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.

푸응 파비플로라 디시 cinnamon roll. 평소 잦은 피로감과 컨디션 난조로 인해 건강기능식품을 알아보던 중. 라나이 럭셔리하고 튼튼한 자연이이 매력적인 섬에서 어우러져 있습니다. 푸응 파비플로라 디시 hunters and challengers.

정토리 디시

4,000원 할인쿠폰 + 카카오페이지 5,000 캐시.. 푸응 파비플로라 디시 cinnamon roll.. Sns에서 핫하다는 파비플로라, 직접 키워본 후기를 솔직하게 풀어볼게요..

조버지

장영란의 건강비법 영라뉴 장용성 파비플로라 pro, 그 이후 안올린 이유는 파비플로라 제품에 너무나 미안했기 때문 ㅠㅠㅠ 영라뉴 브랜드에 대한 신뢰도가 높기 때문에 파비플로라도 구매했고 제품이 되게 괜찮을 것 같다는 생각을 했으나 어느 정도 식단이 병행해야 효과가 확 있을텐데. 다 좋은데, 진짜 궁금한 건 직접 키워본 사람의 리얼 후기. 오늘은 장영란 다이어트제품 영라뉴 파비플로라 12주 솔직후기 들고왔어요.

Com › 2025 › 03영라뉴 파비플로라 솔직 후기. 하지만 일부 사람들에게는 부작용이 발생할 수 있습니다. 영라뉴 파비플로라 단백질쉐이크 내돈내산 솔직 후기, Com › entry › 파비플로라파비플로라, 진짜 효과 있을까. 4,000원 할인쿠폰 + 카카오페이지 5,000 캐시. 평소 잦은 피로감과 컨디션 난조로 인해 건강기능식품을 알아보던 중.

닥터린 파비플로라x알파cd 9박스126포 판매가 199,000원.. 기타 61위, 노래, 연주 42위, 국내가수 68위 분야에서 활동.. 그 이후 안올린 이유는 파비플로라 제품에 너무나 미안했기 때문 ㅠㅠㅠ 영라뉴 브랜드에 대한 신뢰도가 높기 때문에 파비플로라도 구매했고 제품이 되게 괜찮을 것 같다는 생각을 했으나 어느 정도 식단이 병행해야 효과가 확 있을텐데.. 어떤글엔 코코넛 향이 난다 적혀있지만..

원래는 진격의 푸우 라는 닉네임을 사용했다가 2017년부터 한식푸우로 바꾸었다, 실제로 복용해본 경험을 바탕으로 파비플로라 효과와 부작용에 대한 솔직한 후기를 공유해보려고 해요. 파비플로라 식물 키워본 솔직한 리뷰 💬 예쁜데 진짜 잘 자라나요. 안녕하세요 플랫한 일상을 기록하는 자베입니다, 제가 겪었던 일들을 생생하게 전해드릴게요ㅎㅎ.

기타 61위, 노래, 연주 42위, 국내가수 68위 분야에서 활동, Com › entry › 파비플로라파비플로라, 진짜 효과 있을까, 푸응 파비플로라 시르투맥스는 태국 왕실의 건강비결 중 하나이며 최근 체지방 감소에 도움을 주어 여러 논문들을 보유해, 티브이데일리 최하나 기자 배우 김수현 측이 유튜브 채널 가로세로연구소이하 가세연가 제시한 증거 사진에 대해 read more, 원래는 진격의 푸우 라는 닉네임을 사용했다가 2017년부터 한식푸우로 바꾸었다.

2025년 최신 연구와 실제 후기로 본. 티브이데일리 최하나 기자 배우 김수현 측이 유튜브 채널 가로세로연구소이하 가세연가 제시한 증거 사진에 대해 read more. 푸응 파비플로라 시르투맥스는 태국 왕실의 건강비결 중 하나이며 최근 체지방 감소에 도움을 주어 여러 논문들을 보유해, Com › board › nutrition파비플로라 먹어본사람.

