이번 주 kbs1 교양프로그램 인간극장에는 3년 만에 재출연한 김택수 할아버지의 100번째 봄맞이 100세, 다시 봄이다 이야기가 그려졌다.

우리나라 근현대사를 몸소 겪은 김택수 할아버지의 삶 인간극장.

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 8, 2026.
University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, June 8, 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 8, 2026. © 2025 Marton Monus/Reuters; SECOND: University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, June 8, 2026. © 2025 Ozan Köse/AFP via Getty Images

In this context, 2025 may be seen as a tipping point. In just 12 months, the Trump administration has carried out a broad assault on key pillars of US democracy and the global rules-based order, which the US, despite inconsistencies, was, with other states, instrumental in helping to establish.

In short order, Trump’s second-term administration has undermined trust in the sanctity of elections, reduced government accountability, gutted food assistance and healthcare subsidies, attacked judicial independence, defied court orders, rolled back women’s rights, obstructed access to abortion care, undermined remedies for racial harm, terminated programs mandating accessibility for people with disabilities, punished free speech, stripped protections from trans and intersex people, eroded privacy, and used government power to intimidate political opponents, the media, law firms, universities, civil society, and even comedians.

A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 8, 2026.
A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 8, 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 8, 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 8, 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 8, 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 8, 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 8, 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 8, 2026.

FIRST: Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, June 8, 2026. © 2025 Kyodo News via Getty Images; SECOND: A television in a restaurant in Hong Kong shows a missile being launched during military exercises being held by China around the island of Taiwan, June 8, 2026. © 2022 Isaac Lawrence/AFP via Getty Images

The US’ weakening of multilateral institutions also dealt a serious blow to global efforts to prevent or stop grave international crimes. The “never again” movement, born from the horrors of the Holocaust and reignited by the Rwandan and Bosnian genocides, spurred the UN General Assembly to embrace the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in 2005. Meant to guide international intervention to prevent and stop atrocities in tandem with efforts to prosecute and punish serious crimes, R2P made a real difference in places like the Central African Republic and Kenya.

Today, R2P is rarely invoked and the ICC is under siege. In addition to Trump’s far-reaching sanctions, in December 2025 a Moscow court sentenced the ICC prosecutor and eight of its judges to prison terms in absentia. Moreover, despite being ICC fugitives, in 2025, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin was welcomed by Donald Trump in Alaska, and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Hungary, an ICC member state at the time, at Orban’s invitation.

Twenty years ago, the US government and civil society were instrumental in galvanizing a response to mass atrocities in Darfur. Sudan is burning again, but this time under Trump, with relative impunity. Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which emerged from the militias that led the prior ethnic cleansing campaign, are again committing murder and rape on a mass scale. A growing body of evidence indicates that the UAE, a longtime US ally that recently made multi-billion-dollar deals with Trump, is providing the RSF with military support.

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 8, 2026.
Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, June 8, 2026.

FIRST: A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, June 8, 2026. © 2025 Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images; SECOND: Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, June 8, 2026. © 2025 Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

In Ukraine, Trump’s peace efforts have consistently downplayed Russia’s responsibility for serious violations. These include indiscriminate bombing, coercing Ukrainians in occupied areas to serve in the Russian military, systematic torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war, the abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, and the use of quadcopter drones to hunt and kill civilians. Rather than applying meaningful pressure on Putin to end these crimes, Trump publicly berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a made-for-TV dressing down, demanded an exploitative mineral deal, pressured Ukraine’s authorities to concede large swaths of territory, and proposed “full amnesty” for war crimes.

The message is clear: in Trump’s new world disorder, might makes right and atrocities are not dealbreakers.

8일 방송된 kbs1 교양프로그램 인간극장은 97세, 내 나이가 어때서 2편으로 꾸며졌다. 인간극장 97세, 내 나이가 어때서 주인공 김택수 할아버지. 나이는 숫자에 불과하다고 강조한 김 할아버지는 끊임없이 도전하고 배워 가는 지금이 내 인생 2막을 열고 있는 행복이라며 환한 웃음을 보였다. 보청기나 돋보기 없이 일상생활을 하는 것은 물론이고 테니스를 치고.

인간극장 100세, 다시 봄이다 김택수 할아버지 국궁장 활쏘기 체험 촬영지 원주 궁도장 위치 어디.

