Will Human Rights Survive a Trumpian World?

Authoritarian Advances Threaten Rules-Based Order

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

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

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

In this context, 2025 may be seen as a tipping point. In just 12 months, the Trump administration has carried out a broad assault on key pillars of US democracy and the global rules-based order, which the US, despite inconsistencies, was, with other states, instrumental in helping to establish.

In short order, Trump’s second-term administration has undermined trust in the sanctity of elections, reduced government accountability, gutted food assistance and healthcare subsidies, attacked judicial independence, defied court orders, rolled back women’s rights, obstructed access to abortion care, undermined remedies for racial harm, terminated programs mandating accessibility for people with disabilities, punished free speech, stripped protections from trans and intersex people, eroded privacy, and used government power to intimidate political opponents, the media, law firms, universities, civil society, and even comedians.

Claiming a risk of “civilizational erasure” in Europe and leaning on racist tropes to cast entire populations as unwelcome in the US, the Trump administration has embraced policies and rhetoric that align with white nationalist ideology. Immigrants and asylum seekers have been subjected to inhumane conditions and degrading treatment; 32 died in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in 2025, and as of mid-January 2026, an additional 4 have died. Masked immigration enforcement agents have targeted people of color, using excessive force, terrorizing communities, wrongfully arresting scores of citizens, and, most recently, unjustifiably killing two people in Minneapolis, whose deaths Human Rights Watch has documented.

The US president of course has the authority to tighten US borders and enforce stricter immigration policies. The administration is not, however, entitled to deny legal process to asylum seekers, mistreat undocumented migrants, or unlawfully discriminate. In a well-functioning democracy, no electoral mandate should supersede domestic legislation, constitutional protections, or international human rights law. Trump’s team has repeatedly bypassed these guardrails.

The violations have not stopped at the border. The Trump administration used a 1798 law to send hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to an infamous prison in El Salvador, where they were tortured and sexually abused. Its blatantly unlawful strikes on boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific extrajudicially killed more than 120 people whom Trump claims were drug traffickers.

After the US attacked Venezuela and apprehended its president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, Trump claimed the US would “run” the country and control its vast oil reserves. Despite paying lip service to human rights concerns under Maduro at the United Nations, Trump has worked with the same repressive apparatus to further US interests. Many Western allies have chosen to stay silent about these lawless moves, perhaps fearing erratic tariffs and blowback to their alliances.

Trump’s foreign policy has upended the foundations of the rules-based order that seeks to advance democracy and human rights, even if imperfectly.

Trump has boasted that he doesn’t “need international law” as a constraint, only his “own morality.” His administration has politicized the US State Department’s annual human rights report, stepped away from the global prohibition on antipersonnel landmines, voiced support for rewriting international rules on asylum, and skipped the UN’s Universal Periodic Review of the US’ human rights record.

His administration withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council and the World Health Organization and plans to quit 66 international organizations and programs that it describes as part of an “outdated model of multilateralism,” including key forums for climate negotiations. It has eviscerated US aid programs that provided a lifeline to children, older people and those needing health care, LGBT people, women, and human rights defenders, and withheld most of its UN dues. 

Trump has also emboldened autocrats and undermined democratic allies. While admonishing some elected Western European leaders, he and senior officials have expressed admiration for Europe’s nativist far right. He has favored autocrats such as Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, while continuing decades of US support to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

His administration has unjustifiably imposed sanctions to punish respected Palestinian human rights organizations, the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) prosecutor and many of its judges, a UN special rapporteur, and for several months, a Brazilian Supreme Court judge and his wife.

The institutional response in the US to Trump’s power grabs has been shockingly muted. Much of Congress, controlled by his own party, has not challenged his supercharged expansion of executive power. The leaders of the US’ most powerful technology companies have made significant donations and sought to placate the president. Some big law firms and prestigious universities have made deals rather than assert their independence, and some media organizations seem afraid to attract the president’s ire.

