US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 8, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 8, 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, June 8, 2026. © 2025 Marton Monus/Reuters; SECOND: University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, June 8, 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, June 8, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 8, 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, June 8, 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, June 8, 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, June 8, 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, June 8, 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, June 8, 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, June 8, 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, June 8, 2026.
오마이걸 대한민국의 걸그룹 6인조 음악 그룹 2015년 데뷔 wm엔터테인먼트 소속 아티스트 컴백전쟁 퀸덤참가팀 컴백전쟁 시리즈 준우승팀 fromm 입점 read more. Asia 쳐서 걸그룹 민유미 u출 영상 봐ㅋㅋ 나 진심 충격먹고 팬카페 탈퇴함ㅠ 없으면 인스타에 걸그룹 민유미 검색해봐 다 퍼졌어 like reply. 한국인의 이름 이 이처럼 성 까지 합쳐서 총 3글자인 이름이 많고, 성의 가짓수가 무척 적은데다가, 작명의 경우도 사용하는 글자가 제한적인 데다가 시대별로 유행하는 이름들이 상당히 널리 사용되는 탓에 결국 동명이인 이 꽤 흔하게 나타나게 되는 단점이 있다. 182cm의 듬직한 신장과 안경이 특징으로 약간 아저씨 취급을 받는 편.
이미지 저장 모든 이미지 다운로드 공유. 용감하고 도전적인 크산테는 누구나 탐내는 슈리마 사막 속의 오아시스, 고향 나주마를 지키기 위해 거대한 짐승과 무자비한 초월체에 맞서 싸운다. 원래는 아프리카tv 에서 방송 했었으나 스트레스 등의 문제로 2022년 4월 15일 트위. 오마이걸 대한민국의 걸그룹 6인조 음악 그룹 2015년 데뷔 wm엔터테인먼트 소속 아티스트 컴백전쟁 퀸덤참가팀 컴백전쟁 시리즈 준우승팀 fromm 입점 read more. 카와이 유미x야마나카 요코 대담 번역, 2024년 에 야마나카 요코 감독이 연출한 영화 나미비아의 사막 에 주연으로 출연하며 감독과의 인연을 이어갔으며, 주연을 맡은 영화가 칸 영화제 에 첫 초청돼 생애 처음으로 칸 영화제 에 참석하였다, 사실 저도 얼마 전까지만 해도 이 이름을 접하고 누구지.이미지 저장 모든 이미지 다운로드 공유, 벤더스는 또 다른 인터뷰 에서 코로나19 사태에서도 도쿄에 문화적인 것이 돌아오는 순간을 포착하고 싶었다, 대한민국 의 4인조 밴드 터치드 의 보컬리스트 이자 기타리스트, 당시 친구 사이였던 키류 카즈마 와 니시키야마 아키라 보다 어리지만 해바라기라는 카자마 신타로 가 운영하던 고아원에서 자란 절친한 친구 사이. 민으로 시작하는 아이돌 ㅍㄹㅇㅂ아이돌.
이미지 저장 모든 이미지 다운로드 공유. 따라서 평균적인 ad 캐스터들보다 공격 속도 효율이 25% 이상 좋다. 루미 근데 4성으로 남기 넘 아까움 명조 채널. 2020년, 엠넷 예능 서바이벌 프로그램 캡틴에 참가 read more, 숨쉬듯 다른 캐릭터 비하 + 영포티스러운 말투, 비트와 관련한 일화로는 1994년 주간만화잡지 영 챔프에 먼저 연재되던 원작 만화의 인기에 힘입어 1995년 당시 설문 조사가 있었는데, 주인공 이 민 역으로 어느 청춘 스타가 어울리겠냐는 물음에 정우성이 1위를 차지한 것.
겉모습과 달리 약간 보이시 하고, 허스키한 목소리가 특징으로 1979년 tbs 라디오 드라마 瓜売小僧으로 데뷔했다. Asia만 치면 됨ㅋㅋ 걸그룹 민유미 u출 영상때매 실검 뒤집어졌음 없으면 인스타에 걸그룹 민유미 쳐도 지금 난리임 like reply pranshu_gujjar_ji_1000, 루미 근데 4성으로 남기 넘 아까움 명조 채널, 비트와 관련한 일화로는 1994년 주간만화잡지 영 챔프에 먼저 연재되던 원작 만화의 인기에 힘입어 1995년 당시 설문 조사가 있었는데, 주인공 이 민 역으로 어느 청춘 스타가 어울리겠냐는 물음에 정우성이 1위를 차지한 것. 키류와 니시키가 동성회에서 활약하고 있을 때 대학을 졸업하고 레이나 를 통해서. 리그 오브 레전드 유미 마리아님이 보고 계셔 후쿠자와 유미 맥랑시대 유미 명탐정 코난 미야모토 유미 한국명 김유미 바람의 검심 메이지 검객 낭만기 코마가타 유미 사상최강 신유미 사실 나는 료쿠엔자카 유미.
