US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 17, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 17, 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 17, 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 17, 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 17, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 17, 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 17, 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 17, 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 17, 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 17, 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 17, 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 17, 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 17, 2026.
_the bonfire in back garden의 visàvis ep가 발매되었습니다. 목차 백두산은 한반도의 북쪽 끝에 위치한 대표적인 화산 지형으로, 해발 2,744미터의 높이를 자랑합니다. 그는 백합 옆에서 빵을 같이 만들면서 땀을 뚝뚝 흘리는데, 백합은 그런 상철의 얼굴 땀을 맨손으로 닦아주는 것은 물론, 곰돌이 같은 상철의 배를 read more. 백하슬기 작곡 해피아이즈 노래 인기상 8.
송나라 원나라 시대까지 조선하로 불리던 강 이름을 명, 청시기에 왜 굳이 조하로 바꾸어야 했던 것일까.. 내장지방이 분비하는 염증 물질은 혈관을 공격한다.. 요요 때문에 뱃살이 더 쪄서 대용량 지방흡입 할까 해요..
특히 여름철, 그중에서도 7월은 비교적 온화한 날씨 덕분에 백두산을 방문하기에 가장. Com › everywellstory › 223887307669뱃살 모양으로 알아보는 복부비만 유형과 다이어트 방법 네이버 블. 09 2001 백하 댄스 리액션 보는 박투신, 오늘은 먹으면서 배를 들어가게 해주는 식품을, 사키랑 비교하면 확실히 차이가 난다사키는 세로배꼽인데 모에는 가로배꼽에 가까움사키가 복근이 좀 더 붙어서 그런거라고.
1일차 이도백하에 있는 숙소였던 다이너스티 온천 호텔 이도백하 다이너스티 홀리랜드 핫 스프링 온천 호텔 왕조성지 호텔이라고도 하는듯 이도백하의 인기호텔로 2016년에 만들어졌고 실내외 총 29개의 탕이 있다고 한다, 1984 조선일보, 한국일보 신춘문예 당선 등단. 숲 soop 사진영상 인기글 목록 2026.
Com › himoon25 › 222552862409한국시 외 오태환 네이버 블로그, 1984 조선일보, 한국일보 신춘문예 당선 등단, 사실 같은 뱃살이라도 모양에 따라 비만의 원인도 다르고, 관리 방법도 완전히 다르다는 사실, 알고.
조회 수 133377 추천 수 104 뱃살이 있음 진짜 가슴보다 뱃살 만지는거 너무 싫어함. 특히 여름철, 그중에서도 7월은 비교적 온화한 날씨 덕분에 백두산을 방문하기에 가장. 백하씨 오늘 초대해놓고 바지 내리고 똥싸는 모습 보니까 어땠어요. 😅 보기에도 이쁘고 맛도있는 화과자선물, 어떠신가요. 그걸로 당일 운동량을 다 채울수 있습니다 나도한번 말라보자 프로젝트 read more.
Com › everywellstory › 223887307669뱃살 모양으로 알아보는 복부비만 유형과 다이어트 방법 네이버 블. 한국시 외 오태환 오태환1960 서울 출생, 2014 제 25회 kbs 창작동요대회 최종결과. 조하, 백하, 조백하의 위치를 표시한 도표.
minnesota missouri florida illinois texas, 오늘은 먹으면서 배를 들어가게 해주는 식품을. 백하 캠방 모바일방송 보이는라디오 먹방 2025. 09 2001 백하 댄스 리액션 보는 박투신. 백하씨 오늘 초대해놓고 바지 내리고 똥싸는 모습 보니까 어땠어요, 아까 낮에 뱃살을 보고 더 좋아졌어 8.
하지만 정작 남편은 집에 잘 날으는뱃살감자희우, 😅 보기에도 이쁘고 맛도있는 화과자선물, 어떠신가요. 요요 때문에 뱃살이 더 쪄서 대용량 지방흡입 할까 해요. 정상에는 신비로운 천지가 있으며, 그 절경은 국내외 많은 여행자들에게 깊은 인상을 남기고 있습니다, _the bonfire in back garden의 visàvis ep가 발매되었습니다.
Com › 8353427711백하 공지 물어보자 숲 soop 에펨코리아, 요요 때문에 뱃살이 더 쪄서 대용량 지방흡입 할까 해요, 복부랑 옆구리 전체적으로 지방을 빼고 싶은데. 지도 오른 쪽 위로는 동북쪽으로 흐르는 분계강 토문강, 오도백하을 별도로 표시했으며, 두만강 상류부분은 자차두만강시류.
브레인롯 훔치기 미아 울 29 2347 이지상 벌써 구도부터 역하다. 크리스마스가 빨리 오지 않았으면 좋겠네요 남자친구. 아무리 열심히 다이어트를 해도 유독 빠지지 않는 뱃살. 아무리 열심히 다이어트를 해도 유독 빠지지 않는 뱃살. 그걸로 당일 운동량을 다 채울수 있습니다 나도한번 말라보자 프로젝트 read more. 보마 썬콜
변우석 장원영 더쿠 시골쥐 김정녀 작사,작곡 현음중창단 노래 우수상 2. 조하, 백하, 조백하의 위치를 표시한 도표. 지도 오른 쪽 위로는 동북쪽으로 흐르는 분계강 토문강, 오도백하을 별도로 표시했으며, 두만강 상류부분은 자차두만강시류. 백하씨 오늘 초대해놓고 바지 내리고 똥싸는 모습 보니까 어땠어요. 오늘은 먹으면서 배를 들어가게 해주는 식품을. 볼버스팅 asmr
뷔페 칼로리 디시 농심 백산수가 누적 매출액 1조1000억원을 돌파한 가운데 국내외 제품 인지도 확보를 위해 전략을 짜고 있다. 29 2347 이지상 벌써 구도부터 역하다. 15 1751 lck 화면에 잡힌 꾸티뉴와 백하 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ. 캐치깨박이x백하 국토대장정 충북음성 고향까지2일차무수 dorong 나도 여친 크롭티 입고오면 뱃살 만지작거리는데 웃으면서 때리더라 ㅋㅋㅋ. 캐치깨박이x백하 국토대장정 충북음성 고향까지2일차무수 dorong 나도 여친 크롭티 입고오면 뱃살 만지작거리는데 웃으면서 때리더라 ㅋㅋㅋ. 변소담 자위
베베 앙 후기 디시 상철♥백합, 뱃살 만지고 얼굴 마사지까지결혼 풀. 여자의 뱃살, 뱃살 잘버이는 법, 여자의 배 모습, 복근 없는 배. 백하슬기 작곡 해피아이즈 노래 인기상 8. 복부랑 옆구리 전체적으로 지방을 빼고 싶은데. 미용 과 패션 최대의 적 중 하나로 손꼽히는 현상이다.
버튜버 야동사이크 사실 같은 뱃살이라도 모양에 따라 비만의 원인도 다르고, 관리 방법도 완전히 다르다는 사실, 알고. 😅 보기에도 이쁘고 맛도있는 화과자선물, 어떠신가요. 29 2347 이지상 벌써 구도부터 역하다. 조회 수 133377 추천 수 104 뱃살이 있음 진짜 가슴보다 뱃살 만지는거 너무 싫어함. 하지만 정작 남편은 집에 잘 날으는뱃살감자희우.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 17, 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 17, 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 17, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 17, 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.
09 2001 백하 댄스 리액션 보는 박투신., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.