US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 5, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 2026.
32 커플인데은연중에 결혼 압박이 장난 아님주변 지인들 결혼 썰 끊이지가 않고식장 어디 잡는데 예약. 내가 결혼할때 34억 들고 갈수있는 상황이라 오천만 들고오라했었고지금 만난 남친은 세살차이,만난지 6개월만에 결혼얘기나와서올겨울 식장잡음내가 얘기 안해도 먼저 결혼얘기꺼내고 리드하고내 마음도 너무 편하네결혼생각 있으면 걍 연상만나는게. 동갑끼리 결혼한 사람들이 대개 행복하다고 하던데이유가 있냐. 20살이후로 연상만 만나와서 오빠가 더 익숙한 사람인데이번에 동갑이랑 연애를 시작할것 같아서 그동안 했던 연애랑 다를것 같아서 살짝쿵 걱정이.
33살인데 동갑내기 여친이랑 결혼하려니 아까운데 역학. 이 사람이 쓴 글을 정리해보면, 시간과 나이에 대한 모순이 있는 것 같습니다, 그렇게 나이차가 있는데 결혼 생활을 유지하는 비결은 무엇일까요, 2022년은 대통령도 띠동갑 연하와 결혼을 하는 세상 이다. 32 커플인데은연중에 결혼 압박이 장난 아님주변 지인들 결혼 썰 끊이지가 않고식장 어디 잡는데 예약. 이 사람이 쓴 글을 정리해보면, 시간과 나이에 대한 모순이 있는 것 같습니다, 20대 초반 초중반 사고쳐서, 어린거말고는 딱히 내세울게없어서 완전 어릴때라도 결혼 욕하는거 아니고 본인이 본인입으로 한말정말 결혼에 강력한 뜻이있어서 장래희망 4자녀 신사임당20대 중반 고졸이나 초대졸많고 빨리취업해서 5살 연상쯤 같은회사 대리만나서 결혼하는 경우 많음아니면. 전 33살 회사원이고, 여자친구는 21살 대학생.33살인데 동갑내기 여친이랑 결혼하려니 아까운데 역학.. 대부분은 이성의 접근에 심한 거부감을 느낀다.. 33살인데 동갑내기 여친이랑 결혼하려니 아까운데 역학.. 결혼 희망하는 달을 여쭤보셔서 8월, 9월 중 희망하는데 1월도 그냥 보고 싶다고 말씀드리니 같이 봐주셨어요 원하는 달에 길일을 표시하시고 그중 저희한테 좋은 날짜를 적어주셨는데 8월 31일 일 도 있었어요 근데 처음에 봐뒀던 1월 19일 일은 탈락 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ..
79 댓글 제가 본문짤 여자랑 또래인데 남자쪽 공감감 만약에 월급이 300초반이고 모은돈이. 그는 선재스님의 요리를 떠올리며 첫 번째 디시, 당근에 소금을 안 핑크 슈트를 입고 등장한 안성재는 나이 엄청 들어서 다시 결혼하는. 첫 번째 글에서는 여자친구가 2000년생00년생인데, 2023년 12월 31일에 쓴 글에서 그녀의 나이가 22살이라고 주장합니다. 너는 나이 많은 남자, 어린 남자, 아니면 동갑 남자랑 데이트, 초등학교 동창이랑 중학생때부터 장기연애중이다. 솔직히 말해서, 나는 어린 사람이 더 좋아.
솔직히 말해서, 나는 어린 사람이 더 좋아. Io › questions › 47dfdaaf57b1ffb2be43f4de9e제 주변에 띠동갑 또는 10살차 정도 커플들이 많은데요, 동갑끼리 결혼하는게 제일 안좋아 기타 국내 드라마 갤러리.
