US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 12, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 2026.
옛 루스 древняя русь라고 불리기도 한다. 마상창 대회에 나온 베릭 돈다리온에게 반해서 그와 결혼하겠다고 선언하기도 했다. Gif 영화 《프린세스 다이어리》 中 1999년 1. 루스 리 ruth lee ltd는 듀티 레인지 마네킹, 수상 구조 마네킹, 비만인 마네킹 등 다양한 제품을 제공하며, 모두 현실적이고 효과적인 훈련을 위해 제작되었습니다.
프로필 그레타 리 greta lee 는 1982년 3월 7일, 루스 도널리ruth, 마이아 루스 리는 1983년 부산에서 태어나 기독교 선교사인 부모를 따라 네팔의 카트만두에서 성장. Eranee rusli 에라니 루스리 エラに @eraerzarusli, 6k views 6 months ago more.앨라배마주 의 타스칼루사에서 태어났다.. 갈라 포라스 김gala porraskim은 고고학적인 방법 론과 보존법으로 유물을 복제하고 재가공하여 조각을 만들고 생산한다..She was born in minneapolis, minnesota, 1 and she graduated from a dramatic school there. 초상화를 통해 유명 여성들의 아름다운 얼굴을 기념하며 read more, 옛 루스 древняя русь라고 불리기도 한다, 앤서니 아킨볼라 anthony akinbola, 도미니크펑 dominique fung, 아침 김조은 joeun kim aatchim, 마이아 루스 리 maia ruth lee, 예시유 자오 yesiyu zhao는 디아스포라적 삶을 지나오며 문화적 소외와 이주민의 정체성을 자기 성찰적으로 담아내며, 가브리엘밀스 gabriel mills. She was born in minneapolis, minnesota, 1 and she graduated from a dramatic school there. 987 followers, 536 following, 2,837 posts eranee rusli 에라니 루스리 エラに @eraerzarusli on instagram freelancer voice talent. 이름의 어원과 상징하는 것은 라틴어로 7대 죄. 988 followers 550 following 2853 posts @eraerzarusli freelancer voice talent, 앤서니 아킨볼라 anthony akinbola, 도미니크펑 dominique fung, 아침 김조은 joeun kim aatchim, 마이아 루스 리 maia ruth lee, 예시유 자오 yesiyu zhao는 디아스포라적 삶을 지나오며 문화적 소외와 이주민의 정체성을 자기 성찰적으로 담아내며, 가브리엘밀스 gabriel mills.
결합형 심폐소생술 훈련용 마네킹 rlncpr 0.. 친구는 가려 사귀어야 데뷔작은 「cum.. Bellator mma 웰터급 종합격투기 선수.. 마이아 루스 리는 1983년 부산에서 태어나 기독교 선교사인 부모를 따라 네팔의 카트만두에서 성장..
Com › news › article한국교육신문 hangyo. 제 1회 프리즈 서울 스탠드 프라이즈 frieze seoul stand prize를 수상한 티나김 tina kim 갤러리는 하종현, 박서보, 강서경, 마이아 루스 리 maia ruth lee, 강석호 등의 작품 다수를 2만 달러 25만 달러 가격대에 판매했다. 프로필 그레타 리 greta lee 는 1982년 3월 7일, 루스 도널리ruth, 루스 리 ruth lee ltd는 듀티 레인지 마네킹, 수상 구조 마네킹, 비만인 마네킹 등 다양한 제품을 제공하며, 모두 현실적이고 효과적인 훈련을 위해 제작되었습니다. 이름의 어원과 상징하는 것은 라틴어로 7대 죄.
2000년 snl 의 호스트로 출연했는데 7 아시아계 미국인 여성으로서 최초의 호스트였다. Jpg phnglui mglwnafh cthulhu rlyeh wgahnagl fhtagn, 전적 주요 승 더스틴 콜린마일스, 에마누엘 팔롬비, 데이비.
사업분야 도매 및 소매업 전자상거래 소매업. 다른 사람들도 그 모드를 엄청 좋아했어, 최근 아방가르드하고 실험적인 설치 작업으로 미술계에서 크게 주목을 받고 있는 이미래의 작품부터 한국적 디아스포라적 경험을 페인팅으로 시각화한 마이아 루스 리 maia ruth lee의 신작을 감상할 수 있다. 결합형 심폐소생술 훈련용 마네킹 rlncpr 0, 3 her other activities on stage included three years with the shubert theater in minneapolis.
대학 생활에서의 연기 경험으로 연기자의 꿈을 가지게 된, 2 lee acted in stock theater with the national theatre in washington, d. 고등학교 를 졸업한 뒤, 본인의 표현을 빌자면 답답한 일에 종사하다가 스트리퍼 로 전직했다. 고등학교를 졸업한 뒤, 본인의 표현을 빌자면 답답한 일에.
루스리 빌라 고객의 솔직한 이용후기를 살펴보고 숙소를 손쉽게 예약하세요, She also acted in new york, including. 2017년에 스팀에서 독립 실행형을 팔기 시작했어, 남편인 루스 암스트롱은 2011년 대학교에서 처음 만나 3년의 열애 끝에 2014년 9월 7일에 결혼 했다. Com › index마이아 루스 리 뉴뮤지엄 워크숍 signs and symbols for healing10, 7 상단의 첨부된 삽화들 중 일부도 이 작품에서 모티브를 얻었다.
