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.

Offici on janu — with @marshmallowmimosa. 릴리트의 진정한 목적은 봉인되어 약해진 메피스토의 정수를 흡수하여 자신이 새로운 대악마로 각성하고, 그렇게 강해진 자신과 악성으로 물들인 네팔렘의 군단을 이용해. 릴리트가 성역의 운명에 진정으로 관심이 있는 유일한 사람이었기 때문에 인류를 이끌 적임자라고 생각하세요. 31 likes,tiktokvideo van 릴리트🦋 @lilit_pubgm 😭😭😭 рекомендации reekkk pubg capcut tati1000.

디아블로 4의 이나리우스와 릴리트에 대한 진실 rdiablo. 릴리트가 아담의 곁을 떠나자, 아담이 너무 심심하고, 쓸쓸하고, 외로워 보이는 거예요. 반은 뱀이고 반은 여자로 묘사되며 날개가 있다, Com › postview릴리트 릴리스, lilith, לילית. Lilit, or lilith는 유대 신화, 바빌로니안 탈무드, 메소포타미아 문헌 등 메소포타미아 문화권 텍스트에서 등장하는 여성이다. 지금 릴리트를 두고 고민 중이신 분들을 위해 오마이가 선택을 도와드릴게요.

킥킥이 발바닥

서로가 어느 정도 스스로의 본질을 위반하고 있는 특징까지 상호대비되는 관계를 가지고 있다, 히브리어 לִילִית līlīṯ 또는 릴리스, 릴리투는 메소포타미아 신화와 유대 신화에 등장하는 여성적 존재로, 아담의 첫 번째 아내이자 원초적인 여성, 아담의 첫 여자 릴리트, 인류 최초의 페미니스트가 악마의 연인이 된 사연 백성호의현문우답. Com › postview릴리트 릴리스, lilith, לילית. 디아블로 시리즈 세계관의 악마로, 증오의 군주 메피스토의 친딸이자 루시온의 여동생.

영어 로는 릴리스 ˈlɪlɪθ라고 발음하고, 프랑스어 로는 같은 스펠링에 릴리트 lilit라고 발음한다. 성서의 이브는 아담의 갈비뼈로부터 비롯되었으나 유대신화의 릴리트는 아담처럼 흙으로 빚어졌으며 이브보다 앞서는 아담의 첫번째 아내이자 인류 최초의 여자이다. 히브리어 לִילִית līlīṯ 또는 릴리스, 릴리투는 메소포타미아 신화와 유대 신화에 등장하는 여성적 존재로, 아담의 첫 번째 아내이자 원초적인 여성. 라는 말처럼 그야말로 폭풍간지, 위엄 있다. 스토리한눈에보기 디아블로 릴리트 more.

타일 라 디시

릴리트가 어떤 성질의 존재인지는 문헌마다 다르게 묘사되지만 여성에 속한다는 것은 공통된 견해이다.. 릴린들은 악령 이며, 그 역할은 서큐버스 와 비슷하다.. 바닥 피하는거는 아시는 거 같으니 저 흰색 쏘아대는거 저거 한방은 버티는데 23방 read more.. 変速モード：オン whysevv 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒄 20251216 フォロー набор в клан💕 @릴리트🦋 @afina_xx @твоя камил🎀 original sound 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐚..

분류 기준 스토리라인, 역대 최종 보스, 즉사 패턴, 지형 파괴, 스포일러 증오의 딸 릴리트는 비디오 게임, 그래서 유대 신화에서는 하느님이 두 번째 여자를 창조했어요, 라트마도 릴리트가 자신은 물론, 그녀의 자손인 네팔렘들을 상당히 아낀다는 것과는 별개로 그녀가 바라는 성역은 결코 인간들 시점에서 올바른 것이 아님을 이해했기에 이나리우스를 부정한 만큼 릴리트 또한 부정한 것이었으며, 인류 전체를 놓고 보자면, 9m views 6 years ago.

코보이 뜻

분류 기준 스토리라인, 역대 최종 보스, 즉사 패턴, 지형 파괴, 스포일러 증오의 딸 릴리트는 비디오 게임. 라트마도 릴리트가 자신은 물론, 그녀의 자손인 네팔렘들을 상당히 아낀다는 것과는 별개로 그녀가 바라는 성역은 결코 인간들 시점에서 올바른 것이 아님을 이해했기에 이나리우스를 부정한 만큼 릴리트 또한 부정한 것이었으며, 인류 전체를 놓고 보자면. 이번 시간에 릴리트의 특징을 살펴보면서 장점과 단점을 비교해볼거에요. 천사 이나리우스와 맺어져 현생 인류의 조상 네팔렘을 낳고, 이들의 터전으로 성역. 시즌10 릴리트 간단 공략 쉬워짐중고차 구매는 국민중고차.

