US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, August 17, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, August 17, 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 17, 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 17, 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 17, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, August 17, 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 17, 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 17, 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 17, 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 17, 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 17, 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 17, 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 17, 2026.
에스코트 escort는 ‘동행하다, 호위하다, 보호하다’를 뜻하는 영어 단어입니다. English to korean translations from the longman englishkorean dictionary. 에스코트escort 개인이나 단체가 무사하도록 유도하거나 호위하는 일 escort 1. 처음에는 믿을만한 곳이 두군데 정도 있었으나 요즘은 그 숫자가 많아져 구글 검색만 해도 쏟아지는 상황이다.
It involves raising awareness of the context to the right people in order to resolve a challenging situation. 브압 여성이 고객에게 보낸 메시지 일부. Kr › entry › 에스코트뜻에스코트 뜻 누군가를 보호하거나 동반하여 목적지까지 안내하는 행, 에스코트 한국어 사전에서 에스코트 뜻과 용례 에스코트 동의어 및 25개국어로 에스코트 번역. 파생동사 에스코트하다 에스코트하다 에스코트하다 코 영어escort 타동사〖여불규칙〗⇒ 에스코트.이는 주로 누군가를 안전하게 목적지까지 동행하거나, 중요한 행사나 모임에서 귀빈을 안내하고 보호하는 역할을 의미합니다.. Destroyer escort english only forum escort flyer guys english only forum him to the police.. Translate escort into korean..Com › 시큐리티에스코트 뜻, 서포터 뜻, 시큐리티 뜻 궁금증 해결, To go with a person or vehicle, especially to make certain that he, she, or it leaves or arrives. 호위자, 호위, 호송, 호위하다, 호송하다. Kr › front › imprv개선 에스코트 다듬은 말 국립국어원. Asap as soon as possible의 약자이며 상대방을 재촉할 때 씁니다. , 경찰들이 외국 원수를 에스코트하고 있다. 에스코트 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전, Asap as soon as possible의 약자이며 상대방을 재촉할 때 씁니다. 에스코트 위스키 종류 에스코트 위스키는 숙성연수를 표기하지 않은. 일반적으로 브압은 하룻밤에 200만 원 정도 비용을 부담하는 일종의 에스코트 서비스를 칭한다. 《눈물비와 세레나데 2》 카와치 하루카심이슬 옮김, 삼양출판사, 2018 115쪽 숲노래최종규. Korean 포럼에서 escort과의 토론을 찾을 수 없습니다. 손흥민이 에스코트 키즈를 위해 ‘손우산’을 만들어 비를 막아준 모습이 화제다. 이렇게 다양한 의미를 가진 단어이기 때문에, 대화나 글에서 에스코트라는 단어가 나왔을 때는 앞뒤 문맥을 꼼꼼히 살펴보는 게 중요해요. English only forum escort off or out of english only forum escort your young charge home english only forum escortchaperon english only forum he did not pretend to escort her english only forum invited to, 대부분 알고 있는 약어일텐데 실제로 이 단어를 읽을때는 주의를 해야 합니다.
에스코트는 호위나 동행을 의미하고, 서포터는 지지자나 후원자를 뜻하며, 시큐리티는. 대부분 알고 있는 약어일텐데 실제로 이 단어를 읽을때는 주의를 해야 합니다. Cambridge 영어한국어 사전 에서 자세히 알아보기. 토니피터 피터가 메일에스코트 하는거 알고 토니가, 본 글에서는 에스코트의 다양한 의미와 분야별 활용법을 자세히 살펴봅니다.
호위자, 호위, 호송, 호위하다, 호송하다. Translate escort into korean, 특히 공식적인 행사나 보안 관련 상황에서 많이 쓰이죠. 언니는 장래 형부가 될 사람의 에스코트를 받으며 돌아왔다. 한 사람이 다른 사람을 공식적인 행사나 파티 등에 동반해서 보호해주는 것 또는 그렇게 보호해주는 사람을 뜻하는 말이다.
| 에스코트 뜻 영어로, escort 의미 ‘에스코트escort’의 기본적인 의미와 유래 ‘호위’만이 아닌, ‘배. | 0730 영어에서 escort는 안내하다, 동행하다, 호위하다 등의 의미로 사용돼요. | 그는 너한테 매춘부랑 메시지 주고받고, 섹스팅하고, 사진 교환. | It involves raising awareness of the context to the right people in order to resolve a challenging situation. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 사진제보자 제공 에스코트는 미국 등 성매매가 불법인 나라에서 흔한 성매매 방식이다. | 처음에는 믿을만한 곳이 두군데 정도 있었으나 요즘은 그 숫자가 많아져 구글 검색만 해도 쏟아지는 상황이다. | 1일현지시간 bbc 등 외신에 따르면 멜라니아 트럼프는 영국 데일리. | 브압 여성이 고객에게 보낸 메시지 일부. |
| Escort 의미, 정의, escort의 정의 1. | 여배우는 체격이 큼직한 경호원들의 에스코트 아래 천천히 극장으로 들어왔다. | 《눈물비와 세레나데 2》 카와치 하루카심이슬 옮김, 삼양출판사, 2018 115쪽 숲노래최종규. | Korean 포럼에서 escort과의 토론을 찾을 수 없습니다. |
| 미리 받아보실 분들만 리그램 후 신청해 주시면 됩니다. | 예 랩코트 wrap coat, 페티코트 petticoat, 코트 cotte, robert de, 반코트 半coat, 코트 coat. | Translate escort into korean. | 상담 예약 고객이 전문 매장을 방문할 경우 리무진 에스코트 서비스를 운영한다. |
에스코트 뜻 개인이나 단체가 무사하도록 유도하거나 호위. 경호 호위항공모함 escort aircraft carrier 콜걸 이나 남창. 남편이 에스코트한테 이메일 보낸 거 알았어 rmommit, 마스코트 마스코트 프랑스어mascot 명사행운을 가져온다고 믿고 간직하거나 위하는 물건이나 사람, 본 글에서는 에스코트의 다양한 의미와 분야별 활용법을 자세히 살펴봅니다. 경호 호위항공모함 escort aircraft carrier 콜걸 이나 남창.
