US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 7, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 7, 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, June 7, 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 7, 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, June 7, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 7, 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, June 7, 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, June 7, 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 7, 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, June 7, 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, June 7, 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 7, 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, June 7, 2026.
흑인 유저들의 이탈은 트위터에게 큰 타격을 입힐 가능성이 있다고 nbc는 전했다. 트위터 측은 히스패닉 공동체와의 관계를 확대하려는 지역을 중심으로 이러한 정책을 추진 중이라고 했다. 워싱턴연합뉴스 홍정규 특파원 미국 도널드 트럼프 행정부가 운영하는 온라인 공식 계정들에 극우인종주의 흔적들이 곳곳에서 발견된다고 뉴욕. 트위터의 대표 사진 고르기 알고리즘이 흑인, 이슬람교도, 장애인, 노인을 차별하는 것으로 드러났다.
미국 도널드 트럼프 행정부가 운영하는 온라인 공식 계정들에 극우인종주의 흔적들이 곳곳에서 발견된다고 뉴욕타임스nyt가 현지시각 27일 보도 read more, 생성형 ai서 판검사 등 전문직 이미지 백인 74%흑인 3%, 그렇게 되었습니다🫡🎞️ 배우 슈카의 탄생 직전, 충무로에서. 백인에 대한 인종차별을 신고하면, 트윗은 삭제되고 계정은 정지돼. 많은 브랜드가 유튜브나 sns 채널에서 blacklivesmatter흑인의 목숨은 중요하다 운동을 지지하는 광고를 선보였지만 시위가 일어나는 지역 사회에 직접 광고를 한 건 트위터가 처음이다. 흑인 유저들의 이탈은 트위터에게 큰 타격을 입힐 가능성이 있다고 nbc는 전했다. 미국 도널드 트럼프 행정부가 운영하는 온라인 공식 계정들에 극우인종주의 흔적들이 곳곳에서 발견된다고 뉴욕타임스nyt가 현지시각 27일 보도 read more. Hours ago — 원래 트위터는 다양성을 핵심 가치로 내세운 기업이었다. 보통 크기의 남성이 대물 선호 여성을 만나는 경우 보통 크기의 음경을 가진게 죄는 아닌데도 상대 여성으로부터 성관계 시 불만이나 가시박힌 광대랑. 美정부 공식계정에 극우 인종주의 흔적ice 채용 광고. Black girl gamers는 게임 업계를 바꾸기 위해 트위터를 어떻게.트위터가 흑인들 사이에서 그렇게 인기 있는 특별한 이유.. 또한 구글 트렌드에서 트위터를 검색하면 대부분..도널드 트럼프 미국 행정부가 운영하는 온라인 공식 계정 곳곳에서 극우인종주의 흔적들이 발견된다고 현지시간 27일 뉴욕타임스nyt가 보도 read more, 보통 크기의 남성이 대물 선호 여성을 만나는 경우 보통 크기의 음경을 가진게 죄는 아닌데도 상대 여성으로부터 성관계 시 불만이나 가시박힌 광대랑. 주로 blackgamers 와 같은 해시태그를 이용했지요. 거기에 어느 한 일본인이 생물학적으로 패한 느낌이라고 댓글을 담. 주로 blackgamers 와 같은 해시태그를 이용했지요, 거기에 어느 한 일본인이 생물학적으로 패한 느낌이라고 댓글을 담. 도널드 트럼프 미국 행정부가 운영하는 온라인 공식 계정 곳곳에서 극우인종주의 흔적들이 발견된다고 현지시간 27일 뉴욕타임스nyt가 보도 read more, 또한 구글 트렌드에서 트위터를 검색하면 대부분, 한편 방탄소년단 bts은 4일 공식 트위터 페이지에 조지 플로이드 사망 사건을 계기로 일어난 흑인 인권운동을 지지하는 글을 blacklivesmatter 해시.
흑인 인어공주가 주인공인 디즈니 실사영화 캐릭터를 백인으로 바꾼 동영상이 등장해 논란이 됐다, 흑인의 독특한 그루브와 댄스 스타일을 탐구하며 함께 느껴봐요. 미 정부 공식계정에 극우 인종주의 흔적ice 채용 광고에도. 흑인들한테 미친 인종차별 개많이 하잖아.
4일 유튜브 채널 케터스 클립스는 24살 스웨덴 예텐보리 출신 모델 나타샤 크라운의 사연을 소개했다. 이에 흑인 커뮤니티들이 대규모로 침공을 함 ㄷㄷㄷ, 우파페미 노녹정 노동당, 녹색당, 정의당 트위터 여당이라고 불렸던 정당들로, 이들이 소위 페미니즘성소수자 이슈에 적극적이였기 때문에 붙여진 칭호다, Minutes ago — 원래 트위터는 다양성을 핵심 가치로 내세운 기업이었다, 트위터는 10일현지시간 자사의 사진 자르기 알고리즘이 사회적 소수자를 차별하는 사례를 찾아달라는 내용의 ‘트위터 알고리즘 편향 공모전, Black girl gamers는 게임 업계를 바꾸기 위해 트위터를 어떻게.
흑인파워 @jay36939385 posts 남 30년 1888618부부만남초대남서울cuckoldbbcbull x formerly twitter 흑인파워✓.. 그들은 차례로 대화 에 참여했고 우리의 트윗을 리트윗 하여 그들 자신의 개인 커뮤니티로 우리의 메시지를 전달했습니다.. 흑인의 독특한 그루브와 댄스 스타일을 탐구하며 함께 느껴봐요..
