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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

그때 그녀의 나이는 고작 12살이었다. 아예 모르고 보시는게 몰입하는데 더 좋을거에요. 비주얼로 할리우드 씹어먹은 핫걸🔥 시드니 스위니 𝘽𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚. Com › 239드라마 유포리아 주연 배우 시드니 스위니 sydney sweeney.

그만큼 깊이감이 있고 해당 에피소드의 주제를 관통함과 동시에 유포리아라는 드라마 자체를 상징한다 할 정도로 완성도 있는 사운드와 가사로 무장했다.. Kr › board › 17634033ㅎㅂ 시드니 스위니 유포리아 2022 2 사커라인..

Mib Sua Sa-101

Mib Simpcity

I can basically handle all the explicit stuff except pnises. Kr › board › 17187002ㅎㅂ 시드니 스위니 유포리아 2019 1 사커라인. 이번에는 다른 팬들처럼 나도 그 작품을 시청자로서 처음부터 즐길 수 있으니까요, 마지막으로 4년 전 영화인 언더 더 레이크에서는 정말 얼굴만 살짝 비치는 조연. 이번에는 다른 팬들처럼 나도 그 작품을 시청자로서 처음부터 즐길 수 있으니까요.

시드니 스위니 sydney sweeney, 1997년 9월 12일 출생는 미국의 배우입니다.. 시드니 스위니가 유포리아 시즌 3 촬영이 곧 시작될 거라고.. 10 1619 유포리아 1화 28002915 더 보이어즈 1212012520 를 절대 보지마 7 물먹고싶어 2024..

Midv822

할리우드 사인에 속옷 주렁주렁美 여배우 논란, I can basically handle all the explicit stuff except pnises. 비주얼로 할리우드 씹어먹은 핫걸 시드니 스위니 before & after 원스어폰어타임인할리우드 유포리아 마담웹 을 거쳐 까지. Im literally laughing out loud typing this its such a weird post but i really want to watch it but i dont want to see any pnises. ㅎㅂ 시드니 스위니 유포리아 2022 3 1ㅇㅎpic 대흉근이 강력한 눈나 1 2쓰리썸 쉽게하는 법.

Hbo의 대표작 유포리아 에서 캐시 하워드를 완벽하게 소화하며 극찬을 받았던 배우가 있습니다, So i really want to watch euphoria, like so much. Tv리포트한아름 기자 hbo 드라마 유포리아 euphoria로 많은 인기를 얻은 시드니 스위니가 성적 대상화 논란에 휩싸인 롤링 스톤스 the rolling stones의 앵그리 angry 뮤직비디오에 대해 입장을 밝혔다. Kr › board › 17187002ㅎㅂ 시드니 스위니 유포리아 2019 1 사커라인.

Mib 은솔 영상

Im literally laughing out loud typing this its such a weird post but i really want to watch it but i dont want to see any pnises, 웨이브 있으신 분들은 함 정주행 해보시는게 좋을 것 같습니다. 27 ・ 1522 이윤정 기자 사진 시드니 스위니 인스타그램 할리우드 사인 사진pixabay 유포리아로 유명한 배우 시드니 스위니가 자신의 란제리 브랜드를 홍보하기 위해 할리우드 사인에 무단으로 올라가 브래지어들을 설치해 법적 논란에 휩싸였다, 그녀는 hbo 드라마 시리즈인 유포리아 euphoria 와 화이트 로터스 the white lotus 에서의 역할로 널리 알려져 있으며, 다양한 영화와 텔레비전 프로그램에 출연하며 경력을 쌓았습니다. Com › person › 30350시드니 스위니 필모그래피 키노라이츠.

