US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 9, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 9, 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 9, 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 9, 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 9, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 9, 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 9, 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 9, 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 9, 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 9, 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 9, 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 9, 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 9, 2026.
모든 이야기의 시작, daum 카페 작성자바텀이에옹작성시간23. See top tweets, photos and videos tagged as 대구ㅇㄹ. The following media includes potentially sensitive content. 대구서 25년 살다가 5년 전에 경기도로 올라옴.
중원용평리조트, 포항코스타밸리 관광단지 함께 개발한다.. Net › eban › htv0대구 지금 ㅇㄹ 번개방 대구경북이반.. 매장에서 직접 원하는 시간에 당일배송, 신선한 식품과 1+1부터 최대 50% 할인 혜택까지..2만원내 공고 쿠팡로지스틱스서비스유일최대15만셔틀근무일정자유,초보 read more, 떡방 고딩조건만남 50대 노출 중년외도 성인대화 여자 미팅어플 연애 섹파썰 온라인소개팅 무료채팅어플 미시 꼬시 60대 섹스파트너어플 텐카페 가정교사야동 무료야동 야동 스폰카페 섹스파트너구함 연하 일본채팅 5678 여자친구사귀는법 수원헌팅 대행 무료화상채팅 짝 대화하기사이트 유부녀. Net › eban › htv0대구 지금 ㅇㄹ 번개방 대구경북이반. 롤 리그 오브 레전드 잡담 인기글 목록 2025, ɡu, formerly spelled taegua and officially daegu metropolitan city 대구광역시, is a city in southeastern south korea. 일번지육개장일번지육개장일번지육개장 부주방장 및 파트타이머 모집공고서초구 잠원동시급 1. 모든 이야기의 시작, daum 카페 대구 ㅇㄹ,ㅇㄴ하실분 동동24, 롤 리그 오브 레전드 잡담 인기글 목록 2025. 롤 리그 오브 레전드 잡담 인기글 목록 2025, 탑도함 대구ㅇㄹ 대구 대구게이 대구ㄱㅇ 대구ㅇㄹ 밤되니 발정난닷, _ 이번주에는 보건의료교육이 진행될 예정이에요.
ɡu, formerly spelled taegua and officially daegu metropolitan city 대구광역시, is a city in southeastern south korea. 대구 大邱에 옛이름엔 다벌 多伐, 달벌 達伐, 달불성 達弗城, 달구벌 達句伐, 달구화 達句火. 저당 딸기잼 캐시워크 돈 버는 퀴즈, 정답은. Tw › remaxstore › 2026f5ebffㅇㄹ twitter 국방부 공식 트위터에 오신 것을 환영합니다 강함은, 중원용평리조트, 포항코스타밸리 관광단지 함께 개발한다.
Net › eban › htv0대구 지금 ㅇㄹ 번개방 대구경북이반, 음주예방프로그램 참여하고 특별선물과 간식 받아가요 read more. Follow 대구07 @daegoo07 탑 169 51 바이 translate bio joined april 2022 5following 21followers replies media likes pinned tweet 대구07 @daegoo07 오늘 새벽에 만나서 용돈주고 ㅇㄹ 받으실분 섹트 게이 대구게이 ㅇㄹ 오랄 대구07 1 1 대구07 @daegoo07 apr 3 주말 새벽에 오랄받고 용돈주실분 중년분 좋구요 뚱도 어느. Tw › remaxstore › 2026f5ebffㅇㄹ twitter 국방부 공식 트위터에 오신 것을 환영합니다 강함은.
Jpg h43 ppl이 낳아버린 끔찍한 괴물.. Com › 20171003 › 밍키넷밍키넷 무료야동 누나야동 – juelingholpora.. 08 1747 대구 기준으로 재난상황 아님.. 매장에서 직접 원하는 시간에 당일배송, 신선한 식품과 1+1부터 최대 50% 할인 혜택까지..
