에절촌서울시 천만시민 에너지절약 캠페인 ucc.

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, June 5, 2026.
University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, June 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, June 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, June 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, June 5, 2026.
A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 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, June 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, June 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, June 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, June 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, June 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, June 5, 2026.

FIRST: Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, June 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, June 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, June 5, 2026.
Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, June 5, 2026.

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

사망한 출연자는 자살 한 것으로 추정되었으며 해당 관할 경찰서에서 수사했다. 그리고 특히 기초중에 예쁜광이 도는 크림도 중요한 것 같아. 마쟈 기초를 낭낭하게 해놔야 광이 유지됨. Kr › news › articleview애정촌에서 벌어지는 카메라 밖 실제 이야기 우먼센스.

168._.y.m 섹스

짝 19금 애로촌 성인판 나왔던데 원래 짝 애정촌이잔아 근데, 짝 애로촌으로 패러디.. 그러나 모델의 서비스 금지 가처분 요청으로 정상적으로 서비스 되지 못하고 소문으로만 존재했었으나, 이번에 사장될 뻔 그녀들의 누드 화보 및.. 짝19+ 에로촌 was free to download.. 또 인터넷 게임 방송 진행자 이상준과 노래방..
※애정촌장※ 남규홍 pd가 직접 출동, 이번 간담회는 시민의 삶의 질 향상, 경제발전과 환경보전의 양립을 통한 지속가능한 발전을 도모하고 구리시 지역현안의 애로사항 및 구리시 발전을 위한. Kr › news › articleview애정촌에서 벌어지는 카메라 밖 실제 이야기 우먼센스. 그러나 모델의 서비스 금지 가처분 요청으로 정상적으로 서비스 되지 못하고 소문으로만 존재했었으나, 이번에 사장될 뻔 그녀들의 누드 화보 및. 남자 1호의 거친 숨소리에 여자 1호는 붉은 입술을 지긋이 깨물었고 이내 다리에 힘이 풀려 버렸다. 한거있던데 무슨 떡권 이딴말 해삿고 ㅋㅋㅋ 약간 개콘보다 더 웃김, Com › redmarketkr › 220125343523짝성인버전 성인편 짝 애로촌 패러디 영상 네이버 블로그. 어릴 적 어머님이 일찍 돌아가셔서 외로운 유년시절을 보냈고, 나이 31살에 사랑의 아픔도. 짝 19금 애로촌 성인판 떡권 어떰. 또 인터넷 게임 방송 진행자 이상준과 노래방. 그러나 보이지 않는 곳에서 묵묵히 다른 이들을 돋보이게 했던 여자 6호는 점점 관심을 받았다. 짝 19금 애로촌 성인판 나왔던데 원래 짝 애정촌이잔아 근데, 짝 애로촌으로 패러디. 그리고 특히 기초중에 예쁜광이 도는 크림도 중요한 것 같아, 선택 현장평가 가점서류 뿌리기업확인서, 뿌리기술전문기업 지정증, 인 천 일하기 좋은 뿌리기업, 인천광역시 우수기업 인증서비전기업, 인천 유망중소기업, 중견성장사다리기업 단, 인증기간, 유효기간 내의 가점서류만 인정하며 1개 당 5점, 최대 2개 10점 인정 3 전담기관은 기업이 제출한 사업. 사망한 출연자는 자살 한 것으로 추정되었으며 해당 관할 경찰서에서 수사했다. 결혼 적령기를 맞은 남녀가 펼치는 일주일간의 커플 탄생기, 사망한 출연자는 자살 한 것으로 추정되었으며 해당 관할 경찰서에서 수사했다. Com › watch짝 패러디_에절촌 나도 간절히 짝을 찾고싶다. 한거있던데 무슨 떡권 이딴말 해삿고 ㅋㅋㅋ 약간 개콘보다 더 웃김. 초기에 연예인 지망생 내지 쇼핑몰 운영자들이 홍보를 하려고 참여한 경우가 주기적으로 있었고, 급기야 sbs에서 출연자에게 소송을 거는 극약 처방을 내리기도 했다, 초기에 연예인 지망생 내지 쇼핑몰 운영자들이 홍보를 하려고 참여한 경우가 주기적으로 있었고, 급기야 sbs에서 출연자에게 소송을 거는 극약 처방을 내리기도 했다.

19asmr 디시

Kr › news › articleview애정촌에서 벌어지는 카메라 밖 실제 이야기 우먼센스.. 에절촌서울시 천만시민 에너지절약 캠페인 ucc..

Com › redmarketkr › 220125343523짝성인버전 성인편 짝 애로촌 패러디 영상 네이버 블로그. 그랜다이저20141002 0125에이미랑 이하루는 다릅니다, 짝 19금 애로촌 성인판 떡권 어떰.

2006년생 Av배우

코미디 인듯 불법 촬영물 신고 공유하기 신고 실시간 톡 최근 24시간 기준 푸쉬 알림글 최다 조회 최다. 코미디 인듯 불법 촬영물 신고 공유하기 신고 실시간 톡 최근 24시간 기준 푸쉬 알림글 최다 조회 최다. 마쟈 기초를 낭낭하게 해놔야 광이 유지됨. Mc 싸이와 함께 새롭게 펼쳐지는 잔혹 통속 다큐멘터리 짝 지금, 애정촌의 새로운 역사가 다시 시작된다, 이번 간담회는 시민의 삶의 질 향상, 경제발전과 환경보전의 양립을 통한 지속가능한 발전을 도모하고 구리시 지역현안의 애로사항 및 구리시 발전을 위한. 그러나 보이지 않는 곳에서 묵묵히 다른 이들을 돋보이게 했던 여자 6호는 점점 관심을 받았다.

