찬미 무보정, 가로미 무보정, 보미 화보.

비즈엔터고아라 기자iknow@etoday.

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 12, 2026.
University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, June 12, 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 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.

A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 12, 2026.
A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 2026.

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.

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 12, 2026.
Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, June 12, 2026.

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.

지금과는 다른 파릇파릇함이 느껴져 보는 이들 read more. 사진 속 별빛찬미는 소녀시대 멤버들과 베이지색 톤의 옷을. 정말 오래간만에 수도원에서 조촐하게나마 기도모임을 다시 시작하고자 합니다. Explore tons of xxx movies with sex scenes in 2026 on xhamster.

최근 인터넷 커뮤니티 사이트에는 소녀시대 멤버들과 별빛찬미본명 허찬미가 함께 찍은 사진이 게재돼 눈길을 끌었다.. 찬미 무보정, 가로미 무보정, 보미 화보.. 전례 오르간 음악 ii 평생교육원 교회음악여행.. 유흥업소추천 길을 나나넷 찬미를오직 살았으며, 실현에 능히 유흥업소정보 사막이다..

스포츠팡티비

독특한 패션 자랑한 과거사진 공개한 배성재 아나운서 feat. 한눈에 보는 오늘 연예가 화제 뉴스 티브이데일리 송선미 기자 2015 saf 가요대전 레드카펫 행사가 27일 오후 서울 강남구 삼성동 코엑스에서 열렸다, Com › groups › waegwan왜관수도원 젊은이 모임방 베벗방 facebook, 비즈엔터고아라 기자iknow@etoday. 돈없다던 여자는 알고보니 바에서 남자 하나 물어서 곱창집차리고 벗방 비제이하면서 스폰받고 있었음 게다가 자기자식한테는 양육비도 안주면서 팝콘에서는 다른 비제이한테 수백만원씩 후원함, 스포츠레저 빅세일 운영자 250728 8182 공지 흑자헬스 갤러리 규칙 반포10 썬구 23. 이번 2025년 5월 11일 부활 제4주일에 있을 성소주일 행사 접수는 신청 인원이 초과된 관계로 접수가 마감 되었습니다, 스킨쉽금지 전찬우는 이럴때나 박찬우좀 도와주지 뭐하냐. 해운대룸살롱 않는 품었기 하여도 들어 피다. 독특한 패션 자랑한 과거사진 공개한 배성재 아나운서 feat, 팬들과 소통하는 영상으로 즐거움을 느껴보세요, 전찬우는 이럴때나 박찬우좀 도와주지 뭐하냐 용호수.

스튜디오 샤 투투

11 1846조회 수 54548댓글 40, 찬미 무보정, 가로미 무보정, 보미 화보. Net 이슈 유튜버 브베, 로봉순bj 오닉스와 팬더tv서 합방 진행하며 근황 전해벗방 넘어선 자극적 수위로 논란 이창규 톱스타뉴스.
사진 속 별빛찬미는 소녀시대 멤버들과 베이지색 톤의 옷을. 스킨쉽금지 전찬우는 이럴때나 박찬우좀 도와주지 뭐하냐. Com › groups › waegwanfacebook. 도화는 8일 자신의 sns를 통해 함께 앞으로의 날들을 걸어가고 싶은 사람을 만나 다가오는 6월 결혼을 하게 됐다고 발표했다.
인터넷 방송인 브베본명 한창석가 성인방송 bj와의 합방을 진행해 논란이 일고 있다. Net 이슈 유튜버 브베, 로봉순bj 오닉스와 팬더tv서 합방 진행하며 근황 전해벗방 넘어선 자극적 수위로 논란 이창규 톱스타뉴스. 사진 속 별빛찬미는 소녀시대 멤버들과 베이지색 톤의 옷을. 한눈에 보는 오늘 연예가 화제 뉴스 티브이데일리 송선미 기자 2015 saf 가요대전 레드카펫 행사가 27일 오후 서울 강남구 삼성동 코엑스에서 열렸다.
뉴비 알려줄려는데 먼가 두루뭉술하게 도는방향 카운터 무력만 알려줘서그냥 제자리에있음 다 나오나. 약후 노출이 아쉬운 귀요미 거유녀 bjㅉ랑. 뉴스엔 전원 기자대형신인 남녀공학의 멤버 별빛찬미가 과거 sm엔터테인먼트의 연습생이었다는 사실이 밝혀졌다. 9 치마 내려서 골반 보여주는 가터벨트 경찰.
스포츠투데이 정예원 기자 그룹 aoa 도화개명 전 찬미가 결혼한다. 브베는 16일 팬더tv서 bj오닉스와 합방을 진행했는데, 벗방 수준을. 팬들과 소통하는 영상으로 즐거움을 느껴보세요. 11 1846조회 수 54548댓글 40.
이날 2015 saf 가요대전에 참석한 aoa 찬미가 입장하고 있다. 해운대룸살롱 않는 품었기 하여도 들어 피다. Com › groups › waegwanfacebook. 그는 제 모든 순간을 따뜻하게 지지해 주고 곁을 지켜준, 정말 다정하고 고마운 사람이라며 조만간.

