US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, August 15, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, August 15, 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 15, 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 15, 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 15, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, August 15, 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 15, 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 15, 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 15, 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 15, 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 15, 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 15, 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 15, 2026.
鳴門ほれほれプリン 今回はプリン専門店の『鳴門ほれほれプリン』へ。 こちらでは鳴門金時がゴロゴロ入った「ほれほれ芋プリン」や、鳴門の渦潮をイメージした「くるくる鳴門プリン」などが人気。 混雑状況 この日は平日の金曜日、お店には16時半頃に. Com › dictionary › entryentry details for ほれほれ horehore tanoshii japanese. Video transcript かっこいいやん、さんちゃん。 かっこいいやん。 ほーれ。 ほーれ、ほれ、ほれ、ほれ、ほれ、ほれ。 ほれ、ほれ、ほれ、ほれ、ほれ、ほれ。 ほれ、ほれ、ほれ。. 1885年 に始まった ハワイへの移民 は 官約移民 と呼ばれ、 1924年 まで 西日本 出身者を中心に約22万人がハワイへ渡った 1。官約移民たちの労働は過酷で、炎暑の サトウキビ 畑で働いた。重労働の中、命を繋ぐ思いで、おのおのの出身地の民謡など耳なじんだ調べを口ずさんだ。それが「ホレ.
| 10 in sleeping pink noise. | ほれほれ english translation. | Com › watchたこんぐあす しばらく我慢んぐあす ここほれいきる 新人vtuber. | Many translated example sentences containing ほれほれ – englishjapanese dictionary and search engine for english translations. |
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| ホレホレ節(ホレホレぶし)は、ハワイで日本人が作った唯一の民謡。 目次. | Com › reel › 2654147098297826激レア写真館 ほーれ、ほれぃ おまいら こんなん大好こやろ クヌヤロ. | Com › japanese › dictionary惚れる, ほれる, horeru nihongo master. | Listen to the pronunciation, view english meanings, stroke order diagrams and conjugations for ほれほれ horehore. |
| ほれほれ english translation. | Com › details › 19894889「ほれ ほれ①」的意思与用法详解,日语学习词典 moji辞書. | 作者不詳の隠れた名曲「ホレホレ節」が原曲です。 シングル「望郷ホレホレ節」2010年5月26日 発売. | Com › details › 19894889「ほれ ほれ①」的意思与用法详解,日语学习词典 moji辞書. |
↑ 2006,大辞林 大辭林,第三版(日語), 東京: 三省堂, isbn 4385139059 ↑ 1998,nhk日本語発音アクセント辞典(nhk 日語發音重音詞典) 日語, 東京: nhk, isbn 9784140111123 ↑ 1997,新明解国語辞典(新明解國語辭典),第五版(日語), 東京: 三省堂, isbn 4385131430.. 「おい、こっちへ 来 てみろ。 ほれほれ、この 天井 窓 から、お 月 さんのウサギが 餅 をついとるのがよく 見える ぞ」 喂,你过来这里看看! 快看快看,从这个天窗可以清楚地看到月兔在捣年糕呢。.. Com › 100004532653744 › videosnakayama shizuyo on reels facebook.. 作者不詳の隠れた名曲「ホレホレ節」が原曲です。 シングル「望郷ホレホレ節」2010年5月26日 発売..Many translated example sentences containing ほれほれ – englishjapanese dictionary and search engine for english translations, この絵本を翻訳させてもらえてとても光栄です。 q. ↑ 2006,大辞林 大辭林,第三版(日語), 東京: 三省堂, isbn 4385139059 ↑ 1998,nhk日本語発音アクセント辞典(nhk 日語發音重音詞典) 日語, 東京: nhk, isbn 9784140111123 ↑ 1997,新明解国語辞典(新明解國語辭典),第五版(日語), 東京: 三省堂, isbn 4385131430. おーす! おっす! とはどういう意味ですか. ホレホレ節(ホレホレぶし)は、ハワイで日本人が作った唯一の民謡。 目次. 「ほれ」というフレーズは、日本語の会話でよく使われる表現の一つです。 このフレーズを使うことで、自分の感情を相手に伝えることができます。 mishu_1 2023年11月29日 日语. 地層ラムネをスプーンでわって、化石型のお菓子を発掘する食べられる発掘体験が楽しめる! 粉と水で色や形の異なる2種類のラムネ地層が作れます。read more. 高円寺で今だから休日を過ごしたいお店🍋 ↓  ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ 📍酒場にほれも 📍東京都杉並区高円寺北32019 マガザン高円寺 🕗営業時間 日・月, Video transcript かっこいいやん、さんちゃん。 かっこいいやん。 ほーれ。 ほーれ、ほれ、ほれ、ほれ、ほれ、ほれ。 ほれ、ほれ、ほれ、ほれ、ほれ、ほれ。 ほれ、ほれ、ほれ。.
Many translated example sentences containing ほれほれ – englishjapanese dictionary and search engine for english translations, Youtubeからbabybusベビーバスのチャンネル登録をすれば、もっと多くの動画が見られます! s. おーす! おっす! とはどういう意味ですか.
10 in sleeping pink noise.. 23k subscribers subscribe.. 古生物学者でロンドンのリンネ協会会長に選出されたアンジャリ・ゴスワミ氏が手がける、新感覚のしかけ絵本です。 ページにたくさんの穴が開いていて、次のページに描かれ read more..
掘ほれ is in the 命令形めいれいけい which is the imperative form of the verb 掘ほる, Com › 100004532653744 › videosnakayama shizuyo on reels facebook, ホレホレ節(ホレホレぶし)は、ハワイで日本人が作った唯一の民謡。 目次. おかあさんといっしょ2022年10月曲「ホ・レッ!」カバー comments.
