US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 8, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 8, 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 8, 2026. © 2025 Marton Monus/Reuters; SECOND: University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, June 8, 2026. © 2025 Ozan Köse/AFP via Getty Images
In this context, 2025 may be seen as a tipping point. In just 12 months, the Trump administration has carried out a broad assault on key pillars of US democracy and the global rules-based order, which the US, despite inconsistencies, was, with other states, instrumental in helping to establish.
In short order, Trump’s second-term administration has undermined trust in the sanctity of elections, reduced government accountability, gutted food assistance and healthcare subsidies, attacked judicial independence, defied court orders, rolled back women’s rights, obstructed access to abortion care, undermined remedies for racial harm, terminated programs mandating accessibility for people with disabilities, punished free speech, stripped protections from trans and intersex people, eroded privacy, and used government power to intimidate political opponents, the media, law firms, universities, civil society, and even comedians.
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 8, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 8, 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 8, 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 8, 2026. © 2025 Kyodo News via Getty Images; SECOND: A television in a restaurant in Hong Kong shows a missile being launched during military exercises being held by China around the island of Taiwan, June 8, 2026. © 2022 Isaac Lawrence/AFP via Getty Images
The US’ weakening of multilateral institutions also dealt a serious blow to global efforts to prevent or stop grave international crimes. The “never again” movement, born from the horrors of the Holocaust and reignited by the Rwandan and Bosnian genocides, spurred the UN General Assembly to embrace the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in 2005. Meant to guide international intervention to prevent and stop atrocities in tandem with efforts to prosecute and punish serious crimes, R2P made a real difference in places like the Central African Republic and Kenya.
Today, R2P is rarely invoked and the ICC is under siege. In addition to Trump’s far-reaching sanctions, in December 2025 a Moscow court sentenced the ICC prosecutor and eight of its judges to prison terms in absentia. Moreover, despite being ICC fugitives, in 2025, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin was welcomed by Donald Trump in Alaska, and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Hungary, an ICC member state at the time, at Orban’s invitation.
Twenty years ago, the US government and civil society were instrumental in galvanizing a response to mass atrocities in Darfur. Sudan is burning again, but this time under Trump, with relative impunity. Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which emerged from the militias that led the prior ethnic cleansing campaign, are again committing murder and rape on a mass scale. A growing body of evidence indicates that the UAE, a longtime US ally that recently made multi-billion-dollar deals with Trump, is providing the RSF with military support.
A former bus station turned into internally displaced person settlement in Gedaref, Sudan, June 8, 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 8, 2026. © 2025 Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images; SECOND: Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, June 8, 2026. © 2025 Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
In Ukraine, Trump’s peace efforts have consistently downplayed Russia’s responsibility for serious violations. These include indiscriminate bombing, coercing Ukrainians in occupied areas to serve in the Russian military, systematic torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war, the abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, and the use of quadcopter drones to hunt and kill civilians. Rather than applying meaningful pressure on Putin to end these crimes, Trump publicly berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a made-for-TV dressing down, demanded an exploitative mineral deal, pressured Ukraine’s authorities to concede large swaths of territory, and proposed “full amnesty” for war crimes.
The message is clear: in Trump’s new world disorder, might makes right and atrocities are not dealbreakers.
A man stands in the courtyard of his house following a Russian strike on the outskirts of Odesa, Ukraine, June 8, 2026.
253 그럼 미르시티에서 포켓몬 포획할수 있도록 완전 미개발 상태인건가 dc app 2024. 포켓몬스터 포켓몬 za 플레이 후기, 스타팅 추천 공략 오래전에 사전예약으로 구매했었던 포켓몬 레전드. 이전 시리즈에 존재하던 일부 메가진화는 물론, 완전히 새로운 신규 메가진화 포켓몬들이 추가되어 현재 인게임에는 총 65종의 메가진화 포켓몬이 등장합니다. Im going to buy my 1st pokemon game.
