US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 4, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 2026.
15 105132 ip ip보기클릭 스크랩 url 복사. 촉감이라해야되나 그걸 말해주자면 확실히 질이랑 다르게 존나 조인다. 주붕이들은 모르는 ㅅㅅ후기 ㅇㅇ118. 묻길래 당연히 물빼야지 했더니 손2만 입으로3만 ㅅㅅ는 5만이라면서 차값은 별도야그러는데 ㅅㅂ 커피한잔에 7천원 3잔이면 2만ㅅㅅ하는데 합이 7만 참고로 다방은 ㅅㅅ 5만이상주면 바가지 내가 넘비싸차값포함5만으로하자그랬더니 안된다는거야.
뭐 후기찾아보면 끝에만 조인다느니 취향탄다느니 이런말있던데 지금까지 내 경험상 인종상관없이 끝에만 조인다는느낌도 모르겠고 애널이 좋긴했다. Com › board › view여사친이랑 ㅅㅅ한 후기 중소기업 갤러리. 방문후기 이동 버튼 이미지 방문후기 커뮤니티 이동 버튼 이미지 커뮤니티 신규 한스웨디시1004스웨디시. Com › mgallery › board싱글벙글 여친이랑 12시간 섹스 후기 싱글벙글 지구촌 마이너 갤러.
| Com › mgallery › board첫경험 썰txt 썰 마이너 갤러리. | 14 2216 요즘 애들이 뜻은 모르는데 그냥 계속 쓰인다는 줄임말. |
|---|---|
| 22시 반 07시 반은 10만원이라는데 야간은 해본적없다. | 애가 얼굴은 약간 일진 상인데 일찐까진 아니고 read more. |
| 유머 고추 큰 남자와 ㅅㅅ한 후기 풀버전. | 울엄마가 빨통이 크신편이어서남자들의 접근이 많았다 특히 일하던 직장에 상사인지 동료인지계속 술을 사달라고 징징거려서 피곤했다고맨날 집에서 하소연들어줬는데나는 어릴때라 술사주면되지 왜 거절하시지. |
여자애가 내가 좋아하는 류의 코스프레도 해주고 사람 안지나다니는 밖에서도 많이 함. 27 012001 스크랩 조회 128851 추천 732 댓글 552 출처 국내야구 갤러리 원본 보기. Jpg 월요릭스 조회 수 562206 추천 수 851 댓글 531 s.
포텐 터짐 최신순 유머움짤이슈 유머 2024, 중국마사지 중국 마사지는 정말 초건마 아님 대충 하다가 ㅅㅅ 하는 곳임. 속궁합이 엄청 잘맞았었고 1박동안 89번 가량 ㅅㅅ한적도 있음. Com › best › 7309420114여친과의 12시간 ㅅㅅ 후기.
학원 쌤들한테하도 졸라서 어처피 강의실 널널하게 썼으니까 결국 나랑 시간표도 같이 맞추면서 다님.. 12 113906 스크랩 조회 132798 추천 196 댓글 167 196 83.. Net › service › board썰 실제 마약 전과자들에게서 들은 마약과 ㅅㅅ의 연관성 클리앙..
14 2216 요즘 애들이 뜻은 모르는데 그냥 계속 쓰인다는 줄임말. 내 평생 섹스경험 통틀어 top10 정리해봄, 유머 고추 큰 남자와 ㅅㅅ한 후기 풀버전.
23 1720 여친과의 12시간 ㅅㅅ 후기, 근데 그 구하기 어려운걸 우리가 일반적으로 영화에서나 보듯이 한방 맞고 환각상태에 빠저 헤롱헤롱 하는걸로 소비하지는 않는답니다, 주붕이들은 모르는 ㅅㅅ후기 ㅇㅇ118. 울엄마가 빨통이 크신편이어서남자들의 접근이 많았다 특히 일하던 직장에 상사인지 동료인지계속 술을 사달라고 징징거려서 피곤했다고맨날 집에서 하소연들어줬는데나는 어릴때라 술사주면되지 왜 거절하시지. 조회 수 9673 어느 디시인의 대학원에 가게된 계기.
인천광역시 연수구 컨벤시아대로 81 송도동 32. 학원 쌤들한테하도 졸라서 어처피 강의실 널널하게 썼으니까 결국 나랑 시간표도 같이 맞추면서 다님, Jpg 16 내이름은상하이조 5374675 활동내역 작성글 쪽지 마이피 타임라인 출석일수 29일 lv. Com › board › view나라별 여자들 ㅅㅅ 경험담 재탕 여행동남아 갤러리. 남자로 치면 사정의 쾌감이 몇시간이고 지속되는 기분인듯ㄷㄷ 그런거 한번 느껴버리면 다신 일상생활 못하지 ㄹㅇ, Com › mgallery › board옾챗으로 ㅅㅅ한 썰 소개팅 마이너 갤러리.
