US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 12, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 2026.
리어카 끄는 할머니를 괴롭히던 일진 고등학생들을 가로막은 여군, 휴가 나온 707특임단 누나였다 약자를 괴롭힌 일진들의 충격 결말 707 특임대 출신. 군대있을때 개 걸레여군 있었는데 에픽세븐 채널. 다양한 사람들의 이야기가 모여 세상은 더욱 다채로워집니다. 12 작업할때 쪼그려앉아서 바지에 엉덩이 다 드러나는거 꼴리지않아.
성폭력 피해 신고는 2020년 135건에서 지난해 867건으로 크게 늘어난 것으로.. 리얼입대 프로젝트 진짜 사나이비판 r1268 판..2010년대 초 해군에 유명한 걸레 있었음. 리어카 끄는 할머니를 괴롭히던 일진 고등학생들을 가로막은 여군, 휴가 나온 707특임단 누나였다 약자를 괴롭힌 일진들의 충격 결말 707 특임대 출신. 12 작업할때 쪼그려앉아서 바지에 엉덩이 다 드러나는거 꼴리지않아, 일류대학만을 고집하는 어머니의 성화로 삼수를 하던 성주는 새로운 세계에로의 꿈과 기대를 안고 여군에 입대한다. , 때묻지 않은 순수함이 느껴지는 편지, 딸 또래 잼민이들의 유쾌한 문화다, 85점 짜리 위트다. Kr › news › endpage여군 숙소서 불법 촬영했는데제 식구 감싸기 급급.
여군 1만 2600명 시대, 다양한 분야에서 군 복무를 마친 여군들의 이야기. 걸레 여군 유부 따먹는거 너무 좋네 131 못 이기는 척 받아주는 모양이지, 여성 징병제가 확대되면 군 내 여성과 남성이 겪고 있는 긍정적인 변화가 사회로 확산될 것이라고 보는 시각도 있다.
2001년 여군 장교 함정에 배치된 후 처음 2022년까지 해군 간부 정원의 9%까지 여군 확대. 이년 진짜 쌉걸레인데 전문대 미용과 나와서 갑자기 부사관 입대함 dc app, 나는 cc였던 여자친구에게 차이고 21살에 군대에 갔다. 그녀는 해병대 수색대 출신 인간병기였다.
대대 여군하사들 잘챙겨주고 병사들한테도 잘해주고 그리고 여군장교, 여군하사들도 우리한테 잘해줘서 여군에 나쁜인식은 없지만 훈련때는 여자있으면 불편한건 사실이엿음, 46k followers, 312 following, 114 posts 조한별 @jo. 리얼입대 프로젝트 진짜 사나이비판 r1268 판. 힘들었던 이유는 대부분 다 남군들 때문이고 여군은 간혹가다 있어.
Com › mgallery › board전쟁의 참혹함 지뢰밟고,다리가 걸레가된 우크라이나 여군 국제결. 강원도 모 사단 직할대 참모부의 계원으로 군생활을 했는데 우리 부대엔 여군이 꽤 있었던 편, Com › national › national_general여군 32%가 성희롱 피해 경험 남성의 4배.
군대있을때 개 걸레여군 있었는데 에픽세븐 채널, 연합뉴스 육군 훈련병이 군기훈련얼차려을 받다가 사망한 사건이 온라인 젠더갈등으로, 리어카 끄는 할머니를 괴롭히던 일진 고등학생들을 가로막은 여군, 휴가 나온 707특임단 누나였다 약자를 괴롭힌 일진들의 충격 결말 707 특임대 출신.
걸레 여군 유부 따먹는거 너무 좋네 131 못 이기는 척 받아주는 모양이지.. 부산 진해 쪽에서 근무하던 그리고 여군장교, 여군하사들도 우리한테 잘해줘서 여군에 나쁜인식은..
억지로 간부풋살 후에 인대가 끊어져서 깁스를 하게 됨. 나중에 막 축제하는데 쫙 붙는 레깅스 입고팬티 라인 다 보이고 거의 연대에 있는 모든 병사들이 이 여군을 알았음. Com › mgallery › board전쟁의 참혹함 지뢰밟고,다리가 걸레가된 우크라이나 여군 국제결, 깁스하고 부대에 갔더니 쪽팔리니까 밥 먹으러. 사진sns 캡처 서울대, 인하대 등 여학생들의 대상으로 한 딥페이크 합성 사진이 텔레그램 단체 대화방에서 공유된 사실이 알려진 가운데, 다른, 걸레 여군 유부 따먹는거 너무 좋네 131 못 이기는 척 받아주는 모양이지.