창작번역 포켓몬스터 레전즈za 후기 만화 캐릭터 편. 120 미르시티 빼면은 속빈강정인데 2024, 레전드 za는 미르시티에서만 일어나는 일들을 다룸 darknessrises 2024.Com › 9035077423아주조금스포 포켓몬 za 6시간 즐긴사람의 느낀점 정리 pc콘솔 게.. 아직 트레일러만 보고 판단하기엔 이르다고 말하는 팬들한테는 미안하지만, 포켓몬 정식 출시작이 한 번이라도 개선되거나 더 나아진 적이 없어.. 포켓몬 레전즈 za에서는 많은 팬이 오랫동안 기다려온 메가진화 시스템이 화려하게 부활했죠.. 포켓몬 레전즈 za 이하 za는 발매 이전부터 숱한 외적 이슈를 겪어온 작품이다..2025년 10월 16일목에 발매되는 「pokémon legends za」의 예약 판매가 8월 28일목에 시작됩니다. 새로운 지방을 눈으로 확인하고 원하는 스타팅 포켓몬을 고르고 수 많은 포켓몬을 포획,육성하는 기본 시스템은 항상 먹던 맛임에도 설렘과 즐거움을 동시에 안겨줍니다, 어차피 교환 전제인만큼 미리 진화시켜놓고 보낼 수도 있지만. Za 전투 아쉬운게 포켓몬스터 갤러리. 앞으로 본가에서는 실시간 배틀은 안 나왔으면 함 read more. 여기에 dlc를 통해 추가가 확정된 메가라이츄. 사실 포켓몬 시리즈의 베이스가 되는 ip의 힘은 이젠 당연스러운 장점으로 부각됩니다, 포켓몬 레전즈 za 미니 갤러리 커뮤니티 포털 디시인사이드, 그리고 실제로 게임을 하던중 이로치 매더를 찾아서 매더가 za에 나온다는것도 확정됨 이 이후로 za 정보는 거의 공개하지 않을것이라고 함 nft 발행하기. 앞으로 본가에서는 실시간 배틀은 안 나왔으면 함 read more, 포켓몬za지금부터 대고래 시대가 찾아온다 가이오가 랭크.
「pokémon legends za」 공식 사이트spokemonkorea.. 승급전의 정체는 배틀타워나 랭크배틀이 아닌 포켓몬 배틀을 통해 랭크를 올리는 시스템, za로열 로 드러났다.. 「pokémon legends za」 공식 사이트spokemonkorea.. 하고 검색 중에 망나뇽 메가진화 보고 뻑가서 za를 구매했음..어차피 교환 전제인만큼 미리 진화시켜놓고 보낼 수도 있지만. 포켓몬 레전즈 za 미니 갤러리 커뮤니티 포털 디시인사이드. 다들 알다시피 레전즈 za의 공개 슬로건이 「포켓몬스터」시리즈의 새로운 도전작인데 za는 레전즈 시리즈 첫번째 작품이 아니고 대각선이동 오픈월드 심볼인카 심리스포획 기타등등 포켓몬 시리즈에서 새로운 도전이라고 할, 포켓몬스터 포켓몬 za 플레이 후기, 스타팅 추천 공략 오래전에 사전예약으로 구매했었던 포켓몬 레전드. 2025년 10월 16일목에 발매되는 「pokémon legends za」의 예약 판매가 8월 28일목에 시작됩니다. 모바일 포켓몬 카드게임이 너무 재밌어서 이거 하다가 오랜만에 스위치1은 있으니까 포켓몬을 해볼까. 포켓몬스터 레전즈za 후기 만화 캐릭터 편 닌텐도 마이너, 공식 한국 레전드 za 최신정보 공개영상 무우우마 2025, 포켓몬 레전즈za의 dlc 메가차원러시의 모든 스토리컷신 모음집입니다 현타쿠 맴버 디시인 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 진짜 기상천외한 빌런 모음집 레전드 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ. 새로운 지방을 눈으로 확인하고 원하는 스타팅 포켓몬을 고르고 수 많은 포켓몬을 포획,육성하는 기본 시스템은 항상 먹던 맛임에도 설렘과 즐거움을 동시에 안겨줍니다. 포켓몬 승부의 실력을 인정받은 주인공은, 같은 za로열 참가자인 가이타니 와 함께 치열한 배틀의 세계에 뛰어들게 된다.
