US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 11, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 11, 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 11, 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 11, 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 11, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 11, 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 11, 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 11, 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 11, 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 11, 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 11, 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 11, 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 11, 2026.
앞서 지난 2022년 7월 히로세 스즈와 야마자키 켄토는. 동거 교제로 결혼 초읽기에 들어갔다는 보도가 나오기도 했던세기의 커플 배우 야마자키 켄토 30와 여배우 히로세 스즈 26가 조용히 결별한 것을 주간지 여성세븐이 보도해 화제가 되고 있다오래전부터 열애 사실이 알려져 결혼 임박설까지 나왔던 히로세. 야마자키 켄토 & 히로세 스즈 파국 위기. 일본 주간지 죠세세븐은 24일 단독기사를 내고 히로세 스즈와 야마자키 켄토가 헤어졌다고 전했다.
인기 배우끼리의 열애를 「문춘 온라인」이 보도한 것은 2022년 7월이었다 「당시, 히로세가 빌리고 있던 집세 3자리수만엔을 넘는 초호화 맨션에 야마자키가 연일 다니는 모습을 캐치.. Com › kokr › news3년 열애 끝&mldr..
| 반동거 상태 日 톱배우 야마자키 켄토히로세 스즈. | 앞서 히로세 스즈와 야마자키 켄토는 지난 2022년 열애 사실이 공개된 후 함께 도쿄의 한 고급 아파트에서 동거한다고 알려졌다. | 22일 일본 매체 포스트세븐은 히로세 스즈25와 야마자키 켄토28가 교제 중. |
|---|---|---|
| 일본 포털사이트인 야후재팬에도 직접 검색해보면 알 수 있겠지만 쿠보와의 연애설은 커녕 다른 사람과의 열애 루머조차도 없다. | 日 톱배우 히로세 스즈, 야마자키 켄토와 열애설6. | 오늘24일 일본의 야후 재팬 뉴스에 따르면 히로세 스즈와 야마자키 켄토가 헤어졌으며, 현재 반동거 생활이 끝났다고 전했다. |
| Tv리포트유비취 기자 일본의 국민 여동생으로 불리는 배우 히로세 스즈가 톱배우 야마자키 켄토와 다시 열애설에 휩싸였다. | 히로세 스즈, 야마자키 켄토와 3년 만에 결별각자. | 두 사람은 이미 반동거 상태로, 자주 서로의 자택을 방문하며 시간을 보내는 모습이 목격되고 있습니다. |
야마자키 켄토와 히로세 스즈의 열애 교제는, 2022년 7월에 주간지가 특종해,당시 이미 반동거 상태에 있어 야마자키 켄토가 자주히로세 스즈의 자택.. 야마자키 켄토와 히로세 스즈의 열애 교제는, 2022년 7월에 주간지가 특종해,당시 이미 반동거 상태에 있어 야마자키 켄토가 자주히로세 스즈의 자택..
보도에 따르면 거의 동거 상태인 두 사람은 히로세 스즈의 생일인 지난 6월 19일도 함께 보냈다. 지난 1일 일본의 주간문춘은 히로세 스즈와 야마자키 켄토가 열애 중이며, 현재 두 사람이 반 동거 상태라고 보도, 야마자키 켄토♥히로세 스즈 열애설 거의 동거 상태.
04 1722 이창규 기자 엑스포츠뉴스 이창규 기자 일본의 배우 히로세 스즈와 야마자키 켄토의 열애설이 전해져 관심을 모으고 있다. 집으로 돌아가는 경우는히로세 스즈, 야마자키, 보도에 따르면 거의 동거 상태인 두 사람은 히로세 스즈의 생일인 지난 6월 19일도 함께 보냈다. 내용 없음 아놔 켄토ㅠㅠ 잘 어울려서 더 눈물ㅠㅠ 2년 전.
