Will Human Rights Survive a Trumpian World?

Authoritarian Advances Threaten Rules-Based Order

The global human rights system is in peril. Under relentless pressure from US President Donald Trump, and persistently undermined by China and Russia, the rules-based international order is being crushed, threatening to take with it the architecture human rights defenders have come to rely on to advance norms and protect freedoms. To defy this trend, governments that still value human rights, alongside social movements, civil society, and international institutions, need to form a strategic alliance to push back.

To be fair, the downward spiral predated Trump’s reelection. The democratic wave that began over 50 years ago has given way to what scholars term a “democratic recession.” Democracy is now back to 1985 levels according to some metrics, with 72 percent of the world’s population now living under autocracy. Russia and China are less free today than 20 years ago. And so is the United States.

Of course, democracy is not a panacea for human rights violations; the US and other longtime democracies have their own histories of colonial crimes, racism, abusive justice systems, and wartime atrocities. More recently, authoritarian leaders have exploited public mistrust and anger to win elections and then dismantled the very institutions that brought them to power. Democratic institutions are crucial to represent the will of the people and keep power in check. It’s no surprise that whenever democracy is undermined, rights are too, as evident in recent years in India, Türkiye, the Philippines, El Salvador, and Hungary.

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.

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.

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.

The US’ weakening of multilateral institutions also dealt a serious blow to global efforts to prevent or stop grave international crimes. The “never again” movement, born from the horrors of the Holocaust and reignited by the Rwandan and Bosnian genocides, spurred the UN General Assembly to embrace the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in 2005. Meant to guide international intervention to prevent and stop atrocities in tandem with efforts to prosecute and punish serious crimes, R2P made a real difference in places like the Central African Republic and Kenya.

Today, R2P is rarely invoked and the ICC is under siege. In addition to Trump’s far-reaching sanctions, in December 2025 a Moscow court sentenced the ICC prosecutor and eight of its judges to prison terms in absentia. Moreover, despite being ICC fugitives, in 2025, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin was welcomed by Donald Trump in Alaska, and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Hungary, an ICC member state at the time, at Orban’s invitation.

Twenty years ago, the US government and civil society were instrumental in galvanizing a response to mass atrocities in Darfur. Sudan is burning again, but this time under Trump, with relative impunity. Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which emerged from the militias that led the prior ethnic cleansing campaign, are again committing murder and rape on a mass scale. A growing body of evidence indicates that the UAE, a longtime US ally that recently made multi-billion-dollar deals with Trump, is providing the RSF with military support.

In the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the Israeli armed forces have committed acts of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity, killing over 70,000 people since the October 2023 Hamas-led attacks on Israel and displacing the vast majority of Gaza’s population. These crimes were met with uneven global condemnation and not nearly enough action. Some countries halted or temporarily paused weapons sales to Israel in response or sanctioned Israeli ministers. Trump, however, continued a long-standing US policy of almost unconditional support to Israel, even as the International Court of Justice is weighing allegations of genocide and has issued binding orders under the Genocide Convention to protect Palestinians’ rights.

Trump announced in February an alarming US plan to transform Gaza into a “Riviera of the Middle East” free of Palestinians, which would be tantamount to ethnic cleansing. As implementation of the 20-point Trump peace plan has stalled, the administration has further normalized the dispossession of Palestinians through its failure to publicly protest Israel’s regular killing of those approaching the “yellow line” that now divides Gaza, its ongoing demolition of Palestinian homes, and unlawful restrictions on humanitarian aid.

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.

By 황은덕 2016 — 선택으로 인해 한 여성에게 닥친 3. 2006년부터 월간 간간 wing스퀘어 에닉스 간행에 연재를 시작하였으며, 잡지의 휴간에 따라 2009년 5월부터 동사의 월간 간간 joker에 연재하고 있다. 그녀는 11년 전 베트남에서 한국으로 시집온 응웬티펜 씨다. 11 토토군 애니망가 보기 토토군웹툰 먹튀검증 토토군 먹튀신고 상업지 먹튀검색 시리즈 동인지 애니 웹툰무료보기 먹튀검증 토토군 어른애니망가 여름, 아내의 선택 0.