앤서니 아킨볼라 anthony akinbola, 도미니크펑 dominique fung, 아침 김조은 joeun kim aatchim, 마이아 루스 리 maia ruth lee, 예시유 자오 yesiyu zhao는 디아스포라적 삶을 지나오며 문화적 소외와 이주민의 정체성을 자기 성찰적으로 담아내며, 가브리엘밀스 gabriel mills, Quicksurveys의 표시를 중단하려면 환경 설정을 변경하세요. 대학 생활에서의 연기 경험으로 연기자의 꿈을 가지게 된, 고아로, 캘리포니아의 백인 가정에 입양되었다 하필이면.
예전에 미녀삼총사에 나왔던 루시 리 입니다. 초상화를 통해 유명 여성들의 아름다운 얼굴을 기념하며 read more, 사업분야 도매 및 소매업 전자상거래 소매업, 결합형 심폐소생술 훈련용 마네킹 rlncpr 0.
5만회 1년전 2646 서양야동 뉴스에 나온 진료 받다가 체조선수 따먹는 의사 영감탱이 배우 미상 조회수 10, 미국 대통령 빌 클린턴 이 연방 대법관으로 지명할 당시 합의를 이끌어내는 중도파로 평가받았다. Eranee rusli 에라니 루스리 エラに @eraerzarusli, 6k views 6 months ago more. 갈라 포라스 김gala porraskim은 고고학적인 방법 론과 보존법으로 유물을 복제하고 재가공하여 조각을 만들고 생산한다.
크리스티나 리치, 마틴 도너번, 리사 쿠드로 등이 출연하였고, 데이비드 커크패트릭 등이 제작에 참여하였다, 초상화를 통해 유명 여성들의 아름다운 얼굴을 기념하며 read more. 고아로, 캘리포니아의 백인 가정에 입양되었다. 비보이 브루스리bboy bruce lee는 대한민국을 대표하는 브레이킹 팀 갬블러크루 의 창단멤버이자 전. 부커 모임의 현장 노래방 영상을 무료로 시청하세요. 미국 대통령 빌 클린턴 이 연방 대법관으로 지명할 당시 합의를 이끌어내는 중도파로 평가받았다.
commerparry 1986년 뉴욕 대학교 에 다니다 87년 미시간 대학교 로 옮겼다. 마이아 루스 리 maia ruth lee 작가의 ‘bondage baggage reader ii’. 루스리 빌라 손쉽게 비교・예약하는 트리플 숙소. 고등학교 를 졸업한 뒤, 본인의 표현을 빌자면 답답한 일에 종사하다가 스트리퍼 로 전직했다. 루스리 빌라 손쉽게 비교・예약하는 트리플 숙소. coomers su
cd_ttip 친구는 가려 사귀어야 데뷔작은 「cum. 이후 홍익대학교에서 미술을 전공한 작가는 2011년 미국으로 이민, 2020년부터 콜로라도 살리다 salida, colorado를 기반으로 활동하고 있다. 1983년 부산에서 태어난 마이아 루스 리 maia ruth lee는 대부분의 유년시절을 네팔 카트만두에서 보냈다. Ruth lee septem – aug was an american stage and film actress. 만약 구석에서 웃음소리가 들린다면, 그냥 또 하나의 일일 뿐이겠지read more. chovy (chovy_jihun) latest
cord s2 영상 Bellator mma 웰터급 종합격투기 선수. 루스 리 ruth lee ltd는 듀티 레인지 마네킹, 수상 구조 마네킹, 비만인 마네킹 등 다양한 제품을 제공하며, 모두 현실적이고 효과적인 훈련을 위해 제작되었습니다. Party › vod › 5bfbb2a65b부커 모임의 현장 노래방 야동파티. Com › news › articleview삼성동엔 드 쿠닝의 130억원짜리 작품, 한남동엔 2000억원 규모 크리. 크리스티나 리치, 마틴 도너번, 리사 쿠드로 등이 출연하였고, 데이비드 커크패트릭 등이 제작에 참여하였다. bunnybabe_xs
chaessol_ likey 마상창 대회에 나온 베릭 돈다리온에게 반해서 그와 결혼하겠다고 선언하기도 했다. 때문에 march of the dinosaurs 에 나온 고르고사우루스 역시 사실상 나누크사우루스 이다. 《섹스의 반대말》 영어 the opposite of sex은 미국 에서 제작된 돈 루스 감독의 1998년 독립 로맨틱 다크 코미디 영화 이다. 굳이 우리말로 번역하자면 ‘묶은 짐’, 또는 ‘꽁꽁 싼 짐 보따리’라는 뜻이 되겠다. 루스리 빌라 고객의 솔직한 이용후기를 살펴보고 숙소를 손쉽게 예약하세요.
coomer.cr 제 1회 프리즈 서울 스탠드 프라이즈 frieze seoul stand prize를 수상한 티나김 tina kim 갤러리는 하종현, 박서보, 강서경, 마이아 루스 리 maia ruth lee, 강석호 등의 작품 다수를 2만 달러 25만 달러 가격대에 판매했다. 미국 대통령 빌 클린턴 이 연방 대법관으로 지명할 당시 합의를 이끌어내는 중도파로 평가받았다. 화재진압 교육용마네킹 모델명rlfm 0. 사업분야 도매 및 소매업 전자상거래 소매업. 루스리 빌라 고객의 솔직한 이용후기를 살펴보고 숙소를 손쉽게 예약하세요.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 12, 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 12, 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 12, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 12, 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.
Eranee rusli 에라니 루스리 エラに @eraerzarusli., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.