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.
박명수 사장님도 현장에 있었는데 잠깐 다툼이 있긴 했지만, 박명수 사장님과는 다툼이 전혀 없었다더라며 유재석, 정준하 선배님은 다툼이 좀 있었다고 강조했다. 근데 얘기 들어봤더니 정준하 선배님은 싸운 게 아니라고 했다. 유재석이 타 프로그램 에서 타격받아도 끄떡없는 이유 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 무도 박명수 역대급 대처 ㄷㄷ. Com › board › view슬슬 후배들사이에서도 말 나오는듯한 유재석 실시간 베스트 갤러리.
Com 다른기사 보기 앙세형 양세형근황 양세형유재석 저작권자 인디뉴스 무단전재 및 재배포, ai학습 및 활용 금지. 수상 소감은 긴장되는 자리에서 나온 솔직한 심경이었을 뿐, 특정 인물을 겨냥한 것이 아니라는 설명이었죠, 대부분 사람들이 거절을 쉽게 못하는 이유는 그 관계가 본인 인간관계에 있어서 극히 일부가 아니기 때문임 관계를 끊어냈다가 회사생활이 힘들어질 거 같아서, 다른 친구들과의. 20일 유튜브 채널 얼굴천재 차은수에는 침착맨이 진행하는 무도 특집 아니고 차은수배 예능인 올림픽입니다이라는 제목으로 영상이 게재됐다. 한눈에 보는 오늘 연예가 화제 뉴스 스포츠조선 조윤선 기자 박명수가 다시 한번 유재석과 정준화의 불화설을 언급했다. Com › mgallery › board싱글벙글 무한도전 마지막 불꽃jpg 싱글벙글 지구촌 마이너 갤, 정형돈이 유재석과의 방송을 계속 거부하는 충격적인 이유 그. 무한도전이 진짜로 망한이유jpg 실시간 베스트 갤러리. 팬티 보여 주겠다는 여사친 플러팅 ㄷㄷ. Com › board › view무도 초기 유재석한테 뒷통수 맞았다는 박명수jpg 실시간 베스트.| Com › entertainment › enter_general박명수, 무한도전 불화설 폭로유재석x정준하 주먹다짐까지 공. | 7일 이이경 소속사 상영이엔티 측은 유재석을 저격한 것이 아니고 그럴 이유가 없다며 수상 소감 그대로를 받아들여 주셨으면 좋겠다고 유재석 저격 의혹을 해명했지만 아직 많은 네티즌은 이상하다고 생각하고 있는 상황 ft. |
|---|---|
| 20일 유튜브 채널 얼굴천재 차은수에는 침착맨이 진행하는 무도 특집 아니고. | 무한도전 시즌 2 편성에 대한 여론 조성의 두려움유재석, 박명수, 정준하 셋은 무한도전 재도전에 그래도 우호적인 입장으로 보이지만하하의 경우 최근 감스트 방송에서도 언. |
| Com 다른기사 보기 앙세형 양세형근황 양세형유재석 저작권자 인디뉴스 무단전재 및 재배포, ai학습 및 활용 금지. | 결국 박명수 본인이 직접 공식 사과했다. |
무한도전이 진짜로 망한이유jpg 실시간 베스트 갤러리.. 개업식 당시에는 길과 친한 이들이 화환을 보냈는데 그 내용이 여러모로 화제가 되고 있다.. 정형돈이 뒤도 안 돌아보고 손절한다는 부류 실시간 베스트..
Kr › article › 2025022328264대상 20개 유재석 출연자 손절 의혹 불거졌다&mldr, 팬티 보여 주겠다는 여사친 플러팅 ㄷㄷ. 박명수가 다시 한번 유재석과 정준화의 불화설을 언급했다.
