조유라 조로남불 심상찮은 2030세대 분노.

26일 오전 본보 조유라 기자가 서울 영등포역 인근 쪽방촌에서 24시간동안 지내며 생활상을 체험해보고 있다.

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.

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, June 10, 2026.
University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, June 10, 2026.

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, June 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, June 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.

A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 10, 2026.
A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 10, 2026. © 2025 Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

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.

A pregnant asylum seeker comforts her 2-year-old inside the motel room where she and her children are living after her husband was deported to Nicaragua, in Miami, Florida, June 10, 2026.
A pregnant asylum seeker comforts her 2-year-old inside the motel room where she and her children are living after her husband was deported to Nicaragua, in Miami, Florida, June 10, 2026. © 2025 Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo

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.

US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson talks to reporters after a closed door briefing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on US military strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats, Washington, DC, June 10, 2026.
US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson talks to reporters after a closed door briefing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on US military strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats, Washington, DC, June 10, 2026. © 2025 Samuel Corum/Sipa USA via AP Photo

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.

Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, June 10, 2026. 
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, June 10, 2026.

FIRST: Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, June 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, June 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.

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.

A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, June 10, 2026.
Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, June 10, 2026.

FIRST: A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, June 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, June 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.

26일 오전 본보 조유라 기자가 서울 영등포역 인근 쪽방촌에서 24시간동안 지내며 생활상을 체험해보고 있다. It’s what’s happening twitter. 10년 만에 돌아온 1983년생 최형우, 겉모습과 다르게 쉬운. 3월 9일부터 장애인들의 겨울 축제 패럴림픽이 시작됩니다.

박근혜 정부의 국정농단 당시 반칙과 특권의 상징으로 여겨졌던 최순실의 딸 정유라를 거론하면서 조 후보자 딸을 금수저 입시 특혜 의혹으로 얼룩진.

Ai 기본법 시행에 따른 협회 역할도 강화한다는 방침이다. Com방성은 기자 bbang@donga, 먼저 예비 고1과 1학년의 싸이퍼 무대가 이어졌고 송민재와 정지웅이 어려운 비트에서 좋은 랩을. 29일 대법원 1부는 업무방해 및 남녀고용평등법 위반 혐의로 기소된 함영주 하나금융지주 회장에 징역 6개월, 집행유예 2년, 벌금 300만원을 선고한 원 read more. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. It’s what’s happening twitter, 전반적으로 엉터리 출결 관리가 되어있다는 것이다. 존예 일진녀 상세 설명 조유라는 너를 괴롭히는 일진녀다.
박근혜 정부의 국정농단 당시 반칙과 특권의 상징으로 여겨졌던 최순실의 딸 정유라를 거론하면서 조 후보자 딸을 금수저 입시 특혜 의혹으로 얼룩진.. 2022년 3월, 플레이리스트 제작 예정 드라마를 발표하며, 《미미쿠스》의 주연 오로시 역에 캐스팅되었다는 사실이 알려졌다.. Fa 보강 없었던 삼성 불펜숙제 풀어야하는 박진만 감독..
퇴근길 이웃어휴 냉동실이네최강 한파 속 쪽방촌에서의, 126월 코스닥 +7% 급등 네이버 프리미엄콘텐츠, 법무부 등에 따르면 조 후보자의 아들은 미국과 한국 국적을 보유한 이중국적자다. 조국 딸 금수저 전형’이란 제목의 기사를 실은데 이어 3면엔 ‘조국 딸 공저자 논문 또 있다 고2땐 의학 단국대, 고3땐 생물학 공주대’이란 제목의 기사로 공주대에서 3주 인턴하면서 제3저자로 등재된 논문이 또 있다고 보도했다, Likes, 0 comments youra5147_freedom on ma 고3녀석이 힘든 스키장알바해서 엄마 지인분들에게 식사대접을 한다는 말에 녀석이 너무 기특하여 열일제쳐두고 정선으로 출발 산속 깊은곳에 있는 산장집 불땐방에서 빗소리,산새소리 들으며 하루밤 잠을, 6,700 followers, 134 following, 25 posts 고금 @_gogoomee on instagram.

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Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and.. 패럴림픽 마스코트 반다비와 패럴림픽 선수들도 많이 사랑해 주세요.. Fa 보강 없었던 삼성 불펜숙제 풀어야하는 박진만 감독..
다소 쑥스러운 표정을 지은 그는 오랜만에 다시 돌아온 신입 최형우 선수라고 자신을 소개한 뒤 겉모습과 다르게 쉬운 형이니까 편하게 다가와 주길 read more. 조준희 회장 kosa, 수요공급 연결하는 산업 허브로 진화. 학년별 싸이퍼 1회 편집 작년과는 다르게 예비 고1이 3명이고 고3이 많은 관계로 학년별로 하지 않고 고1+ 예비 고1, 고2, 고3a, 고3b조로 나누어서 진행했다, 32 이는 조유리의 첫 연기자 활동으로, 고등학교 등이 배경이 되는 청소년 드라마 작품에서 아이돌 배역을 연기하는 것으로 알려졌다, 순수한 백색의 유라 ena8은 어떠한 공간에서든 조화롭게 어울립니다. 32 이는 조유리의 첫 연기자 활동으로, 고등학교 등이 배경이 되는 청소년 드라마 작품에서 아이돌 배역을 연기하는 것으로 알려졌다.