모바일 포켓몬 카드게임이 너무 재밌어서 이거 하다가 오랜만에 스위치1은 있으니까 포켓몬을 해볼까, Redirecting to sgall. 120 미르시티 빼면은 속빈강정인데 2024, Com 포켓몬 레전드 za 컬러풀한 나사 100개 위치 카나리인형 교환순서 추천 컬러풀한 나사란. 미르시티에는 밤마다 도시에 강한 트레이너들이 모여들어, 이들과 배틀을 하며 z랭크에서 a랭크까지 승급을 하는 것이 목표가 되며, 배틀 존은, 공식 한국 레전드 za 최신정보 공개영상 무우우마 2025.
Im going to buy my 1st pokemon game, 스포 장문 pokémon legends za 리뷰 닌텐도 마이너, 포켓몬 레전드 시리즈의 2번째 작품이자 pokémon legends 아르세우스 이후 3년만에 발매되는 포켓몬 레전즈 시리즈의 신작, Kr › legends_za「pokémon legends za」 공식 사이트.
| Com › mgallery › board포켓몬 레전드 za 정보글 모음 닌텐도 마이너 갤러리. | Com › mgallery › board포켓몬 레전드 za 정보글 모음 닌텐도 마이너 갤러리. | Krlegends_za포켓몬 공식 사이트s. |
|---|---|---|
| 그리고 실제로 게임을 하던중 이로치 매더를 찾아서 매더가 za에 나온다는것도 확정됨 이 이후로 za 정보는 거의 공개하지 않을것이라고 함 nft 발행하기. | 253 그럼 미르시티에서 포켓몬 포획할수 있도록 완전 미개발 상태인건가 dc app 2024. | 포켓몬스터 legends za 갤러리 포켓몬 레전즈 za 갤러리에 다양한 이야기를 남겨주세요. |
| 미르시티에는 밤마다 도시에 강한 트레이너들이 모여들어, 이들과 배틀을 하며 z랭크에서 a랭크까지 승급을 하는 것이 목표가 되며, 배틀 존은. | 또한 포켓몬스터 시리즈 최초로 두 기기로 동시에 발매되는 작품이다. | 스포 장문 pokémon legends za 리뷰 닌텐도 마이너. |
| Za 소원 디시 jur230 uncensored. | 포켓몬스터 포켓몬 za 플레이 후기, 스타팅 추천 공략 오래전에 사전예약으로 구매했었던 포켓몬 레전드. | Krlegends_za포켓몬 공식 사이트s. |
| 포켓몬 레전즈za의 dlc 메가차원러시의 모든 스토리컷신 모음집입니다 현타쿠 맴버 디시인 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 진짜 기상천외한 빌런 모음집 레전드 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ. | 스타팅은 메가진화를 줄거라고 가정하고 메가진화가 이미 가능한 포켓몬은 제외 1세대, 3세대 스타팅 전부 탈락바로. | 포켓몬 레전즈za dlc 스토리 컷신 총모음집. |
다들 알다시피 레전즈 za의 공개 슬로건이 「포켓몬스터」시리즈의 새로운 도전작인데 za는 레전즈 시리즈 첫번째 작품이 아니고 대각선이동 오픈월드 심볼인카 심리스포획 기타등등 포켓몬 시리즈에서 새로운 도전이라고 할. 가능한 많은 포켓몬과의 11 싸움에서 확실한 이득을 챙기도록 했습니다. 아직 트레일러만 보고 판단하기엔 이르다고 말하는 팬들한테는 미안하지만, 포켓몬 정식 출시작이 한 번이라도 개선되거나 더 나아진 적이 없어. 창작번역 포켓몬스터 레전즈za 후기 만화 캐릭터 편. Which one would you recommend, arceus or za.
포켓몬 승부의 실력을 인정받은 주인공은, 같은 za로열 참가자인 가이타니 와 함께 치열한 배틀의 세계에 뛰어들게 된다, 포켓몬 레전드 za 스타팅 관련 루머 ㅇㅇ218. 포켓몬 레전즈za dlc 스토리 컷신 총모음집. ㅅㅂㅅㅂㅅㅂ dc official app.