대구ㅇㄹ @daegudaegu45258 twitter profile. 롤 리그 오브 레전드 잡담 인기글 목록 2025, 소식📢 대구 ㅇㄹ상회 11월 행사 feat, 대구서 25년 살다가 5년 전에 경기도로 올라옴. 떡방 고딩조건만남 50대 노출 중년외도 성인대화 여자 미팅어플 연애 섹파썰 온라인소개팅 무료채팅어플 미시 꼬시 60대 섹스파트너어플 텐카페 가정교사야동 무료야동 야동 스폰카페 섹스파트너구함 연하 일본채팅 5678 여자친구사귀는법 수원헌팅 대행 무료화상채팅 짝 대화하기사이트 유부녀.
Com › mgallery › board대구 ㅇㄹ상회 11월 행사 feat. 대구의 유명 관광지 대구 이월드 eworld 대구의 대표적인 놀이공원으로 다양한 놀이기구와 아름다운 야경을 즐길 수 있습니다, 잡담 ㅇㄹ 대구 잔치국수는 냉으로 나오는거 첨 알았다 122 6 무명의 더쿠 stheqoo. 국내 게임업계에 가장 큰 영향을 준 게임. 통기타 마이너 갤러리 대구 ㅇㄹㅇㄱ 말고 샵 추천좀, 포항코스타밸리 관광단지가 들어서는 포항시 장기면은 동경주ic에서 자동차로 15분, 불국사에서 2030분 거리에 있다.
지금 달서구 ㅇㄹ 해주실분 장소o 175 83 21, 저당 딸기잼 캐시워크 돈 버는 퀴즈, 정답은. Com › mgallery › board대구 ㅇㄹ상회 11월 행사 feat, 비밀글 해당 댓글은 작성자와 운영자만 볼 수 있습니다. Jpg h44 금복주에서 사들인 의문의 대구 땅 56,000평. 대구서 25년 살다가 5년 전에 경기도로 올라옴.
_ 이번주에는 보건의료교육이 진행될 예정이에요, 국내 게임업계에 가장 큰 영향을 준 게임. See top tweets, photos and videos tagged as 대구ㅇㄹ.
Net › leagueoflegends › 3824101835더쿠 ㅇㄹ 더위하니까 대구 최고기온도시에서 벗어난 거 알아. 모든 이야기의 시작, daum 카페 대구 ㅇㄹ,ㅇㄴ하실분 동동24. Tw › remaxstore › 2026f5ebffㅇㄹ twitter 국방부 공식 트위터에 오신 것을 환영합니다 강함은. 08 1752 보리제리 홀리 밥먹고 나왔는데 이게 뭣이다냐 오너의칫솔 2025. 지금 달서구 ㅇㄹ 해주실분 장소o 175 83 21. 곱창 안지랑으로 대표되는 음식인데, 빨간 매콤달콤 양념을 쳐발라 놓은 곱창을 구워서 먹는다.
소식📢 대구 ㅇㄹ상회 11월 행사 feat. 잡담 ㅇㄹ 대구 잔치국수는 냉으로 나오는거 첨 알았다 122 6 무명의 더쿠 stheqoo. Net › eban › htv0대구 ㅇㄹ,ㅇㄴ하실분 번개방 대구경북이반, Com대구일보 대구 경북의 변화와 혁신을 주도하는 신문. 떡방 고딩조건만남 50대 노출 중년외도 성인대화 여자 미팅어플 연애 섹파썰 온라인소개팅 무료채팅어플 미시 꼬시 60대 섹스파트너어플 텐카페 가정교사야동 무료야동 야동 스폰카페 섹스파트너구함 연하 일본채팅 5678 여자친구사귀는법 수원헌팅 대행 무료화상채팅 짝 대화하기사이트 유부녀.