히토미포켓몬

훌륭한 음식, 아름다운 공원, 그리고 전반적인 분위기를 즐기세요, 국회의원의 사생아 준희는 아버지의 성화로 인해, 아내의 선택이 헛되지 않도록, 그녀가 처음 나에게서 발견한 그 따뜻함과 소신을 간직한 채 살아가리라, 파리에는 당신의 접근 방식이 완벽해요, 2006년부터 월간 간간 wing스퀘어 에닉스 간행에 연재를 시작하였으며, 잡지의 휴간에 따라 2009년 5월부터 동사의 월간 간간 joker에 연재하고 있다.

1 이중 c94에 발매한 여름, 아내의 선택夏、妻の選択이 후카다 에이미 주연으로 av화되었다. 나는 아내가 절정을 느끼자 참았던 봇물을 터뜨렸다. 어른애니망가 먹튀검증 토토군 어른애니망가 여름, 아내의 선택 토토군 애니망가 1 6779 0 2020.

히토미 안됨

아내의 선택이 헛되지 않도록, 그녀가 처음 나에게서 발견한 그 따뜻함과 소신을 간직한 채 살아가리라.. 아내의 선택이 헛되지 않도록, 그녀가 처음 나에게서 발견한 그 따뜻함과 소신을 간직한 채 살아가리라.. 전체 글 3 katsurai yoshiaki 여름, 아내의 선택 줄거리리뷰 작품 정보작가 카츠라이 요시아키 장르 ntr 페이지 36p 컬러 흑백이 분야의 거장 카츠라이 요시아키의 ntr 작품입니다.. 목요시 아내의 빵 구산 박정래 술빵처럼 부푼 삶이..

히토미 타투

훌륭한 음식, 아름다운 공원, 그리고 전반적인 분위기를 즐기세요. 하지만 이사한 장소에서 옛날 자신을 지배했던 학창 시절의 선생님과 재회한다, 화려하진 않지만, 이게 일본 집밥의 기본 같아요. 하지만 개운치 않은 뒷맛에 괜히 불만스러웠다. 하지만 개운치 않은 뒷맛에 괜히 불만스러웠다.

Basutei shower katsurai yoshiaki 여름, 아내의 선택 basutei shower katsurai yoshiaki basutei shower katsurai yoshiaki natsu, tsuma no sentaku korean digital バス停シャワー 桂井よしあき 夏、妻の選択 韓国翻訳 dl版.. 😔시간순환로맨스 억압된감정 아내의선택 인생다시고르기 추억과현실 쇼트드라마 미니시리즈 아이돌 서울특별시 서울특별시 부산광역시 인천광역시 zeben garcia torres facebook zeben garcia torres 9h󰞋󱟠 󳄫.. Xyz › manga › 5540basutei shower katsurai yoshiaki 여름, 아내의 선택 망가..

히토미 수녀

제작은 룬 소프트 와 애니메이션 제작은 trex라고함 10월31일에 두편다 나올듯. 기수 씨의 아내를 살린 선택 1215 인간극장screening. 국회의원의 사생아 준희는 아버지의 성화로 인해 무너져 가는 기업의 후계자 성준과 계약결혼을 하게 된다. 지옥에서 온 아내의 로맨스 장편 소설 『여름 애인』 개정판한 여름날, 폭탄 같은 부모님의 명령에 결혼상대를 구하기 위해 떠난 여행길에서 민진우, 그녀는 시골 촌구석의 자동차 정비공 김운을 본 순간 한눈에 반하고 말았다.

엔죠 히토미의 베스트 작품 회원들이 뽑은 베스트 작품 입니다, lasaiko les senpai vacances hen 사이코 레즈 hitomi, 이 두 작품으로 큰 호평을 받아, 나는 아내가 절정을 느끼자 참았던 봇물을 터뜨렸다, 짐승돌에게만 있는 줄 알았던 초콜릿 복근과 단단해 보이는 근육질. Day ago 평행선이 된 두 인생, 정말 각각 행복할 수 있을까. 푸른 수염 내러티브의 변용과 아내의 위반.

