US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, August 3, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, August 3, 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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, August 3, 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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 2026.
지난 5월, 국방의 의무를 마치고 팬들 곁으로 돌아온 그가 최근 mbc 라디오스타에 출연하며 본격적인. 고우림 프로필 고우림 나이 1995년 7월 10일생으로 올해 나이 30세이며, 경북 상주시에서 태어났으며 2남 중 막내로 태어났습니다. 오늘은 포레스텔라 멤버 고우림 프로필 정보 알아보려고 하는데요. 김연아의 예비 남편 고우림은 1995년생으로, 김연아보다 다섯 살 어리다.
| 대한민국의 성악가, 베이스바소프로폰도이자 남성 크로스오버 그룹 포레스텔라의 멤버이다. | 본관은 제주 고씨이며 키 180cm, 몸무게 62kg, 혈액형 ab형입니다. | 혈액형은 ab형이며, 발 사이즈는 265mm, 종교는 개신교이며, 아버지가 목사입니다. |
|---|---|---|
| 대한민국의 성악가, 베이스바소프로폰도이자 남성 크로스오버 그룹 포레스텔라의 멤버이다. | 고우림 프로필 고우림 출처 고우림 인스타그램 나이 만 28세 1995년 7월 10일 출생 출생 경상북도 상주시 키 180cm 혈액형 ab형 아내 김연아 2022년 10월 결혼. | 고우림 나이 프로필 김연아 결혼 학력 가족관계 목소리 최근 걸어서 환장 속으로에 출연한 포레스텔라 성악 그룹입니다. |
| 현재는 포레스텔라로 활발하게 활동하고 있다. | 김연아와 결혼 포레스텔라 고우림 나이프로필 화제. | 클래식과 대중음악을 넘나드는 실력파 크로스오버 그룹 포레스텔라의 멤버, 그리고 피겨 여왕 김연아의 남편으로 알려진 고우림 님의 프로필을 정리해드릴게요. |
| 남성 4중창 단원을 뽑는 오디션 프로그램 팬텀싱어 2에 출연하여 강형호, 배두훈, 조민규와 한 팀을 이루어 결승까지 진출하고 우승하였다. | 김연아와 결혼 포레스텔라 고우림 나이프로필 화제. | 2017년 jtbc 팬텀싱어 2에 출연해 강형호, 배두훈, 조민규와 팀을 이뤄 우승하며 대중적 인지도를 얻었다. |
| 두 사람은 고우림 군 입대 전까지 달콤한 신혼을 보낼 전망이다. | 고우림 프로필 고우림은 1995년 7월 10일생으로 올해 나이는 27세이며, 을해년 돼지띠입니다. | 김연아 나이는 33세이고 고우림 나이는 28세입니다. |
고우림 성악가 고우림 1995년 7월 10일 은 대한민국의 성악가 로, 크로스오버 그룹 포레스텔라 의 멤버이다.. 2017년에 에 출연해 우승을 차지했다.. 연예 인물 이슈 tag 고우림, 고우림 군대, 고우림 나이, 고우림 어머니, 고우림 집안, 고우림 프로필, 고우림 형, 김연아 나이, 김연아 재산, 김연아 프로필..혈액형은 ab형이며, 발 사이즈는 265mm, 종교는 개신교이며, 아버지가 목사입니다. 프롤로그 블로그 방송 40개의 글 목록열기, 김연아 고우림 모두 각자의 소속사에도 열애 사실을 숨겨 왔다고 합니다. 김연아와 남편 고우림 두 사람의 나이차는 5살 차이가 납니다. 1995년 7월 10일 대구광역시에서 태어나 2025년 기준 만 30세입니다, 고우림 ♥김연아 애칭은 여보24살에 프러포즈, 부부싸움. 김연아와 결혼 포레스텔라 고우림 나이프로필 화제, 김연아와 고우림 만남과 결혼 김연아 33와 고우림 28은 5살 나이 차이로 2018년 올댓스케이트 아이스쇼 축하 무대에서 만나 인연을 맺은 뒤 연인으로 발전했습니다. 고우림 결혼 아내 김연아 나이 차, 누구. Com › diacpqpqp › 223903732210김연아 고우림, 나이 프로필.
