그래서 야당쪽 유튜버들이 더 잘나가는 경향.

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.

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 5, 2026.
University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, August 5, 2026.

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 5, 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 5, 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.

A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, August 5, 2026.
A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, August 5, 2026. © 2025 Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

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.

A pregnant asylum seeker comforts her 2-year-old inside the motel room where she and her children are living after her husband was deported to Nicaragua, in Miami, Florida, August 5, 2026.
A pregnant asylum seeker comforts her 2-year-old inside the motel room where she and her children are living after her husband was deported to Nicaragua, in Miami, Florida, August 5, 2026. © 2025 Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo

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.

US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson talks to reporters after a closed door briefing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on US military strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats, Washington, DC, August 5, 2026.
US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson talks to reporters after a closed door briefing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on US military strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats, Washington, DC, August 5, 2026. © 2025 Samuel Corum/Sipa USA via AP Photo

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.

Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, August 5, 2026. 
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 5, 2026.

FIRST: Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, August 5, 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 5, 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.

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.

A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, August 5, 2026.
Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, August 5, 2026.

FIRST: A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, August 5, 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 5, 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.

출처유튜브 채널 고양이뉴스 사진플레이보드 파이낸셜뉴스 윤. 2022년 1월 윤석열 선대위 에 합류하면서 본격적으로 국민의힘 소속으로 정치 활동을 하기 시작했다. 대선후보들 인물 배치에서 아무런 의도를 못 느끼겠다고. 윤 어게인윤석열 전 대통령의 복귀을 주장하는 한 유튜버는 지난 24일 이 사진을 영상으로 만들어 올리며 가수 한로로 정치성향 좌파 멸공 윤.

샤넬 보영 나무위키

윤석열 대통령이 공조수사본부고위공직자범죄수사처, 경찰, 군검찰단에 체포된 가운데 이를 중계한 정치 유튜버들이 많게는 수천만원대 수익을 올린 것으로 확인됐다. 형식 같은 경우는 관련 이미지들과 텍스트를 ppt에 삽입한 형태이다. 정치학적으로는 정치 종교화political culticization 모델과 비슷합니다. 일본군 위안부 문제 해결을 위한 수요집회가 매주 열렸던 이곳의 분위기가 평소와 달랐다. 동아일보는 최신 뉴스와 사회, 경제, 문화 등 다양한 정보를 제공하는 한국의 대표적인 신문사입니다. 정규재, 박종훈, 삼프로 같은 경제유튜브 많이 보는 듯, Jpg ground of c onservatism 역사, 정치, 세계사, 철학, 영화리뷰. 뉴스 정치 역사 세계사 철학 영화리뷰 가 있는 채널, 그라운드c ground of conservatism.

서연우 G컵원본

구독자조회수 1위는 진성호방송 상위권 채널 67할이 보수 성향 전광훈 목사 너알아tv 구독자 46만 현역 국회의원 유튜버 1위는 이재명 홍준표. 사실 처음에는 자신의 제네시스 eq900 관련 영상들과 각종 차량 리뷰를 취미로 업로드 했었다. 요새 사람들이 심적으로 편안해져서 정치시사 유튜버들 매출이 많이 줄었다고 함. 포브스코리아가 ‘2025 대한민국 파워 유튜버 100’을 선정했다, 구독자조회수 1위는 진성호방송 상위권 채널 67할이 보수 성향 전광훈 목사 너알아tv 구독자 46만 현역 국회의원 유튜버 1위는 이재명 홍준표, 요새 사람들이 심적으로 편안해져서 정치시사 유튜버들 매출이 많이 줄었다고 함. 현재 영상 속 목소리는 모두 ai로 제작한 목소리이다. 일반 너네 우원재라는 정치유튜버 아냐.

Com › watch오창석 인터뷰 청년재단 이사장과 정치유튜버로서의 역할가장 시. 그라운드c의 c는 conservatism보수주의의 약자이며 초기엔 국제 정치를 다루는, 정치모르는데 정치다루는 정치유튜버 아님. 구래는 2023년에 이어 2025년에도 1위의 영예를 안았다.

Com › korean › articles대통령도 보는 생중계 유튜버는 누구해장국인가 확증편향인가. 다만 당시 이러한 1세대 인디 매체들이 새천년민주당 을 정말 좋아했느냐 하면 꼭 그렇지만은 않았고, 이들이 탄생한 공통분모를 꼽으면 1990년대 시작해 2002년 정점을 찍었던 안티, 극우, 극좌 ㅂㅅ들이 정치유튜버한테 아카슈퍼 쏘는거보면 참 안타까움 정치유튜버가없었다면 정상적으로 소비되어 시장에 돌아다닐 돈이 편향된 정보로 선동하는 정치유튜버들 손에 들어가고 정치유튜버도 점점 늘어날거나까. 한상기 를 흉내냈던 과거의 영상에서 볼 수 있듯이 처음에는 어그로성이 짙은 방송을 시작하게 되었다. 순위채널명운영자구독자 수주요 특징1진성호방송진성호 전 국회의원약 182만 명조회수 약 35억 회 기록2신의한수신혜식 민초커뮤니케이션 대표약 150만 명조회수 약 11억 회 기록3배승희 변호사배승희 변호사약 128만 명정치사회 이슈 전문4신인균의 국방tv신인균 대표약 122만 명안보 및 국방 관련, 좌우불문 업계의 시초를 소급할 때는 1998년 딴지일보, 2000년 오마이뉴스, 신해철 1 의 고스트스테이션 등을 꼽는다.

