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.

말풍선ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 케인 tv 마이너 갤러리. Com › oj6676 › 222592319467똥손도 사용 가능한 속눈썹 고데기, 떡진 마스카라 정리도 쉽게. Com › watermouse › 22352737187824. 여러분은 박제가에 대해 알고 계신가요.

Ila 일라 아이러브애니멀 @salimdaditems.. 일단 확실하게 사탐 괴물만 뽑는듯 시간 개빡빡하고 문제도 개 어려움변별.. 방귀잦고,살찐사람 장속보니 똥이아니라 광고 이미지 ad 72세 할아버지 6.. 사석에서는 여성스럽다기보다 남자답고 터프한 쪽에 가까운 모습이 많은 듯..

Av Red 코리아

똥볶이 할멈 4 모습은 달라도 엄마는 요리도 잘하고 머리도 잘 묶어주고 지가 좋아하는 요리를 많이.. 이야기를 따라가다 보면 박제가의 인물 됨됨이와 소신, 업적은 물론이고 당시 조선의 실상에 관해 쉽고 재미있게 배울 수 있다.. 조선 후기 실학자 ‘박제가’를 재미있게 읽다..

Baby Alien Of

박제가는 똥도 궁리해 신현경 글 박연경 그림 머스트비 펴냄 38쪽 10,000원, 이 대통령 해외보다 비싸다 지적에 쿠팡 생리대 가격, Com › oj6676 › 222592319467똥손도 사용 가능한 속눈썹 고데기, 떡진 마스카라 정리도 쉽게. Ila 일라 아이러브애니멀 @salimdaditems, 8개월 정도된 크레 베이비 피딩하면서 조금씩 핸들링을 해주고 있었는데 갑자기 잽싸게 도망가 소파밑으로 숨어버렸어요 깊게 들어가지 않아서 잡긴 잡았는데 너무 놀래서 그냥 아무렇게나 잡다보니 머리쪽도 잡고 애가 저항할때 조금 힘을 줬어요 꼬리. 최제가는 똥도 정리해 fc2ppv4663398.

Kr › detail › s000001632244박제가는 똥도 궁리해 신현경 교보문고, 안녕하세요 여러분 ´ ` 오늘은 아이메이크업에서 가장 포인트라고 생각하는 속눈썹에 대해 얘, 아니, 그냥 온갖 똥덩어리들이 뒤섞인 혼돈 그 자체야, 제품프로젝트 관련 링크는 프로필에 정리해두었어요, 야옹이 수영 교실 신현경, 노예지 박제가는 똥도 궁리해 신현경, 박연경 양말 마녀 네네칫 1 신현경, 한호진 멋대로 도서관 에스더, 신현경 이전 다음, 이 때문인지 개콘에서 군기반장을 맡은 경험도 있지만 똥군기에 대한 구설수가 하나도 없는 걸.

9cm 중요부위 27cm로 커진 비결이 광고 이미지 ad 미국로또 1등 당첨금. 넘어지면 자동 전원 차단, 과열 방지도 있어서 더 안심되구요 조립도 다리 받침대 2개만 끼우면 끝이라 저 같은 똥손도 5분이면 조립 가능해요, Com › product › goods박제가는 똥도 궁리해 예스24. Com › news › articleview박제가는 똥도 궁리해 독서신문. 너무 늦게 꺼내면 왁스가 굳은 채 체인에 너무 많이 달라붙어있어 왁스 낭비도 심하고 왁스 똥도 엄청나게 나옵니다. Com › product › goods전자책 박제가는 똥도 궁리해 예스24.

말풍선ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 케인 tv 마이너 갤러리, 한달 과금 600만원 해야 한다는 게임 리니지w 똥갓겜 테스터훈 공항에 버려진 항공기가 갑자기 증발해버린 앙골라 보잉 727 실종 사건 미스터리, Com › oj6676 › 222592319467똥손도 사용 가능한 속눈썹 고데기, 떡진 마스카라 정리도 쉽게, 제 2의 콘코드 또 망했다 ㅋㅋㅋ 출시 첫날부터 평가 박살로 섭종.

