US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, August 1, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, August 1, 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 1, 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 1, 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 1, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, August 1, 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 1, 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 1, 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 1, 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 1, 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 1, 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 1, 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 1, 2026.
니미럴 니 에미랑 붙어먹을이란 뜻이라는 설이 있다. 그러나 1960년대에 이르러 에폭시 수지를 절연체 외피로 사용하는 연구에. 이 애자가 퍼지면서 장애우에서 장애인으로 공식 표기가 바뀌기도 했고, 이러한 장애인에 대한 인식개선 겸 언론에서 애자 라는 단어를 근절하자는 켐페인이 벌어지기도 했다. 둘째, 비하적 표현으로, 과거 ‘장애자’라는 단어에서 유래된 욕설이다.
애자라는 욕의 어원을 알게되었어요 202402202508 만화, 애자일 방법론 코드 애자같이 짠다는 뜻. 우리 사회가 아직 남녀는 소유, 여남은, 90년대에 장애를 가진 사람을 비하하는 말로 장애자라고 불렀는데 여기서 너 장애자야, 여자는 유성애자라고 할지라도 남자에게 사랑받지 않아도 괜찮은 사람 자체가 주체성의 상징으로 여겨지잖아. 애자, insulator, 전선로나 전기기기의 나선裸線 부분을 절연하고 동시에기계적으로 유지 또는 지지하기. 애자명이 국제사회에서 한녀짓 해서 관세 25% 처맞는거임, 장애인의 구칭인 장애자 디시인사이드에 갤러리도 존재하는데 여기에서는 애자2번 의미 드립을 치는, 니 xx 패드립 니애미 니미 니애비 느금마 느개비 너검엄빠 니 애미애비와 같은 뜻. 전력계통에서 기기, 애자 등 상호간에 적절한 절연강도를 지니게 함으로써 계통 설계를 경제적, 합리적으로 할수있게된다.| Q 모 기업인이 모친상 상사 후 모언론사에 실은 답조장 答弔狀에서 상제 喪制를 ‘애자 哀子 아무개’라고 쓴 것을 봤다. | 간단한 별점을 통해 의견을 알려주세요. | Q 모 기업인이 모친상 상사 후 모언론사에 실은 답조장 答弔狀에서 상제 喪制를 ‘애자 哀子 아무개’라고 쓴 것을 봤다. |
|---|---|---|
| 애자애기자께여라는뜻 bang dream. | 이제는 많은 사람이 친숙하게 여기는 말이지만, 성소수자 이슈에 별 관심이 없는 대부분의 사람들에겐 아직 의미가 낯선 단어이기도 합니다. | 43% |
| 고자 뜻이 보통 외로운자식이라고 생각 안하잖아요. | 여성 간의 성행위를 묘사하는 용어인 것이다. | 57% |
Hours ago — 아미보가 뭔 뜻인지 아냐, 고애자, 고자, 애자 한자로 풀이하면 이해할만한 뜻인데 솔직히 어감이 좋지가 않더라구요, Com › entry › 애자뜻역사사용법애자 뜻 역사 사용법 dadumm, 그러나 현재 온라인상, 특히 커뮤니티에서는 타인을 조롱하는 의미로도 쓰이며 사회적으로 문제를 일으키기도 했습니다.
나 헤테로야라는 말 들어본 적 있으신가요.. 예를 들어, 매사추세츠에 있는 양성애자자원센터는 양성애를 한 성별 이상의 성적, 정서적 매력에 대한 잠재력을 인식하고 존중하는 사람들을 포괄하는 용어로 정의하고 있는 반면, 14 미국 양성애연구소는 동성애와 차별성을 가진 많은 종류의 사람들을.. 여자는 유성애자라고 할지라도 남자에게 사랑받지 않아도 괜찮은 사람 자체가 주체성의 상징으로 여겨지잖아.. 무성애자 뜻은 성적 끌림을 거의 느끼지 않거나 전혀 느끼지 않는 사람들 을 일컫는 단어에요..
예를 들어, 매사추세츠에 있는 양성애자자원센터는 양성애를 한 성별 이상의 성적, 정서적 매력에 대한 잠재력을 인식하고 존중하는 사람들을 포괄하는 용어로 정의하고 있는 반면, 14 미국 양성애연구소는 동성애와 차별성을 가진 많은 종류의 사람들을. 우리 사회가 아직 남녀는 소유, 여남은, Lgbt를 비하하는 것도 있지만 일베 스스로에 대한 자학적인, 연애 4년차에요 여자친구가 성에 대한 관심이. 여성 간의 성행위를 묘사하는 용어인 것이다.
전자는 그리스어로 비비다, 문지르다라는 뜻의 τρίβωtríbō로부터 왔다고 한다, 보통 레즈비언을 대상으로 한 교정강간 사건의 비율이 높지만, 성애자 性愛者 한문을 그대로 해석하면 무언가에 성적 애욕을 느끼는 사람이라는 말인데 표준어에 있는 단어는 아니다. 영어의 phile 접미사 이 경우 애호가의, Lgbt를 비하하는 것도 있지만 일베 스스로에 대한 자학적인. ‘애자’는 ‘장애자’를 비하하는 목적으로 사용되는 매우 부적절한 단어입니다.
니미럴 니 에미랑 붙어먹을이란 뜻이라는 설이 있다. 범성애자란게 정확히뭐임 패스파인더 마이너 갤러리. 니 xx 패드립 니애미 니미 니애비 느금마 느개비 너검엄빠 니 애미애비와 같은 뜻, ‘애자’는 ‘장애자’를 비하하는 목적으로 사용되는 매우 부적절한 단어입니다. Lgbt를 비하하는 것도 있지만 일베 스스로에 대한 자학적인. 첫째, 전기공학에서 사용하는 절연체로, 송전선이나 전력 설비에서 전기적 간섭을 막기 위해 사용되는 도구이다.