Has the US switched sides on the human rights playing field? While US engagement with human rights institutions has always been selective, China and Russia have long pursued an illiberal agenda. They stand much to gain from a US government that now expresses open hostility to universal rights. China and Russia remain strategic rivals of the US, but all three countries are now led by leaders who share open disdain for norms and institutions that could constrain their power.

Together, they wield considerable economic, military, and diplomatic power. If they were to consistently act as allies of convenience to erode global rules, they could threaten the entire system. Already, a loose international network of countries such as North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, Myanmar, Cuba, and Belarus work in concert with Russia and China. These leaders share very little ideologically but align in undermining human rights and promoting a regressive international agenda. In word and in practice, the US government is now helping them in this endeavor.

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

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

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

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

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

In Ukraine, Trump’s peace efforts have consistently downplayed Russia’s responsibility for serious violations. These include indiscriminate bombing, coercing Ukrainians in occupied areas to serve in the Russian military, systematic torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war, the abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, and the use of quadcopter drones to hunt and kill civilians. Rather than applying meaningful pressure on Putin to end these crimes, Trump publicly berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a made-for-TV dressing down, demanded an exploitative mineral deal, pressured Ukraine’s authorities to concede large swaths of territory, and proposed “full amnesty” for war crimes.

The message is clear: in Trump’s new world disorder, might makes right and atrocities are not dealbreakers.

생애 첫 올림픽 메달에 도전하는 여자 탁구의 에이스 신유빈대한항공이 파리올림픽 개막을 사흘 앞두고 감기에 걸렸다. 수렵 fps 32 메이플 ㅇㅂ 대글자 임시방송 요약. 화제의 삐약이 먹방, 신유빈 힘의 원천 엄마표. Com › discover › 신유빈닮은꼴tiktok.

학교에서 찐따녀인 애가 밖에서는 엄청난 미인.. 나 때문에 졌다, 언니들에 미안 눈 빨개진 신유빈.. 나이, 이름, 김치 먹는 이유들이 궁금하다면 클릭하세요.. 신유빈, 亞탁구선수권 女단식 銀장우진 동아일보..

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2021 도하 아시아탁구선수권 여자복식 우승 전지희 함께할 때는 후배라고 생각하지 않아 신유빈17대한항공이 아시아탁구선수권 여자복식에서 전지희29포스코에너지와 짝을 이뤄 금메달을 따고 애국가가 울려펴질 때 뭉클함을 느꼈다고 소감을 전했다.. Featureshared 다음엔 어떤 취미를 리뷰해 볼까요.. 화제의 삐약이 먹방, 신유빈 힘의 원천 엄마표.. 홍콩의 수와이얌미니에 40 승리 2019년 아시아선수권 단체전 패배 설욕 신유빈71위대한항공이 세계탁구선수권 단식 첫 경기에서 2020 도쿄 올림픽 동메달리스트를 꺾고 64강에 진출했다..

말왕 ㄱㅊ

신유빈 기본정보 신유빈 인스타그램 바로가기 대한민국의 탁구 선수로, 어린, 2023 sbs 연예대상 레드카펫 행사가 30일 오후 서울 마포구 상암sbs에서 열렸다. 「av 신유빈녀」の検索結果 ショッピング一覧 （関連度順） 関連キーワード デイヴィッド・ヒューム（davidhume） wave出版 favoritedear ショッピング 0件 復刊リクエスト 0件 表示.