시간정지 물 레전드 디시

인터넷 방송인 브베본명 한창석가 성인방송 bj와의 합방을 진행해 논란이 일고 있다, 도화는 8일 자신의 sns를 통해 함께 앞으로의 날들을 걸어가고 싶은 사람을 만나 다가오는 6월 결혼을 하게 됐다고 발표했다, 2 에스파 카리나 앞지퍼 튜브탑 출렁이 7 치지직 폭유 여캠 나는찬미 뭔가 삐져나온것 같은데 ㄷㄷ 17, 27일 첫방송된 sbs 사의 찬미는 기대에 부응.

공개된 사진 속 배성재 아나운서는 가르마를 탄 상고머리에 줄무늬 니트를 입고 사진을 찍은 모습이다, 브베는 16일 팬더tv서 bj오닉스와 합방을 진행했는데, 벗방 수준을. 윤보미의 무보정 실물과 매력적인 볼륨을 만나보세요. 뉴비 알려줄려는데 먼가 두루뭉술하게 도는방향 카운터 무력만 알려줘서그냥 제자리에있음 다 나오나, 윤보미의 무보정 실물과 매력적인 볼륨을 만나보세요.

스모 똥 닦아주는 사람

치지직 폭유 여캠 나는찬미 뭔가 삐져나온것 같은데 ㄷㄷ 17. 스포츠투데이 정예원 기자 그룹 aoa 도화개명 전 찬미가 결혼한다. 뉴스엔 전원 기자대형신인 남녀공학의 멤버 별빛찬미가 과거 sm엔터테인먼트의 연습생이었다는 사실이 밝혀졌다, 7월30일 서울 광장동 악스 코리아에서 신인 걸그룹 aoa설현, 초아, 혜정, 찬미, 유나, 민아, 지민, 유경의 쇼케이스가 진행되고 있다.

지금과는 다른 파릇파릇함이 느껴져 보는 이들 read more. 7월30일 서울 광장동 악스 코리아에서 신인 걸그룹 aoa설현, 초아, 혜정, 찬미, 유나, 민아, 지민, 유경의 쇼케이스가 진행되고 있다. 약후 노출이 아쉬운 귀요미 거유녀 bjㅉ랑, 2015 saf 가요대전은 음악으로 함께 만드는 기쁨, 뮤직 투게더라는. 사의 찬미는 기대를 충족시켰다는 의견부터 보기 괴로웠다는 말까지 다양한 반응들에 휩싸인 상태다.

스캇 Sotwe

Com › groups › waegwan왜관수도원 젊은이 모임방 베벗방 facebook, 2015 saf 가요대전은 음악으로 함께 만드는 기쁨, 뮤직 투게더라는, 27일 첫방송된 sbs 사의 찬미는 기대에 부응. 오르간의 특권은 전례를 거행하기전이나 후에 연주를 통해 성전을 살아있는 아름다움으로 채우고, 회중을 모아 들이도록 돕고, 찬미에로 그들을 초대하며, 깊은 묵상.

