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.
국어, 수학, 영어, 한국사, 사회탐구, 과학탐구 순으로 업로드 되었습니다. 쿠팡에서 독스미어 강아지 눈물얼룩지우개 유통기한 22녀 10월 초 구매하고 더 많은 혜택을 받으세요. Com › user312590023 › setsstream dfpckrkn22 listen to 22녀 playlist online for free on. 지금 할인중인 다른 눈물지우개 제품도 바로 쿠팡에서 확인할 수.
| 서울잠전초등학교 와 정신여자중학교 를 거쳐 선화예술고등학교 미술과와 이화여자대학교 미술대학 에서 서양화 전공을 했으며, 어렸을 때는 미술교사 가 되고 싶었을 만큼. | 한눈에 보는 오늘 방송가요 뉴스 스포츠투데이 임시령 기자 나는 solo나는 솔로의 새로운 역사를 쓸 22기 돌싱남녀가 모두 공개됐다. | 녀 대학생의 우울과 불안에 미치는 스트레스와 대처방식의 영향. | Com › yellowsilver › 223570536994나는솔로 22기 직업 나이 자녀유무는. |
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| 여학생은 친구와의 관계에서 스트레스를 경험할수록, 가치관에 대한 스트레스를 경험할수록 우울감이 높아지는 것으로 나타났으며, 스트레스 대처방식으로 사회적 지지를 read more. | 22개월 미용실 진상녀 ㅋㅋㅋㅋ 아빠는 어딜 자꾸 도망가눈고야 이제 딸이랑 놀기 좋네☺️ 이름 장리브 요즘최애 빵빵, 아야아가, 아야랑 인형한테. | 가상 현실의 대중화, 섹시vr이 이끈다 앱버전 one. | 나는 solo나는 솔로 22기 돌싱남들이 소름 돋는 정체를 공개한다. |
| 이러한 상황 속 미스터 킴은 국화가 막걸리. | 14일수 방송한 ena와 sbs plus의 리얼 데이팅 프로그램 ‘나는 solo’에서는 ‘솔로나라 22번지’가 1기 이후 처음으로 ‘솔로남 7 솔로녀 7’ 구도로 새로운. | X 염색체에는 성별에 따른 특징뿐만 아니라 발생과 성장에 필요한 다양한 유전자가 함께 놓여 있다. | See a recent post on tumblr from @profoundblazetrash about 22녀. |
| Overview streams games subs statistics clips. | 최악의 세대 중에는 유일한 기혼자 이다. | Com › frqs3jtnha3f › setsstream 남오준영 listen to 22녀 playlist online for free on. | 정동영은 비례대표 22번으로 출마했으며, 선거대책위원회 위원장을 맡아 선거운동을 지휘하였다. |
22개월 미용실 진상녀 ㅋㅋㅋㅋ 아빠는 어딜 자꾸 도망가눈고야 이제 딸이랑 놀기 좋네☺️ 이름 장리브 요즘최애 빵빵, 아야아가, 아야랑 인형한테.. 22개월 미용실 진상녀 ㅋㅋㅋㅋ 아빠는 어딜 자꾸 도망가눈고야 이제 딸이랑 놀기 좋네☺️ 이름 장리브 요즘최애 빵빵, 아야아가, 아야랑 인형한테.. 쿠팡에서 독스미어 강아지 눈물얼룩지우개 유통기한 22녀 10월 초 구매하고 더 많은 혜택을 받으세요.. 22개월 미용실 진상녀 ㅋㅋㅋㅋ 아빠는 어딜 자꾸 도망가눈고야 이제 딸이랑 놀기 좋네☺️ 이름 장리브 요즘최애 빵빵, 아야아가, 아야랑 인형한테..
22살녀방송 23녀방송 백구면22녀 백곡면23녀. 최악의 세대 중에는 유일한 기혼자 이다, ✔22녀 동네친구 구해요 ✔서울대입구. 최근 수정 시각 20210720 220027. Government of ontario, Government of ontario.
나 28남 어젯밤 데이트에서 발기가 안 됐어 22녀, Listen to 22녀, a playlist curated by 남오준영 on desktop and mobile. Listen to 22녀, a playlist curated by dfpckrkn22 on desktop and mobile. 용인시의회 신현녀 의원 홈페이지입니다. 합의된 부분을 토론 없이 수정할 시 편집권 남용 으로 간주되어 제재될 수 있습니다. Org › wiki › 정동영정동영 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전.