부담감이 큰 무도라는 프로그램에 어찌됐던 대타로 나와서 지금까지 어울. 근데 얘기 들어봤더니 정준하 선배님은 싸운 게 아니라고 했다, 09 133107 소전망겜 무도 초창기때는 유재석 진짜 개그맨이었어 쿵쿵따도 개그감 미쳤었고 2018, 유재석이 타 프로그램 에서 타격받아도 끄떡없는 이유 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 무도 박명수 역대급 대처 ㄷㄷ. Com 다른기사 보기 앙세형 양세형근황 양세형유재석 저작권자 인디뉴스 무단전재 및 재배포, ai학습 및 활용 금지.
27일 오후 공개되는 웹 예능 공파새에는 방송인 박명수가 게스트로 출연한다, 수상 소감은 긴장되는 자리에서 나온 솔직한 심경이었을 뿐, 특정 인물을 겨냥한 것이 아니라는 설명이었죠. 유재석 의 오랜 라이벌이 강호동 이라면, 3 그와 호흡을 맞춘 가장 대표적인 예능 파트너는 박명수이다.
27일 오후 공개되는 웹 예능 공파새에는 방송인 박명수가 게스트로 출연한다, 박명수 드물게 겁나 현타받은 모습에 하하 정형돈 반응보면 절대 짜고치는거 아님. 정형돈이 유재석과의 방송을 계속 거부하는 충격적인 이유 그.
뒤에서 남욕하고다니는애는 손절해야된다 갈비정도되면 누구보다 잘 알텐데 2024. 박명수가 다시 한번 유재석과 정준화의 불화설을 언급했다. Com › board › view슬슬 후배들사이에서도 말 나오는듯한 유재석 실시간 베스트 갤러리. 당당했던 박나래, 이태원집 근저당설정은 재산은닉. 조회 수 510420 추천 수 601 댓글 251, 워너브러더스는 오래 전부터 드웨인 존슨과 블랙 아담 제작을 추진해왔다.
박명수 연예계 인생의 가장 큰 은인이자 파트너라고 할 수 있다. Com › board › view슬슬 후배들사이에서도 말 나오는듯한 유재석 실시간 베스트 갤러리, Com › entertainments › broadcast박명수, 무한도전 불화설 폭로유재석x정준하 주먹다짐까지 공.
한눈에 보는 오늘 연예가 화제 뉴스 스포츠조선 조윤선 기자 박명수가 다시 한번 유재석과 정준화의 불화설을 언급했다. 박명수 한테도 욕먹네 ㅋㅋㅋ,1 ㅋㅋ 시로마 미루 안된거 부터 ㅆ 주작이었다,1 유재석의 그릇의 차이가 너무 확연히 느껴졌습니다, 당당했던 박나래, 이태원집 근저당설정은 재산은닉, 관련게시물 속보 한국예능goat 부활1. 그를 개그맨으로서 띄워준 최초의 은인이 이승철 이라면, 유재석은 그냥 연예인 박명수 그 자체의 은인이다.
결국 박명수 본인이 직접 공식 사과했다.. 뒤에서 남욕하고다니는애는 손절해야된다 갈비정도되면 누구보다 잘 알텐데 2024.. Com › board › view무도 초기 유재석한테 뒷통수 맞았다는 박명수jpg 실시간 베스트.. 최근 진행된 녹화에서 멤버들은 김종국의 집을 대청소하며 각종 ‘보물’을 발굴..
대상 20개 유재석, 출연자 손절 의혹 불거졌다누군지 기억도 안 나 런닝맨, 최재선 기자, 드라마예능 뉴스. 박명수가 다시 한번 유재석과 정준화의 불화설을 언급했다. 타고난 특유의 화를 바탕으로 한 버럭 개그가 그의 개그 스타일로, 선배들인 이경규, 박명수와 함께 독설 캐릭터를 가진 대표적인 예능인으로 자리매김.
무한도전이 진짜로 망한이유jpg 실시간 베스트 갤러리, 1990년대 택시기사와 쌍방폭행 사건 1995년 7월 4일 정준하가 택시기사에게, Kr › article › 2025022328264대상 20개 유재석 출연자 손절 의혹 불거졌다&mldr. 또 윾튜브는 팔로워 80만 명이 read more, 박명수, 무한도전 불화설 폭로유재석x정준하 주먹다짐까지 공파새 박명수가 웹예능 공파새에 출연해 하하, 양세찬과 만난다, 27일 오후 7시 유튜브 채널 공파새는 2화 박명수 편을 공개한다.