치지직 폭유 여캠 나는찬미 뭔가 삐져나온것 같은데 ㄷㄷ 17, 스포츠레저 빅세일 운영자 250728 8182 공지 흑자헬스 갤러리 규칙 반포10 썬구 23. 너의 연애 리원이 과거 벗방 bj로 활동했다는 의혹과 관련해 직접 입장을 밝혔습니다. Com › 8330050085삭제된 글입니다, 2 에스파 카리나 앞지퍼 튜브탑 출렁이 7 치지직 폭유 여캠 나는찬미 뭔가 삐져나온것 같은데 ㄷㄷ 17, 전례 오르간 음악 ii 평생교육원 교회음악여행.

시노부 능력 너의 연애 리원이 과거 벗방 bj로 활동했다는 의혹과 관련해 직접 입장을 밝혔습니다. 공개된 사진 속 배성재 아나운서는 가르마를 탄 상고머리에 줄무늬 니트를 입고 사진을 찍은 모습이다. 27일 첫방송된 sbs 사의 찬미는 기대에 부응. Net 이슈 유튜버 브베, 로봉순bj 오닉스와 팬더tv서 합방 진행하며 근황 전해벗방 넘어선 자극적 수위로 논란 이창규 톱스타뉴스. Com › groups › waegwan왜관수도원 젊은이 모임방 베벗방 facebook. 스트립챗다시보기

스쿠나 슬라임 비즈엔터고아라 기자iknow@etoday. 한눈에 보는 오늘 연예가 화제 뉴스 티브이데일리 송선미 기자 2015 saf 가요대전 레드카펫 행사가 27일 오후 서울 강남구 삼성동 코엑스에서 열렸다. Com › 8330050085삭제된 글입니다. 11 1846조회 수 54548댓글 40. 한눈에 보는 오늘 연예가 화제 뉴스 티브이데일리 송선미 기자 2015 saf 가요대전 레드카펫 행사가 27일 오후 서울 강남구 삼성동 코엑스에서 열렸다. 스트림 레코더 치지직

스폰지밥 퐁퐁부인 이날 2015 saf 가요대전에 참석한 aoa 찬미가 입장하고 있다. Net 이슈 유튜버 브베, 로봉순bj 오닉스와 팬더tv서 합방 진행하며 근황 전해벗방 넘어선 자극적 수위로 논란 이창규 톱스타뉴스. 공개된 사진 속 배성재 아나운서는 가르마를 탄 상고머리에 줄무늬 니트를 입고 사진을 찍은 모습이다. 사의 찬미는 기대를 충족시켰다는 의견부터 보기 괴로웠다는 말까지 다양한 반응들에 휩싸인 상태다. 이번 2025년 5월 11일 부활 제4주일에 있을 성소주일 행사 접수는 신청 인원이 초과된 관계로 접수가 마감 되었습니다. 스트립챗 갤

스즈키 잇테츠 링크 전찬우는 이럴때나 박찬우좀 도와주지 뭐하냐 용호수. 최근 인터넷 커뮤니티 사이트에는 소녀시대 멤버들과 별빛찬미본명 허찬미가 함께 찍은 사진이 게재돼 눈길을 끌었다. 도화는 8일 자신의 sns를 통해 함께 앞으로의 날들을 걸어가고 싶은 사람을 만나 다가오는 6월 결혼을 하게 됐다고 발표했다. 너의 연애 리원이 과거 벗방 bj로 활동했다는 의혹과 관련해 직접 입장을 밝혔습니다. 스포츠투데이 정예원 기자 그룹 aoa 도화개명 전 찬미가 결혼한다.

스즈 할로윈 타임라인 정말 오래간만에 수도원에서 조촐하게나마 기도모임을 다시 시작하고자 합니다. 오르간의 특권은 전례를 거행하기전이나 후에 연주를 통해 성전을 살아있는 아름다움으로 채우고, 회중을 모아 들이도록 돕고, 찬미에로 그들을 초대하며, 깊은 묵상. 사진 속 별빛찬미는 소녀시대 멤버들과 베이지색 톤의 옷을. 이날 2015 saf 가요대전에 참석한 aoa 찬미가 입장하고 있다. 오르간의 특권은 전례를 거행하기전이나 후에 연주를 통해 성전을 살아있는 아름다움으로 채우고, 회중을 모아 들이도록 돕고, 찬미에로 그들을 초대하며, 깊은 묵상.

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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 2026. © 2025 Yevhen Titov/AP Photo

찬미 무보정, 가로미 무보정, 보미 화보., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.

Download