1494988 그러나 모델의 서비스 금지 가처분 요청으로 정상적으로 서비스 되지 못하고 소문으로만 존재했었으나, 이번에 사장될 뻔 그녀들의 누드 화보 및. 채널a와 sky채널이 공동 제작하는 본격 19금 부부 토크쇼 ‘다시 뜨거워지고 싶은 애로부부이하 애로부부’가 결혼생활 10년 동안 남편을 기만한 아내의 비밀을 폭로하는 ‘애로드라마잘 되는 가게에는 이유가 있다’로 보는 이들을 경악하게 했다. 남자 1호의 거친 숨소리에 여자 1호는 붉은 입술을 지긋이 깨물었고 이내 다리에 힘이 풀려 버렸다. 사망한 출연자는 자살 한 것으로 추정되었으며 해당 관할 경찰서에서 수사했다. 에절촌서울시 천만시민 에너지절약 캠페인 ucc. 200gana-

2yeon_365 sex 그러나 모델의 서비스 금지 가처분 요청으로 정상적으로 서비스 되지 못하고 소문으로만 존재했었으나, 이번에 사장될 뻔 그녀들의 누드 화보 및. 그러나 보이지 않는 곳에서 묵묵히 다른 이들을 돋보이게 했던 여자 6호는 점점 관심을 받았다. 짝 1기 12명의 등장인물 남자 1호 일본에서 사진을 공부한 포토그래퍼 남자 2. 이번 간담회는 시민의 삶의 질 향상, 경제발전과 환경보전의 양립을 통한 지속가능한 발전을 도모하고 구리시 지역현안의 애로사항 및 구리시 발전을 위한. 에절촌서울시 천만시민 에너지절약 캠페인 ucc. 3292343 jav

20대 치아 흔들림 디시 Mc 싸이와 함께 새롭게 펼쳐지는 잔혹 통속 다큐멘터리 짝 지금, 애정촌의 새로운 역사가 다시 시작된다. 짝 19금 애로촌 성인판 떡권 어떰. 레이싱걸 김시향 지금은 활동 중지중인 예전 인기 절정인 레이싱 모델겸 배우인 김시향 활동 당시 극비리에 해외에서 전신노출 화보 및 동영상을 촬영. 이번 간담회는 시민의 삶의 질 향상, 경제발전과 환경보전의 양립을 통한 지속가능한 발전을 도모하고 구리시 지역현안의 애로사항 및 구리시 발전을 위한. 주관기업이라 함은 ‘인천광역시’ 소재의 상시근로자 5인 이상 그리고 매출액 5억 원 이상의 기업 중 「중소기업기본법」 제2조에 명시된 중소기업 또는 「중견기업 성장촉진 및 경쟁력 강화에 따른 특별법」 제25조에 따른 중견기업으로서 「뿌리산업 진흥과 첨단화에 관한 법률」 제2조에. 30대 모태솔로 디시

2486345 missav Com › board › view짝 19금 애로촌 성인판 떡권 201707202102 기타 국내 드라마 갤러. 짝성인버전 성인편 짝 애로촌 패러디 영상 네이버 블로그. 이후 홍보 목적으로 출연하는 사람은 거의 사라졌지만, 여전히 가끔 보면 홍보는 아니더라도 그저 재미삼아 출연한 듯한 회원들이. 짝 19금 애로촌 성인판 나왔던데 원래 짝 애정촌이잔아 근데, 짝 애로촌으로 패러디. 주관기업이라 함은 ‘인천광역시’ 소재의 상시근로자 5인 이상 그리고 매출액 5억 원 이상의 기업 중 「중소기업기본법」 제2조에 명시된 중소기업 또는 「중견기업 성장촉진 및 경쟁력 강화에 따른 특별법」 제25조에 따른 중견기업으로서 「뿌리산업 진흥과 첨단화에 관한 법률」 제2조에.

4362188 女優 짝성인버전 성인편 짝 애로촌 패러디 영상 네이버 블로그. 코미디 인듯 불법 촬영물 신고 공유하기 신고 실시간 톡 최근 24시간 기준 푸쉬 알림글 최다 조회 최다. Kr › chapter웹소설 하이북 에로촌 69번지. 주관기업이라 함은 ‘인천광역시’ 소재의 상시근로자 5인 이상 그리고 매출액 5억 원 이상의 기업 중 「중소기업기본법」 제2조에 명시된 중소기업 또는 「중견기업 성장촉진 및 경쟁력 강화에 따른 특별법」 제25조에 따른 중견기업으로서 「뿌리산업 진흥과 첨단화에 관한 법률」 제2조에. 채널a와 sky채널이 공동 제작하는 본격 19금 부부 토크쇼 ‘다시 뜨거워지고 싶은 애로부부이하 애로부부’가 결혼생활 10년 동안 남편을 기만한 아내의 비밀을 폭로하는 ‘애로드라마잘 되는 가게에는 이유가 있다’로 보는 이들을 경악하게 했다.

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, June 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, June 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, June 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, June 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 June 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, June 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 June 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, June 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.

Download