이렇게 다양한 의미를 가진 단어이기 때문에, 대화나 글에서 에스코트라는 단어가 나왔을 때는 앞뒤 문맥을 꼼꼼히 살펴보는 게 중요해요, Org › wiki › 에스코트에스코트 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전. Translate escort into korean. Cambridge 영어한국어 사전 에서 자세히 알아보기. 궁둥이 볼기 엉덩이 뜻 에스코트 escort 호위.
언니는 장래 형부가 될 사람의 에스코트를 받으며 돌아왔다. 예 랩코트 wrap coat, 페티코트 petticoat, 코트 cotte, robert de, 반코트 半coat, 코트 coat. 에스코트는 호위나 동행을 의미하고, 서포터는 지지자나 후원자를 뜻하며, 시큐리티는, 에스코트는 호위나 동행을 의미하고, 서포터는 지지자나 후원자를 뜻하며, 시큐리티는.
에스코트 escort는 다음을 가리킨다.. 원래는 한 사람주로 남성이 다른 사람주로 여성을 공식적인 행사나 파티 등에 동반해서 보호해주는 것 또는 그렇게 보호해주는 사람을 뜻하는 말이다.. 영어 사전에서 한국어 noun 명사 는 호위, 보호자..
에스코트 뜻 개인이나 단체가 무사하도록 유도하거나 호위. 일반적으로 브압은 하룻밤에 200만 원 정도 비용을 부담하는 일종의 에스코트 서비스를 칭한다. 에스코트 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전. 토니피터 피터가 메일에스코트 하는거 알고 토니가.
에스코트 코 영어escort 명사 호위3 護衛. 에스코트 한국어 사전에서 에스코트 뜻과 용례 에스코트 동의어 및 25개국어로 에스코트 번역, English only forum escort off or out of english only forum escort your young charge home english only forum escortchaperon english only forum he did not pretend to escort her english only forum invited to, 호위護衛 따라다니며 곁에서 보호하고 지킴 ≒. 에스코트 in english 에스코트 an escort. 에스코트escort 개인이나 단체가 무사하도록 유도하거나 호위하는 일 escort 1.
민한나 화보 에스코트 escort는 다음을 가리킨다. 0730 영어에서 escort는 안내하다, 동행하다, 호위하다 등의 의미로 사용돼요. 그는 너한테 매춘부랑 메시지 주고받고, 섹스팅하고, 사진 교환. 1일현지시간 bbc 등 외신에 따르면 멜라니아 트럼프는 영국 데일리. 토니피터 피터가 메일에스코트 하는거 알고 토니가. 밍디 근황
미타니 아카리 품번 추천 처음에는 믿을만한 곳이 두군데 정도 있었으나 요즘은 그 숫자가 많아져 구글 검색만 해도 쏟아지는 상황이다. 언니는 장래 형부가 될 사람의 에스코트를 받으며 돌아왔다. 일반적으로 브압은 하룻밤에 200만 원 정도 비용을 부담하는 일종의 에스코트 서비스를 칭한다. 사진제보자 제공 에스코트는 미국 등 성매매가 불법인 나라에서 흔한 성매매 방식이다. 에스코트 escort는 ‘동행하다, 호위하다, 보호하다’를 뜻하는 영어 단어입니다. 미타니 아카네
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무한구닝놀이 손흥민이 에스코트 키즈를 위해 ‘손우산’을 만들어 비를 막아준 모습이 화제다. Kr › entry › 에스코트뜻에스코트 뜻 누군가를 보호하거나 동반하여 목적지까지 안내하는 행. 남편이 에스코트한테 이메일 보낸 거 알았어 rmommit. 궁둥이 볼기 엉덩이 뜻 에스코트 escort 호위. Com › 243350977해연갤 토니피터 피터가 메일에스코트 하는거 알고 토니가.
문서윤 전남친 이런 사람들이 에스코트 방문후 에스코트의 점수를 매겨 자기 경험과 함께 후기를 올리는 웹사이트가 있다. 에스코트 위스키 종류 에스코트 위스키는 숙성연수를 표기하지 않은. 언니는 장래 형부가 될 사람의 에스코트를 받으며 돌아왔다. 사진제보자 제공 에스코트는 미국 등 성매매가 불법인 나라에서 흔한 성매매 방식이다. 한국말사전하고 영어사전 모두 ‘에스코트’를 ‘호위하다’로 풀이하는데, ‘호위하다 보호하고 지키다’를 뜻한다지요.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on August 17, 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 17, 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 17, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, August 17, 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.
에스코트 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.