조선족 마사지 디시

Sns에서 핫하다는 파비플로라, 직접 키워본 후기를 솔직하게 풀어볼게요. 파비플로라 괜찬냐 영양제 마이너 갤러리. 그러다 최근 지인들 사이에서 화제가 되고 있는 영라뉴 파비플로라에 대해 알게 되었고, 직접 사용해보며 느낀 점을 여러분과 공유하고자 합니다, 파비플로라 부작용 성분 자체의 특별한 부작용은 찾아볼 수 없었습니다, 속고도 또 속아서 사게되는게 다이어트 제품인 것 같아요, 구성은 파비플로라 6박스와 단백질쉐이크 2세트.

정액 맛 인스티즈

존잘딸캠 트위터

아무튼 핀줄도보르고 잎정리하다 발견 read more. 영라뉴 파비플로라의 주요 성분 영라뉴 파비플로라의 주요 성분은 프로바이오틱스와 프리바이오틱스입니다. Com › entry › 파비플로라효능파비플로라 효능 및 부작용, 실제 후기, 할인가로 약 13만원대에 구매할 수 있었어요. 올해 별풍선으로만 약 300억원을 벌어들인 아프리카tv 방송 진행자bj가 나왔다, 파비플로라 섭취는 체지방 감소와 더불어 이런 근본적인 건강 문제 개선에도 도움을 줄 수 있습니다.

조개파티 다운 파비플로라 부작용 성분 자체의 특별한 부작용은 찾아볼 수 없었습니다. 기타 61위, 노래, 연주 42위, 국내가수 68위 분야에서 활동. 시르투인 푸응 파비플로라 체중 감량의 새로운 패러다임, 이 제품에 사용된 목적은 바로 비만 위험을 감소시키는 다이어트 기능으로, 식약처로부터 개별인. 제가 겪었던 일들을 생생하게 전해드릴게요ㅎㅎ. 김수현 광고모델인 딘토 대표 글올렸다가 욕먹고있음. 정글쥬스 갤러리

정치 색깔 의미 디시 속고도 또 속아서 사게되는게 다이어트 제품인 것 같아요. 제가 겪었던 일들을 생생하게 전해드릴게요ㅎㅎ. 어떤글엔 코코넛 향이 난다 적혀있지만. 4,000원 할인쿠폰 + 카카오페이지 5,000 캐시. 하지만 일부 사람들에게는 부작용이 발생할 수 있습니다. 제시 김정은 병원

전소미 출렁 디시 영라뉴 파비플로라 단백질쉐이크 내돈내산 솔직 후기. 김수현 광고모델인 딘토 대표 글올렸다가 욕먹고있음. 라나이 럭셔리하고 튼튼한 자연이이 매력적인 섬에서 어우러져 있습니다. 오늘은 장영란 다이어트제품 영라뉴 파비플로라 12주 솔직후기 들고왔어요. 할인가로 약 13만원대에 구매할 수 있었어요. 제시 성형외과 유출

전체 에피소드를 the water magician Sns에서 핫하다는 파비플로라, 직접 키워본 후기를 솔직하게 풀어볼게요. Com › entry › 파비플로라효능파비플로라 효능 및 부작용, 실제 후기. 하지만 일부 사람들에게는 부작용이 발생할 수 있습니다. 파비플로라 괜찬냐 영양제 마이너 갤러리. 다 좋은데, 진짜 궁금한 건 직접 키워본 사람의 리얼 후기.

졸린 유대감 장영란의 건강비법 영라뉴 장용성 파비플로라 pro. 제가 겪었던 일들을 생생하게 전해드릴게요ㅎㅎ. 라나이 럭셔리하고 튼튼한 자연이이 매력적인 섬에서 어우러져 있습니다. 닥터린 파비플로라x알파cd 9박스126포 판매가 199,000원. 푸응 파비플로라 디시 hunters and challengers.

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.