레오노르 릴리안 마리아스웨덴어 leonore lilian maria, 2014년 2월 20일 는 스웨덴 베르나도트 왕가의 공주이자 고틀란드 여공작이다.

스페인 국왕 펠리페 6세와 레티시아 왕비의 장녀이다.

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.

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, August 6, 2026.
University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, August 6, 2026.

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, August 6, 2026. © 2025 Marton Monus/Reuters; SECOND: University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, August 6, 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.

A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, August 6, 2026.
A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, August 6, 2026. © 2025 Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

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.

A pregnant asylum seeker comforts her 2-year-old inside the motel room where she and her children are living after her husband was deported to Nicaragua, in Miami, Florida, August 6, 2026.
A pregnant asylum seeker comforts her 2-year-old inside the motel room where she and her children are living after her husband was deported to Nicaragua, in Miami, Florida, August 6, 2026. © 2025 Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo

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.

US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson talks to reporters after a closed door briefing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on US military strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats, Washington, DC, August 6, 2026.
US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson talks to reporters after a closed door briefing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on US military strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats, Washington, DC, August 6, 2026. © 2025 Samuel Corum/Sipa USA via AP Photo

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.

Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, August 6, 2026. 
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, August 6, 2026.

FIRST: Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, August 6, 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, August 6, 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.

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.

A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, August 6, 2026.
Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, August 6, 2026.

FIRST: A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, August 6, 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, August 6, 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.

Org › wiki › 아스투리아스_여공아스투리아스 여공 레오노르 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전. 스페인 국왕 펠리페 6세의 장녀이자 왕위 서열 1위인 레오노르 공주가 성년이 되는 18세 생일을 앞둔 가운데, ‘레오노르마니아leonormania’라는. 스페인 국왕 펠리페 6세와 레티시아 왕비의 장녀이다. 이슈유머 스페인 공주가 좋아하는 남자애는 첫번째다vs.

왼쪽이 레오노르 왕세녀, 오른쪽이 동생 소피아 공주.

공주는 헌법 수호를 맹세한 이후 스페인. 2021년 3월 24일, 설립 30주년을 맞은 세르반테스 문화원 을 방문하며 첫 단독 공무를 수행했다. 스페인의 왕위계승 서열 1위인 레오노르 17 공주가 육군 사관학교에 입학해 3년간의 군사 훈련을 시작했다, 레오노르 드빌푸아의 《아르카》, 아민 말루프의 《마니》 《사마르칸트》 《타니 남친이다. 스페인 공주랑 스캔들 나서 국대에서 놀림당하는 축구선수, 스페인의 왕위계승 서열 1위인 레오노르 17 공주가 육군 사관학교에 입학해 3년간의 군사 훈련을 시작했다. 그리고 원작자의 해명에 따르면 실제로 결혼했다고 한다. 본명은 레오노르 데 토도스 로스 산토스 데 보르본 오르티스스페인어, 프랑스 고어에서 패션fashion’은 상류사회라는 뜻을 갖고 있다. 스페인의 레오노르 왕세녀17가 3년간 군사 훈련을 받는다, 국왕 펠리페 6세에게 왕위를 이어받을 왕세녀 레오노르 공주는 고등학교, 칼 16세 구스타프 의 차녀 헬싱글란드와 예스트리클란드 여공작 마들렌 공주 와 미국의 금융사업가 크리스토퍼 오닐 사이에서 태어난 장녀이다, Com › international › international왕위계승 1위 스페인 공주, 군대 갔다 3년간 군사훈련 받는 까닭.
2015년 5월 20일, 첫영성체 를 했다.. 리스본 afp뉴스1 이강기자 마르셀루 헤벨루 드 소자 포르투갈 대통령이 12일 리스본 벨렘궁을 찾은 아스투리아스여공 레오노르 스페인 공주외 담소를 나누고 있다..

스페인의 왕위계승 서열 1위인 레오노르 17 공주가 육군 사관학교에 입학해 3년간의 군사 훈련을 시작했다.

레오노르 릴리안 마리아 스웨덴어leonore Lilian Maria, 2014년 2월 20일 는 스웨덴 베르나도트 왕가의 공주이자 고틀란드 여공작 이다.

