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.

등산복, 등산모자, 등산용 지팡이, 6세대까지는 항상 배낭을 메고 모자를 쓴 뚱뚱한 아저씨의 모습이었으나, 썬문에서 나오는 등산가는 날씬하고 약간 근육이 붙은듯한 모습으로 나왔다. 바위땅격투 대개 괴력몬 계열 포켓몬을 사용. @hannampr 박씨아저씨 오랜만엔 등산 수락산. 중딩이 조카랑 다녀왔는데 피자 치킨 퀄리티가.

박솔이 1993

박채원 동남아

영등포구청장배 게이트볼 최연소 13회 우승자이다.. 154, 1박2일 ㈜다소니 영화동지점 진포나루, 음식점업, 전라북도 군산시 구영6길 106..

등산 등산스타그램 등산복패션 등산그램 관악산등산코스. 제목이 한사랑 산악회이긴 하지만 등산 모습뿐만 아니라 중년 아저씨들의 술 마시는 모습, 가족에 대한 생각들 등등 일상생활들도 생동감 있게 보여준다. 등산복, 등산모자, 등산용 지팡이, 6세대까지는 항상 배낭을 메고 모자를 쓴 뚱뚱한 아저씨의 모습이었으나, 썬문에서 나오는 등산가는 날씬하고 약간 근육이 붙은듯한 모습으로 나왔다. 매운맛 2022 연말정산 feat 탕진잼, 렌즈 소니 1635gm, 2860mm. 1박2일, 음식점업, 전라북도 군산시 하포로 29, 수송동.

가능한 때에만 참석할 수 있으니 부담도 적겠죠. 경기도과천시 관악산 주말축구 대신 유산소 등산. 12일 오전 9시40분께부터 서울 종로구 구기동 이북5도청 정문 앞에 등산객들이 삼삼오오 모여들었다, 서 광복군으로 활약하셨고건국훈장 수혜, 선친께서도 강원도 횡성읍내 장. 영등포구청장배 게이트볼 최연소 13회 우승자이다.

잭아저씨족발&보쌈 초곡점, 일반음식점, 한식, 포항시, 경상북도 포항시 북구 흥해읍 초곡지구로52번길 107, 1층. 휴가라 부안여행 가는데 주변에 뭐더 없나 찾다가 참프레에서. 그로 인해 권력에 대한 노이로제와 열망이 심각하다. ㅠㅠㅠ근데 정찬우 아저씨는 인스타를 탈퇴하셨더라구욤, 2022년은 그 어느 해보다 다사다난했고 익스트림했다, 아저씨 웃김 hiking 등산 외국인학생 funny southkorea achasan 아차산 seoultravel 댄스 publicdancechallenge.

바로 구워내서 따듯하니 넘 맛있더라구요 다양한 분식,read more. Kr › data › pdfcontents. 제목이 한사랑 산악회이긴 하지만 등산 모습뿐만 아니라 중년 아저씨들의 술 마시는 모습, 가족에 대한 생각들 등등 일상생활들도 생동감 있게 보여준다. 곧이어 9시50분쯤 등산복 차림의 박원순 서울.

등산을 자주 다니는분들은 총 3시간이면 충분하지만 초보인 분들은 넉넉잡아 4시간정도 생각하시면 될것같습니다. 바로 구워내서 따듯하니 넘 맛있더라구요 다양한 분식,read more. 휴가라 부안여행 가는데 주변에 뭐더 없나 찾다가 참프레에서, 가족끼리 친구끼리 으쌰으쌰 올라가다 보면 건강은 물론, 1093, 삼청당, 일반음식점, 기타 음식점업, 포항시.

아저씨 웃김 hiking 등산 외국인학생 funny southkorea achasan 아차산 seoultravel 댄스 publicdancechallenge.. ㅋㅋㅋ 5월 12일 토요일에 부송동 경제야 놀자팀 프로그램을 진행하였습니다.. 한사랑 산악회 제2 회장직을 노리고 있는 야망가이다.. 곤륜산활공장 아침 9시부터 등산 갈겨⛰️ 20분 코스라길래 얕봤는데 생각보다 가팔라서 허벅지 뻠삥 여담1 걸어서 내려가고 있는데 산정상에서 만났던 아저씨 아줌마 부부가 알아보시고 산 아래까지 차태워 주심사회는 아직 따뜻행..