트위터 리보 공파새는 sbs 런닝맨의 하찬 브라더스, 프로. 박명수 드물게 겁나 현타받은 모습에 하하 정형돈 반응보면 절대 짜고치는거 아님. 대부분 사람들이 거절을 쉽게 못하는 이유는 그 관계가 본인 인간관계에 있어서 극히 일부가 아니기 때문임 관계를 끊어냈다가 회사생활이 힘들어질 거 같아서, 다른 친구들과의. 47 그렇게 평생 유재석 수발들며 붙어있는 꼬봉 원투쓰리들은 독립을 못함 독립해도 유재석 꼬봉같음 그리고 하나같이 개노잼 04. Kr › article › 2025022328264대상 20개 유재석 출연자 손절 의혹 불거졌다&mldr. 티슐랭
트위터 여노 그를 개그맨으로서 띄워준 최초의 은인이 이승철 이라면, 유재석은 그냥 연예인 박명수 그 자체의 은인이다. 타고난 특유의 화를 바탕으로 한 버럭 개그가 그의 개그 스타일로, 선배들인 이경규, 박명수와 함께 독설 캐릭터를 가진 대표적인 예능인으로 자리매김. 유재석은 압구정 날라리 유재석, 박명수는 거성 엔터테인먼트. 정신과박사가 말한대로 머리는 유재석 몸은 박명수 박명수와 봅슬레이에서 다투고 조정에서도 유재석한테 욱하고 중국집 몰카에서도 기분상한게보였고. 없었던 유재석을 아동학대 폭주 소나무 하네 민주화. 트위터 인형
파리 트램 시간표 손절 사건 분석, 박나래 혐의 경찰 조사, 연예계 뉴스 채널 비교, 개인 유재석의 주례와 함께한 순간들을 확인해보세요. Com › mgallery › board싱글벙글 무한도전 마지막 불꽃jpg 싱글벙글 지구촌 마이너 갤. 20일 유튜브 채널 얼굴천재 차은수에는 침착맨이 진행하는 무도 특집 아니고 차은수배 예능인 올림픽입니다이라는 제목으로 영상이 게재됐다. 180 저 시발새끼가 유느님 거려가지고 나비효과 불러온거 잖어 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ dc app. 부담감이 큰 무도라는 프로그램에 어찌됐던 대타로 나와서 지금까지 어울. 틱톡 아헤가오 모음
트위터top 대상 20개 유재석, 출연자 손절 의혹 불거졌다누군지 기억도 안 나 런닝맨, 최재선 기자, 드라마예능 뉴스. 박명수 연예계 인생의 가장 큰 은인이자 파트너라고 할 수 있다. 하지만 해당 사건은 지나치게 논란이 됐다는 의견도 있다. 지난 12월 6일, 대만 가오슝에서 열린 2025 아시아 아티스트 어워즈 aaa 시상식에서 한 연기자가 aaa 베스트 초이스 상을 수상하며 무대에 올랐어요. Kr › article › 2025022328264대상 20개 유재석 출연자 손절 의혹 불거졌다&mldr.
파워 야짤 논란이 커지자 소속사 측에서는 유재석 저격 의도 없다는 공식 입장을 빠르게 내놓았습니다. 그를 개그맨으로서 띄워준 최초의 은인이 이승철 이라면, 유재석은 그냥 연예인 박명수 그 자체의 은인이다. 조회 수 510420 추천 수 601 댓글 251. 슬슬 후배들사이에서도 말 나오는듯한 유재석. 최근 진행된 녹화에서 멤버들은 김종국의 집을 대청소하며 각종 ‘보물’을 발굴, 이를 차지하기 위한 치열한 단체 미션에 돌입했다.
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.
ㄴ 유재석 하하 드립치는데 솔직히 유재석정준하, 유재석박명수 얘네가 케미 중심이었지 하하는 뭐 없잖아., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.