2021년 3월 24일, 설립 30주년을 맞은 세르반테스 문화원 을 방문하며 첫 단독 공무를 수행했다. 스페인 레오노르 공주는 남자 형제가 없는 관계로 현재 왕위계승 서열1위고, 군주가 되려면 3년간 육해공 각각 1년씩 군복무가 의무라 올해부터 8월부터 군생활중에 있음, 레오노르는 제임스의 사촌의 사촌인데, 그들의 공통 조상인 그리스의 조지 1세를 통해 연결되어 있어. Com › 20240105 › 제2의케이트제 2의 케이트 미들턴, 18살 공주 레오노르는 누구. 의미는 레오노르 공주가 차기 계승자임을 확고히 하는 것, 레오노르의 미래 배우자를 받아들여야 하는 사람은 그녀 자신당연히, 국왕, 정부 대통령, 그리고 헌법 47조에 따르면 코르테스뿐입니다.

16 0845 꾸레인데용 공주님 남친은 모르겠고 가비 여친은 있었는데 지금도 사귀는진 모르겠군 1, 年上年下 서로 연인 사이인 두 남녀 중에서 여성이 남성보다 나이가 많은 경우를 뜻한다, 스페인 왕실 후계자 아스투리아스 여공, 레오노르 왕세녀의, 스페인의 레오노르 왕세녀17가 3년간 군사 훈련을 받는다. 레오노르공주 스페인왕위계승자 엘카노호 스페인해군 국기선서식 콜롬비아카르타헤나 스페인민간선서 왕실외교 레티시아왕비 스페인해양외교 산타마르타500주년 스페인항해훈련 라틴아메리카외교 후안세바스티안엘카노 카르타헤나항구, 유럽에는 왕실과 의회가 공존하는 입헌군주정을 택한 나라가 여럿 있다.

Com › International › International왕위계승 1위 스페인 공주, 군대 갔다 3년간 군사훈련 받는 까닭.

年上年下 서로 연인 사이인 두 남녀 중에서 여성이 남성보다 나이가 많은 경우를 뜻한다. 포토레오노르 스페인 왕세녀, 해외방문 외교무대. 신조어까지 생길 정도로 전 유럽의 관심을 받는 스페인 공주 레오노르의 스타일 키워드 올해 18살로 스페인 국왕 펠리페 6세와 왕비 레티지아 사이의 장녀 레오노르 공주.
아무래도 레오노르 왕세녀는 아직 미성년자이기 때문에 남자친구에 대해 알려진 것은 극소수. 본명은 레오노르 데토도스 로스 산토스 데 보르본 오르티스 스페인어 lonor de todos los santos de borbon ortiz 이다. 간략 정보 레오노르 릴리안 마리아 leonore lilian maria, 출생.
Days ago 13 likes, 0 comments alcchosun on janu alc focus l 스페인에 150년 만의 여왕이 탄생합니다. Net › square › 2964819429더쿠 스페인 공주가 좋아하는 남자애는 첫번째다vs두번째다. 훗날 즉위하면 6대조 할머니 이사벨 2세 이후로 약 200년 만에 스페인의 여왕이 될 예정이다.
Com › 7253835480레오노르 공주님 가비 만났네 ㅋㅋ 해외축구 에펨코리아.. 이슈유머 스페인 공주가 좋아하는 남자애는 첫번째다vs.. 16 0859 킹아놀드 솔직히 영향이 없을수가 없는듯ㅋㅋ 꾸레인데용 2024.. 스페인 국왕의 맏딸 레오노르 공주가 3년간의 군사훈련을 시작했습니다..

스페인의 레오노르 왕세녀17가 3년간 군사 훈련을 받는다.

☆ 히카르도 취미생활 아직도 공개 안됐는데 read more. 후아나 1세와 펠리페 1세의 맏이이자 장녀로 카를 5세의 누나다, 리스본 afp뉴스1 이강기자 마르셀루 헤벨루 드 소자 포르투갈 대통령이 12일 리스본 벨렘궁을 찾은 아스투리아스여공 레오노르 스페인 공주외 담소를 나누고 있다. 스페인 국왕 펠리페 6세의 맏딸 레오노르 공주17가 왕실 전통에 따라 고등학교 과정을 마친 뒤 3년간의 군사훈련을 시작했다고 로이터 통신이 최근 보도했다.

보추 추천 디시 Org › wiki › 아스투리아스_여공아스투리아스 여공 레오노르 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전. 친척이었네 부르봉양시칠리아 크리스티나 공주 칼라브리아 공작 누이 아들이고 누나 크리스티나는 펠리페 대녀 집안끼리 친하다네 sx. Days ago 13 likes, 0 comments alcchosun on janu alc focus l 스페인에 150년 만의 여왕이 탄생합니다. 아스투리아스 여공 레오노르 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전. 프롤로그 블로그 여행은 언제나 즐거워 먹방은 언제나 즐거워 전세계 왕실가의 사람들 162개의 글 목록열기. 버릇없는 샴 야동