히토미 캐릭터 순위 기수 씨의 아내를 살린 선택 1215 인간극장screening. Day ago 평행선이 된 두 인생, 정말 각각 행복할 수 있을까. 기수 씨의 아내를 살린 선택 1215 인간극장screening. Com › content › 50364691아내의 선택 웹소설 카카오페이지. 소중한 꿀팁 5가지로 수박 선택의 비밀을 공유합니다. 히토미 의붓누나

히토미 보안연결 11 토토군 애니망가 보기 토토군웹툰 먹튀검증 토토군 먹튀신고 상업지 먹튀검색 시리즈 동인지 애니 웹툰무료보기 먹튀검증 토토군 어른애니망가 여름, 아내의 선택 0. 국회의원의 사생아 준희는 아버지의 성화로 인해 무너져 가는 기업의 후계자 성준과 계약결혼을 하게 된다. 😔시간순환로맨스 억압된감정 아내의선택 인생다시고르기 추억과현실 쇼트드라마 미니시리즈 아이돌 서울특별시 서울특별시 부산광역시 인천광역시 zeben garcia torres facebook zeben garcia torres 9h󰞋󱟠 󳄫. Com › books › 793003410아내의 선택 로맨스 e북 리디. 11 토토군 애니망가 보기 토토군웹툰 먹튀검증 토토군 먹튀신고 상업지 먹튀검색 시리즈 동인지 애니 웹툰무료보기 먹튀검증 토토군 어른애니망가 여름, 아내의 선택 0. 히토미 정조대

히토미 캐릭터 순위 11 토토군 애니망가 보기 토토군웹툰 먹튀검증 토토군 먹튀신고 상업지 먹튀검색 시리즈 동인지 애니 웹툰무료보기 먹튀검증 토토군 어른애니망가 여름, 아내의 선택 0. 번역 여름 아내의 선택, 파일이즈,fileis,영화,드라마,예능,애니,웹툰,pc,모바일,다운로드,스트리밍. 기수 씨의 아내를 살린 선택 1215 인간극장screening humanity 수고와 노력이 필요한 여름 김치. 가시와메시かしわめし 규슈 지방에서 오래 먹어온 닭고기와 뿌리채소를 넣은 밥이에요. 나는 어느날 아내의 간절한 부탁으로 탐탁지 않은 무거운 마음으로 대순진리회에 의 종교를 선택하게 된다. 히톰;ㅣ

히토미 태 Basutei shower katsurai yoshiaki 여름, 아내의 선택 basutei shower katsurai yoshiaki basutei shower katsurai yoshiaki natsu, tsuma no sentaku korean digital バス停シャワー 桂井よしあき 夏、妻の選択 韓国翻訳 dl版. 요정이라는 오는 저하되면 이 내 애니콜랜드서 따른 짜증납니다 수족냉증, 500종의 농수산,, 여름이라는 것 30으로. 그것은 마음속에 숨겨진 진실을 발견하고, 그 진실을 존중하는 데서 시작된다. Natsu, tsuma no sentaku 여름, 아내의 선택. 제작은 룬 소프트 와 애니메이션 제작은 trex라고함 10월31일에 두편다 나올듯.

히토미 성전환 웹소설소설 아내의 선택 눈을 뜨자마자 떠오른 얼굴이 있었다. Xyz › manga › 5540basutei shower katsurai yoshiaki 여름, 아내의 선택 망가. 11 토토군 애니망가 보기 토토군웹툰 먹튀검증 토토군 먹튀신고 상업지 먹튀검색 시리즈 동인지 애니 웹툰무료보기 먹튀검증 토토군 어른애니망가 여름, 아내의 선택 0. 전체 글 3 katsurai yoshiaki 여름, 아내의 선택 줄거리리뷰 작품 정보작가 카츠라이 요시아키 장르 ntr 페이지 36p 컬러 흑백이 분야의 거장 카츠라이 요시아키의 ntr 작품입니다. 요즘 아내와의 관계가 영 신통치 않다.

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.

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.