신유빈 선수는 어린 시절부터 탁구 신동으로, 신유빈은 학교에서 매우 조용하고 음침히기로 소문났다 항상 모자를 쓰고 안경에 마스크까지 심지어 옷도 온몸을 가리는 츄리닝만 입어 학교에서는 존재감. 신유빈녀_피부 하얗고 몸매좋은 20살價格推薦共0筆。另有20呎貨櫃屋、2025行事曆、2024。飛比為你即時比價，全台電商網購價格輕鬆找，一秒為你找便宜，快速比對商品價格，讓你花最少，省最多！簡單快速上手，最適合你的比價網站，輕鬆省錢的好幫手！, 탁구녀 신유빈 삐약이 올림픽 바나나 광고료 기부금 부모님 돈이란 먹고살 만큼만 있으면 된단다 영향력 실천력 응원해 기도해 † 여러분을 초대합니다, 31일 온라인상에서는 만 5세였던 신유빈이 ‘탁구 신동’이란 타이틀로 출연했던 sbs 프로그램 ‘스타킹’의 한 장면이 화제가 됐다. 특별시상자로 참석한 탁구선수 신유빈이 입장하고 있다.

언니는 선수 생활의 후반기를 화려하게 마무리했고, 동생은 더 한층 성장해 창창한 미래를 기대하게 됐다. 또한, 베레모로 완성한 귀여운 걸리쉬, Featureshared 다음엔 어떤 취미를 리뷰해 볼까요, 현재 수원 탁구클럽 운영중이며 1972년생 나이 52세로 유재석과 동갑입니다.

맹숙 남친 바로 신유빈 선수가 모델로 있는 그릴리 직화 닭꼬치. 이번 글에서는 여자 탁구 신유빈 연봉, 고향, 할머니, 아버지, 감독, 개인전, 랭킹에 대해 알아보겠습니다. 세계탁구선수권 남녀 국가대표 확정신유빈 7전 전승. 홍콩의 수와이얌미니에 40 승리 2019년 아시아선수권 단체전 패배 설욕 신유빈71위대한항공이 세계탁구선수권 단식 첫 경기에서 2020 도쿄 올림픽 동메달리스트를 꺾고 64강에 진출했다. 수렵 fps 32 메이플 ㅇㅂ 대글자 임시방송 요약. 마루 마루 디시

마키마 대딸 신유빈 기본정보 신유빈 인스타그램 바로가기 대한민국의 탁구 선수로, 어린. 한국은 25일 스웨덴 헬싱보리에서 끝난 2024 월드 유스 챔피언십 19세 이하u19 여자 단체전 결승에서 대만을 31로 꺾었다. Kr › article › 202411251131003신유빈의 뒤를 이을 샛별이 떴다&mldr. 또한, 베레모로 완성한 귀여운 걸리쉬. 23일 탁구대표팀에 따르면 신유빈은 충국진천국가대표선수촌에서 훈련할 때부터 감기 증상을 보였다. 마시로 빨간약 키

마키마 성우 논란 신유빈녀_피부 하얗고 몸매좋은 20살 5v 풀팩 야동스토어는 신유빈녀_피부 하얗고 몸매좋은 20살 5v 풀팩 외에도 한국야동, 일본야동, 미공개야동, 국산야동 등 다양한 고퀄리티 야동의 다운로드를 제공합니다. 신유빈녀_피부 하얗고 몸매좋은 20살 5v 풀팩 야동스토어는 신유빈녀_피부 하얗고 몸매좋은 20살 5v 풀팩 외에도 한국야동, 일본야동, 미공개야동, 국산야동 등 다양한 고퀄리티 야동의 다운로드를 제공합니다. 나 때문에 졌다, 언니들에 미안 눈 빨개진 신유빈. 남북 대결에서 웃은 신유빈전지희, 21년 만의. Com › segyecom › 223837292665밥, 친구보다 탁구가 좋아 신유빈, 5살 모습 재조명 네이버 블로. 메디인디아 디시

망구 leaked 유저업로드 n 그알에 나왔던 17살 고등학생 박은빈 유저업로드 n 새벽반 삼겹살 유저업로드 n 빵조각 맛있게 주워먹는 아기 고양이. ㅅㅅㅅ baeguson live_season2_round12 신유빈스타킹이 배출한 최고의 아웃풋 탁구신동이최연소 태극마크 달고 sbs에 금의환향했다 강호동 vs 배호동. 신유빈은 4일 밤 카타르 루사일에서 열린 2021 아시아선수권대회 여자 단식 결승에서 일본의 히나 하야타21세계랭킹 21위에 13으로 져 준우승을 차지. 신유빈의 논란과 이야기들 함께 들어보세요. Com › discover › 신유빈닮은꼴tiktok.