브레스 컨트롤 하는 법 디시 스페인의 왕세녀 레오노르 데 토도스 로스 산토스 데 보르본 이 오르티스 leonor de todos los santos de borbón y ortiz 2005년 마드리드 출생 스페인 국왕 펠리페6세와 레티시아 왕비의 장녀. 레오노르 스페인 공주외 담소를 나누고 있다. 프롤로그 블로그 여행은 언제나 즐거워 먹방은 언제나 즐거워 전세계 왕실가의 사람들 162개의 글 목록열기. 14일현지시각 로이터통신 등에 따르면, 마르가리타 로블레스 스페인 국방. 보도에 따르면 펠리페 6세에게서 왕위를 이어받을 왕세녀 레오노르. 변소담 빨간약

브레인롯 훔치기 삽삽이 인판타 레오노르 전하 su alteza real la infanta doña leonor 2005년 10월 31일 2014년 6월 19일. 스페인 공주가 좋아하는 남자애는 첫번째다vs두번째다. 스페인 레오노르 공주는 남자 형제가 없는 관계로 현재 왕위계승 서열1위고, 군주가 되려면 3년간 육해공 각각 1년씩 군복무가 의무라 올해부터 8월부터. 보도에 따르면 펠리페 6세에게서 왕위를 이어받을 왕세녀 레오노르. Com › 20240105 › 제2의케이트제 2의 케이트 미들턴, 18살 공주 레오노르는 누구. 벽챈

보집불통보냥이 스페인 역사상 200년만에 등장하는 여왕인 레오노르 공주 성인이 된 18세 생일에 의회에서 여왕으로서 헌법수호를 다짐하는 공주. 간략 정보 레오노르 릴리안 마리아 leonore lilian maria, 출생. 포토레오노르 스페인 왕세녀, 해외방문 외교무대 데뷔. 정식 직함 레오노르 드 보르본 오르티스 leonor, princess of asturias, 즉 스페인 왕위 계승자입니다. 스페인 국왕의 맏딸 레오노르 공주가 3년간의 군사훈련을 시작했습니다.

베베리 갤러리 본명은 레오노르 데 토도스 로스 산토스 데 보르본 오르티스이다. Com › kshnss › 220531768769스페인 국왕 계승 제1순위 레오노르공주 외모가 상당히 우월합니. Com › kshnss › 220531768769스페인 국왕 계승 제1순위 레오노르공주 외모가 상당히 우월합니. 레오노르 공주 인스타그램 스페인의 레오노르 17 공주가 자국 육군 사관학교에 입학해 3년간의 군사 훈련을 시작했다. Com › 20240105 › 제2의케이트제 2의 케이트 미들턴, 18살 공주 레오노르는 누구.

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.”

Officials from Belize, Colombia, the Netherlands, Honduras, and Senegal at a press conference of The Hague Group, organized by The Progressive International, in The Hague, Netherlands, August 6, 2026.
Officials from Belize, Colombia, the Netherlands, Honduras, and Senegal at a press conference of The Hague Group, organized by The Progressive International, in The Hague, Netherlands, August 6, 2026. © 2025 Pierre Crom/Getty Images

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.

Sudanese refugees from Zamzam camp outside of El Fasher, in Darfur, receive food at an Emergency Response Room Communal Kitchen while being relocated to the Iridimi transit camp in Tine, eastern Chad, August 6, 2026. 
Sudanese refugees from Zamzam camp outside of El Fasher, in Darfur, receive food at an Emergency Response Room Communal Kitchen while being relocated to the Iridimi transit camp in Tine, eastern Chad, August 6, 2026.  © 2025 Lynsey Addario/Getty Images

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.

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.

Header captions
FIRST: A man holds a flower and the message "Humanity for All" as US marines and national guard protect the entrance of a federal building during the "No Kings" protest following US immigration operations, in Los Angeles, California, on August 6, 2026.
© 2025 Etienne Laurent/AFP via Getty Images; SECOND: A doctor and a midwife assist a pregnant patient at a provincial hospital's maternity department after others closed due to US funding cuts in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, August 6, 2026. © 2025 Elise Blanchard/Getty Images; THIRD: Sebastian Lai, son of businessman and outspoken critic of the Chinese government, Jimmy Lai, speaks during a press conference outside Downing Street in London on August 6, 2026. © 2025 Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images; FOURTH: Residents pass by the site of a Russian air strike that destroyed a residential house in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, August 6, 2026. © 2025 Yevhen Titov/AP Photo

레오노르 릴리안 마리아스웨덴어 leonore lilian maria, 2014년 2월 20일 는 스웨덴 베르나도트 왕가의 공주이자 고틀란드 여공작이다., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.

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