보기. 이 꼬장꼬장한 스승이 바로 소론의 영수, 명재明齋 윤증尹拯 선생이다. 30 20131006 만호는 혜정에게 유진과 유리의 앞날을 생각하라며 이혼을 만류하고 혜정은 깊은 고민. Kr 등록번호 서울 자00540 등록일자 20170907. Sbs 결혼의 여신 goddess of marriage 30회ep. 조소과 디시

정로 영상 트위터 정승환은 k팝스타 참가자로 무대에 섰던 제 과거와 참가자들이 겹쳐 보였다. 이 꼬장꼬장한 스승이 바로 소론의 영수, 명재明齋 윤증尹拯 선생이다. Days ago 방송 다시보기 코너 이전 2026. 국가유산청 월간국가유산사랑 상세 문화유산 다시보기. 30 이야기 더 다시보기 셰프와 사냥꾼 4회 아모르바디 36회 2026. 제시 김정은 병원

정로 대물 그녀의 다채로운 매력과 새로운 활동 소식은 그녀의 공식 온리팬스 채널을 통해 직접 확인할 수 있습니다. Minutes ago 뉴스토리 sbsi 정보 sbs뉴스 서울특별시 양천구 목동서로 161 고객센터 15771003 email newsservice@sbs. 인터넷 벗방 bjbroadcasting jockey. 다시보기 사이트 티비착 microsoft research. 무대와 스크린에서 발견한 영감의 조각 넷플릭스 공개와 동시에 한국에서 시청 1위를 기록한 액션 스릴러 의 인기는 순전히 할리우드의 보기 드문 ‘찐친’ 배우 맷 데이먼과 벤 애플렉 때문이다.

존예틱톡녀 ㅈㅇ 인도의 문명은 기원전 2500년경 인더스강 유역에서 발생한 인더스 문명 에서 기원한다. 삼별초에 의하여 육지의 문명이 대량으로 유입되고 이후 대륙의 문물이 유입되는 것과 궤 read more. 국가유산청 월간국가유산사랑 상세 문화유산 다시보기. 06화 live 다시보기❣️ 이번에 처음 입고된 aeron. 그녀의 다채로운 매력과 새로운 활동 소식은 그녀의 공식 온리팬스 채널을 통해 직접 확인할 수 있습니다.

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.