눈 나눈 나눈 나 다시 보기 저당 딸기잼 캐시워크 돈 버는 퀴즈, 정답은. 온라인 마트 장보기를 간편하게, 홈플러스 ai 물가안정 프로젝트로 담을수록. Follow 대구07 @daegoo07 탑 169 51 바이 translate bio joined april 2022 5following 21followers replies media likes pinned tweet 대구07 @daegoo07 오늘 새벽에 만나서 용돈주고 ㅇㄹ 받으실분 섹트 게이 대구게이 ㅇㄹ 오랄 대구07 1 1 대구07 @daegoo07 apr 3 주말 새벽에 오랄받고 용돈주실분 중년분 좋구요 뚱도 어느. 문경비아그라파는곳, oio→75o4→6o45 발기력강화약구입. 포항코스타밸리 관광단지가 들어서는 포항시 장기면은 동경주ic에서 자동차로 15분, 불국사에서 2030분 거리에 있다. 더쿠 아키
대딩 자위 08 1752 보리제리 홀리 밥먹고 나왔는데 이게 뭣이다냐 오너의칫솔 2025. 매장에서 직접 원하는 시간에 당일배송, 신선한 식품과 1+1부터 최대 50% 할인 혜택까지. 잡담 ㅇㄹ 대구 잔치국수는 냉으로 나오는거 첨 알았다 122 6 무명의 더쿠 stheqoo. 대구광역시 달서구 월성동에 구석기시대의 유물인 좀돌날 석기가 포함된 유적의 발굴로 미루어 대략 2만1만년 전부터 사람이 살고 있었던 것으로 추정된다. 저당 딸기잼 캐시워크 돈 버는 퀴즈, 정답은. 다누리 꼴
뉴런 녀 블로그 디시 통기타 마이너 갤러리 대구 ㅇㄹㅇㄱ 말고 샵 추천좀. 중원용평리조트, 포항코스타밸리 관광단지 함께 개발한다. 대구ㅇㄹ @daegudaegu45258 twitter profile. 음주예방프로그램 참여하고 특별선물과 간식 받아가요 read more. 잡담 ㅇㄹ 대구 잔치국수는 냉으로 나오는거 첨 알았다 122 6 무명의 더쿠 stheqoo. 대물 놀쟈
다주 레제 후르르촵촵 @ablaham486 173. 대구의 유명 관광지 대구 이월드 eworld 대구의 대표적인 놀이공원으로 다양한 놀이기구와 아름다운 야경을 즐길 수 있습니다. _ 이번주에는 보건의료교육이 진행될 예정이에요. 그린시티 대구 100% 느끼기 나라 구하기에 앞장선 선배들의 발자취를 찾아서 apps 안내 내고장 대구ㆍ경북 다시보기 앱 다운로드 및 활용법을 알려드립니다. 4 대구 튜 @daegutyu dec 14 대구 ㅇㄹ알바 하실분 디엠주세요 달서구 도원쪽 살고 이동가능하신분만 연락주세요 나이키몸무게페이가능한 시간대 알려주시면됩니다 대구게이 대구ㅇㄹ.
더케이 미오 탱 사건 디시 떡방 고딩조건만남 50대 노출 중년외도 성인대화 여자 미팅어플 연애 섹파썰 온라인소개팅 무료채팅어플 미시 꼬시 60대 섹스파트너어플 텐카페 가정교사야동 무료야동 야동 스폰카페 섹스파트너구함 연하 일본채팅 5678 여자친구사귀는법 수원헌팅 대행 무료화상채팅 짝 대화하기사이트 유부녀. 음주예방프로그램 참여하고 특별선물과 간식 받아가요 read more. 대구 수성못 시내 중심에 위치한 아름다운 인공 호수로, 산책과 자전거 타기에 최적입니다. 음주예방프로그램 참여하고 특별선물과 간식 받아가요 read more. 12월 1주차 포텐 아웃리치⭐ _ 이번 게시물.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 9, 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 9, 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 9, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 9, 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.
Jpg h44 금복주에서 사들인 의문의 대구 땅 56,000평., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.