US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 13, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 13, 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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 13, 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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 2026.
롯데자이언츠 갤러리 jpg 6 진짜대통령이재명 2159 0459 4. 음주운전이 분명한 잘못이긴 하지만 이 또한 내막을 살 read more. 그때 그시절엔 대리운전 그런거도 거의 없엇고걍 술 몇잔해도 만취상태가 아니면 걍 차끌고 집가는. 이재명 음주운전 전과 억울한 이유 로스트아크 갤러리.
더불어민주당 대선 후보인 이재명 경기도지사가 지난 2004년 음주운전 당시 혈중알코올농도 0. 이 4범 이력은 대선후보가 된 지금도 여전히 꼬리표처럼 따라다니고 있죠. 개요 편집 이재명 당시 제20대 대선 후보가 2021년 11월 10일 에 열린 관훈클럽 초청 토론회에서 음주운전 경력자보다 초보운전자가 더 위험하다는 발언을 해 생긴 논란이다. 대한민국에서는 특정한 법정공휴일 혹은 기념일에 특별사면을 하는 관례가 있으며, 특히 광복절 특사나 삼일절 특사, 정부 출범 기념특사 등이 유명하다.운전대까지 갔다는 것도 신기할 정도의 만취 상태였던 것.. 더불어민주당 대선 후보인 이재명 경기도지사가 지난 2004년 음주운전 당시 혈중알코올농도 0.. 그때 그시절엔 대리운전 그런거도 거의 없엇고걍 술 몇잔해도 만취상태가 아니면 걍 차끌고 집가는.. 165 이재명이 음주운전한건 2004년인데 그 당시에도 음주운전이 잘하는건 아니지만 운전자들이 알음알음 많이들 하던 일탈인데 그 시대에 운전하던 상당수 사람 제쳐두고 이재명에게만 깐깐한 잣대 들이댈 필요 있나요..이재명 후보의 음주 운전 전력을 두고도 논란이 커지고 있습니다. 이 4범 이력은 대선후보가 된 지금도 여전히 꼬리표처럼 따라다니고 있죠, 이러한 특사는 오로지 대통령의 권한으로, 위에서 보았듯이 국회의 동의가 필요하지 않아 4 자의적으로 사면권이 행사되는 부작용을 낳았다.
| 인터넷상에선 이재명이 음주운전을 여러 번 반복했다거나 음주 사고를 냈다는 가짜뉴스도 떠돈다. | 더불어민주당 이재명 대선 경선 후보가 2004년에 음주운전으로 적발될 당시 혈중알코올농도가 0. | 14 190307 yuji 안 사라졌고 이재명이 공무원 설득 안 했으면 입막음으로 수십 명 확실히. |
|---|---|---|
| 이재명, 2004년 음주운전 당시 혈중알코올 0. | 김부선 이재명, 음주운전 두번 걸렸다. | 158%로 면허취소 수치를 넘겼던 것으로 5일 나타났다. |
| 이재명 당시 제20대 대선 후보가 2021년 11월 10일에 열린 관훈클럽 초청 토론회에서 음주운전 경력자보다 초보운전자가 더 위험하다는 발언을 해 생긴 논란이다. | 이재명 악마화의 원천 전과 4범, 사실과 진실 ③. | 그때 그시절엔 대리운전 그런거도 거의 없엇고걍 술 몇잔해도 만취상태가 아니면 걍 차끌고 집가는. |
| 이재명 악마화의 원천 전과 4범, 사실과 진실 ③. | 이러한 특사는 오로지 대통령의 권한으로, 위에서 보았듯이 국회의 동의가 필요하지 않아 4 자의적으로 사면권이 행사되는 부작용을 낳았다. | 롯데자이언츠 갤러리 jpg 6 진짜대통령이재명 2159 0459 4. |
그리고 5월 12일에 선거철일 때 주미대사관에서 뜬금. 음주운전 안하는 놈이 더 이상한 사람이엿음, 이낙연 후보측에서 이재명 후보의 음주운전이 한번이 아닐 거란 의혹을 제기하자, 14 190307 yuji 안 사라졌고 이재명이 공무원 설득 안 했으면 입막음으로 수십 명 확실히.
이재명 후보의 음주 운전 전력을 두고도 논란이 커지고 있습니다, 이 지사 측은 음주운전 전과는 2004년 한 차례밖에 없다고 강조했다. 그리고 5월 12일에 선거철일 때 주미대사관에서 뜬금. 더불어민주당 대선주자인 이재명 후보가 과거 전과 4범이라는 사실이 화제가 되며 이재명이 과거 무슨 범죄를 저질렀는지에 대해 관심이 높아지고 있습니다. 한편 지난 10월 상습 음주운전자 차량에 음주운전 방지장치 설치를 의무화 하도록 한 도로교통법 개정안이 국회를 통과했다.
이재명이 음주운전 적발되서 벌금 냇던 2004년도에는음주운전 안하는 놈이 더 이상한 사람이엿음. Com › article › 2023122256867음주운전 때리더니&mldr, 그러면서 김씨는 이재명 후보가 음주운전 전과 2회 이상이라는 것에 18조를 걸겠다고 공언하고 나섰습니다.
모두가 몰랐던 이재명 음주운전의 진실 ㄷㄷ 큠갤러211, Kr › newsview › 179547608023821이재명 음주운전 횟수 공방&mldr, Kr › newsview › 179547608023821이재명 음주운전 횟수 공방&mldr. 이재명 음주운전 전과 억울한 이유 로스트아크 갤러리, 그러면서 김씨는 이재명 후보가 음주운전 전과 2회 이상이라는 것에 18조를 걸겠다고 공언하고 나섰습니다, Com › article › 2023122256867음주운전 때리더니&mldr.
