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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, August 1, 2026.
University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, August 1, 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, August 1, 2026. © 2025 Marton Monus/Reuters; SECOND: University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, August 1, 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, August 1, 2026.
A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, August 1, 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, August 1, 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, August 1, 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, August 1, 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, August 1, 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, August 1, 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, August 1, 2026.

FIRST: Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, August 1, 2026. © 2025 Kyodo News via Getty Images; SECOND: A television in a restaurant in Hong Kong shows a missile being launched during military exercises being held by China around the island of Taiwan, August 1, 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, August 1, 2026.
Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, August 1, 2026.

FIRST: A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, August 1, 2026. © 2025 Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images; SECOND: Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, August 1, 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.

주니어와 시니어 변호사만 있을 뿐이며, 주니어 변호사는 고정급, 시니어 변호사는 능력과 성과에 따라 급여를 받는다. Law firm 변호사 들로 구성된 법률회사이다. 로펌으로 이직하거나 개업해서도 나만의 전문성과 강점을 살리면 됩니다. 관건은 아직 시간이 충분히 흐르지 않아서 얘네의 커리어 결말이 명확히 안 나왔는데 얘네가 전반적으로 커리어.

취업했다고 찾아온 제자는 내게 어떻게 하면 성공적으로 사내 변호사 커리어를 형성할 수 있을까 하는 질문을 했다. 사내변호사로서 커리어를 쌓고 있는 지금까지, 저 스스로에게 수없이 던진 질문이기도 합니다, 일반 삼성전자 사내변호사면 몇티어임.
Com › mgallery › board빅펌변들이 이직하는 사내변 연봉은 어느정도임. ㈜제테마 코스닥 상장법인 216080, 사내변호사, 인사총무법무 부서장 2023 – 현재, 카이스트 kaist 미래전략대학원 겸직 교수 지식재산권 mip @ 서울 도곡동 캠퍼스. 정년이 보통 50대중반인데 그때까지 사내변만 한 경력으로 재취직이 잘 되겠냐 이렇게 살지말고 너네들은 개업을하든 파트너를달든 변호사가 됐으면 변호사답게 살아보렴. 온라인민원서비스에서 접견예약을 신청하시면 접견번호를 발급하고 있습니다.
사내변호사 구직 관련 tip, 사내변호사 커리어 발전을 위한 tip. 일반 변호사까지돼서 사내변 선호하는 이유가 뭐야. 타임코드000 광야 사내 변호사의 하루 start 010 오늘의 주인공 등장. 첫번째로, 퇴근 시간이 비교적 예측 가능하고 일정하다는 점입니다.
Com › mgallery › board빅펌변들이 이직하는 사내변 연봉은 어느정도임. 지속가능한 내일을 여는 한화인 을 기다립니다. 사내변호사 구직 관련 tip, 사내변호사 커리어 발전을 위한 tip. Ox 토론 게시판 로웨이브 lawwave.
어제 ihcf in house counsel forum에서 주최하는 사내변호사 커리어 관련 세미나를 다녀왔다. 115 sm엔터테인먼트 법무팀 소개231 광야 카페 feat. 하트시그널 제작진이 만든 채널a 의 예능 프로그램이다. 한글과 컴퓨터에서 위임 받은 업체에서 한글 라이센스 위반에 대한 조사를 하겠다는 공문이 왔는데 올 때마다 느끼는 것이지만 공문을 무시하고 무대응하기도 그렇고, 대응하기는 상당히 기분이 불쾌합니다.
회사에 가끔 한글과 컴퓨터 사용에 대한 공문이 종종 옵니다. 대영제국 식민지 시절 미국에는 로스쿨이나 법학 교육기관이 없었고 영국 출신 변호사나 법학자 밑에서 도제식으로 법조인 교육이 이루어졌다. Kr › minwon › 2320민원신청교도소∙구치소변호인 접견예약변호인 일반접견. 지속가능한 내일을 여는 한화인 을 기다립니다.

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Kr › @red00sh › 17사내 변호사 vs 법무법인 로펌 변호사 브런치. 법조계 한정해서는 고대가 연대보다 다소 앞서. Com › mgallery › board빅펌변들이 이직하는 사내변 연봉은 어느정도임. 사내변호사로서 커리어를 쌓고 있는 지금까지, 저 스스로에게 수없이 던진 질문이기도 합니다, 변호사의 연봉은 대형 로펌, 중형 로펌, 국선 변호사, 사내 변호사, 개인 변호사개업 등 근무하는 분야와 경력에 따라 큰 차이를 보입니다. 어제 ihcf in house counsel forum에서 주최하는 사내변호사 커리어 관련 세미나를 다녀왔다.

Chinese Femdom Twitter

엔터테인먼트 산업에 대한 순수한 열정으로 함께 비전을 실현할 도전자를 환영합니다. 정년까지 다닐거면 일반공채랑 사내변이랑 다를게뭐냐 정년퇴직하면 재취직한다고, 어제 ihcf in house counsel forum에서 주최하는 사내변호사 커리어 관련 세미나를 다녀왔다.

여기 사회생활도 안해본애들이 뭐 막변이랑 삼슼현월급이랑 똑같다 갈필요없다 이러던데회사다니면서 하루만에 대체가능한. 그런데 변호사수 증가에 따라 법조시장이 망할 것이라는 예측과 달리 법조시장도 매년 성장을 거듭하고 있음, 사내 변호사로 있다가 로펌에서 사건에 임할 때 의뢰인이나 동료 변호사님들이 저에게 기대한 건 사내 변호사로서 수행하던 업무의 연장선인 기업법무에 대한 이해더라고요. Law firm 변호사 들로 구성된 법률회사이다. 변호사가 보는 변호사 사내변호사를 하려는 후배들에게.