Com › view › 20230622n15554日 톱배우 히로세 스즈♥야마자키 켄토, 열애&mldr. 히로세 스즈 히로세 스즈와 야마자키 켄토의 열애 교제히로세 스즈와 야마자키 켄토는 2022년 7월, 주간지의 보도를 통해 열애가 알려졌습니다, 집으로 돌아가는 경우는히로세 스즈, 야마자키. 열애 당시 두 사람의 오른손 약지에는 커플링이 있었고 반동거 상태로 지내며 결혼 초읽기 분위기였으나 지난해 가을부터 위기가 왔다고, Tv리포트유비취 기자 일본의 국민 여동생으로 불리는 배우 히로세 스즈가 톱배우 야마자키 켄토와 다시 열애설에 휩싸였다.
톱스타뉴스 이은혜 기자 일본의 배우 히로세 스즈가 야마자키 켄토와 열애 중이라는 내용이 보도됐다. Kr › articles › 936257공개 열애 시작한 톱배우 커플, 소속사가 헤어지게 만들고 있다 위, ‘결혼설’까지 나왔던 톱배우 커플, 안타까운 근황.
22일 일본 매체 포스트세븐은 히로세 스즈25와 야마자키 켄토28가 교제 중이며, 현재 반동거 상태라고 보도했다, 일본 매체 라이브도어는 20일 현지 시각 반동거 중인 커플 야마자키 켄토와 히로세 스즈가 서로 바쁜 스케줄로 인해 관계가 소원해졌다고 보도했다, 2년 전 주간지 주간문춘에 의해 열애 교제가 특종 된 빅커플 배우 야마자키 켄토29와 여배우 히로세 스즈25가 바쁜 스케줄로 인해 헤어지는 게 아니냐라고 우려하는 목소리가 나오고 있다고 하필이면 도쿄 스포츠가 보도했다 야마자키 켄토와 히로세 스즈의 열애는 2022년 7월 주간문춘이 보도해. Com › 7455히로세 스즈 ♡ 야마자키 켄토 커플링 데이트 결혼 임박.
그러나 두 사람의 각각 소속사 측은 아티스트의 사생활이라면서 열애설에 대해 말을 아꼈다. 앞서 지난 2022년 7월 히로세 스즈와 야마자키 켄토는 열애설에 휩싸였다, 배우 야마자키 켄토27와의 반동거 열애설이 보도된 여배우 히로세 스즈24 오랜만에 빅커플 탄생이라 그런지 몰라도 추가 보도들이 계속 나오고, 한눈에 보는 오늘 해외연예 뉴스 tv리포트유비취 기자 일본의 국민 여동생으로 불리는 배우 히로세 스즈가 톱배우 야마자키 켄토와 다시 열애설에 휩싸였다.
일본 매체 라이브도어는 20일 현지 시각 반동거 중인 커플 야마자키 켄토와 히로세 스즈가 서로 바쁜 스케줄로 인해 관계가 소원해졌다고 보도했다, 이슈유머 더치페이스 되는 히로세 스즈의 올해열애설. 야마자키 켄토 & 히로세 스즈 결별 위기.
올해 초 결별설이 불거졌던 일본 연예계 대표 커플 히로세 스즈24와 야마자키 켄토27의 데이트 소식이 전해져 팬들의 이목이 집중됐다. 19일을 맞아 히로세가 24세가 된 직후인 0시 20분경 두 사람은 모두 다시 모습을 드러내며 맨션 안으로 들어갔다. 일본 톱배우 아야세 하루카가 11살 연하 보이그룹 멤버와 열애 중이다.
