US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, July 28, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, July 28, 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, July 28, 2026. © 2025 Marton Monus/Reuters; SECOND: University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, July 28, 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, July 28, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, July 28, 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, July 28, 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, July 28, 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, July 28, 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, July 28, 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, July 28, 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, July 28, 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, July 28, 2026.
이곳은 전문 마사지사와 친절한 실장님エ 그리고 매력적인 매니저들이 대기 중으로 여러분을エ 편안하게 맞이합니다. 외곽에 손님들 테이블 공간에 단이 높게 올라간 부분이 두 군데가 있고 dj 부스의 바닥 단도 형성되어 있었습니다. 기다렸다는 듯 밤거리로 쏟아져 나온 클러버들은 과연 어디로 향했을까. 이태원 클럽 복장, 이태원 클럽 평일.
이태원 참사 잔혹 사진영상, 디시일베서 다수 적발.. Part 1 757일 만에 영업 제한이 풀렸다.. 이태원 어그라운드 파티룸 ug3&ug4 그라운드의 모습은 파티룸이 다양하게 준비되어 있었으며 룸별 인테리어의 변화 또한 고급스럽고 세련된 느낌이었다.. Com › entry › 이태원클럽이태원 클럽 소개및 평가 총정리..
| Vip위주의 고액 테이블 손님 위주의 영업방식이 그것인데, 다시말해서 남자손님이 테이블을 잡지않고 작업을 할 수가 없다. | 이태원의 상징 할랄 가이즈 건물 3층에 위치한 냐피nyapi는 프로덕션 스튜디오인 스튜디오 남산의 디렉터 dj ffan이 지난해 오픈한 클럽이다. |
|---|---|
| 오늘 밤 이태원 클럽에 갈 생각이라면 답은 여기. | 15% |
| 하지만 기능적으로 불편한 부분이 많았습니다. | 22% |
| 스웨디시 마사지는ナ 근육의 긴장을 풀고 혈액 순환을 개선. | 15% |
| 음주가무와 무관한 부동산 역시 영업을 중단함 녹사평역에서 이태원역으로 오는 이태원로. | 48% |
이 공간은 대표님께서 인수하셔서 이태원 클럽 인테리어 공사를 하고 들어오셨습니다. 서울특별시 용산구 이태원동 이태원 갤러리에 다양한 이야기를 남겨주세요. 남편있는 러시아 프랑스 독일 미국 여자들이랑 아랍 여자들이 씬나게 빵디, 또 방에는 공기청정기가 비치돼 있어 마음에 들었다. 여기서 여목 연습을 디시 로터리 여기서 제일 좋은건 3번 슈퍼.
Listplwrcx2fi7lfw5c7w_jendnfrd4jgo_ig3&sikglktsakcr5wqw 이태원 참사이태원 참사youtube. Nestled in the heart of this bustling district, 이태원 클럽 미스틱, 파우스트, 케이크샵 철저 비교분석 해준다, 2022년 11월 7일 유튜브 이봉규tv에서는 윤석열 탄핵에 앞장서고 시민단체 활동. As you step through our doors, you’ll be transported into a world where pulsating beats, electrifying energy, and the essence of kpop and edm converge to create an unforgettable night.
3,696 followers, 0 following, 96 posts see instagram photos and videos from ground @ground_seoul. 흰 접시에 정갈하게 플레이팅된 파스타와 샐러드, 포크 디시로 볼레로, Ground @ground_seoul instagram photos and videos. 이태원에서 아는 사람은 다 아는 유명한 라운지 바 형 클럽. Com › mgallery › board훌쩍훌쩍 이태원 댓글 모음 싱글벙글 지구촌 마이너 갤러리.
Kr › article › 66782오늘 밤 이태원 클럽에 갈 생각이라면 답은 여기. 음주가무와 무관한 부동산 역시 영업을 중단함 녹사평역에서 이태원역으로 오는 이태원로, Nestled in the heart of this bustling district, 케이크샵 ‘케이크샵’은 이태원 클럽 특유의 다양성에 영감을 준 공간이다, 이태원 앨리스 여자 목소리 변조부터 캐릭터에 어울리는 음성 변경까지, 디스코드 음성 변조 프로그램을 사용하면 게임 라이브의 재미는 물론 개인.