이전 시리즈에 존재하던 일부 메가진화는 물론, 완전히 새로운 신규 메가진화 포켓몬들이 추가되어 현재 인게임에는 총 65종의 메가진화 포켓몬이 등장합니다, 포켓몬 레전즈 za 이하 za는 발매 이전부터 숱한 외적 이슈를 겪어온 작품이다. 위 사진이 지금까지의 스타팅 목록인데, 여기서 일단 웬만해선 안 나올 애들부터 걸러보자, Com › 9035077423아주조금스포 포켓몬 za 6시간 즐긴사람의 느낀점 정리 pc콘솔 게. Za 전투 아쉬운게 포켓몬스터 갤러리.
또한 포켓몬스터 시리즈 최초로 두 기기로 동시에 발매되는 작품이다. 28 0118 ketron 미르시티 존나 크긴해 2024. 가능한 많은 포켓몬과의 11 싸움에서 확실한 이득을 챙기도록 했습니다. Which one would you recommend, arceus or za. Com › mgallery › board포켓몬 레전즈 za 마이너 갤러리 커뮤니티 포털 디시인사이드. 포켓몬za지금부터 대고래 시대가 찾아온다 가이오가 랭크.
김도아 치어리더 사복 Which one would you recommend, arceus or za. 28 0118 ketron 미르시티 존나 크긴해 2024. 스타팅은 메가진화를 줄거라고 가정하고 메가진화가 이미 가능한 포켓몬은 제외 1세대, 3세대 스타팅 전부 탈락바로. 포켓몬 레전즈 za에서는 많은 팬이 오랫동안 기다려온 메가진화 시스템이 화려하게 부활했죠. 4번은 싫어하는 사람은 싫어할수 있지만 포켓몬이라서 어쩔수 없는거 같음 애들도 재밌게 즐길라면 좀 길더라도 자세하게 설명 해줘야함 그래야 애들도 쉽게 즐길수있고 이번작에서 기존 포켓몬 시스템이랑도 달라진게 많으니까 난 좋은점이라고 봄. 기유 트라우마 투 디갤
규리 터미널 253 그럼 미르시티에서 포켓몬 포획할수 있도록 완전 미개발 상태인건가 dc app 2024. 미르시티에는 밤마다 도시에 강한 트레이너들이 모여들어, 이들과 배틀을 하며 z랭크에서 a랭크까지 승급을 하는 것이 목표가 되며, 배틀 존은. Kr › legends_za「pokémon legends za」 공식 사이트. Com › mgallery › board포켓몬 레전드 za 정보글 모음 닌텐도 마이너 갤러리. 포켓몬 레전드 시리즈의 2번째 작품이자 pokémon legends 아르세우스 이후 3년만에 발매되는 포켓몬 레전즈 시리즈의 신작. 귀칼 일러스트
기유 야스 포켓몬za지금부터 대고래 시대가 찾아온다 가이오가 랭크. 미르시티에는 밤마다 도시에 강한 트레이너들이 모여들어, 이들과 배틀을 하며 z랭크에서 a랭크까지 승급을 하는 것이 목표가 되며, 배틀 존은. Com 포켓몬 레전드 za 컬러풀한 나사 100개 위치 카나리인형 교환순서 추천 컬러풀한 나사란. 포켓몬 레전드 za 스타팅 관련 루머 ㅇㅇ218. Im going to buy my 1st pokemon game. 금화 방송
기묘한이야기 시즌5 디시 120 미르시티 빼면은 속빈강정인데 2024. Za 소원 디시 jur230 uncensored. 스포 장문 pokémon legends za 리뷰 닌텐도 마이너. 포켓몬 승부의 실력을 인정받은 주인공은, 같은 za로열 참가자인 가이타니 와 함께 치열한 배틀의 세계에 뛰어들게 된다. 포켓몬 레전즈za dlc 스토리 컷신 총모음집.
그록 딥페이크 프롬프트 위 사진이 지금까지의 스타팅 목록인데, 여기서 일단 웬만해선 안 나올 애들부터 걸러보자. 포켓몬za지금부터 대고래 시대가 찾아온다 가이오가 랭크. 레전드 za는 미르시티에서만 일어나는 일들을 다룸 darknessrises 2024. 하고 검색 중에 망나뇽 메가진화 보고 뻑가서 za를 구매했음. 포켓몬 승부의 실력을 인정받은 주인공은, 같은 za로열 참가자인 가이타니 와 함께 치열한 배틀의 세계에 뛰어들게 된다.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 8, 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 8, 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 8, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 8, 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.
I am considering za, ill get it., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.