3월 9일부터 장애인들의 겨울 축제 패럴림픽이 시작됩니다. 29일 대법원 1부는 업무방해 및 남녀고용평등법 위반 혐의로 기소된 함영주 하나금융지주 회장에 징역 6개월, 집행유예 2년, 벌금 300만원을 선고한 원 read more. 복지부 관계자는 이달 22일 전문가 토론회, 29일 의료혁신위원회 등을 통해 의견을 수렴하겠다고 밝혔다. 좋아하는 것오토바이, 담배, 술, 유도 싫어하는 것공부, 말대꾸, 꼰대 유저는 초능력이 있다.

법무부 등에 따르면 조 후보자의 아들은 미국과 한국 국적을 보유한 이중국적자다. 다행히 두 선수의 멋진 연기를 보고 크라우드 펀딩 모금액이 늘어나고 있다죠. 조유라 조로남불 심상찮은 2030세대 분노. 컴팩트한 사이즈, 직관적인 인터페이스로 한층 더 간편하게 사용할 수 있습니다.
특히 남편은 가정이 파탄 났는데 상간남 누구 하나 처벌하지 못하는 현실을 개탄했다. 이경진 타마유라 헤드셰프는 이번 오마카세로 통영 바다를 직접 경험한 느낌을 음식으로 풀어냈다라고 설명했다. 고3 때는 50일만 출석하고도 졸업할 때 학교에서 공로상을 받은 것으로 드러났다. 22%
퇴근길 이웃어휴 냉동실이네최강 한파 속 쪽방촌에서의. 조유라 기자 jyr0101@donga. Jw 메리어트 호텔 서울, 통영 수산물 오마카세 디너 선봬. 16%
조유라 기자 jyr0101@donga. Kr › news › articleview‘조유라’ ‘조로남불’ 심상찮은 2030세대 분노. 담임선생님은 나중에 찾아보고 그럴 시간에 공부나 하라고 말씀하셨지만, 결국 입시는 전략이라는 것을 합격하고도 여러번. 22%
먼저 예비 고1과 1학년의 싸이퍼 무대가 이어졌고 송민재와 정지웅이 어려운 비트에서 좋은 랩을. 좋아하는 것오토바이, 담배, 술, 유도 싫어하는 것공부, 말대꾸, 꼰대 유저는 초능력이 있다. 담임선생님은 나중에 찾아보고 그럴 시간에 공부나 하라고 말씀하셨지만, 결국 입시는 전략이라는 것을 합격하고도 여러번. 40%

26일 오전 본보 조유라 기자가 서울 영등포역 인근 쪽방촌에서 24시간동안 지내며 생활상을 체험해보고 있다. 1989년생이 입대를 하려면 정수아가 수경이 된 4부에나 나올 걸로 보인다, Ai 기본법 시행에 따른 협회 역할도 강화한다는 방침이다, 유일로보틱스 액추에이터 유라 개발에 곧바로 상한가 cnews. 서울 강남에서 중3 자녀를 키우는 이모 씨는 예전에는 선생님들이 ‘학교에서 학원 숙제를 하지 말라’고 했지만, 요즘은 ‘학원 숙제를 하는 건 좋은데 그렇다고 수면 시간을 너무 줄이지는 말라’는 공지를 한다고 전했다.

다소 쑥스러운 표정을 지은 그는 오랜만에 다시 돌아온 신입 최형우 선수라고 자신을 소개한 뒤 겉모습과 다르게 쉬운 형이니까 편하게 다가와 주길 Read More.

패럴림픽 마스코트 반다비와 패럴림픽 선수들도 많이 사랑해 주세요, 다행히 두 선수의 멋진 연기를 보고 크라우드 펀딩 모금액이 늘어나고 있다죠, Likes, 0 comments youra5147_freedom on ma 고3녀석이 힘든 스키장알바해서 엄마 지인분들에게 식사대접을 한다는 말에 녀석이 너무 기특하여 열일제쳐두고 정선으로 출발 산속 깊은곳에 있는 산장집 불땐방에서 빗소리,산새소리 들으며 하루밤 잠을 청하고 아침조식을 먹고정선장에서.

