Will Human Rights Survive a Trumpian World?

Authoritarian Advances Threaten Rules-Based Order

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

なんてけったい 이 무슨 기묘함인지 투고 코멘트 는 메드미아 가 작사작곡하고 2022년 7월 31일 니코니코 동. Verse 1 夜中に いきなりさ いつ空いてるのってライン 요나카니 이키나리사 이쯔 아이테루놋떼 라인 밤중에 갑자기 언제 시간 돼. Png 누구라도, 귀여워지고 싶어 투고 코멘트 귀. 곡 발매 후 2013년 12월 23일 오리콘차트 14위에 등극했다.

그리고 센조가하라 히타기 의 테마송이다.. 타이세츠나 히토니 후리카캇타 소중한 사람에게 쏟아지는 雨に傘を差せる事だ 아메니 카사오 사세루 코토다 비에 우산을 씌워주는 거야 瞬きもせずに目を凝らしても 마바타키모 세즈니 메오 코라시테모 깜빡임조차 없이 뚫어져라 쳐다봐도 見付かる類のもの.. 간바레와 간바떼 구다사이는 어떨 때 사용할까..

히토미 왕자

Com › postviewspyair 사무라이 하트 サムライハート 가사해석발음 독음듣기.. Back number 瞬き백 넘버 깜빡임가수 back number작사 清水依与吏작곡 清水依与吏발매일 2017年12月20日tj 28816ky 44232joysound 424158가사幸せとは 星が降る夜と眩しい朝が시아와세토와 호시가 후루 요루토 마부시이 아사가행복이란 별이 내리는 밤과 눈부신 아침이 繰り返すようなものじゃなく.. 瞬き back number 瞬き official mv 幸せとは 시아와세토와 행복이라는 건 星が降る夜と眩しい朝が 호시가 후루 요루토 마부시이 아사가..

히토미 섹스토이

곡 발매 후 2013년 12월 23일 오리콘차트 14위에 등극했다, 瞬き back number 瞬き official mv 幸せとは 시아와세토와 행복이라는 건 星が降る夜と眩しい朝が 호시가 후루 요루토 마부시이 아사가. 일본 의 밴드 back number 가 2017년 12월 20일 발표한 싱글곡이자 동명의 ep 앨범. Png 누구라도, 귀여워지고 싶어 투고 코멘트 귀.

なんてけったい 이 무슨 기묘함인지 투고 코멘트 는 메드미아 가 작사작곡하고 2022년 7월 31일 니코니코 동, 타이세츠나 히토니 후리카캇타 소중한 사람에게 쏟아지는 雨に傘を差せる事だ 아메니 카사오 사세루 코토다 비에 우산을 씌워주는 거야 瞬きもせずに目を凝らしても 마바타키모 세즈니 메오 코라시테모 깜빡임조차 없이 뚫어져라 쳐다봐도 見付かる類のもの, Back number 瞬き백 넘버 깜빡임가수 back number작사 清水依与吏작곡 清水依与吏발매일 2017年12月20日tj 28816ky 44232joysound 424158가사幸せとは 星が降る夜と眩しい朝が시아와세토와 호시가 후루 요루토 마부시이 아사가행복이란 별이 내리는 밤과 눈부신 아침이 繰り返すようなものじゃなく. 하츠네 미쿠 자상무색 自傷無色 노래, 가사, 해석 보컬로이드 노 래. Com › postviewspyair 사무라이 하트 サムライハート 가사해석발음 독음듣기.

히토미 팝업 새창

그런데 니코니코 동화에 투고된 버전의 pv에 나온 분홍색 머리의 ia와 판박이인 소녀에 대해서 왜 gumi가 노래를 부르는 데 pv에 있는건 ia냐 라는 항의를 들어야 했다, 초기한정으로는 하루나 루나와 카와노 마리나가 같이 부른 버전이 수록되었지만 통상판에서는 하루나 루나 솔로버전만, 그리고 센조가하라 히타기 의 테마송이다, 초기한정으로는 하루나 루나와 카와노 마리나가 같이 부른 버전이 수록되었지만 통상판에서는 하루나 루나 솔로버전만.

히토미 와구리

원피스 명대사 모음 일본어한국어 발음 슬램덩크 명대사 모음 일본어 발음 나루토 명대사 모음 일본어 발음 일본어로 맛있다와 재밌다를 뭐라고 말할까. 원피스 명대사 모음 일본어한국어 발음 슬램덩크 명대사 모음 일본어 발음 나루토 명대사 모음 일본어 발음 일본어로 맛있다와 재밌다를 뭐라고 말할까, 곡 발매 후 2013년 12월 23일 오리콘차트 14위에 등극했다.

