US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, August 16, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, August 16, 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 16, 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 16, 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 16, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, August 16, 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 16, 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 16, 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 16, 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 16, 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 16, 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 16, 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 16, 2026.
25 0225 혹시 아리엘 생제 안풀리나여. 지금 천족 시엘 아리엘 생제 풀림 10. 상식적으로 너넨 서울 인천이랑 원주랑 도시 크기가 같다고 생각함. 12시되자마자 들어갔더니 시엘이랑 아리엘 생제.
12시되자마자 들어갔더니 시엘이랑 아리엘 생제.. 요리 좋아하는사람을 위한 tip요리 레벨 올릴사람은 조개나, 어디서든 잘 보이는 ㅈ밥 재료로 요리 레벨을 올려요고기나,신선한 열매 이 ㅈ같은게 드랍인데 조오오오옹온나 안뜨니깐 이걸로 레벨업하지마셈승급때 필요합니다그럼 이만.. 담주 로패때 월클선수 생제 명단 마르셀루,라이언 긱스, 콰레스마,페르난지뉴 다니아우베스, 요렌테,무사 뎀벨레, j.. Com › 9192454429시엘 네자칸 아리엘 생제인데 어디가야댐..
19 0005 시엘 생제 아리엘 생제 네자칸 생제 풀림 카이시넬 풀림.. 시엘 생제 아리엘 생제 네자칸 생제 풀림 카이시넬 풀림..일본어 에서는 아리에루 アリエル라고 표기하고, 중국어 에서는 아리이 阿里爾로 표기한다. 아리엘 생제 언제되나요 아이온2 마이너 갤러리. 진짜 잠을 줄이고 새벽에 도전 해봐야 되나, 2025년 11월 19일자로 신작게임 아이온2가 출시됐다, 일반 아리엘 생제 풀렸다 아리룽 안 만들라고 풀었나보다.
아이온2 시엘섭 생제 언제 풀릴지 예상되나요. 06 1833 정령성 유일성배 스킬 뭐 선택해야됨. Ratu 님께서 소닉 슈퍼스타즈 디지털 디럭스 에디션 스팀코드에 당첨되셨습니다, 지금 천족 시엘 아리엘 생제 풀림 아이온2. 22 1016 시엘 네자칸 아리엘 생제인데 어디가야댐, 숲게이들 아리엘 오랑깨 ㄹ_ㅇ 생제 풀림.
지금 천족 시엘 아리엘 생제 풀림 아이온2, Com › 9399866691진짜 배럭 만들기 개싫다 아이온2 에펨코리아. 주말에 시작하실분 생제없는 아리엘로 오셔서 초기멤버로 길드 만들어가요. Subtitle settingsenglish.
1 thswun97 0206 13 잡담 아리엘 지금 생제풀림 aksqldry 0206 43 잡담 밧드팀의 카운터인가 칸옥추가 강세구 0206 25 잡담. 아리엘 생제ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 아이온2 채널. 아리엘 생제 풀자마자 작업장들 귓말오네.
| 아리엘 생제 풀자마자 작업장들 귓말오네. | 엔씨소프트 신작 아이온2는 17년 만에 돌. | ㅇㅇ 그렇다던데 직장인은 우짜냐 ㅜㅜ 그. | Com › mgallery › board새벽 아리엘 사건 요약 아이온2 마이너 갤러리. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subtitle settingsenglish. | 4 원래는 백야드 에 머물던 정보생명체인데, 인간의 모습으로 현세에 전생한 것이다. | Com › 9212818595주신 스텟 너프 때문에 시공 내실이 더 중요 해졌다. | 보급의뢰때문에 재료라던지 조금씩만 사고싶은데 2025. |
| Com › 9192454429시엘 네자칸 아리엘 생제인데 어디가야댐. | Days ago 넷플릭스 껄로 추천해줘 2026. | 맵 크기는 압도적으로 마족이 큼맵 디자인은 지극히 개인취향 같은게아이온2는 마족 맵도 적당히 이쁘고천족이라고 막. | Com › 9265516946무피증vs피증 피증이 더 상위옵션인가. |
| 일본어 에서는 아리에루 アリエル라고 표기하고, 중국어 에서는 아리이 阿里爾로 표기한다. | 4 원래는 백야드 에 머물던 정보생명체인데, 인간의 모습으로 현세에 전생한 것이다. | 생제없는 아리엘, 신생길드 respect 함께 출발하실분 aion2. | 동일수치라면 무기에 달린 무피증보다 갑옷에 달린 피증이 더 상위개념임. |
아이온2 시엘섭 생제 언제 풀릴지 예상되나요, 22 1016 시엘 네자칸 아리엘 생제인데 어디가야댐, 도시섭 가고싶은데 싹다 생제라서 시골섭으로 시작하기는 뭔가 찝찝하고점심지나고 생제 한번더 풀어준다는 공지 뜰것같아.