시즌 3에서 네이트줄스 스토리를 계속 이어갈 계획인 것 같거든. ㅎㅂ 시드니 스위니 유포리아 2019 1 igohighigohigh18 작성일 20230918 093527ip 211. 이번에는 다른 팬들처럼 나도 그 작품을 시청자로서 처음부터 즐길 수 있으니까요, 시드니 스위니 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전.

manatokk468 Hbo의 대표작 유포리아 에서 캐시 하워드를 완벽하게 소화하며 극찬을 받았던 배우가 있습니다. 7월 15일현지시간 해외 매체 tmz는 최근 온라인 커뮤니티 상에서 시드니 스위니가 차기 본드걸 후보로 거론되고 있다는 소문이 돌고 있으나 사실이. 배우 시드니 스위니 렉시와 자매이며 베이글녀라 남자들에게 인기가 많다 어릴적 피겨 스케이트 선수를 꿈꿨지만 집안 형편이 어려워지면서 자연스럽게 꿈을 포기한다. 시드니 스위니 약력 sydney bernice sweeney born septem is an american actress. 27 ・ 1522 이윤정 기자 사진 시드니 스위니 인스타그램 할리우드 사인 사진pixabay 유포리아로 유명한 배우 시드니 스위니가 자신의 란제리 브랜드를 홍보하기 위해 할리우드 사인에 무단으로 올라가 브래지어들을 설치해 법적 논란에 휩싸였다. mib19

mib 이수연 She gained early recognition for her roles in everything sucks. 시드니 스위니도 자신이 연기하는 캐시가 시즌 3에서 훨씬 더 나빠질 것이라고 언급했으며 캐시는 미쳤다라고 표현하기도 했다. 19일현지시간 외신 매체 마라카에 따르면, 스위니는 외신 매체 뉴욕포스트와의 인터뷰를 통해 또래 여자애들보다 가슴이 더 크다는 이유 때문에 따돌림을 당한. Sydney bernice sweeney. 그때 그녀의 나이는 고작 12살이었다. mib 수지 나무위키

lpsg asian Com › star › 20260127할리우드 사인 올라가 브래지어 걸어 시드니 스위니 형사 고발 가. 가슴커서 좋다 1 땡초김밥2인분 2024. 시드니 스위니도 자신이 연기하는 캐시가 시즌 3에서 훨씬 더 나빠질 것이라고 언급했으며 캐시는 미쳤다라고 표현하기도 했다. 특히 젠데이아, 헌터 샤퍼, 제이콥 엘로디, 시드니 스위니 는 유포리아 출연 이후 헐리우드의 떠오르는 신예이자 주연급으로 부상했으며 나머지 배우들도 꽤 유명해졌다. 시즌 3에서 네이트줄스 스토리를 계속 이어갈 계획인 것 같거든. mellstroy ptt

mib 자살 10 1619 유포리아 1화 28002915 더 보이어즈 1212012520 를 절대 보지마 7 물먹고싶어 2024. 출생, 1997년 9월 12일1997091228세 워싱턴주 스포캔. 오늘은 최근 할리우드에서 주목받고 있는 배우 시드니 스위니 sydney sweeney에 대해 소개해 드릴게요. 유포리아 1화 28002915 더 보이어즈 1212012520 를 절대 보지마. 뉴스엔 배효주 기자 유포리아 출연 배우 시드니 스위니가 007 시리즈 새 본드걸로 물망에 올랐다는 설에 대해 사실이 아니다는 보도가 나왔다.

mib무삭제 시드니 스위니가 공식적으로 euphoria 시즌 3 촬영을. 유포리아로 아주 화끈하게 할리우드 스타덤에 오르고 이제는 2대 마담 웹으로 2024년에 스크린에서 만날 그녀의 26번째 생일을 축하하며. 그녀는 hbo 드라마 시리즈인 유포리아 euphoria 와 화이트 로터스 the white lotus 에서의 역할로 널리 알려져 있으며, 다양한 영화와 텔레비전 프로그램에 출연하며 경력을 쌓았습니다. 배우 시드니 스위니는 16일 자신의 sns를 통해 영화 ‘스파이더맨’ 시리즈의 스핀오프 작품 ‘마담. I basically just need all the timestamps where theres a pnis onscreen and then the timestamp for when its no longer onscreen.

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.

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.