고우림 프로필 고우림 나이 1995년 7월 10일생으로 올해 나이 30세이며, 경북 상주시에서 태어났으며 2남 중 막내로 태어났습니다, 1995년 7월 10일 대구광역시에서 태어나 2025년 기준 만 30세입니다. 현재는 포레스텔라로 활발하게 활동하고 있다. 아버지가 대구 평화교회 고경수 목사로 코로나가 유행하던 시기에 이주민들은 교회에서 마스크를 나눠줘도 찾아오기가 쉽지 않다며 길거리에서 마스크를 나눠주는 선행을 보이기도 했습니다, 1995년 7월 10일1995071030세 경상북도 상주시 남성 대한민국 성악가.
고우림 성악가 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전. 김연아와 고우림 만남과 결혼 김연아 33와 고우림 28은 5살 나이 차이로 2018년 올댓스케이트 아이스쇼 축하 무대에서 만나 인연을 맺은 뒤 연인으로 발전했습니다, 1995년 7월 10일1995071030세 경상북도 상주시 남성 대한민국 성악가, 이에 양측 소속사에서 빠르게 인정함과 동시에 10월 결혼 소식을 발표했다. 현재는 포레스텔라로 활발하게 활동하고 있다, 선한 성격과 훈훈한 외모로 많은 팬들로부터 사랑받고 있는 고우림의 프로필과 데뷔 이야기, 결혼 이야기, 아내 김연아 프로필, 신혼집 소개, 수상 내역, 여담 등을 소개해 드리겠습니다.
지난해 12월 부터 교제 중이라고 알려졌는데요. 고우림 ♥김연아 연하와 결혼 상상도 못했다고, 누나라. 성악가 고우림에 대하여 알아보도록 하겠습니다. Ab형 182cm 발사이즈 265mm. 첫만남부터 프로포즈까지 네이버 블로그 entertainment 793개의 글 목록열기.
김연아의 결혼 소식에 고우림 욕하러 갔다가 포레스텔라 팬이 돼서 돌아온다는 말이 있을 정도로 포레스텔라는 천상의 하모니를 들려주는, Com › botong333 › 223907107500고우림 프로필 총정리, 김연아 고우림 나이 차이 때문에 더 화제가 되는 것. 한편 고우림은 1995년 생으로 올해 28살이다.
서울대 성악과를 졸업했으며 남성 크로스오버 그룹 포레스텔라의 멤버다, 91세에 다리도 불편하고 귀가 안들려도 여전히 바다에 뛰어드는 할머니가 있다, 경상북도 상주에서 태어났으며, 대구에서 어린 시절을 보냈습니다. 아버지가 대구 평화교회 고경수 목사로 코로나가 유행하던 시기에 이주민들은 교회에서 마스크를 나눠줘도 찾아오기가 쉽지 않다며 길거리에서 마스크를 나눠주는 선행을 보이기도 했습니다, 피겨 여왕 김연아가 결혼한다는 소식을 알려왔는데요. 고우림고우림은 1995년 7월 10일생으로 올해 나이 30세입니다.
현재는 포레스텔라로 활발하게 활동하고 있다. 고우림 나이 1995년 7월 10일 27세, 고우림 키고우림의 키는 180cm입니다. 첫만남부터 프로포즈까지 네이버 블로그 entertainment 793개의 글 목록열기. 고우림 성악가 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전, 남성 4중창 단원을 뽑는 오디션 프로그램 팬텀싱어 2에 출연하여 강형호, 배두훈, 조민규와 한 팀을 이루어 결승까지 진출하고 우승하였다.
김연아♥고우림, 父결혼식 축사→명품 웨딩링+85억 신혼집, 지난 5월, 국방의 의무를 마치고 팬들 곁으로 돌아온 그가 최근 mbc 라디오스타에 출연하며 본격적인. 김연아 고우림 모두 각자의 소속사에도 열애 사실을 숨겨 왔다고 합니다. 피겨 여왕 김연아의 마음을 사로잡은 남자이자, 대한민국 최고의 크로스오버 그룹 포레스텔라의 든든한 저음 베이스, 가수 고우림이 바로 그 주인공인데요.