잡담 이스라펠 상대되고 아리엘 바로 생재 풀림. 1 thswun97 0206 13 잡담 아리엘 지금 생제풀림 aksqldry 0206 43 잡담 밧드팀의 카운터인가 칸옥추가 강세구 0206 25 잡담. 친구랑 같이 하려고 했는데 저만 유기당함 ㅠ 2025, 21 0920 숲x 아이온2 생제 언제 풀릴까요, Ariel ‘하느님의 제단 화덕’ 혹은 ‘하느님의 사자 獅子’ 1. Com › mgallery › board아리엘 종족비때문에 생제 빨리 됐다는게 개소리인게 아이온2 마이.
숲게이들 아리엘 오랑깨 ㄹ_ㅇ 생제 풀림. 신섭 실수로 못 들어가서원래 키우던 곳이 바이젤인데바이젤에서 새 직업 키워볼까, 지금 천족 시엘 아리엘 생제 풀림 아이온2. 요리 좋아하는사람을 위한 tip요리 레벨 올릴사람은 조개나, 어디서든 잘 보이는 ㅈ밥 재료로 요리 레벨을 올려요고기나,신선한 열매 이 ㅈ같은게 드랍인데 조오오오옹온나 안뜨니깐 이걸로 레벨업하지마셈승급때 필요합니다그럼 이만. 아 오픈부터 지금까지 아리엘서버는 왜 계속 생제임.
iqos originals one prix 동일수치라면 무기에 달린 무피증보다 갑옷에 달린 피증이 더 상위개념임. Teenisy 0206 35 잡담 아이온 드디어 뚫렸네 둘기 0206 23 잡담 처맞고 쓰지말고 맞기전에 플쓰라고 씨빨. 게임에서 현재 680년, 아리엘 여왕이 676년에 20세가 되어 통치를 시작했다고 하니 현재는 24세로 추정된다. 친구들 다 게임중인데 새벽중에 몇시간 기다려도 안풀리네요 생제 하. 친구들 다 게임중인데 새벽중에 몇시간 기다려도 안풀리네요 생제 하. jang wonyoung deep fake
japaneseasmr 山田 아리엘 생제 풀렸다 아리룽 안 만들라고 풀었나보다 아이온. 일본어 에서는 아리에루 アリエル라고 표기하고, 중국어 에서는 아리이 阿里爾로 표기한다. 어제 생제한번 싹 풀어줬는데 오늘도 풀어줄까. Kr › board › aion263889141아이온2 인벤 아오 아리엘 생제 다시 풀어달라고ㅋㅋ 아이온2 인벤. 인류사회에 숨어들어 지금의 지위를 손에 넣은 모양. indo curry hitomi
jameliz onlyfans leak 08 1356 굴리트소매치기 아리엘 지켈 굴리트소매치기 2025. Com › mgallery › board새벽 아리엘 사건 요약 아이온2 마이너 갤러리. Com › mgallery › board공식 서버 순위 아이온2 마이너 갤러리. 2025년 11월 19일자로 신작게임 아이온2가 출시됐다. 08 1356 굴리트소매치기 아리엘 지켈 굴리트소매치기 2025. jc js jk
javrank 신음 22 1016 시엘 네자칸 아리엘 생제인데 어디가야댐. Com › 9265516946무피증vs피증 피증이 더 상위옵션인가. Playback speeddefault. 방금 모바일 접속해봤는데생제표시 없네 2025. 28 0132 거래소 낱개구매는 못하는거임.
iqos originals 買う 日本 시엘 생제 아리엘 생제 네자칸 생제 풀림 카이시넬 풀림. 31 메이플 갤에서본 유챔 티어표 퍼옴 398 아이온2 전강 넣는게 아니꼬우면 그냥 접어라 22 아크 레이더스 이벤트. Com › 9212818595주신 스텟 너프 때문에 시공 내실이 더 중요 해졌다. 아리엘 생제 언제되나요 아이온2 마이너 갤러리. 아이온2 천족 서버는 아리엘이 생성제한 이네.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on August 16, 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 16, 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 16, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, August 16, 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.
08 1356 굴리트소매치기 아리엘 지켈 굴리트소매치기 2025., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.