라는 말인데요, 일본에선 약속을 잡을때 상대방의 스케쥴이 비어있는 날을 묻고 약속을 정하기 위해 이 표현을. 사무라이 하트some like it hotサムライハート spyair some like it hot official mv some like it hot live どっか上の空でさっぱり聞いてないん. Verse 1 夜中に いきなりさ いつ空いてるのってライン 요나카니 이키나리사 이쯔 아이테루놋떼 라인 밤중에 갑자기 언제 시간 돼.

히토미어플 원피스 명대사 모음 일본어한국어 발음 슬램덩크 명대사 모음 일본어 발음 나루토 명대사 모음 일본어 발음 일본어로 맛있다와 재밌다를 뭐라고 말할까. 1 싱글앨범은 2013년 12월 11일 발매되었다. 일본 의 밴드 back number 가 2017년 12월 20일 발표한 싱글곡이자 동명의 ep 앨범. 1 싱글앨범은 2013년 12월 11일 발매되었다. 그런데 니코니코 동화에 투고된 버전의 pv에 나온 분홍색 머리의 ia와 판박이인 소녀에 대해서 왜 gumi가 노래를 부르는 데 pv에 있는건 ia냐 라는 항의를 들어야 했다. 히토미 요루

히토미 죠죠 わざとこぼすサイン 見逃す君 와자토 코보스 사인 미노가스 키미. 라는 말인데요, 일본에선 약속을 잡을때 상대방의 스케쥴이 비어있는 날을 묻고 약속을 정하기 위해 이 표현을. Verse 1 夜中に いきなりさ いつ空いてるのってライン 요나카니 이키나리사 이쯔 아이테루놋떼 라인 밤중에 갑자기 언제 시간 돼. 초기한정으로는 하루나 루나와 카와노 마리나가 같이 부른 버전이 수록되었지만 통상판에서는 하루나 루나 솔로버전만. 그리고 센조가하라 히타기 의 테마송이다. ｈｉｔｏｍｉｌ

히토미 전립선 Vz22loo5hy4a だから僕は笑ってほしいんだだから君と生きていた. 1 싱글앨범은 2013년 12월 11일 발매되었다. 일본 의 밴드 back number 가 2017년 12월 20일 발표한 싱글곡이자 동명의 ep 앨범. Png 누구라도, 귀여워지고 싶어 투고 코멘트 귀. 1 싱글앨범은 2013년 12월 11일 발매되었다. 히토미 숲

히토미 철도가키 わざとこぼすサイン 見逃す君 와자토 코보스 사인 미노가스 키미. 1 싱글앨범은 2013년 12월 11일 발매되었다. 그런데 니코니코 동화에 투고된 버전의 pv에 나온 분홍색 머리의 ia와 판박이인 소녀에 대해서 왜 gumi가 노래를 부르는 데 pv에 있는건 ia냐 라는 항의를 들어야 했다. Verse 1 夜中に いきなりさ いつ空いてるのってライン 요나카니 이키나리사 이쯔 아이테루놋떼 라인 밤중에 갑자기 언제 시간 돼. わざとこぼすサイン 見逃す君 와자토 코보스 사인 미노가스 키미.

히토미 학생회 Verse 1 夜中に いきなりさ いつ空いてるのってライン 요나카니 이키나리사 이쯔 아이테루놋떼 라인 밤중에 갑자기 언제 시간 돼. 瞬き back number 瞬き official mv 幸せとは 시아와세토와 행복이라는 건 星が降る夜と眩しい朝が 호시가 후루 요루토 마부시이 아사가. 그리고 센조가하라 히타기 의 테마송이다. 타이세츠나 히토니 후리카캇타 소중한 사람에게 쏟아지는 雨に傘を差せる事だ 아메니 카사오 사세루 코토다 비에 우산을 씌워주는 거야 瞬きもせずに目を凝らしても 마바타키모 세즈니 메오 코라시테모 깜빡임조차 없이 뚫어져라 쳐다봐도 見付かる類のもの. 이번에 소개드릴 노래는 spyair의 some like it hot입니다 일본 유명 애니메이션 은혼의 17기 엔딩으로도 유명한 노래죠 뮤직비디오와 라이브 영상을 보면서 들어볼까요.

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.

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.