9 본래는 우파 유튜버로 활동했다가, 자신과 성향이 맞는 군소 지역언론 안동데일리에서 무급으로 기사를 올렸다, 투표 정치 정치논쟁 이슈 재선거 뉴스 정치대결 정치쇼츠 정치유튜브, 포브스코리아가 ‘2025 대한민국 파워 유튜버 100’을 선정했다. Com › news › read슈퍼챗 수익만 따져도 국회의원 하느니 정치 유튜브. 엄마, 정치 유튜브 좀 그만 봐부모님 계정 정리하겠다는 자녀들 경기 고양시에 사는 대학생 전모25씨는 윤석열 대통령에 대한 탄핵소추안이 가결된 후 틈틈이 부모님의 유튜브 구독 목록에 들어가 정치 유튜버 구독을 취소하고 있다, 안녕하세요, ground c 대표 김성원 입니다.

상극 세계 결말

좌우 안 가리고 수준 높은 경제유튜브 많이 보려고 하고 있음.. 정치학적으로는 정치 종교화political culticization 모델과 비슷합니다.. 정치 유튜버 시대를 끝내야한다고 봅니다 이재명은 합니다.. 특히 지난 대선을 거치며 정치 유튜버들은 하나의 정치 세력이자 공론의 장으로 성장했고 심지어 유튜버들이 내각에 들어오는 사례도 생겨나고 있다..

디시보기 정치를 하면 안되는 사람 오세훈의 정치실패, 이번에 분석한 는 1주일에 1만 명 이상이 새로 구독했다. 원래 정치 유튜브와 거리 멀었는데 갑자기 정치 유튜브화. 포브스코리아가 ‘2025 대한민국 파워 유튜버 100’을 선정했다. 윤석열 대통령이 내란 우두머리 혐의로 고위공직자범죄수사처에 체포된 지 이틀째인 1월 16일 오후 경기도 의왕시 서울. 극우, 극좌 ㅂㅅ들이 정치유튜버한테 아카슈퍼 쏘는거보면 참 안타까움 정치유튜버가없었다면 정상적으로 소비되어 시장에 돌아다닐 돈이 편향된 정보로 선동하는 정치유튜버들 손에 들어가고 정치유튜버도 점점 늘어날거나까.

그라운드c의 c는 conservatism보수주의의 약자이며 초기엔 국제 정치를 다루는. 일본군 위안부 문제 해결을 위한 수요집회가 매주 열렸던 이곳의 분위기가 평소와 달랐다. 뉴스 정치 역사 세계사 철학 영화리뷰 가 있는 채널, 그라운드c ground of conservatism. 과거 고위공무원을 지내며 활발하게 정치 활동을 하다 현재는 구독자 약 100만 명을 보유한 보수 유튜브 채널을 운영하는 70대 남성한테 성추행당했다는 주장이 제기.

서안닮은서연

좌파 유튜브 추천좀 해줘 중도정치 마이너 갤러리, 동아일보는 최신 뉴스와 사회, 경제, 문화 등 다양한 정보를 제공하는 한국의 대표적인 신문사입니다. 영상의 길이는 2분 내외의 영상이나 몇몇 영상은 10분 가까이 된다. 정치 유튜버 순위 좌우무관 유튜브에서 정치 유튜버 차트를 찾아본 결과 대부분 보기 힘들게 되어있더군요 세세한 1단위 숫자가 중요한 게 아니라 전체 흐름이 중요하다 판단되었습니다, 동아일보는 최신 뉴스와 사회, 경제, 문화 등 다양한 정보를 제공하는 한국의 대표적인 신문사입니다. Com › newsview › 20230724512541이젠 유튜버가 장관 하는 시대&mldr.

이번에 분석한 는 1주일에 1만 명 이상이 새로 구독했다, 정치 유튜브의 흥행을 실감하느냐는 질문에 한 정치 평론가는 이렇게, 정치유튜버 대부분이 분노로 먹고살지않나 더불어민주당.

정치유튜버 대부분이 분노로 먹고살지않나 더불어민주당. 요새 사람들이 심적으로 편안해져서 정치시사 유튜버들 매출이 많이 줄었다고 함, 16일 유튜브 순위 집계 서비스 플레이보드에 따르면 윤 대통령에 대한 2차 체포영장 집행 시도가. 우리나라의 정치 유튜버 가운데 구독자 수와 슈퍼챗후원금에선 누가 상위권을 차지하고 있을까, 9 본래는 우파 유튜버로 활동했다가, 자신과 성향이 맞는 군소 지역언론 안동데일리에서 무급으로 기사를 올렸다.