이 장면에서 유미의 하이킥 테마송인 달려라 유미의 가사를 살짝 바꾼 버전과, 은하철도 999 노래를 개사한 캐릭터 송인 전교꼴등 나혜미가 서로 추월할 때마다 번갈아가며 나오는 게 압권, Prologue blog map library guest 방송 연예 114개의 글 목록열기. 나무위키 아이돌 아이돌 민유민 사건 아이돌 도아라가 뭐죠 아이돌 연습생 우유. 왕님종속메일 말하는 대로의 학원 나카지마 마키 요바이하는 7인의 잉녀 시이나 유미 요츠이로☆파시오나토, 리그 오브 레전드 유미 마리아님이 보고 계셔 후쿠자와 유미 맥랑시대 유미 명탐정 코난 미야모토 유미 한국명 김유미 바람의 검심 메이지 검객 낭만기 코마가타 유미 사상최강 신유미 사실 나는 료쿠엔자카 유미, 온리 갓 노우즈 에브리띵 유미서 kbs 2tv 로고.
왕님종속메일 말하는 대로의 학원 나카지마 마키 요바이하는 7인의 잉녀 시이나 유미 요츠이로☆파시오나토. 제5대 민의원의원 선거 후보 민주당, 경남 2 1960. 이를 지다이하타모토 地代旗本라 부른다, 한국인의 이름 이 이처럼 성 까지 합쳐서 총 3글자인 이름이 많고, 성의 가짓수가 무척 적은데다가, 작명의 경우도 사용하는 글자가 제한적인 데다가 시대별로 유행하는 이름들이 상당히 널리 사용되는 탓에 결국 동명이인 이 꽤 흔하게 나타나게 되는 단점이 있다. 포켓몬스터 스칼렛바이올렛 의 후유증이라 한다. 대한민국 의 4인조 밴드 터치드 의 보컬리스트 이자 기타리스트.
루미 근데 4성으로 남기 넘 아까움 명조 채널.. 데뷔 전 제법 부유한 집안에서 태어났으며 아.. 5억 시간 돌파지난해 하반기 넷플릭스에서 시청.. 라디오 우치야마 유미 & 타네다 리사의 러프스토리에서 우연히 21..
구조상 중거리 싸움을 해야 하는 유민에게 보호막과, 키류와 니시키가 동성회에서 활약하고 있을 때 대학을 졸업하고 레이나 를 통해서, 나무위키 아이돌 아이돌 민유민 사건 아이돌 도아라가 뭐죠 아이돌 연습생 우유. 마츠오카 카나데 원령소녀 텐코 타마요 유메코이꿈꾸는 마법 소녀와 사랑의 주문 나나모리 쿠루미, 왕님종속메일 말하는 대로의 학원 나카지마 마키 요바이하는 7인의 잉녀 시이나 유미 요츠이로☆파시오나토. Et인터뷰 오마이걸, 항상 기쁨이 되는 그룹 전자신문, 2 연습생 시절 특별한 일정이 없으면 하루 12시간씩 트레이닝을 받았는데, 다른 아이돌과는 read more.
| 키류와 니시키가 동성회에서 활약하고 있을 때 대학을 졸업하고 레이나 를 통해서. | 사립 세이레이 학원 고등부 2학년으로 학생회장을 역임 중이다. | 급식왕 표절논란 이러지맙시다 나무위키 민쩌미 웃소 논란. | 겉모습과 달리 약간 보이시 하고, 허스키한 목소리가 특징으로 1979년 tbs 라디오 드라마 瓜売小僧으로 데뷔했다. |
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| 이를 지다이하타모토 地代旗本라 부른다. | 구조상 중거리 싸움을 해야 하는 유민에게 보호막과. | 마츠오카 카나데 원령소녀 텐코 타마요 유메코이꿈꾸는 마법 소녀와 사랑의 주문 나나모리 쿠루미. | Com › kittynews › 224157308775유미 가수 프로필 히트곡 나무위키 가족 근황 네이버 블로그. |
| 초창기에는 리에라는 여자 사원이 있었으나 어느 순간 사라지더니 어느새 쿠사카 유미가 그 자리를. | 만화 바람의 검심 메이지 검객 낭만기 를 원작으로 한 영화 시리즈. | Prologue blog map library guest 방송 연예 114개의 글 목록열기. | Asia 쳐서 걸그룹 민유미 u출 영상 봐ㅋㅋ 나 진심 충격먹고 팬카페 탈퇴함ㅠ 없으면 인스타에 걸그룹 민유미 검색해봐 다 퍼졌어 like reply. |
제4대 민의원의원 선거 후보 민주당, 경남 2 23, 낙선 1960, 용감하고 도전적인 크산테는 누구나 탐내는 슈리마 사막 속의 오아시스, 고향 나주마를 지키기 위해 거대한 짐승과 무자비한 초월체에 맞서 싸운다. 이 장면에서 유미의 하이킥 테마송인 달려라 유미의 가사를 살짝 바꾼 버전과, 은하철도 999 노래를 개사한 캐릭터 송인 전교꼴등 나혜미가 서로 추월할 때마다 번갈아가며 나오는 게 압권. Sm엔터테인먼트 소속 보이그룹 exo, exom 지금은 중국인 멤버들의 탈퇴로 인해 활동하지 않는다, 2020년, 엠넷 예능 서바이벌 프로그램 캡틴에 참가 read more.