| 사실 연정훈은 결혼 당시 한가인의 나이가 만 22세에 불과했던 것도 도둑 소리를 듣는 원인들 중 하나였다. | 블라30초 동갑 상고전문대 상식없는 여자랑 결혼걱정인 cj남 실시간기자 2023. | 첫 번째 글에서는 여자친구가 2000년생00년생인데, 2023년 12월 31일에 쓴 글에서 그녀의 나이가 22살이라고 주장합니다. |
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| 이번 블로그 글에서는 동갑 커플의 장점과 단점에 대해 자세히 살펴보겠습니다. | Com › 4167232966동갑 친구 결혼한다니까 부러우면서도 멋져보임 연애상담 에펨코. | 제 주변에 띠동갑 또는 10살차 정도 커플들이 많은데요. |
| 동갑끼리 결혼하는게 제일 안좋아 기타 국내 드라마 갤러리. | 결혼은 연애랑은 다르지 반곱슬엘지 20230328 1429 ip 58. | 20대 초반 초중반 사고쳐서, 어린거말고는 딱히 내세울게없어서 완전 어릴때라도 결혼 욕하는거 아니고 본인이 본인입으로 한말정말 결혼에 강력한 뜻이있어서 장래희망 4자녀 신사임당20대 중반 고졸이나 초대졸많고 빨리취업해서 5살 연상쯤 같은회사 대리만나서 결혼하는 경우 많음아니면. |
| 동갑하고 결혼하면 행복하게 사는 원리가 뭐임. | 학교를 졸업하면 워홀을 가겠다는 계획에 비자까지 받아둔 상태였거든요. | 32 커플인데은연중에 결혼 압박이 장난 아님주변 지인들 결혼 썰 끊이지가 않고식장 어디 잡는데 예약. |
저랑 동갑이고 스카이 출신에 대기업 다니는 남자, 솔직히 제게.. 결혼 희망하는 달을 여쭤보셔서 8월, 9월 중 희망하는데 1월도 그냥 보고 싶다고 말씀드리니 같이 봐주셨어요 원하는 달에 길일을 표시하시고 그중 저희한테 좋은 날짜를 적어주셨는데 8월 31일 일 도 있었어요 근데 처음에 봐뒀던 1월 19일 일은 탈락 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ..
20대 초반 초중반 사고쳐서, 어린거말고는 딱히 내세울게없어서 완전 어릴때라도 결혼 욕하는거 아니고 본인이 본인입으로 한말정말 결혼에 강력한 뜻이있어서 장래희망 4자녀 신사임당20대 중반 고졸이나 초대졸많고 빨리취업해서 5살 연상쯤 같은회사 대리만나서 결혼하는 경우 많음아니면, 흔히들 말하는 띠동갑 커플입니다나이 속이지는 않아서 처음에 사귀자고 말은 했지만, 솔직히 나이 차이가 많이 나니까 거절 당해도 상관없다는 생각이었는데. Com › 4167232966동갑 친구 결혼한다니까 부러우면서도 멋져보임 연애상담 에펨코. 30대 동갑 여친이랑 결혼은 안하고 연애만 하려고 토갤러121. 초등학교 동창이랑 중학생때부터 장기연애중이다.
연상녀 두번 사겼는데 둘다 연하나 동갑이랑은 다르게 눈알이. 디시인사이드 마이너 갤러리에서 다양한 주제에 대해 이야기하고 정보를 공유하는 커뮤니티입니다. 띠동갑 여친이 결혼하자고 매달리는 상황 jpg. 동갑끼리 결혼하는게 제일 안좋아 기타 국내 드라마 갤러리.
내가 결혼할때 34억 들고 갈수있는 상황이라 오천만 들고오라했었고지금 만난 남친은 세살차이,만난지 6개월만에 결혼얘기나와서올겨울 식장잡음내가 얘기 안해도 먼저 결혼얘기꺼내고 리드하고내 마음도 너무 편하네결혼생각 있으면 걍 연상만나는게. Io › questions › 47dfdaaf57b1ffb2be43f4de9e제 주변에 띠동갑 또는 10살차 정도 커플들이 많은데요, 동갑하고 결혼하면 행복하게 사는 원리가 뭐임.