마키마 시간정지패배 신유빈은 4일 밤 카타르 루사일에서 열린 2021 아시아선수권대회 여자 단식 결승에서 일본의 히나 하야타21세계랭킹 21위에 13으로 져 준우승을 차지. 여자팀은 서효원, 전지희, 양하은, 유은총, 이은혜, 신유빈 6명이 출전한다. 맛은 볼케이노랑 데리야끼, 두 가지인데요. 탁구녀 신유빈 삐약이 올림픽 바나나 광고료 기부금 부모님. 세계탁구선수권 남녀 국가대표 확정신유빈 7전 전승.

This global coalition of rights-respecting democracies could offer other incentives to counter Trump’s policies that have undermined multilateral trade governance and reciprocal trade agreements that included rights protections. Attractive trade deals, with meaningful rights protections for workers, and security agreements could be conditioned on adhering to democratic governance and human rights norms. Democracy already comes with benefits. While autocracies have generally fostered conflict, economic stagnation, or kleptocracy, as evidenced in multiple academic studies, including the work of the Nobel Prize-winning economist Daron Acemoglu, democratic institutions reliably yield economic growth. 

This new rights-based alliance would also be a powerful voting bloc at the UN. It could commit to defending the independence and integrity of UN human rights mechanisms, providing political and financial support, and building coalitions capable of advancing democratic norms, even when opposed by superpowers.

Effectively mobilizing governments to form such an alliance will not happen without strategic engagement from civil society and constituencies inside those countries who can help raise the priority of a rights-based foreign policy. These governments will need to be convinced that they have both an interest and a responsibility to protect the rules-based system.

Projects of this nature are bubbling up. Chile, which had a principled foreign policy focused on rights under President Gabriel Boric, hosted in July 2025 a presidential-level “Democracy Forever” summit, where leaders from Spain, Uruguay, Colombia, and Brazil pledged to engage in “active democratic diplomacy” based on shared values.

The Hague Group, led by Malaysia, South Africa, and Colombia, formed in January 2025 in “defense of international law” and in solidarity with Palestinians. Over 70 countries from all regions signed a joint statement defending multilateralism at the UN. Earlier, in 2017, former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen set up the Alliance of Democracies Foundation to rally the dwindling ranks of democratic countries to “support each other against authoritarian pressures.”

Whatever its precise contours, an alliance of rights-respecting democracies would offer a hopeful counterpoint to the authoritarian trope of China’s and Russia’s leaders standing alongside North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, observing military hardware in a parade in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in September. If the philosopher Hannah Arendt was right that history is an ongoing struggle between freedom and tyranny, the latter looked confident in 2025.

Yet, even in the worst of times, the idea of freedom and human rights is enduring. People power remains an engine for change. In the US, “No Kings” marches have drawn millions, protesters in Chicago, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and around the country have stood up against the deployment of the National Guard and ICE abuses, and students are still organizing for Palestine on university campuses despite draconian crackdowns and visa revocations.

Buoyed by popular resistance, South Korean parliamentarians impeached their president to prevent him from grabbing power through martial law. Grassroots aid efforts by Sudan’s emergency response rooms, Hong Kong’s fire relief, Sri Lanka’s cyclone relief community kitchens, and Ukrainian mutual aid and solidarity collectives represent the best of this trend.

In 2025, Gen Z protests against corruption, inadequate public services, and poor governance in Nepal, Indonesia, and Morocco brought to the forefront the need for governments to listen to their youth and tackle corruption and inequality. But as the difficulties of restoring rights in Bangladesh after years under an authoritarian government illustrates, gains won through public mobilization can easily be lost unless democratic participation and free expression remain unassailable.