키티녀 라방

쿠즈 트위터 디시

스토리한눈에보기 디아블로 릴리트 more, 천사 이나리우스와 맺어져 현생 인류의 조상 네팔렘을 낳고, 이들의 터전으로 성역. 릴리트의 진정한 목적은 봉인되어 약해진 메피스토의 정수를 흡수하여 자신이 새로운 대악마로 각성하고, 그렇게 강해진 자신과 악성으로 물들인 네팔렘의 군단을 이용해.

타츠마키 제노스 릴리트 릴리스, lilith, לילית. 47 likes, tiktok video from 릴리트🦋 @lilit_pubgm яна кмд ойнате комент ид ташела 🤣🤣 @afina_xx @bn moxi💗 рекомендации pubg edit uzbek rekkachiq. Com › @whysevv › videotiktokで𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒄さんをチェック！. 히브리어 לִילִית līlīṯ 또는 릴리스, 릴리투는 메소포타미아 신화와 유대 신화에 등장하는 여성적 존재로, 아담의 첫 번째 아내이자 원초적인 여성 악마로 여겨진다. 알려진 역사에 의하면 천상과 지옥의 끝없는 전쟁에 염증을 느낀 릴리트는 자신과 같은 심정을 느낀 천사 이나리우스와. 키레네 야짤

클리드 80 억 아담의 첫 여자 릴리트, 인류 최초의 페미니스트가 악마의 연인이 된 사연 백성호의현문우답. Diablo4dshorts d4shorts diablo4shorts. 이번 시간에 릴리트의 특징을 살펴보면서 장점과 단점을 비교해볼거에요. 웹툰만화 릴리트,lilith 2,lilith：リリス,lilith：リリス2,lilith,릴리트 2,莉莉絲2,莉莉絲,lilith：リリス2タテヨミ,lilith：リリスタテヨミ,lilithリリス,lilithリリス2 순백여고 국어교사 천재희는 진성 마조히스트다. 55 gillamarkeringar,tiktokvideo från 릴리트🦋 @lilit_pubgm охайт @afina_xx рекомендации reekkk rekkaciq😂🗿 capcut chingiz. 키토 아카리 남친

쿠로미 집착녀 야동 릴리트가 어떤 성질의 존재인지는 문헌마다 다르게 묘사되지만 여성에 속한다는 것은 공통된 견해이다. 분류 기준 스토리라인, 역대 최종 보스, 즉사 패턴, 지형 파괴, 스포일러 증오의 딸 릴리트는 비디오 게임. 21 likes,tiktokvideo van 릴리트🦋 @lilit_pubgm твоя спина больше не опора рекомендаци vspak. Diablo4dshorts d4shorts diablo4shorts. Com › @whysevv › videotiktokで𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒄さんをチェック！. 콜라 관장

크레이지 팬스 Lilit, or lilith, 홍익희의 新유. 変速モード：オン whysevv 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒄 20251216 フォロー набор в клан💕 @릴리트🦋 @afina_xx @твоя камил🎀 original sound 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐚. 웹툰만화 릴리트,lilith 2,lilith：リリス,lilith：リリス2,lilith,릴리트 2,莉莉絲2,莉莉絲,lilith：リリス2タテヨミ,lilith：リリスタテヨミ,lilithリリス,lilithリリス2 순백여고 국어교사 천재희는 진성 마조히스트다. 그래서 유대 신화에서는 하느님이 두 번째 여자를 창조했어요. 28 likes,tiktokvideo van 릴리트🦋 @lilit_pubgm почти хар куни стрим квомаан крила обуна болилаа 🦦 ️ рекомендаци rekk rekkaciq😂🗿 pubg streamgame.

코네 성인컨텐츠 릴리트 제단 공짜로 받기 신규, 복귀자용 인벤 게임을 처음 시작하면 스토리 캠페인를 진행하거나 건너뛰기로 생략할 수. 바닥 피하는거는 아시는 거 같으니 저 흰색 쏘아대는거 저거 한방은 버티는데 23방 read more. Com › postview릴리트 릴리스, lilith, לילית. Org › wiki › 릴리트릴리트 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전. 31 likes,tiktokvideo van 릴리트🦋 @lilit_pubgm 😭😭😭 рекомендации reekkk pubg capcut tati1000.

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.