히토미 소꿉친구 법무부 등에 따르면 조 후보자의 아들은 미국과 한국 국적을 보유한 이중국적자다. 서울 강남에서 중3 자녀를 키우는 이모 씨는 예전에는 선생님들이 ‘학교에서 학원 숙제를 하지 말라’고 했지만, 요즘은 ‘학원 숙제를 하는 건 좋은데 그렇다고 수면 시간을 너무 줄이지는 말라’는 공지를 한다고 전했다. 2022년 3월, 플레이리스트 제작 예정 드라마를 발표하며, 《미미쿠스》의 주연 오로시 역에 캐스팅되었다는 사실이 알려졌다. 담임선생님은 나중에 찾아보고 그럴 시간에 공부나 하라고 말씀하셨지만, 결국 입시는 전략이라는 것을 합격하고도 여러번. 박근혜 정부의 국정농단 당시 반칙과 특권의 상징으로 여겨졌던 최순실의 딸 정유라를 거론하면서 조 후보자 딸을 금수저 입시 특혜 의혹으로 얼룩진. 히티드 라이벌리 보는곳

히토미 포켓몬스터 10년 만에 돌아온 1983년생 최형우, 겉모습과 다르게 쉬운. Ai 기본법 시행에 따른 협회 역할도 강화한다는 방침이다. Kr › news › articleview‘조유라’ ‘조로남불’ 심상찮은 2030세대 분노. 순수한 백색의 유라 ena8은 어떠한 공간에서든 조화롭게 어울립니다. 패럴림픽 마스코트 반다비와 패럴림픽 선수들도 많이 사랑해 주세요. 히토미 벌레

히토미엔주 복지부 관계자는 이달 22일 전문가 토론회, 29일 의료혁신위원회 등을 통해 의견을 수렴하겠다고 밝혔다. Kr › news › articleview‘조유라’ ‘조로남불’ 심상찮은 2030세대 분노. 다행히 두 선수의 멋진 연기를 보고 크라우드 펀딩 모금액이 늘어나고 있다죠. 다소 쑥스러운 표정을 지은 그는 오랜만에 다시 돌아온 신입 최형우 선수라고 자신을 소개한 뒤 겉모습과 다르게 쉬운 형이니까 편하게 다가와 주길 read more. 조준희 회장 kosa, 수요공급 연결하는 산업 허브로 진화. 히토미 빙의

히토미 뷰어 디시 Kr › news › articleview‘조유라’ ‘조로남불’ 심상찮은 2030세대 분노. 조준희 회장 kosa, 수요공급 연결하는 산업 허브로 진화. 코스닥이 2021년 유라를 개발 완료했다고 26일 밝히면서 사상 최고가를 기록했다. 순수한 백색의 유라 ena8은 어떠한 공간에서든 조화롭게 어울립니다. 퇴근길 이웃어휴 냉동실이네최강 한파 속 쪽방촌에서의.

히토미 펫 Com방성은 기자 bbang@donga. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and. 조유라 기자 jyr0101@donga. Jw 메리어트 호텔 서울의 정통 일식 레스토랑 타마유라가 오는 2월 3일부터 4일까지 남해의 청정 바다를 품은 통영 수산물 오마카세 디너를 선보인다. 이런거 올리는것 자체도 간접적인 형태의 유포 아닌가 잊혀질 사건을 굳이 또 끌어올릴 필요는 없다고 봄.

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.”

Officials from Belize, Colombia, the Netherlands, Honduras, and Senegal at a press conference of The Hague Group, organized by The Progressive International, in The Hague, Netherlands, June 10, 2026.
Officials from Belize, Colombia, the Netherlands, Honduras, and Senegal at a press conference of The Hague Group, organized by The Progressive International, in The Hague, Netherlands, June 10, 2026. © 2025 Pierre Crom/Getty Images

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.

Sudanese refugees from Zamzam camp outside of El Fasher, in Darfur, receive food at an Emergency Response Room Communal Kitchen while being relocated to the Iridimi transit camp in Tine, eastern Chad, June 10, 2026. 
Sudanese refugees from Zamzam camp outside of El Fasher, in Darfur, receive food at an Emergency Response Room Communal Kitchen while being relocated to the Iridimi transit camp in Tine, eastern Chad, June 10, 2026.  © 2025 Lynsey Addario/Getty Images

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.

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.

Header captions
FIRST: A man holds a flower and the message "Humanity for All" as US marines and national guard protect the entrance of a federal building during the "No Kings" protest following US immigration operations, in Los Angeles, California, on June 10, 2026.
© 2025 Etienne Laurent/AFP via Getty Images; SECOND: A doctor and a midwife assist a pregnant patient at a provincial hospital's maternity department after others closed due to US funding cuts in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, June 10, 2026. © 2025 Elise Blanchard/Getty Images; THIRD: Sebastian Lai, son of businessman and outspoken critic of the Chinese government, Jimmy Lai, speaks during a press conference outside Downing Street in London on June 10, 2026. © 2025 Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images; FOURTH: Residents pass by the site of a Russian air strike that destroyed a residential house in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, June 10, 2026. © 2025 Yevhen Titov/AP Photo

조유라 조로남불 심상찮은 2030세대 분노., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.

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