존잘남 앞에서 관장하고 똥싸고 항문섹스에 정액 주입당하면서존잘남이 꼬우면 헤어지던가 이래도 제발 만나달라고 함오만. 157 솔직히 없다 못해도 한번은 해봐야지 뭐 스웨디시는 후기도적고 후기도 네이버카페 이런데 위주라서 마무리관련은 거의 없거든 2020, 12 113906 스크랩 조회 132798 추천 196 댓글 167 196 83, 23 1720 여친과의 12시간 ㅅㅅ 후기, ㅅㅅ하는곳은 보통 10만원에 60분 정도 하는곳이 많음.
경멸 태그 22시 반 07시 반은 10만원이라는데 야간은 해본적없다. 처음부터 ㅅㅅ한다던지 어플로 만나면 만나기 전부터 다 벗음 라틴애들 특성상 힙라인은 존나예쁨. Com › board › view주붕이들은 모르는 ㅅㅅ후기 실시간 베스트 갤러리. Net › 542268629ㅅㅅ처음해본 남자의 첫경험 후기 dogdrip. 속궁합이 엄청 잘맞았었고 1박동안 89번 가량 ㅅㅅ한적도 있음. 고등학생 히토미
경남전자고 디시 Com › board › view나라별 여자들 ㅅㅅ 경험담 재탕 여행동남아 갤러리. Net › service › board썰 실제 마약 전과자들에게서 들은 마약과 ㅅㅅ의 연관성 클리앙. 대부분이 조선족 아줌마들이 많고 가성비 떨어진다고 보면 됨. 그 뽀얗고 윤기나는 몸에 너무 크지도 작지도 않은 탱글탱글한 가슴, 키는 작지만 비율 좋은 몸매에 완벽한 골반 살짝 만져보니 젖다못해 질질 흐르기 read more. Jpg 월요릭스 조회 수 562206 추천 수 851 댓글 531 s. 고고프렌즈 모찌엘
검찰직 폐지 디시 속궁합이 엄청 잘맞았었고 1박동안 89번 가량 ㅅㅅ한적도 있음. Av배우가 알려주는 ㅅㅅ로 여자 만족시키는법jpg ㅇㅇ223. 대부분이 조선족 아줌마들이 많고 가성비 떨어진다고 보면 됨. 침투사고로 고생많이 했음가족들이랑 ㅅㅅ하는 생각 갑자기 마주친 사람 죽이고 싶다는 생각 등등 공부할 때마다 떠오르는. 15 105132 ip ip보기클릭 스크랩 url 복사. 고라니율 fuck
견자희 빨간약 쓰기 편하게 글은 음슴체로 쓰겠습니다정확히 말하면 헌팅이 아니라 게하 파티에서 만난 여자들임그리고 부르기 편하게 만난 여자들을 여자a,b로 나누겠음서울이 너무 답답하기도하고 놀러가고싶은 맘이 굴뚝같았는데아는동생이 양양으로 놀러가자고 전날부터 불러냈음바다도 보고 서핑도 할겸. 침투사고로 고생많이 했음가족들이랑 ㅅㅅ하는 생각 갑자기 마주친 사람 죽이고 싶다는 생각 등등 공부할 때마다 떠오르는. 여자애가 내가 좋아하는 류의 코스프레도 해주고 사람 안지나다니는 밖에서도 많이 함. 인천광역시 연수구 컨벤시아대로 81 송도동 32. 여자애가 내가 좋아하는 류의 코스프레도 해주고 사람 안지나다니는 밖에서도 많이 함.
겐진 fc2 13살 연하랑 했다 ㅅㅅ +후기 추가 ㅇㅇ182. 울엄마가 빨통이 크신편이어서남자들의 접근이 많았다 특히 일하던 직장에 상사인지 동료인지계속 술을 사달라고 징징거려서 피곤했다고맨날 집에서 하소연들어줬는데나는 어릴때라 술사주면되지 왜 거절하시지. 학원 쌤들한테하도 졸라서 어처피 강의실 널널하게 썼으니까 결국 나랑 시간표도 같이 맞추면서 다님. 주붕이들은 모르는 ㅅㅅ후기 ㅇㅇ118. 13살 연하랑 했다 ㅅㅅ +후기 추가 ㅇㅇ182.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 4, 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 4, 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 4, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 4, 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.
, Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.