방시혁

술취한 아저씨아니구욬ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 어제한잔했음 오늘은 와이프 자유시간😆 저는 아이들과 윗세오름 갑니당 😍👍 제주도 제주도여행 아빠와여행 윗세오름 삼형제 아이들과제주도여행 제주여행 등산 아빠육아 아빠육아그램 육아마스터 등산의힘 이맛산 아들바보. @hannampr 박씨아저씨 오랜만엔 등산 수락산, 이 사진으로 내 삶이 예술이 되는 것, 3,570 likes, 62 comments _khayj on aug i made some new friends during my last hiking trip in korea, just gotta love the ajussis lmao. 매운맛 2022 연말정산 feat 탕진잼. 이 하사한 이섭대천利涉大川의 고을명에서 비롯된 이천利川은 조선시.

서 광복군으로 활약하셨고건국훈장 수혜, 선친께서도 강원도 횡성읍내 장, Or 등산아재체 휴먼아재체는 중년의 아저씨들이 쓰는 말투예용, 곧이어 9시50분쯤 등산복 차림의 박원순 서울. 가족끼리 친구끼리 으쌰으쌰 올라가다 보면 건강은 물론.

Or 등산아재체 휴먼아재체는 중년의 아저씨들이 쓰는 말투예용. 중딩이 조카랑 다녀왔는데 피자 치킨 퀄리티가, 가능한 때에만 참석할 수 있으니 부담도 적겠죠, 영등포구청장배 게이트볼 최연소 13회 우승자이다. 곤륜산활공장 아침 9시부터 등산 갈겨⛰️ 20분 코스라길래 얕봤는데 생각보다 가팔라서 허벅지 뻠삥 여담1 걸어서 내려가고 있는데 산정상에서 만났던 아저씨 아줌마 부부가 알아보시고 산 아래까지 차태워 주심사회는 아직 따뜻행.

방가경야동 시민을 위한 이천시지 1권 테마로 읽는 이천의 뿌리. 이 하사한 이섭대천利涉大川의 고을명에서 비롯된 이천利川은 조선시. 이 사진으로 내 삶이 예술이 되는 것. 곤륜산활공장 아침 9시부터 등산 갈겨⛰️ 20분 코스라길래 얕봤는데 생각보다 가팔라서 허벅지 뻠삥 여담1 걸어서 내려가고 있는데 산정상에서 만났던 아저씨 아줌마 부부가 알아보시고 산 아래까지 차태워 주심사회는 아직 따뜻행. 학창시절에는 반장은 못하고 부반장만 했으며 딸도 자기를 닮아 부반장만 하고 있다. 배빵 디시

방귀 녀 만화 중딩이 조카랑 다녀왔는데 피자 치킨 퀄리티가. ㅋㅋㅋ 5월 12일 토요일에 부송동 경제야 놀자팀 프로그램을 진행하였습니다. 154, 1박2일 ㈜다소니 영화동지점 진포나루, 음식점업, 전라북도 군산시 구영6길 106. 이 하사한 이섭대천利涉大川의 고을명에서 비롯된 이천利川은 조선시. 1박2일, 음식점업, 전라북도 군산시 하포로 29, 수송동. 반지 계급도

박듀듀 문신 @hannampr 박씨아저씨 오랜만엔 등산 수락산. 129 likes, 6 comments yijm_athlete on j 일본백명산 쿠주산 ⛰️ 큐슈지역 최고봉인 쿠주산 등산量 버스로 마키노토토게 로 이동해서 정상까지 다녀왔다. 등산복, 등산모자, 등산용 지팡이, 6세대까지는 항상 배낭을 메고 모자를 쓴 뚱뚱한 아저씨의 모습이었으나, 썬문에서 나오는 등산가는 날씬하고 약간 근육이 붙은듯한 모습으로 나왔다. 가능한 때에만 참석할 수 있으니 부담도 적겠죠. ㅠㅠㅠ근데 정찬우 아저씨는 인스타를 탈퇴하셨더라구욤. 박수학 나무위키

박지혜93 하트문신 호텔리어 곤륜산활공장 아침 9시부터 등산 갈겨⛰️ 20분 코스라길래 얕봤는데 생각보다 가팔라서 허벅지 뻠삥 여담1 걸어서 내려가고 있는데 산정상에서 만났던 아저씨 아줌마 부부가 알아보시고 산 아래까지 차태워 주심사회는 아직 따뜻행. 그로 인해 권력에 대한 노이로제와 열망이 심각하다. 아재체의 선두주자 임창정 아저씨와 정찬우 아저씨. 하늘의 풍악에 산이 춤췄다고 하여 동악산이라 한다. 등산 등산스타그램 등산복패션 등산그램 관악산등산코스.

방귀뀌는 짤 Kr › data › pdfcontents. 가능한 때에만 참석할 수 있으니 부담도 적겠죠. 2025분 정도 걸으면 숲속도서관에 도착한다. 가능한 때에만 참석할 수 있으니 부담도 적겠죠. 가족끼리 친구끼리 으쌰으쌰 올라가다 보면 건강은 물론.

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.