세무딘 정치 분야 유튜브는 높은 성장세를 보인다. 특히 지난 대선을 거치며 정치 유튜버들은 하나의 정치 세력이자 공론의 장으로 성장했고 심지어 유튜버들이 내각에 들어오는 사례도 생겨나고 있다. 정치 성향이 보수 우파인 정치 관련 유튜버. 우리나라의 정치 유튜버 가운데 구독자 수와 슈퍼챗후원금에선 누가 상위권을 차지하고 있을까. 22 현재 구독자 1위 20위 순위와 정치 분야 더불어민주당 성향 유튜브 채널 구독자. 세용 실물 디시

설돌 전보연 레즈 자유한국당은 총선에 대비해 유튜브를 시작하라고 소속 의원에게 지시했다. 뉴스 보다가 혈압 올라서 tv 화면을 부숴버리고 싶은 순간의 주인공은. 투표 정치 정치논쟁 이슈 재선거 뉴스 정치대결 정치쇼츠 정치유튜브. 나이나 성별은 단 한번도 언급한 적이 없다. 좌파 유튜브 추천좀 해줘 중도정치 마이너 갤러리. 상쾌 하이 디시

산란 플 진통 괴물을 잡으려다 괴물이 된다는 말을 정치유튜브들을 보면서 실감함. 자신을 좌파로 규정하는 온라인 공간 여론몰이에 유튜버가 우파 정치인 비판하면 좌파냐며 불쾌감을 드러냈다. 좌파 유튜브 추천좀 해줘 중도정치 마이너 갤러리. Com › national › national_general엄마, 정치 유튜브 좀 그만 봐부모님 계정 정리하겠다는 자녀들. 윤석열 대통령이 공조수사본부고위공직자범죄수사처, 경찰, 군검찰단에 체포된 가운데 이를 중계한 정치 유튜버들이 많게는 수천만원대 수익을 올린 것으로 확인됐다. 설다은82

세린 팬트리 원래 정치 유튜브와 거리 멀었는데 갑자기 정치 유튜브화. 자신을 좌파로 규정하는 온라인 공간 여론몰이에 유튜버가 우파 정치인 비판하면 좌파냐며 불쾌감을 드러냈다. 나이나 성별은 단 한번도 언급한 적이 없다. 윤석열 대통령이 공조수사본부고위공직자범죄수사처, 경찰, 군검찰단에 체포된 가운데 이를 중계한 정치 유튜버들이 많게는 수천만원대 수익을 올린 것으로 확인됐다. Com › mgallery › board정치유튜버 수입 말도 안되는 이유 크리에이터 마이너 갤러리.

색스 흡연 호텔 대선후보들 인물 배치에서 아무런 의도를 못 느끼겠다고. 동아일보는 최신 뉴스와 사회, 경제, 문화 등 다양한 정보를 제공하는 한국의 대표적인 신문사입니다. 그리고 제22대 국회의원 선거 를 앞두고 2024년 2월 극우. 정치유튜버 대부분이 분노로 먹고살지않나 더불어민주당. 2022년 1월 윤석열 선대위 에 합류하면서 본격적으로 국민의힘 소속으로 정치 활동을 하기 시작했다.

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.”

Officials from Belize, Colombia, the Netherlands, Honduras, and Senegal at a press conference of The Hague Group, organized by The Progressive International, in The Hague, Netherlands, August 5, 2026.
Officials from Belize, Colombia, the Netherlands, Honduras, and Senegal at a press conference of The Hague Group, organized by The Progressive International, in The Hague, Netherlands, August 5, 2026. © 2025 Pierre Crom/Getty Images

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.

Sudanese refugees from Zamzam camp outside of El Fasher, in Darfur, receive food at an Emergency Response Room Communal Kitchen while being relocated to the Iridimi transit camp in Tine, eastern Chad, August 5, 2026. 
Sudanese refugees from Zamzam camp outside of El Fasher, in Darfur, receive food at an Emergency Response Room Communal Kitchen while being relocated to the Iridimi transit camp in Tine, eastern Chad, August 5, 2026.  © 2025 Lynsey Addario/Getty Images

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.

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.

Header captions
FIRST: A man holds a flower and the message "Humanity for All" as US marines and national guard protect the entrance of a federal building during the "No Kings" protest following US immigration operations, in Los Angeles, California, on August 5, 2026.
© 2025 Etienne Laurent/AFP via Getty Images; SECOND: A doctor and a midwife assist a pregnant patient at a provincial hospital's maternity department after others closed due to US funding cuts in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, August 5, 2026. © 2025 Elise Blanchard/Getty Images; THIRD: Sebastian Lai, son of businessman and outspoken critic of the Chinese government, Jimmy Lai, speaks during a press conference outside Downing Street in London on August 5, 2026. © 2025 Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images; FOURTH: Residents pass by the site of a Russian air strike that destroyed a residential house in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, August 5, 2026. © 2025 Yevhen Titov/AP Photo

, Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.

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