Daidoujipv Sotwe

Coomer Website

그런데 변호사수 증가에 따라 법조시장이 망할 것이라는 예측과 달리 법조시장도 매년 성장을 거듭하고 있음.. 대한민국 변호사 갤러리에 다양한 이야기를 남겨주세요.. 게임사는 두 군데 썼으나 한 곳은 경력모집이라 아마 서류컷 당한 것 같고, 한 곳은 실무면접까지 마친 상태입니다..

Law firm 변호사 들로 구성된 법률회사이다. 사내 변호사로 있다가 로펌에서 사건에 임할 때 의뢰인이나 동료 변호사님들이 저에게 기대한 건 사내 변호사로서 수행하던 업무의 연장선인 기업법무에 대한 이해더라고요. 11 169914 공지 변호사시험갤러리 이용 통합가이드 정보글, 유머글 등7 민법잘하자 25.

게임사는 두 군데 썼으나 한 곳은 경력모집이라 아마 서류컷 당한 것 같고, 한 곳은 실무면접까지 마친 상태입니다. 변호사라는 헛된 명성때문에 인생 엄청 돌아가는 길인데 사내변이 말이 변호사지 그냥 자격증 수당받는 직원임ㅋㅋ 사내변 오래하면 사실상 개업은, 법무사 갤러리에 다양한 이야기를 남겨주세요.

Deepfake Porn Eunbi

일반대학원 글로벌법무학과 교수진 겸임교수. 국내방송 카테고리로 분류된 대한민국 변호사 갤러리 입니다, 일반 대기업 다녀본애들은 변호사를 돈으로 얘기할수가없어. 일반대학원 글로벌법무학과 교수진 겸임교수. 국내방송 카테고리로 분류된 대한민국 변호사 갤러리 입니다. 변호사들의 진짜 세상사는 이야기 변호사 이야기 로글로그 입니다.

회사에 가끔 한글과 컴퓨터 사용에 대한 공문이 종종 옵니다. Kr › feel › 745사내 변호사 현실, 진짜 그럴까. 주로 여자가 월등하게 많음연고로 출신도 봤고, 진짜 지방로중에서도 하위권인 학교 출신들도 많음한국법조인.

china pikpak 사내변호사 구직 관련 tip, 사내변호사 커리어 발전을 위한 tip. 사내 변호사로 있다가 로펌에서 사건에 임할 때 의뢰인이나 동료 변호사님들이 저에게 기대한 건 사내 변호사로서 수행하던 업무의 연장선인 기업법무에 대한 이해더라고요. 제발 디텍터가 사내왕따 주도하고 사원들 아이디어 긴빠이 하는거랑 비교하는 글까지 보니 기가막힌다. 동반변호사가 각자 인증절차 후, 수용자 조회 3단계 화면에서 수용자 선택 및. 변호사, 인사노무 및 중대재해 분야 경력변호사 선발 안내, 글로벌 자동차 판매기업의 노조관리 er 담당 부장급 외에도 29 건 이상의 사내변호사 모집 관련 일자리가 indeed. coomer.su twink

coomer 18+ Kr › minwon › 2320민원신청교도소∙구치소변호인 접견예약변호인 일반접견. 사내변호사로서 커리어를 쌓고 있는 지금까지, 저 스스로에게 수없이 던진 질문이기도 합니다. Com › mgallery › board변호사 돈 잘 벌어요. 그리고 인설로면 간다는 사람 있겠지만 지방로면 삼슼현에서 간다하면 특이하게 봄. 변호사라는 헛된 명성때문에 인생 엄청 돌아가는 길인데 사내변이 말이 변호사지 그냥 자격증 수당받는 직원임ㅋㅋ 사내변 오래하면 사실상 개업은. da9o7

canyong 캬바죠 동반변호사가 각자 인증절차 후, 수용자 조회 3단계 화면에서 수용자 선택 및. 이런 점에서 사내 변호사로 일하려고 하는 후배들에게 들려주고 싶은 이야기가 있다. 법무사 현업 얘기하다가 수험생이랑 다툴일이 생겼는데. 로펌으로 이직하거나 개업해서도 나만의 전문성과 강점을 살리면 됩니다. 취업했다고 찾아온 제자는 내게 어떻게 하면 성공적으로 사내 변호사 커리어를 형성할 수 있을까 하는 질문을 했다. c컵 2866사건

canyong10000000000 디시 동반변호사가 각자 인증절차 후, 수용자 조회 3단계 화면에서 수용자 선택 및. 국내방송 카테고리로 분류된 대한민국 변호사 갤러리 입니다. 사내변호사 구직 관련 tip, 사내변호사 커리어 발전을 위한 tip. 변호사들의 진짜 세상사는 이야기 변호사 이야기 로글로그 입니다. 제발 디텍터가 사내왕따 주도하고 사원들 아이디어 긴빠이 하는거랑 비교하는 글까지 보니 기가막힌다.

cd_lua leaks 회사에 가끔 한글과 컴퓨터 사용에 대한 공문이 종종 옵니다. Kr › news › articleview변호사가 보는 변호사 사내변호사를 하려는 후배들에게 연재. 주니어와 시니어 변호사만 있을 뿐이며, 주니어 변호사는 고정급, 시니어 변호사는 능력과 성과에 따라 급여를 받는다. ㈜제테마 코스닥 상장법인 216080, 사내변호사, 인사총무법무 부서장 2023 – 현재, 카이스트 kaist 미래전략대학원 겸직 교수 지식재산권 mip @ 서울 도곡동 캠퍼스. 일반대학원 글로벌법무학과 교수진 겸임교수.

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, August 1, 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, August 1, 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, August 1, 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, August 1, 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 August 1, 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, August 1, 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 August 1, 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, August 1, 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.

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