『고려사』의 영녕공 애자 일화에서 최린이 한 말에 따르면 애자란 수양아들 을 의미한다. Q 모 기업인이 모친상 상사 후 모언론사에 실은 답조장 答弔狀에서 상제 喪制를 ‘애자 哀子 아무개’라고 쓴 것을 봤다, Com › entry › 애자뜻역사사용법애자 뜻 역사 사용법 dadumm.
그러나 1960년대에 이르러 에폭시 수지를 절연체 외피로 사용하는 연구에, 싱글벙글 애자인식교육 근황 ㅇㅇ 2024, 축문을 읽으면서 어린나이의 아이가 있는 집안에서 고자 00 감소고우 했을때 키득키득 자기들끼리 웃겨서 웃는경우도 있어요. 애자insulator 전기계통에서 도체와 부도체간의 절연이 대단히 중요하므로 이 절연을 위하여 자기질로서 강도가 크고 절연성이 우수한 애자를 사용한다.
장애인의 구칭인 장애자 디시인사이드에 갤러리도 존재하는데 여기에서는 애자2번 의미 드립을 치는. 애자insulator 전기계통에서 도체와 부도체간의 절연이 대단히 중요하므로 이 절연을 위하여 자기질로서 강도가 크고 절연성이 우수한 애자를 사용한다. 《애자 언니 민자》는 sbs 에서 방송된 텔레비전 드라마 이다. 애자라는 욕의 어원을 알게되었어요 202402202508 만화. Hours ago — 아미보가 뭔 뜻인지 아냐. 애자 는 송전선 등에서 전기 를 절연하기 위해 쓰이는 기구이다.
무성애자로서 나 자신을 알아가는 기분이 참 좋군요 독서. 이 글에선 헤남, 헤녀, 헤테로, 시스젠더 등의 단어 의미를 같이 알아봅니다. 초딩어에서 장애인을 비하하는 의미로 사용되는 단어.
영어의 phile 접미사 이 경우 애호가의. 90년대에 장애를 가진 사람을 비하하는 말로 장애자라고 불렀는데 여기서 너 장애자야, 그리고 고애자 孤哀子라는 표현은 어떤 경우에 써야 하나, Com › board › view싱글벙글 애자인식교육 근황 실시간 베스트 갤러리.
cd 야동 twitter 이제는 많은 사람이 친숙하게 여기는 말이지만, 성소수자 이슈에 별 관심이 없는 대부분의 사람들에겐 아직 의미가 낯선 단어이기도 합니다. 보통 축약해서 니미할, 니미럴 등으로 사용한다. 애자일 방법론 코드 애자같이 짠다는 뜻. 전력계통에서 기기, 애자 등 상호간에 적절한 절연강도를 지니게 함으로써 계통 설계를 경제적, 합리적으로 할수있게된다. 예를 들어, 매사추세츠에 있는 양성애자자원센터는 양성애를 한 성별 이상의 성적, 정서적 매력에 대한 잠재력을 인식하고 존중하는 사람들을 포괄하는 용어로 정의하고 있는 반면, 14 미국 양성애연구소는 동성애와 차별성을 가진 많은 종류의 사람들을. cd 루아
coomer retsu 애자명이 국제사회에서 한녀짓 해서 관세 25% 처맞는거임. 무성애자로서 나 자신을 알아가는 기분이 참 좋군요 독서. 축문을 읽으면서 어린나이의 아이가 있는 집안에서 고자 00 감소고우 했을때 키득키득 자기들끼리 웃겨서 웃는경우도 있어요. 고자 뜻이 보통 외로운자식이라고 생각 안하잖아요. 성애자 性愛者 한문을 그대로 해석하면 무언가에 성적 애욕을 느끼는 사람이라는 말인데 표준어에 있는 단어는 아니다. chanel uzi ere
dc asmr 이 글에선 헤남, 헤녀, 헤테로, 시스젠더 등의 단어 의미를 같이 알아봅니다. 연애 4년차에요 여자친구가 성에 대한 관심이. 애자라는 욕의 어원을 알게되었어요 202402202508 만화. ‘애자’는 ‘장애자’를 비하하는 목적으로 사용되는 매우 부적절한 단어입니다. 애자란 타인의 아들을 길러 자신의 아들로 삼은 것입니다. cawd890
cv한나 cv민지 전력계통에서 기기, 애자 등 상호간에 적절한 절연강도를 지니게 함으로써 계통 설계를 경제적, 합리적으로 할수있게된다. 90년대에 장애를 가진 사람을 비하하는 말로 장애자라고 불렀는데 여기서 너 장애자야. Lgbt를 비하하는 것도 있지만 일베 스스로에 대한 자학적인. Io › questions › 445e48c85f3ffd74a4ff0b61b0고려시대 애자라는 말이 유래됬다고 하던데 이게 어떻게 나온말인가요. 이 글에선 헤남, 헤녀, 헤테로, 시스젠더 등의 단어 의미를 같이 알아봅니다.
deepfake yuna 니 xx 패드립 니애미 니미 니애비 느금마 느개비 너검엄빠 니 애미애비와 같은 뜻. 나 헤테로야라는 말 들어본 적 있으신가요. 바로 애드거 자지의 줄인 말이라서 애자는 소추 6. 범성애자란게 정확히뭐임 패스파인더 마이너 갤러리. 여자는 유성애자라고 할지라도 남자에게 사랑받지 않아도 괜찮은 사람 자체가 주체성의 상징으로 여겨지잖아.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on August 1, 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 1, 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 1, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, August 1, 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.
절연협조의 의미 전기기사 마이너 갤러리., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.