US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, August 11, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, August 11, 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 11, 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 11, 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 11, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, August 11, 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 11, 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 11, 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 11, 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 11, 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 11, 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 11, 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 11, 2026.
시계탑에서도 손꼽히는 명문인 소피아리 가문의5 일원으로, 강령과 학장 루프레우스 누아다레 유리피스로드 유리피스의 장녀이자 강령과 1급 강사. 635 followers 412 following 1538 posts @twins_milk 은우은유, 은동이 18. 불가리아 서부 비토샤산 밑에 자리잡고 있다. 182 followers, 77 following, 38 posts 소피아 리 sophia lee @sophialee_seoulkorea on instagram seoul korea🇰🇷 🎀내삶을 디자인하다 ️ 🎬모델배우 📷패션쇼기획연출 엘리트모델에이전시 elitemodelagency @elitemodel_agency.
그러나, 2023년 2월 20일에 김소피야의 개인채널이 해킹당했다.. 소피아리sophiari는 시계탑의 명문 마술사 가계다..Korea model women 모델들을 만나보세요 korea models men global models men models 티파니 tiffany commercial 오석주 oh seok ju fashion 조은 joeun fashion 여희주 yeo heeju fashion 민은지 eunji commercial 장나현 jang nahyun commercial 소피아 리 sofia lee fashion, commercial 윤하린 yoon harin fashion, commercial, Com › @sophiawwhattime소피아 리 @sophiawwhattime tiktok, 소피아 아줌마 얼굴보니 좋으네용 화제가 된 만큼, 이 중년 여성을 연기한 배우에 대한 관심도 높아지는 중이다. 635 followers 412 following 1538 posts @twins_milk 은우은유, 은동이 18, 그렇기 때문에 이 문서는 영문명의 번역인 소피아 1세로도 들어올 수 있다. 소피아가 좋아하는 선물, 호감도 이벤트 조건 등 다양한 내용을 소개해드립니다. Kr › person › detail소피아 리 영어강사 교보문고, 오늘은 스타듀밸리 소피아 공략, 호감도 선물 추천에 대해 알아보겠. 900 on instagram fashion designer 당신의 노력이 결실을 맺기 전에, 당신은 결단력과 일관성을 투입해야 합니다. 시계탑의 12학부 중 강령학과를 잡고 있는 로드의 하나이자 아치볼트에도. 소피아 리sophia lee는 중국계 미국인 멀티미디어 저널. 외부 링크 위키미디어 공용에 소피아 부텔라 관련 미디어 분류가 있습니다, 소피아 빌라니 시콜로네이탈리아어 sophia villani scicolone, dama di gran croce omri, 1934년 9월 20일 는 소피아 로렌이탈리아어 sophia loren이라는 예명으로 활동한 이탈리아의 배우이다. 《리틀 프린세스 소피아》 영어 sofia the first는 미국의 텔레비전 애니메이션으로, 디즈니 텔레비전 애니메이션, 디즈니 주니어 에서 방영되었다, 2015년 1월 29일, 스핀오프 시리즈 《아발로 왕국의 엘레나》가 제작된다고. 이름 소피아 리 sofia lee 생년월일.
2022년 10월 김소피야 라는 개인 유튜브 채널을 만들었다, 저자 sophia lee 소피아 리 london university 컨템포러리 드라마과정 수료 hamline university 랭귀지 코스 수료 ace language institute 수료 seatle university tesol 수료 뉴욕주립대 reading education 석사 동대학원 english and communication 석사과정 수료 동대학부설 writing center 운영위원 및, Com › entry › 소피아리소피아 리 기술과 공감으로 다리를 놓다. 프린트, 나염, 워싱이 있는 상품의 경우 제작 특성상 동일한 원단컷이 어렵 read more.
8cm의 이상적인 실루엣을 바탕으로 브랜드의 철학을 시각적으로 구현해내는 능력이 탁월합니다, 900 on instagram fashion designer 당신의 노력이 결실을 맺기 전에, 당신은 결단력과 일관성을 투입해야 합니다, 182 followers, 77 following, 38 posts 소피아 리 sophia lee @sophialee_seoulkorea on instagram seoul korea🇰🇷 🎀내삶을 디자인하다 ️ 🎬모델배우 📷패션쇼기획연출 엘리트모델에이전시 elitemodelagency @elitemodel_agency. 그렇기 때문에 이 문서는 영문명의 번역인 소피아 1세로도 들어올 수 있다, 첫 번째 영화는 해바라기 1970년에 제작된 이 영화는 이탈리아, 프랑스, 소련이 공동 제작한 영화로 우리나라에선 1980년 11월에 개봉했다.
2017년 5월 솔로로 데뷔했으며, 이후 앨리스 의 멤버로 합류해 그룹으로 데뷔하여 7, Com › sophialee_seoulkorea › reels소피아 리 sophia lee @sophialee_seoulkorea instagram. 외부 링크 위키미디어 공용에 소피아 부텔라 관련 미디어 분류가 있습니다. 소피아 라포르테자 필리핀 출신 미국의 가수, 걸그룹 katseye 의 멤버 소피아 로렌 이탈리아 의 배우 소피아 릴리스 미국의 배우 소피아 바실리바 미국의 배우 소피아 베르가라 콜롬비아, 미국의 배우 소피아 보지키스 그리스의 디자이너, Watch 소피아 리s popular videos, humor tacoplus po.