ほれ!ほれ!きょうりゅう アンジャリ ゴスワミ,マギー リー,大友. Com › 100004532653744 › videosnakayama shizuyo on reels facebook, ほっとかんかい! とはどういう意味ですか.
惚れ惚れとの意味。・副詞ぼんやり(と)。呆然(ぼうぜん)と。うっとり(と)。「ほれほれ(と)」とも。出典夜の寝覚 四「姫君を見奉らで日ごろの過ぎゆくままに、, Com › live › fnappjzo2gerepo 銃をこちらに 初心者だらけのvll r. Many translated example sentences containing ほれほれ – englishjapanese dictionary and search engine for english translations, 10 in sleeping pink noise. ほれ の翻訳 当社の 日本語多言語翻訳者 が翻訳した 25ヵ国語 の ほれ を探してみましょう。 自動統計翻訳によって、このセクションで示されている日本語から他の言語への ほれの翻訳 を訳しました。, Com › archives › 91067805コトメ「ほれほれw」私「息子 8か月が怖がって泣くからやめて!(怒.
Many translated example sentences containing ほれほれ – englishjapanese dictionary and search engine for english translations. Days ago 参加者(敬称略)シュウうろと黎うさぎくまべりか倉敷エマここほれいきるなぎすみなこ. ほれほれ english translation. Com › archives › 91067805コトメ「ほれほれw」私「息子 8か月が怖がって泣くからやめて!(怒.
作者不詳の隠れた名曲「ホレホレ節」が原曲です。 シングル「望郷ホレホレ節」2010年5月26日 発売. 古生物学者でロンドンのリンネ協会会長に選出されたアンジャリ・ゴスワミ氏が手がける、新感覚のしかけ絵本です。 ページにたくさんの穴が開いていて、次のページに描かれ read more, Hours ago repo 銃をこちらに 初心者だらけのvll r. Many translated example sentences containing ほれほれ – englishjapanese dictionary and search engine for english translations. 「ほれ」というフレーズは、日本語の会話でよく使われる表現の一つです。 このフレーズを使うことで、自分の感情を相手に伝えることができます。 mishu_1 2023年11月29日 日语.
코네 비번 掘ほれ is in the 命令形めいれいけい which is the imperative form of the verb 掘ほる. Youtubeからbabybusベビーバスのチャンネル登録をすれば、もっと多くの動画が見られます! s. Com › details › 19894889「ほれ ほれ①」的意思与用法详解,日语学习词典 moji辞書. Jp › content › ほれ「ほれ」の意味や使い方 わかりやすく解説 weblio辞書. Mercy killing マーシーキリング is a song released on octo, featuring vflower and hatsune miku. 코난 히토미
타블르 나무위키 Hours ago repo 銃をこちらに 初心者だらけのvll r. 掘ほる is the verb used here. Video transcript かっこいいやん、さんちゃん。 かっこいいやん。 ほーれ。 ほーれ、ほれ、ほれ、ほれ、ほれ、ほれ。 ほれ、ほれ、ほれ、ほれ、ほれ、ほれ。 ほれ、ほれ、ほれ。. 化石はっくつ!ほれほれラムネ | 商品紹介. 高円寺で今だから休日を過ごしたいお店🍋 ↓  ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ 📍酒場にほれも 📍東京都杉並区高円寺北32019 マガザン高円寺 🕗営業時間 日・月. 타이론 우 재산
클룩 렌트카 보험 디시 ほら ほら, ほれ ほれ synonym for ほら どちらも同じ意味です。 ただ、「ほれ」はちょっと年より臭い印象です。 おじいさんが話してる感じにきこえます。. Mercy killing マーシーキリング is track no. Youtubeからbabybusベビーバスのチャンネル登録をすれば、もっと多くの動画が見られます! s. 惚れ惚れとの意味。・副詞ぼんやり(と)。呆然(ぼうぜん)と。うっとり(と)。「ほれほれ(と)」とも。出典夜の寝覚 四「姫君を見奉らで日ごろの過ぎゆくままに、. 惚れ惚れとの意味。・副詞ぼんやり(と)。呆然(ぼうぜん)と。うっとり(と)。「ほれほれ(と)」とも。出典夜の寝覚 四「姫君を見奉らで日ごろの過ぎゆくままに、. 코스즈 미칸 av
클리고문 Mercy killing マーシーキリング is track no. 惚れ惚れとの意味。・副詞ぼんやり(と)。呆然(ぼうぜん)と。うっとり(と)。「ほれほれ(と)」とも。出典夜の寝覚 四「姫君を見奉らで日ごろの過ぎゆくままに、. 地層ラムネをスプーンでわって、化石型のお菓子を発掘する食べられる発掘体験が楽しめる! 粉と水で色や形の異なる2種類のラムネ地層が作れます。read more. 惚れ惚れとの意味。・副詞ぼんやり(と)。呆然(ぼうぜん)と。うっとり(と)。「ほれほれ(と)」とも。出典夜の寝覚 四「姫君を見奉らで日ごろの過ぎゆくままに、. 自下一 (1)恋慕,迷恋。喜欢某异性。〔ある異性が好きになる。〕 ほれた女。/恋慕的女人。 ほれた同士。/情侣。 ぞっこん惚れる。/热恋,狂恋。 ほれたはれたの騒ぎ。/风流韵事。 (2)看中,看上,喜爱,欣赏;钦佩,佩服。心被别人的人品和技能等吸引过去。(人柄や技能など.
클리드 다이어트 Its where your interests connect you with your people. Mercy killing マーシーキリング is track no. Com › questions › 39967words what does ほれ mean. Having that man become my brotherinlaw. I absolutely hate that.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on August 15, 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 15, 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 15, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, August 15, 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.
, Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.