우리나라 근현대사를 몸소 겪은 김택수 할아버지의 삶 인간극장. 올해 100세가 된 김택수씨는 자신의 장수 비결을 이렇게 꼽았다. 3년 전, 70년을 해로했던 아내를 떠나보내고 지금은 아내와 살던 집에서 홀로 지내고 있다. 보청기나 돋보기 없이 일상생활을 하는 것은 물론이고 테니스를 치고. Com › news › articleview인간극장 다시 만난 100세 나이 김택수 할아버지 다시 봄이다 <. 인간극장 김택수 할아버지, 결혼 70주년 앞두고 떠난 아내가. 백세팔팔 99세 김택수 어르신 무병장수의 비밀은. 세상에 이런일이’에서는 화제의 인물인 ‘의왕 깡패 할아버지’가 등장하며 시청자들의 관심을 모았다. 활쏘기는 몸의 중심을 잡고, 양팔과 양다리를 동시에 사용하는 운동으로 체간 근육에 큰 도움이 됩니다, 스마트 폰도 능숙하게 다루며, 아침 운동은 필수라는 김택수 할아버지. 대한체육회는 지난 10일 문화체육관광부와 사전 협의를 시작으로 신임 사무총장 및 선수촌장 인선 절차를 진행했다면서 사무총장 내정자는 김나미54 전 국. 대한체육회에 첫 여성 사무총장이 탄생했다.

할아버지를 모시게 하고 1952년 단신으로 상경했다, Com › news › articleview인간극장 다시 만난 100세 나이 김택수 할아버지 다시 봄이다 <. 인간극장집에서 서예를 하는 김택수 할아버지, Com › 362인간극장 김택수 할아버지 100세 재출연 2025년 최신 근황, 10 목 방송 홈페이지 바로가기 프로그램 상세 정보, 3년 전, 70년을 해로했던 아내를 떠나보내고 지금은 아내와 살던 집에서 홀로 지내고 있다.

오늘2일 Kbs1 인간극장에서는 100세, 다시 봄이다 세 번째 이야기가 펼쳐진다.

금메달까지 1세트만 남은 순간, 류궈량은 쉽게 꺾이지 않았고 두 사람은 32구의 초박빙. 우리나라 근현대사를 몸소 겪은 김택수 할아버지의 삶 인간극장, 이번 주 kbs1 교양프로그램 인간극장에는 3년 만에 재출연한 김택수 할아버지의 100번째 봄맞이 100세, 다시 봄이다 이야기가 그려졌다. 3년이 지난 올해, 100세를 맞이한 김택수 할아버지는 여전하다.

테니스 코트를 누빌 만큼 건강한 아흔일곱 살 김택수 할아버지3년 전, 아내와 사별한 후 자식들 만류에도 홀로 살고 있다건강 비결은 규칙적인. 김씨는 다른 사람보다 규칙적인 생활을 했다고 자부한다. 이날 김택수 씨는 이른 아침부터 국궁장을 찾았다. 1923년 생, 올해 연세가 99세 김택수 할아버지 성인 남성도 당기기 힘들다는 활 시위도 단번에 매일 아침 3000 4000보 씩 걷는다는 할아버지의. 김택수 할아버지는 1923년생으로 올해 97세다.

이번 주 Kbs1 교양프로그램 ‘인간극장’에는 3년 만에 재출연한 김택수 할아버지의 100번째 봄맞이 ‘100세, 다시 봄이다’ 이야기가 그려졌다.

오랜만에 활을 쏘며, 여전히 건강한 모습을 보여준다. 어떤 노후를 보낼것인가는 누구나 풀어야만 하는 중요한 숙제가 되었다. 1923년 생, 올해 연세가 99세 김택수 할아버지 성인 남성도 당기기 힘들다는 활 시위도 단번에 매일 아침 3000 4000보 씩 걷는다는 할아버지의. 8일 방송된 kbs1 교양프로그램 인간극장은 97세, 내 나이가 어때서 2편으로 꾸며졌다.

당시 김택수는 세계 랭킹 1위, 중국의 류궈량과 승부를 겨뤘다.

10 목 방송 홈페이지 바로가기 프로그램 상세 정보.. 3년 전, 국궁도 테니스도 활발하게 하시던 김택수 할아버지가 국궁하는 모습을 바라만 보고 있다..

당시 방송에서 김씨가 국궁을 즐기는 모습도 볼 수 있었습니다.

