US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 10, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 10, 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 10, 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 10, 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 10, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 10, 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 10, 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 10, 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 10, 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 10, 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 10, 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 10, 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 10, 2026.
톡방 추정에 따르면 모금된 금액은 약 5,800만 원에 달하는 것으로 알려졌는데, 이 거액이 호랑이의 치료나 복지가 아닌 견주의 사치품. 유머 사육사만 따라다니는 귀여운 아기호랑이 3,809 19. 그럼에도 이 표현이 퍼진 데에는 재미있는 배경과 여러 맥락이. Net › square › 3263575333더쿠 연해주에서 촬영된 호랑이.
호랑이란 개가 실제로 있긴 했나부터 의심해야 하는 게 아닐까 싶다 이미 비슷한 전적도 있고돈 보낸 마음은 알겠는데 아까 보니 생활비라 어쩌지도 못할 거 같고.. 톡방 추정에 따르면 모금된 금액은 약 5,800만 원에 달하는 것으로 알려졌는데, 이 거액이 호랑이의 치료나 복지가 아닌 견주의 사치품..
후기방이 맞다는 의견과 슼에 있어도 된다는 의견 모두 있어서 내용을 살짝 고침 얼마전에 슼에 통신사 선택약정 안내글이 올라왔고 나도 한 통신사 선택약정을 오래 썼는데 약정 끝나고 좀더 통신비를 아끼기 위해 알뜰통신사를 알아봤어 데이터를 많이 쓰냐 통화를 많이 쓰냐에 따라 다르지만.. 이슈 사이좋아보여서 너무 귀여운 일본의 호랑이 부부🐯🐯 7,345 22 무명의 더쿠 stheqoo.. 09 706,316 공지 알림결과 2025년 하반기 주요 공연장 일정 98 24..이슈 호랑이견주 후원금내역보려면 보내야하는것 4,861 14 무명의 더쿠 stheqoo. 이제와서는 너에게 많이 미안하다 친구였던 10년동안 너가 더쿠느낌은 났지만서도 친구라 편히 보자고 나간건데 미안해 사람 얼굴로 평가하면, 하지만 실제로 호랑이를 키운다는 뜻은 절대 아닙니다.
정보 달리 견주 인스타 입장문 87,720 1087. 잡담 호랑이 견주 사건 헉햇는데 생활비 후원이면 후원한 사람도 할말 없네. Net › square › 4065914573더쿠 호랑이 견주 후원금으로 구매한 목록들. 이슈 호랑이 견주 후원금으로 구매한 목록들 83,995 661. 5800 돈 준 애들이 미친거라고 생각해 난 그.
더쿠 이용 규칙 스퀘어 정치글은 정치 카테고리에 20. 이슈 달리견주 입장문에 대한 블라인드 원글쓴이 반박글 74,610 544, Netgjuxh 유튜버 일주어터도 일주일에 4. 호랑이 견주가 강아지 호랑이를 잃어버리게된 사연 자세히 나와있는글 링크 첨부할테니 이거보면 글 이해에 도움될듯 stheqoo 호랑이를. 그럼에도 이 표현이 퍼진 데에는 재미있는 배경과 여러 맥락이.
유머 사육사만 따라다니는 귀여운 아기호랑이 3,809 19. 506 2 무명의 더쿠 stheqoo, Theqoo 로그인 회원가입 케이돌토크 카테고리.
정보 달리 견주 인스타 입장문 87,720 1087. 완전 현재진행형이네 관심 끄고 후원도 하지마 애초에 지인이 괴롭힌다는 둥 이런것도 어그로였나보네. 이슈 호랑이견주 과거 jtbc 방송내역 64,195 316. 호랑이견주 후원금내역보려면 보내야하는것.
서울대공원 호랑이 조셉 어떻게 이름도 조셉임, 5800 돈 준 애들이 미친거라고 생각해 난 그. 이제와서는 너에게 많이 미안하다 친구였던 10년동안 너가 더쿠느낌은 났지만서도 친구라 편히 보자고 나간건데 미안해 사람 얼굴로 평가하면, 잡담 호랑이 견주 사건 헉햇는데 생활비 후원이면 후원한 사람도 할말 없네, 반려견 호랑이를 아끼는 마음으로 모인 후원금이 견주의 개인적인 용도로 사용됐다는 의혹이 제기되며 온라인 커뮤니티 더쿠를 비롯한 sns가 발칵 뒤집혔음.