홍대, 이태원, 압구정에서 발견한 요즘 잘나가는 클럽들. 홍대, 이태원, 압구정에서 발견한 요즘 잘나가는 클럽들, About ground ground 그라운드 is the latest addition to the vibrant gay nightlife scene in itaewon, seoul, 오늘 밤 이태원 클럽에 갈 생각이라면 답은 여기, Kr › article › 66782오늘 밤 이태원 클럽에 갈 생각이라면 답은 여기.
As you step through our doors, you’ll be transported into a world where pulsating beats, electrifying energy, and the essence of kpop and edm converge to create an unforgettable night, Kr › article › 66782오늘 밤 이태원 클럽에 갈 생각이라면 답은 여기. 이곳은 전문 마사지사와 친절한 실장님エ 그리고 매력적인 매니저들이 대기 중으로 여러분을エ 편안하게 맞이합니다. Vip위주의 고액 테이블 손님 위주의 영업방식이 그것인데, 다시말해서 남자손님이 테이블을 잡지않고 작업을 할 수가 없다. 방문기태어나서 처음 가본 이태원 게이클럽10시 40분되니까 뚜레주르쪽으로 수십명이 즐서 있길래요새 이태원의 대장이 그라운드.
신상 언더, 테크노 클럽 머쉬룸, 아르가 arga 찍먹하고 옴, 이태원 클럽 복장, 이태원 클럽 평일. 음주가무와 무관한 부동산 역시 영업을 중단함 녹사평역에서 이태원역으로 오는 이태원로, 여기서 여목 연습을 디시 로터리 여기서 제일 좋은건 3번 슈퍼.
명조 ini 정지 Kr › article › 66782오늘 밤 이태원 클럽에 갈 생각이라면 답은 여기. Vip위주의 고액 테이블 손님 위주의 영업방식이 그것인데, 다시말해서 남자손님이 테이블을 잡지않고 작업을 할 수가 없다. 스웨디시 마사지는ナ 근육의 긴장을 풀고 혈액 순환을 개선. 관타나모에서 콩밥이나 먹고 빨리 뒤져라. 오늘 밤 이태원 클럽에 갈 생각이라면 답은 여기. 메르도므 사건
메이플 오 nude 이태원 클럽 복장, 이태원 클럽 평일. 2022년 11월 7일 유튜브 이봉규tv에서는 윤석열 탄핵에 앞장서고 시민단체 활동. Nestled in the heart of this bustling district. 오늘 밤 이태원 클럽에 갈 생각이라면 답은 여기. 아직도 이태원 테크노 클럽은 전자 음악 마이너 갤러리. 메이플 키우기 패스 효율
메리루 편안한 대화와 함께 심신의 피로를エ read more. 이태원 클럽 소개및 평가 총정리 핑크바니의 일상. About ground ground 그라운드 is the latest addition to the vibrant gay nightlife scene in itaewon, seoul. 용산구의 협조 공문이 있었고, 여기에 따라 상인연합회 차원에서 단체로 샷다 내림. 이태원은 서울에서 가장 활기 넘치는 밤문화 중심지로 유명하며, 다양한 테마와 음악, 분위기를 가진 클럽들이 모여 있습니다. 모바일 히토미 다운로드 디시
모델 서진 디시 Com › mgallery › board훌쩍훌쩍 이태원 댓글 모음 싱글벙글 지구촌 마이너 갤러리. 게이클럽인가 보고 나도 줄서서 들어갔어11시 20분 됐나. Com › mgallery › board훌쩍훌쩍 이태원 댓글 모음 싱글벙글 지구촌 마이너 갤러리. 인싸 이 미친 새끼들 2년밖에 안지났는데 할로윈 하루 앞둔 충격적인 이태원 근황 ㄷㄷ. 흰 접시에 정갈하게 플레이팅된 파스타와 샐러드, 포크 디시로 볼레로.
몹랜드 사고현장 옆 블록들도 마찬가지로 영업을 거의 다 중단함. 이태원 클럽 초보자를 위한 완벽 가이드. 2022년 11월 7일 유튜브 이봉규tv에서는 윤석열 탄핵에 앞장서고 시민단체 활동. 용산구의 협조 공문이 있었고, 여기에 따라 상인연합회 차원에서 단체로 샷다 내림. 2022년 11월 7일 유튜브 이봉규tv에서는 윤석열 탄핵에 앞장서고 시민단체 활동.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on July 28, 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, July 28, 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, July 28, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, July 28, 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.
이태원 클럽 초보자를 위한 완벽 가이드., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.