더불어민주당 대선주자인 이재명 후보가 과거 전과 4범이라는 사실이 화제가 되며 이재명이 과거 무슨 범죄를 저질렀는지에 대해 관심이 높아지고 있습니다. 음주운전이 분명한 잘못이긴 하지만 이 또한 내막을 살펴보면 공익적 활동 중에 벌어진 일이어서 정상을 참작할 여지가 있다, 이재명 음주운전 면허취소 수준jpg 실시간 베스트 갤러리.
29 095001 조회 28175 추천 634 댓글 260 1 이미지 순서 on, 이재명 당시 제20대 대선 후보가 2021년 11월 10일에 열린 관훈클럽 초청 토론회에서 음주운전 경력자보다 초보운전자가 더 위험하다는 발언을 해 생긴 논란이다. 음주운전이 분명한 잘못이긴 하지만 이 또한 내막을 살펴보면 공익적 활동 중에 벌어진 일이어서 정상을 참작할 여지가 있다. 대한민국 아무리 막장이라도 음주운전으로 벌금형까지 선고받은 사람이 대통령 돼서 법치주의 운운하는게 말이 되냐.
Kr › 43941이재명 음주운전 몇 번이냐, 이재명 음주운전’ 경선 뇌관 부상, 한편 지난 10월 상습 음주운전자 차량에 음주운전 방지장치 설치를 의무화 하도록 한 도로교통법 개정안이 국회를 통과했다, 운전대까지 갔다는 것도 신기할 정도의 만취 상태였던 것.
이재명 당시 제20대 대선 후보가 2021년 11월 10일에 열린 관훈클럽 초청 토론회에서 음주운전 경력자보다 초보운전자가 더 위험하다는 발언을 해 생긴 논란이다. 158%의 면허 취소 수준이었던 것으로 드러났습니다. Com › mgallery › board이재명 음주운전 전과의 진실. Kr › newsview › 179547608023821이재명 음주운전 횟수 공방&mldr, 남윤호 기자이 지사 측 100만 원 이하 범죄기록 공개. 도박은 이미 이재명의 손에의해 시작되었다 04.
메이플 다나 얼굴 디시 엘라 비주얼로 맥심 콘테스트 돌풍 신용대출의 편리함 뒤에 숨은 위험성. Com › board › view김부선 이재명, 음주운전 두번 걸렸다. 이번에 한 팬콘에서 리즈님 비주얼 미모 폭발. 한 잔 먹고 괜찮다며 운전대 잡는 순간. 이러한 특사는 오로지 대통령의 권한으로, 위에서 보았듯이 국회의 동의가 필요하지 않아 4 자의적으로 사면권이 행사되는 부작용을 낳았다. 멜섭 스팽 트위터
모래 모레 지난 7월 28일 제20대 대선 후보자 원팀협약식에서 이재명 경기지사와 이낙연 전 대표오른쪽. 음주운전 안하는 놈이 더 이상한 사람이엿음. 158%로 면허취소 수준이었기 때문으로 5일 확인됐다. Com › news › articleview‘과거 음주운전 재조명’에 고개 숙인 이재명 시사저널. Com › mgallery › board이재명 음주운전 전과의 진실. 메이플키우기 절전
멜섭 porn 민주당 소속 이재명 경기지사는 3일 자신의 음주운전 전과 횟수에 관한 일각의 의혹 제기에 오래전부터 벌금 액수와 상관없이 모든 전과를 공천. 그러면서 김씨는 이재명 후보가 음주운전 전과 2회 이상이라는 것에 18조를 걸겠다고 공언하고 나섰습니다. 펫코노미 반려동물을 위한 프리미엄 시장의 성장. 이재명 당시 제20대 대선 후보가 2021년 11월 10일에 열린 관훈클럽 초청 토론회에서 음주운전 경력자보다 초보운전자가 더 위험하다는 발언을 해 생긴 논란이다. Com › board › view김부선 이재명, 음주운전 두번 걸렸다. 며며 꼭지
모두가 구원받지 못하는 하렘 작가 이 4범 이력은 대선후보가 된 지금도 여전히 꼬리표처럼 따라다니고 있죠. 158%로 면허취소 수치를 넘겼던 것으로 5일 나타났다. 158%로 면허취소 수준이었기 때문으로 5일 확인됐다. 인터넷상에선 이재명이 음주운전을 여러 번 반복했다거나 음주 사고를 냈다는 가짜뉴스도 떠돈다. 16 144349 화약좋아 대가리 깨져도 이재명, 때려 죽어도 이재명 이재명이 사람 잡아다 산채로 구워 먹어도 이재명찍을거다 04.
메이플 키우기 거래소 4050 찢직년아 이재명 음주 운전은 팩트야. 이러한 특사는 오로지 대통령의 권한으로, 위에서 보았듯이 국회의 동의가 필요하지 않아 4 자의적으로 사면권이 행사되는 부작용을 낳았다. 이 4범 이력은 대선후보가 된 지금도 여전히 꼬리표처럼 따라다니고 있죠. 별개로 유튜브 댓글엔 음주운전 한 사람이 나올때마다 이재명의 음주운전 이력이 소환되고 있다. 음주운전이 분명한 잘못이긴 하지만 이 또한 내막을 살 read more.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 13, 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 13, 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 13, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 13, 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.
민주당 소속 이재명 경기지사는 3일 자신의 음주운전 전과 횟수에 관한 일각의 의혹 제기에 오래전부터 벌금 액수와 상관없이 모든 전과를 공천., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.