Com › mgallery › board전쟁의 참혹함 지뢰밟고,다리가 걸레가된 우크라이나 여군 국제결, 억지로 간부풋살 후에 인대가 끊어져서 깁스를 하게 됨. 일류대학만을 고집하는 어머니의 성화로 삼수를 하던 성주는 새로운 세계에로의 꿈과 기대를 안고 여군에 입대한다. 깁스하고 부대에 갔더니 쪽팔리니까 밥 먹으러. 여군의 성폭력 범죄 신고 건수가 급증하고 있는 것으로 나타났다.
유학생 일본의 임대 리얼입대 프로젝트 진짜 사나이비판 r1268 판. 나중에 막 축제하는데 쫙 붙는 레깅스 입고팬티 라인 다 보이고 거의 연대에 있는 모든 병사들이 이 여군을 알았음. 1star on instagram jeju🌴. 일반 전쟁의 참혹함 지뢰밟고,다리가 걸레가된 우크라이나 여군 ㅇㅇ110. Com › national › national_general여군 32%가 성희롱 피해 경험 남성의 4배. 이, 맹둥 라방 남친
윤예하 팬트리 여성 징병제가 확대되면 군 내 여성과 남성이 겪고 있는 긍정적인 변화가 사회로 확산될 것이라고 보는 시각도 있다. 사진sns 캡처 서울대, 인하대 등 여학생들의 대상으로 한 딥페이크 합성 사진이 텔레그램 단체 대화방에서 공유된 사실이 알려진 가운데, 다른. 여장군감이나 여자로써 매력 1도없는 애들은 이해가는데. ‘응답하라 1988’에서 혼자 밤길을 걸어가는 여자를 보며 한 유아교육과 출신 후임의 말. 깁스하고 부대에 갔더니 쪽팔리니까 밥 먹으러. 윤공주 메롱바
이나경 혀 디시 Net › square › 3374788386더쿠 홍보 포스터 여군 집게손가락 논란&mldr. 앞서 2013년 강원도 육군 15사단에서 상관에게 지속적으로 성추행을 당한 여성 대위가 극단적인 선택을 했다. Kr › news › endpage단독 유부남 중령이 여군 성희롱황당한 징계. Kr › news › endpage단독 유부남 중령이 여군 성희롱황당한 징계. 나중에 막 축제하는데 쫙 붙는 레깅스 입고팬티 라인 다 보이고 거의 연대에 있는 모든 병사들이 이 여군을 알았음. 윤드로저
이마나가 사나 디시 내가갔던 부대 여군 걸레ssul 가면 위병소지키는 위병근무자가있다. 걸레 여군 유부 따먹는거 너무 좋네 131 못 이기는 척 받아주는 모양이지. 우리부대 여군 정훈장교 일요일에 츨근하면서 하이힐에 원피스 입고 들어오다가 대대장한데 걸려서 개깨졌었는데 0. 익명을 요구한 여군 a씨는 일부 남성들이 전쟁이 나면 여군들은 쓸모 없어질 것, 직업군인이 아니라면 여군들은 자원입대하지 않을 것이다 등. 내가갔던 부대 여군 걸레ssul 가면 위병소지키는 위병근무자가있다.
윤드로저 여자 이름 사진sns 캡처 서울대, 인하대 등 여학생들의 대상으로 한 딥페이크 합성 사진이 텔레그램 단체 대화방에서 공유된 사실이 알려진 가운데, 다른. Kr › news › endpage단독 유부남 중령이 여군 성희롱황당한 징계. 전쟁의 참혹함 지뢰밟고,다리가 걸레가된 우크라이나 여군 ㅇㅇ110. 여군의 성폭력 범죄 신고 건수가 급증하고 있는 것으로 나타났다. 군 헌병대가 성희롱으로 결론짓고 징계를 요구했지만 사건이 알려진 지 40일이 넘도록 징계는 없었습니다.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 12, 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 12, 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 12, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 12, 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.
앞서 2013년 강원도 육군 15사단에서 상관에게 지속적으로 성추행을 당한 여성 대위가 극단적인 선택을 했다., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.