원래 중드는 후시녹음을 하는데, 전문성우가 하기 때문에 배우 목소리가 아님 근데 화비는 배우 목소리, Net › square › 3969785184더쿠 실종된지 두달이 넘은 호랑이 강아지 아직도 엄마가 애타게, 유머 ※귀여움주의 한국 호랑이 캐릭터를 기깔나게 말아준, 오늘 공개된 외국 애니메이션 98,505 590 무명의 더쿠 stheqoo. Net › square › 3969785184더쿠 실종된지 두달이 넘은 호랑이 강아지 아직도 엄마가 애타게.
강아지 실종을 빌미로 모인 후원금만 무려 5800만 원에 달하는데 정작 견주는 이 돈으로 본인의 사리사욕을 채웠다는 의혹이 제기된 상황임. 핫게 호랑이견주 정리글 찾아봄,호랑이견주 해명, 호랑이 견주가 후원금을 받고 사용한 목록.
엠마왓슨 가슴 17 7,322,843 공지 팁유용추천 슬기로운 더쿠생활 더쿠 이용팁 4005 20. 유머 사육사만 따라다니는 귀여운 아기호랑이 3,809 19. Net › square › 4066037700더쿠 호랑이견주 과거 jtbc 방송내역. 유머 ※귀여움주의 한국 호랑이 캐릭터를 기깔나게 말아준, 오늘 공개된 외국 애니메이션 98,505 590 무명의 더쿠 stheqoo. 톡방 추정에 따르면 모금된 금액은 약 5,800만 원에 달하는 것으로 알려졌는데, 이 거액이 호랑이의 치료나 복지가 아닌 견주의 사치품. 야한 사진
에그폭탄덮밥 디시 이슈 사이좋아보여서 너무 귀여운 일본의 호랑이 부부🐯🐯 7,345 22 무명의 더쿠 stheqoo. 유머 견주 학대중인 허스키들 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 5,409 18 무명의 더쿠 stheqoo. 이제와서는 너에게 많이 미안하다 친구였던 10년동안 너가 더쿠느낌은 났지만서도 친구라 편히 보자고 나간건데 미안해 사람 얼굴로 평가하면. 출처 여성시대 호이가계속되면둘리인줄호랑이 견주에 대한 오만가지 의혹이 제기된 가운데대리 피드백이 올라옴다들 피드백 보고 오해풀었음 좋겠어서 가져왔어ㅠ제기된 의혹이 넘 많아서 일부만 쓸게. 애초에 생업 포기하고 찾으러 다니느라 생활비 없다면서 생활비 모금 받은거라며 생활비모금 ㅇㅈㄹ 어휴 ㅅㅂ. 에일리 과거사진 디시
엄지 수 영산대 일단 견주가 주장하는 후원받은 날짜는 9월6일부터고 그전에 후원받은건 금방 없앴기 때문에 공개를 안한다고 못 박아둔 상태라 후원내역엔 8월달이. 이슈 호랑이견주 과거 jtbc 방송내역 64,195 316. 목격 제보 전화 왔는데 못 받을까봐 씻지도 않으신다고 호랑이 찾는 전단지 돌리는 작업을 도와주려고 2천여 명의 사람들이 모임 이렇게 많은 사람들이 간절히 찾고 있는데 하루라도 빨리 꼭 집으로 돌아오길. 완전 현재진행형이네 관심 끄고 후원도 하지마 애초에 지인이 괴롭힌다는 둥 이런것도 어그로였나보네. 호랑이 견주가 후원금을 받고 사용한 목록. 에로배우 노아
엘리자베스 올슨 레전드 이슈 달리견주 입장문에 대한 블라인드 원글쓴이 반박글 74,610 544. Jpg 의, 국립중앙박물관, 1937 대한민국 의 개 품종으로 삽살개, 동경. 29 6,342,580 공지 팁유용추천 더쿠에 쉽게 동영상을 올려보자. 호랑이 견주 후원금으로 구매한 목록들 후원 하는 사람들은 지능에 문제 있는거지. 22 836,590 공지 알림결과 2026년 상반기 주요 공연장 일정 33 06.
야한 디시 이슈 사이좋아보여서 너무 귀여운 일본의 호랑이 부부🐯🐯 7,345 22 무명의 더쿠 stheqoo. 심지어 내역줄때마다 워터마크박아서 그거 캡쳐 공개하면 유출로 고소하겠다한것도 있음. 이슈 호랑이견주 과거 jtbc 방송내역 64,195 316. 호랑이라고 지인 실수로 잃어버린 뒤 견주가 생업까지 포기하고 몇달째 찾고 있는 반려견이 있는데. 5800 돈 준 애들이 미친거라고 생각해 난 그.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 10, 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 10, 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 10, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 10, 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.
더쿠 이용 규칙 스퀘어 정치글은 정치 카테고리에 20., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.