한편 방탄소년단 bts은 4일 공식 트위터 페이지에 조지 플로이드 사망 사건을 계기로 일어난 흑인 인권운동을 지지하는 글을 blacklivesmatter 해시. 거기에 어느 한 일본인이 생물학적으로 패한 느낌이라고 댓글을 담, 경제 유튜버 슈카 드디어 영화배우로 데뷔, Com › international › internationalai로 흑인 인어공주→백인 탈바꿈&mldr. 많은 브랜드가 유튜브나 sns 채널에서 blacklivesmatter흑인의 목숨은 중요하다 운동을 지지하는 광고를 선보였지만 시위가 일어나는 지역 사회에 직접 광고를 한 건 트위터가 처음이다, 트위터 측은 히스패닉 공동체와의 관계를 확대하려는 지역을 중심으로 이러한 정책을 추진 중이라고 했다.
트위터는 공식 계정 프로필 사진의 색을 파란색에서 검은색으로 바꿨으며, 해시태그에 블랙 라이브즈 매터흑인의 생명도 소중하다도 추가했습니다, 트위터는 10일현지시간 자사의 사진 자르기 알고리즘이 사회적 소수자를 차별하는 사례를 찾아달라는 내용의 ‘트위터 알고리즘 편향 공모전. 흑인파워 @jay36939385 posts 남 30년 1888618부부만남초대남서울cuckoldbbcbull x formerly twitter 흑인파워✓, 흑인들한테 미친 인종차별 개많이 하잖아. 미국 인구의 %14가 흑인임에도 불구하고, 미국 트위터 사용자 중 %25에서 %30이 흑인입니다.
美정부 공식계정에 극우 인종주의 흔적ice 채용 광고. 그루브 바이브 춤 dance 힙합 hiphop. 트위터는 10일현지시간 자사의 사진 자르기 알고리즘이 사회적 소수자를 차별하는 사례를 찾아달라는 내용의 ‘트위터 알고리즘 편향 공모전. 트위터는 공식 계정 프로필 사진의 색을 파란색에서 검은색으로 바꿨으며, 해시태그에 블랙 라이브즈 매터흑인의 생명도 소중하다도 추가했습니다. 많은 브랜드가 유튜브나 sns 채널에서 blacklivesmatter흑인의 목숨은 중요하다 운동을 지지하는 광고를 선보였지만 시위가 일어나는 지역 사회에 직접 광고를 한 건 트위터가 처음이다. 경제 유튜버 슈카 드디어 영화배우로 데뷔.
토믄ㅅㄷㄱ 미국 트위터에 난리난 흑인범죄 wbtv 방송영상. 인공지능ai이 사람들의 편견까지 학습한 결과다. Minutes ago — 원래 트위터는 다양성을 핵심 가치로 내세운 기업이었다. 경제 유튜버 슈카 드디어 영화배우로 데뷔. 2018년 기준 미국 트위터 유저의 26%는 흑인으로, 미국 전체 인구의 13. 트위치
트위터 김리리 백업 보통 크기의 남성이 대물 선호 여성을 만나는 경우 보통 크기의 음경을 가진게 죄는 아닌데도 상대 여성으로부터 성관계 시 불만이나 가시박힌 광대랑. 이에 다른 트위터 사용자들도 실험해보니 유사한 결과가 나왔다. Minutes ago — 원래 트위터는 다양성을 핵심 가치로 내세운 기업이었다. 28일 미 피플, 버라이어티 등에 따르면, 미나즈는 이날 read more. 포텐 터짐 최신순 유머움짤이슈 유머 2023. 턱살 리프팅 디시
트위터 골반녀 지난 16일현지 시각 포브스 등에 따르면 tengazillioiniq라는 아이디를 쓰는 트위터 사용자가 디즈니의 흑인 인어공주를 백인으로 바꾼 동영상을 만들었다가. Com › lovelyhshs@lovelyhshs x. 우파페미 노녹정 노동당, 녹색당, 정의당 트위터 여당이라고 불렸던 정당들로, 이들이 소위 페미니즘성소수자 이슈에 적극적이였기 때문에 붙여진 칭호다. 미국 트위터에 난리난 흑인범죄 wbtv 방송영상. Cmv 블랙 트위터 트렌드는 흑인에게 굴욕감을 줄 뿐만. 택시자위
토냥이 섹스 흑인 여자가 백인들 앞에서 흑인 트위터 갈등을 꺼냄. 흑인파워 @jay36939385 posts 남 30년 1888618부부만남초대남서울cuckoldbbcbull x formerly twitter 흑인파워✓. Cmv 블랙 트위터 트렌드는 흑인에게 굴욕감을 줄 뿐만. 흑인파워 @jay36939385 posts x. 도널드 트럼프 미국 행정부가 운영하는 온라인 공식 계정 곳곳에서 극우인종주의 흔적들이 발견된다고 현지시간 27일 뉴욕타임스nyt가 보도 read more.
트위터 동영상 모음 사이트 Com › economy › tech_it코로나 이후 트위터에 흑인 직원이 급증한 이유. 트위터는 약간 바뀌었지만 기술 분야의 흑인 여성 200명은 여전히 강력한 자원 공유를 통해 제대로 표현되지 않은 커뮤니티의 성과 공유를 강조하고 있습니다. 미국 도널드 트럼프 행정부가 운영하는 온라인 공식 계정들에 극우인종주의 흔적들이 곳곳에서 발견된다고 뉴욕타임스nyt가 현지시각 27일 보도 read more. 거기에 어느 한 일본인이 생물학적으로 패한 느낌이라고 댓글을 담. 美정부 공식계정에 극우 인종주의 흔적ice 채용 광고.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 7, 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, June 7, 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, June 7, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 7, 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.
미국 인구의 %14가 흑인임에도 불구하고, 미국 트위터 사용자 중 %25에서 %30이 흑인입니다., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.