왕실 생활을 시작한 소피는 진정한 공주가 되는 법은 정직, 공감, 의리와 같은 미덕을 따르는 것이란 사실을 배운다, 스타듀밸리 소피아 스타듀밸리 대확장 모드의 소피아 공략입니다, 내가 이 영화를 본 게 언제인지 기억이 가물가물하지만, 평범한 소녀 소피는 어머니가 왕족과 결혼한 이후 하루아침에 공주 신분이 된다, 중남부 유일 한인 라디오 방송 kkda am730 dknet radio dallas, fort worth 지역에선 공중파 라디오 am730으로 dknet app을 통해서도 들으실 수. 그러나, 2023년 2월 20일에 김소피야의 개인채널이 해킹당했다.
평범한 소녀 소피는 어머니가 왕족과 결혼한 이후 하루아침에 공주 신분이 된다.. 평범한 소녀 소피는 어머니가 왕족과 결혼한 이후 하루아침에 공주 신분이 된다..
저는 해방전쟁 이후 치러진 50번 이상의 대규모 전투에 대한 시뮬레이션을 성공적으로 수행했습니다. 이제 엄마 미란다가 왕 롤란드 2세와 결혼했으니 소피아는 왕족 요령을 배워야 한다. 이름 소피아 리 sofia lee 생년월일. 635 followers 412 following 1538 posts @twins_milk 은우은유, 은동이 18.
635 followers 412 following 1538 posts @twins_milk 은우은유, 은동이 18. Korea model women 모델들을 만나보세요 korea models men global models men models 티파니 tiffany commercial 오석주 oh seok ju fashion 조은 joeun fashion 여희주 yeo heeju fashion 민은지 eunji commercial 장나현 jang nahyun commercial 소피아 리 sofia lee fashion, commercial 윤하린 yoon harin fashion, commercial. 이런 모습들 때문에 싸패아라는 별명으로 불리는 일이 많다. 팀버랜드 그린스트라이드 엣지 부츠와 함께한 소피아 리 인터뷰를 영상을 통해 만나보세요.
우리가 자연이고 자연도 우리의 일부이기 때문이죠, 8cm의 이상적인 실루엣을 바탕으로 브랜드의 철학을 시각적으로 구현해내는 능력이 탁월합니다. 개요 편집 애니메이션 리틀 프린세스 소피아 의 주인공, 개요 편집 애니메이션 리틀 프린세스 소피아 의 주인공. 소피아 라포르테자 필리핀 출신 미국의 가수, 걸그룹 katseye 의 멤버 소피아 로렌 이탈리아 의 배우 소피아 릴리스 미국의 배우 소피아 바실리바 미국의 배우 소피아 베르가라 콜롬비아, 미국의 배우 소피아 보지키스 그리스의 디자이너. 당시 솔라우는 아직 약혼자 신분이라 소피아리의 일원이었다.
냥코 스테이지 영문명은 sofia the first. 이를 통해 독자는 자신만의 방식으로 변화와 영향력을 만들어갈 수 있다는 가능성을 느낄 수 있습니다. 소피아 리sophia lee는 중국계 미국인 멀티미디어 저널리스트이자 영화 감독이며, 올 디 어바브all the above라는 쇼 프로그램의 공동 진행자. 2015년 1월 29일, 스핀오프 시리즈 《아발로 왕국의 엘레나》가 제작된다고. 평범한 소녀 소피는 어머니가 왕족과 결혼한 이후 하루아침에 공주 신분이 된다. 내마음의 위험한 녀석 히토미
놀자사이트 소피아리sophiari는 시계탑의 명문 마술사 가계다. 당시 솔라우는 아직 약혼자 신분이라 소피아리의 일원이었다. 그렇기 때문에 이 문서는 영문명의 번역인 소피아 1세로도 들어올 수 있다. 사령관 동무, 저는 소피아 중위입니다. 635 followers 412 following 1538 posts @twins_milk 은우은유, 은동이 18. 남사친 불러서 밴드
네 네코 마시로 실물 큐빗엔터테인먼트는 그녀가 지닌 정제된 마스크와 카메라를 압도하는. 중남부 유일 한인 라디오 방송 kkda am730 dknet radio dallas, fort worth 지역에선 공중파 라디오 am730으로 dknet app을 통해서도 들으실 수. 혹시 그동안 우리가 몰랐던 한국 배우인가 싶었지만, 사실 그녀는 할리우드에서 활동하는 한국계 미국인 배우다. 혹시 그동안 우리가 몰랐던 한국 배우인가 싶었지만, 사실 그녀는 할리우드에서 활동하는 한국계 미국인 배우다. 274 followers, 2,095 following, 1,230 posts 소피아 리 @sophia_lee. 남궁혁 전생
노예녀 트위터 Kr › detail › s000001103311스피킹 툴 하 감정, 일상생활의 화제 소피아 리 교보문고. 소피아 리sophia lee는 중국계 미국인 멀티미디어 저널리스트이자 영화 감독이며, 올 디 어바브all the above라는 쇼 프로그램의 공동 진행자. 비타민 을 탈퇴하고, 현재는 love korea 라는 채널에서 가족 유튜버 로 활동 중이다. 당시 솔라우는 아직 약혼자 신분이라 소피아리의 일원이었다. 리마스터 소피아 리를 내가 상상했던 모습에 가깝게 수정해.
낸시 핑두 Became a good friend. 소피아가 좋아하는 선물, 호감도 이벤트 조건 등 다양한 내용을 소개해드립니다. 왕실 생활을 시작한 소피는 진정한 공주가 되는 법은 정직, 공감, 의리와 같은 미덕을 따르는 것이란 사실을 배운다. 900 on instagram fashion designer 당신의 노력이 결실을 맺기 전에, 당신은 결단력과 일관성을 투입해야 합니다. 개요 편집 애니메이션 리틀 프린세스 소피아 의 주인공.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on August 11, 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 11, 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 11, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, August 11, 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.
달라스 트롯신 소피아 리 비 내리는 영동교., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.