차간단 야동 야마자키 켄토 & 히로세 스즈 파국 위기. 한눈에 보는 오늘 해외연예 뉴스 tv리포트유비취 기자 일본의 국민 여동생으로 불리는 배우 히로세 스즈가 톱배우 야마자키 켄토와 다시 열애설에 휩싸였다. 더치페이스 되는 히로세 스즈의 올해열애설. 히로세 스즈×야마자키 켄토, 초호화 맨션에서 반동거 사랑 《. 집으로 돌아가는 경우는히로세 스즈, 야마자키. 질싸한썰
중학생 비키니 3년 열애 끝 결혼설까지 나왔던 톱배우 커플, 안타까운 근황. 19일을 맞아 히로세가 24세가 된 직후인 0시 20분경 두 사람은 모두 다시 모습을 드러내며 맨션 안으로 들어갔다. 야마자키 켄토와 히로세 스즈의 열애 교제는, 2022년 7월에 주간지가 특종해,당시 이미 반동거 상태에 있어 야마자키 켄토가 자주히로세 스즈의 자택. Kr › articles › 936257공개 열애 시작한 톱배우 커플, 소속사가 헤어지게 만들고 있다 위. Kr › news › 401907히로세 스즈♥야마자키 켄토, 핑크빛 열애 중반동거 상황. 진천 우 움짤
중스갤 일본 톱배우 아야세 하루카가 11살 연하 보이그룹 멤버와 열애 중이다. 더치페이스 되는 히로세 스즈의 올해열애설. 동거 교제로 결혼 초읽기에 들어갔다는 보도가 나오기도 했던세기의 커플 배우 야마자키 켄토 30와 여배우 히로세 스즈 26가 조용히 결별한 것을 주간지 여성세븐이 보도해 화제가 되고 있다오래전부터 열애 사실이 알려져 결혼 임박설까지 나왔던 히로세. 2년 전 주간지 주간문춘에 의해 열애 교제가 특종 된 빅커플 배우 야마자키 켄토29와 여배우 히로세 스즈25가 바쁜 스케줄로 인해 헤어지는 게 아니냐라고 우려하는 목소리가 나오고 있다고 하필이면 도쿄 스포츠가 보도했다 야마자키 켄토와 히로세 스즈의 열애는 2022년 7월 주간문춘이 보도해. 일본 매체 포스트세븐은 22일 야마자키 켄토와 히로세 스즈가 교제 중이며 현재. 직캠 ㄸㄱ 디시
줌마hip 해외연예日 톱스타 커플이 깨졌다이민정 닮은꼴. 야마자키 켄토와 히로세 스즈의 교제는 작년 7월에 보도되었으며 도쿄 돔에서 개최되는 격투기 이벤트 the match 2022를 관전하러 방문하고 있던 것이나, 야마자키 켄토가 히로세 스즈의 집에 자주. 日 톱배우 히로세 스즈♥야마자키 켄토, 열애반동거 상황. 야마자키 켄토♥히로세 스즈 열애설 거의 동거 상태. 히로세 스즈와 야마자키 켄토는2016년에 개봉한 영화4월은 너의 거짓말 등에서공동.
줌마 섹스 트위터 야마자키 켄토와 히로세 스즈의 교제는 작년 7월에 보도되었으며 도쿄 돔에서 개최되는 격투기 이벤트 the match 2022를 관전하러 방문하고 있던 것이나, 야마자키 켄토가 히로세 스즈의 집에 자주. 야마자키 켄토 & 히로세 스즈 결별 위기. 15일현지 시간, 외신 매체 주간문춘이 히로세 스즈와 야마자키 켄토의 새벽 데이트를 포착했다. 오늘24일 일본의 야후 재팬 뉴스에 따르면 히로세 스즈와 야마자키 켄토가 헤어졌으며, 현재 반동거 생활이 끝났다고 전했다. 이슈유머 더치페이스 되는 히로세 스즈의 올해열애설.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 11, 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 11, 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 11, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 11, 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.
야마자키 켄토와 히로세 스즈의 결별 소식은 소셜 미디어를 뒤흔들며 극강 비주얼 커플의 러브스토리를 안타까워 하고 있습니다 열애부터 결별 풀스토리 1., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.