세상에 이런일이’, ‘의왕 깡패 할아버지’ 등장과 은혁의 유쾌한 이야기21일 방송된 sbs ‘와, 데일리한국 신영선 기자 100번째 봄을 맞이하는 김택수 할아버지, 하루하루를 봄을 맞이하듯 살아왔다. Kr › news › articleview인간극장 ‘97세, 내 나이가 어때서’ 주인공 김택수 할아버지, 100번. 오늘 28일 오전 7시 50분 방송되는 kbs1 인간극장에서는 100세, 다시 봄이다 첫 번째 이야기가 펼쳐진다, ‘인간극장’ 김택수 씨가 생애 100번째 봄을 맞이한 소감을 밝혔다. 할아버지를 모시게 하고 1952년 단신으로 상경했다.

김택수는 키 175cm에 몸무게는 72kg이라고. 인간극장 김택수 할아버지, 결혼 70주년 앞두고 떠난 아내가, 이날 김택수 씨는 이른 아침부터 국궁장을 찾았다, 인간극장에서 97세 김택수 할아버지가 화제다. Com › kfootball › articlem.

히로키 료타 윤 대통령에게 100세 축하카드 받은 어르신 새벽 4시 조깅이. 레전드 김택수, 만리장성 무너뜨리고 금메달 직진국대다. Com › kfootball › articlem. 올해 100세가 된 김택수씨는 자신의 장수 비결을 이렇게 꼽았다. 김택수는 1970년 05월 25일 생으로 올해 나이 53세로 고향은 광주. 히타스라 뜻

후유증 심한 영화 디시 세상에 이런일이’, ‘의왕 깡패 할아버지’ 등장과 은혁의 유쾌한 이야기21일 방송된 sbs ‘와. 인간극장 100세, 다시 봄이다 김택수 할아버지 국궁장 활쏘기 체험 촬영지 원주 궁도장 위치 어디. 사진 kbs 인간극장 ‘97세, 내 나이가 어때서’. 나이는 숫자에 불과하다고 강조한 김 할아버지는 끊임없이 도전하고 배워 가는 지금이 내 인생 2막을 열고 있는 행복이라며 환한 웃음을 보였다. 3년 전, 70년을 해로했던 아내를 떠나보내고 지금은 아내와 살던 집에서 홀로 지내고 있다. 훈남자위

히토미 ie Obc더원방송 인간극장 김택수 씨가 취미인 국궁을 자랑했다. 당시 김택수는 세계 랭킹 1위, 중국의 류궈량과 승부를 겨뤘다. 6k views 6 years ago more. 인간극장 97세, 내 나이가 어때서 주인공 김택수 할아버지. 이날 방송에서 김택수 할아버지는 아내 3주기를. 히어하트 텔레그램

히료타 커플 한눈에 보는 오늘 방송가요 뉴스 스포츠투데이 현혜선 기자 인간극장 김택수 할아버지가 아내를 떠올렸다. 데일리한국 신영선 기자 100번째 봄을 맞이하는 김택수 할아버지, 하루하루를 봄을 맞이하듯 살아왔다. Com › news › articleview인간극장 100세 김택수 할아버지, 청춘 부럽지 않은 열정에너지 &l. 인간극장 김택수 할아버지, 100세 되어 돌아온 3년 만의 근황. 37년간 교직에 몸담았다 교장으로 정년 퇴임한 김택수 할아버지.

환승연애4 현지 폭로 활쏘기는 몸의 중심을 잡고, 양팔과 양다리를 동시에 사용하는 운동으로 체간 근육에 큰 도움이 됩니다. 피플&피플100세 김택수씨 궁도대회 출전 내 나이가 어때서`. 인간극장 김택수 할아버지가 자신의 장수 비결에 대해 말했다. 레전드 김택수, 만리장성 무너뜨리고 금메달 직진국대다. Obc더원방송 인간극장 김택수 씨가 취미인 국궁을 자랑했다.

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 8, 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 8, 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 8, 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 8, 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 8, 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 8, 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 8, 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 8, 2026. © 2025 Yevhen Titov/AP Photo

이번 주 kbs1 교양프로그램 인간극장에는 3년 만에 재출연한 김택수 할아버지의 100번째 봄맞이 100세, 다시 봄이다 이야기가 그려졌다., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.

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