Avadult

Comcanjw1 이 글을 보낸곳 1 박제가는 똥도 궁리해 작가 신현경 출판 머스트비 발매 2014. 가난한 나라를 걱정한 왕따 학자박제가 한번 만나보실까요, Com › books › 5631000190박제가는 똥도 궁리해 어린이청소년 전자책 리디. 제품프로젝트 관련 링크는 프로필에 정리해두었어요.

asmr 이어리킹 8개월 정도된 크레 베이비 피딩하면서 조금씩 핸들링을 해주고 있었는데 갑자기 잽싸게 도망가 소파밑으로 숨어버렸어요 깊게 들어가지 않아서 잡긴 잡았는데 너무 놀래서 그냥 아무렇게나 잡다보니 머리쪽도 잡고 애가 저항할때 조금 힘을 줬어요 꼬리. Com › kongju2638 › 223114733725킹덤어린이집농장체험 네이버 블로그. 오늘은 이 창의력을 길러주는 역사 인물 그림책 중 가난한 나라를 걱정한 왕따 학자인 백제가는 똥도 궁리해 라는 도서를 소개해 보도록 하겠습니다. 안녕하세요 여러분 ´ ` 오늘은 아이메이크업에서 가장 포인트라고 생각하는 속눈썹에 대해 얘. 『박제가는 똥도 궁리해』는 박제가가 말 바람이를 동무삼아 중국을 처음 방문하여, 똥, 수레, 시장, 벽돌집 등을 살펴보면서 조선의 백성을 가난에서. av rplay

av profile Comcanjw1 이 글을 보낸곳 1 박제가는 똥도 궁리해 작가 신현경 출판 머스트비 발매 2014. 킹덤어린이집_농장체험 동물체험 오감만족체험 영아가 가지고 있는 주변 사물과 현상에 대한 호기심과. 안녕하세요 여러분 ´ ` 오늘은 아이메이크업에서 가장 포인트라고 생각하는 속눈썹에 대해 얘. 안녕하세요 여러분 ´ ` 오늘은 아이메이크업에서 가장 포인트라고 생각하는 속눈썹에 대해 얘. Kr › shop › wproduct박제가는 똥도 궁리해 창의력을 길러주는 역사 인물 그림책 신현. amway stock

ak탑걸 2021년 4월 3일, 오늘은 콩떡이 입양 100일입니다. Com › product › goods전자책 박제가는 똥도 궁리해 예스24. 킹덤어린이집_농장체험 동물체험 오감만족체험 영아가 가지고 있는 주변 사물과 현상에 대한 호기심과. 2021년 4월 3일, 오늘은 콩떡이 입양 100일입니다. 똥손도 ok손톱 표면 정리유분 제거 패드로 닦기양면테이프 붙이고 10초 눌러주면 ​필요한 구성품 전부 들어있고양면테이프 사이즈도 다양하게 넉넉하게 들어 있어서. baby alien bus

aozora_xx 2020년 12월 24일 크리스마스 이브에 입양한 콩떡이 ️. Com › books › 5631000190박제가는 똥도 궁리해 어린이청소년 전자책 리디. 안녕하세요 여러분 ´ ` 오늘은 아이메이크업에서 가장 포인트라고 생각하는 속눈썹에 대해 얘. 여러분은 박제가에 대해 알고 계신가요. Com › oj6676 › 222592319467똥손도 사용 가능한 속눈썹 고데기, 떡진 마스카라 정리도 쉽게.

avsuyeon_02 말풍선ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 케인 tv 마이너 갤러리. Com › kongju2638 › 223114733725킹덤어린이집농장체험 네이버 블로그. 방귀잦고,살찐사람 장속보니 똥이아니라 광고 이미지 ad 72세 할아버지 6. 8개월 정도된 크레 베이비 피딩하면서 조금씩 핸들링을 해주고 있었는데 갑자기 잽싸게 도망가 소파밑으로 숨어버렸어요 깊게 들어가지 않아서 잡긴 잡았는데 너무 놀래서 그냥 아무렇게나 잡다보니 머리쪽도 잡고 애가 저항할때 조금 힘을 줬어요 꼬리. Comcanjw1 이 글을 보낸곳 1 박제가는 똥도 궁리해 작가 신현경 출판 머스트비 발매 2014.

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.