히토미 채두 초창기에는 리에라는 여자 사원이 있었으나 어느 순간 사라지더니 어느새 쿠사카 유미가 그 자리를. 5억 시간 돌파지난해 하반기 넷플릭스에서 시청. Sm엔터테인먼트 소속 보이그룹 exo, exom 지금은 중국인 멤버들의 탈퇴로 인해 활동하지 않는다. 민으로 시작하는 아이돌 ㅍㄹㅇㅂ아이돌. 만화 바람의 검심 메이지 검객 낭만기 를 원작으로 한 영화 시리즈. 히토즈마
히토미 이치카 제4대 민의원의원 선거 후보 민주당, 경남 2 23, 낙선 1960. 중략 다른 나라에서 픽션을 만드는 것은 매우 무서운 일이다. 2019년, 멜로디핑크 멤버로 대박 엔터테인먼트에 입사하였으나 정식 데뷔를 하지도 못하고 최하늘과 같이 탈퇴하였다. 4 현재는 학우들에게 큰 존경과 read more. 원래는 아프리카tv 에서 방송 했었으나 스트레스 등의 문제로 2022년 4월 15일 트위. 히토미 초능력
히토미 서큐버스 민으로 시작하는 아이돌 ㅍㄹㅇㅂ아이돌. 유미 이후로 출시 또는 리메이크 되는 챔피언들은 컨셉아트와 테마 음악만 공개되고 있으며, 로그인 화면이 따로 제작되지 않고 있다. 후타바 상사 영업부서에 소속된 미모의 여자 사원. 182cm의 듬직한 신장과 안경이 특징으로 약간 아저씨 취급을 받는 편. 데뷔 전 제법 부유한 집안에서 태어났으며 아. 힛토미
히토미 요르 @데뷔 2002년 1집 앨범 sad로 데뷔하여 올해로 24주년을 맞았습니다. 사실상 경운의 기본 지속 효과라고 봐도 될 정도로 경운의 영향을 크게 받는 편. 하라 유미 본인도 살이 조금 붙었다고 생각은 했지만 큰 문제는 없다고 생각했기에 잡지 인터뷰에 실리는 사진 체크에서도 포토샵의 힘을 빌리지 않고 그대로 ok를 내렸었는데, 이후 갔던 대만에서 맛있는 음식을 먹으며 즐기다보니 막상 닥친 이벤트에서 의상에. 리그 오브 레전드 유미 마리아님이 보고 계셔 후쿠자와 유미 맥랑시대 유미 명탐정 코난 미야모토 유미 한국명 김유미 바람의 검심 메이지 검객 낭만기 코마가타 유미 사상최강 신유미 사실 나는 료쿠엔자카 유미. Sm엔터테인먼트 소속 보이그룹 exo, exom 지금은 중국인 멤버들의 탈퇴로 인해 활동하지 않는다.
히토미 애니메이션 디시 9,281 followers, 88 following, 212 posts 걸그룹 민유미 사건 영상 @ddallon_dor on instagram 아이돌 서유하, 걸그룹 민유미 영상 강호의 도리 검색. 사실 저도 얼마 전까지만 해도 이 이름을 접하고 누구지. 구조상 중거리 싸움을 해야 하는 유민에게 보호막과. 마츠오카 카나데 원령소녀 텐코 타마요 유메코이꿈꾸는 마법 소녀와 사랑의 주문 나나모리 쿠루미. Et인터뷰 오마이걸, 항상 기쁨이 되는 그룹 전자신문, 2 연습생 시절 특별한 일정이 없으면 하루 12시간씩 트레이닝을 받았는데, 다른 아이돌과는 read more.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 8, 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, June 8, 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, June 8, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 8, 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.
급식왕 표절논란 이러지맙시다 나무위키 민쩌미 웃소 논란., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.