2007년 9월 15일2007091518세 대한민국 서울특별시 양천구 배우 2013년 현재 나무엑터스, 1995년 7월 10일1995071030세 경상북도 상주시 남성 대한민국 성악가. 본관은 제주 고씨이며 키 180cm, 몸무게 62kg, 혈액형 ab형입니다.
sexyminji12 김연아의 결혼 소식에 고우림 욕하러 갔다가 포레스텔라 팬이 돼서 돌아온다는 말이 있을 정도로 포레스텔라는 천상의 하모니를 들려주는. 고향은 경상북도 상주시에서 태어났으며 출신지는 대구광역시 수성구 만촌동입니다. 2007년 9월 15일2007091518세 대한민국 서울특별시 양천구 배우 2013년 현재 나무엑터스. 1995년 7월 10일1995071030세 경상북도 상주시 남성 대한민국 성악가. 91세에 다리도 불편하고 귀가 안들려도 여전히 바다에 뛰어드는. shatercast twitter
satsuki imonet hitomila 두 사람은 고우림 군 입대 전까지 달콤한 신혼을 보낼 전망이다. 대한민국의 성악가, 베이스바소프로폰도이자 남성 크로스오버 그룹 포레스텔라의 멤버이다. 2022년 7월 25일 고우림 소속사 비트인터렉티브는 공식입장을 내고. 고우림 나이 1995년 7월 10일 27세. 김연아의 나이는 32세이고 고우림은 27세이다. sgki-059
ro_bbin123 야동 2017년에 에 출연해 우승을 차지했다. 김연아의 결혼 소식에 고우림 욕하러 갔다가 포레스텔라 팬이 돼서 돌아온다는 말이 있을 정도로 포레스텔라는 천상의 하모니를 들려주는. 서울대 성악과를 졸업했으며 남성 크로스오버 그룹 포레스텔라의 멤버다. 김연아와 남편 고우림 두 사람의 나이차는 5살 차이가 납니다. 고우림 나이 프로필 김연아 결혼 학력 가족관계 목소리 최근 걸어서 환장 속으로에 출연한 포레스텔라 성악 그룹입니다. ririkimsssss
rouncensorred 경북예술고등학교 성악과 서울대학교 성악과 재학. Com › entry › 고우림고우림고우림, 고우림 프로필, 고우림 나이, 고우림 집안, 고우림 전역. 고향은 경상북도 상주시에서 태어났으며 출신지는 대구광역시 수성구 만촌동입니다. 성악가 고우림은 1995년생으로, 서울대학교 성악과를 졸업했으며 현재 동대 대학원에 재학 중이다. 김연아와 고우림 만남과 결혼 김연아 33와 고우림 28은 5살 나이 차이로 2018년 올댓스케이트 아이스쇼 축하 무대에서 만나 인연을 맺은 뒤 연인으로 발전했습니다.
seohwyl 91세에 다리도 불편하고 귀가 안들려도 여전히 바다에 뛰어드는. 전 피겨스케이팅 국가대표 선수 김연아와 그룹 포레스텔라 멤버 팝페라 가수 고우림은 오는 10월 결혼한다. 전 피겨스케이팅 선수 김연아와 그룹 포레스텔라 멤버 팝페라 가수 고우림이 깜짝 결혼소식을 알린 가운데 김연아 예비 남편신랑 고우림 나이 프로필 등 관심이 이어지고 있습니다. 영원한 피겨 퀸 김연아와 결혼을 약속한 고우림에 대한 관심이 뜨겁다. 고우림 프로필 이름 고우림 출생 1995년 7월 10일 만 29세 출신지 경북 상주시 대구 수성구 만촌동 거주지 서울 동작구 흑석동 한강뷰 고급 아파트 신체 키 180cm, 몸무게 62kg, ab형, 265mm 종교 개신교 학력 대구대청초 – 대륜중 – 경북예술고 성악과.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on August 3, 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 3, 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 3, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, August 3, 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.
연예 인물 이슈 tag 고우림, 고우림 군대, 고우림 나이, 고우림 어머니, 고우림 집안, 고우림 프로필, 고우림 형, 김연아 나이, 김연아 재산, 김연아 프로필., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.