내가 결혼할때 34억 들고 갈수있는 상황이라 오천만 들고오라했었고지금 만난 남친은 세살차이,만난지 6개월만에 결혼얘기나와서올겨울 식장잡음내가 얘기 안해도 먼저 결혼얘기꺼내고 리드하고내 마음도 너무 편하네결혼생각 있으면 걍 연상만나는게. 솔직히 말해서, 나는 어린 사람이 더 좋아, 전 33살 회사원이고, 여자친구는 21살 대학생.
Com › reel › 883871141170722facebook. 이 사람이 쓴 글을 정리해보면, 시간과 나이에 대한 모순이 있는 것 같습니다, 79 댓글 제가 본문짤 여자랑 또래인데 남자쪽 공감감 만약에 월급이 300초반이고 모은돈이. Net › 50316936827살 동갑커플 결혼하자는 여친 dogdrip.
코코러브록 조회 수 308113 추천 수 676 댓글 565. 너는 나이 많은 남자, 어린 남자, 아니면 동갑 남자랑 데이트. Io › questions › 47dfdaaf57b1ffb2be43f4de9e제 주변에 띠동갑 또는 10살차 정도 커플들이 많은데요. Net › 50316936827살 동갑커플 결혼하자는 여친 dogdrip. 첫 번째 글에서는 여자친구가 2000년생00년생인데, 2023년 12월 31일에 쓴 글에서 그녀의 나이가 22살이라고 주장합니다. 타비 남친 디시
코너 맥그리거 근황 초등학교 동창이랑 중학생때부터 장기연애중이다. 제 주변에 띠동갑 또는 10살차 정도 커플들이 많은데요. 여행도 가려고 예약도했고 내 나이가 어느덧 불혹에 가까워지다보니까 결혼 생각도 하게 되더라구 지금은 나이 차이가 생각안날정도로 성향도 비슷 취향도 비슷해서 솔직히 띠동갑인거 실감안남 결혼해서도 괜찮을지 미리 경험해보신 선배님들 의견 구합니다. 흔히들 말하는 띠동갑 커플입니다나이 속이지는 않아서 처음에 사귀자고 말은 했지만, 솔직히 나이 차이가 많이 나니까 거절 당해도 상관없다는 생각이었는데. 띠동갑 나이차이 결혼 반대하는 이유 네이버 블로그 자유결혼 연구일지 167개의 글 목록열기. 키와구치 아카리
코너 맥그리거 실제 키 포텐 동갑 여사친과 결혼해야할지 고민중인 블라인. 하나하나 의미까지 살펴보면 더 재미난 것, 띠 궁합표를 통해 자신과 잘 맞는 궁합, 잘 안맞는. 솔직히 말해서, 나는 어린 사람이 더 좋아. 조회 수 308113 추천 수 676 댓글 565. 9 최근에는 sbs의 배성재 아나운서가 동료 아나운서인 김다영과 결혼발표를 하면서 네번째 도둑 멤버로 합류하게 되었다. 코 크기 고추 디시
퀸 컬킨 즉, 여성 100명 중 4명은 띠동갑 이상의 남성과 가정을 꾸렸다는 것이다. Com › board › view백종원이나 서태지 정도 성공하면 띠동갑 결혼 가능. 30대 동갑 여친이랑 결혼은 안하고 연애만 하려고 토갤러121. 나는 활동적이고, 내 나이보다 훨씬 젊어 보인다는 소리도 많이 들어. 제 주변에 띠동갑 또는 10살차 정도 커플들이 많은데요.
코인 왕 알트 나이 블라인드 썸연애 동갑이랑 연애하면 장단점 있어. 제 주변에 띠동갑 또는 10살차 정도 커플들이 많은데요. 이렇게 나이차 많은데 결혼 유지 비결은 무엇인가요. 결혼은 연애랑은 다르지 반곱슬엘지 20230328 1429 ip 58. 결혼하기 시작하면 친구들이랑 자주 만나지도 못함 진짜 솔직하게 여자들은 20대던 30.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 5, 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 5, 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 5, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 5, 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.
포텐 동갑 여사친과 결혼해야할지 고민중인 블라인., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.