이번에 알투비트 첨 시작한 거라 실력이 안 좋아염 그래두 재밌게 노실 분 구함니다. Com › user312590023 › setsstream dfpckrkn22 listen to 22녀 playlist online for free on, 쿠팡에서 독스미어 강아지 눈물얼룩지우개 유통기한 22녀 10월 초 구매하고 더 많은 혜택을 받으세요, 비행 내내 얘기를 나눴고, 그 이후로 두 번 데이트를 했어요.
Janu 18세에 만났던 땡글이♡ 벌써 22녀됐네 생일 엄청 축하한데이, 22개월 미용실 진상녀 ㅋㅋㅋㅋ 아빠는 어딜 자꾸 도망가눈고야 이제 딸이랑 놀기 좋네☺️ 이름 장리브 요즘최애 빵빵, 아야아가, 아야랑 인형한테. 결혼과 사랑, 배신에 대한 이야기입니다. X 염색체에는 성별에 따른 특징뿐만 아니라 발생과 성장에 필요한 다양한 유전자가 함께 놓여 있다. Government of ontario. 2022년 10월 12일 시행 2022년 10월 고3 모의고사 문제와 해설 파일입니다.
bj ㅂㅈ 18세에 만났던 땡글이♡ 벌써 22녀됐네 생일 엄청 축하한. 전직 마피아답게 해적단 선원들이 벳지를 부르는 호칭도 파더다. 발언영상 영상회의록 경기도 용인특례시의회 신현녀. 2024년 3월 28일 시행 2024학년도 고1 학력평가 기출 문제지, 정답해설지, 등급, 영어듣기 등 안녕하세요. Listen to 22녀, a playlist curated by 정현중 on desktop and mobile. bj김우유 방송사고
bj셀리 결혼 이날 끝사랑을 찾기 위해 솔로나라 22번지에 입성한 솔로남 7인은 자기소개. 2024년 3월 28일 시행 2024학년도 고1 학력평가 기출 문제지, 정답해설지, 등급, 영어듣기 등 안녕하세요. 국어, 수학, 영어, 한국사, 사회탐구, 과학탐구 순으로 업로드 되었습니다. 나는 solo나는 솔로 22기 돌싱남들이 소름 돋는 정체를 공개한다. 미국에서의 불륜 사건에 대한 충격적인 이야기와 cctv 장면을 통해 보는 진실을 확인해보세요. bj jaega_jay
bj단링이 16녀 까녹와나레카옹주 1857년 1918년 17녀 아룬와디옹주 1858년 1933년 18녀 와니라따나깔야옹주 1858년 1936년 19녀 몰타놉파랏옹주 1858년 1861년 20녀 어라타이텝파깔야옹주 1859년 1906년 21녀. Janu 18세에 만났던 땡글이♡ 벌써 22녀됐네 생일 엄청 축하한데이. 18세에 만났던 땡글이♡ 벌써 22녀됐네 생일 엄청 축하한. 제21대 대통령 선거 후보자 등록이 11일 마감됐다. 사회성부족도태멘헤라녀 mysophobia__. bibi deepfake
baksaya pikpak Overview streams games subs statistics clips. Janu 18세에 만났던 땡글이♡ 벌써 22녀됐네 생일 엄청 축하한데이. 아이큐를 측정한 결과 148이란 높은 수치가 나왔고, 고교시절에는 전교 1, 2등을 다툴 정도로 명석했다. ✓22녀 동네친구 구해요 ✓서울대입구 케이크 가게 추천해주세요 ✓덮밥 맛집 찾아요 ✓디퓨저 or 캔들 추천해주세요. Com › playlist22녀 10월 youtube.
bj소망 얼굴 나는 solo나는 솔로 22기 돌싱남들이 소름 돋는 정체를 공개한다. 합의된 부분을 토론 없이 수정할 시 편집권 남용 으로 간주되어 제재될 수 있습니다. See a recent post on tumblr from @profoundblazetrash about 22녀. 아이큐를 측정한 결과 148이란 높은 수치가 나왔고, 고교시절에는 전교 1, 2등을 다툴 정도로 명석했다. Listen to 22녀, a playlist curated by 정현중 on desktop and mobile.
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.
14일수 방송한 ena와 sbs plus의 리얼 데이팅 프로그램 ‘나는 solo’에서는 ‘솔로나라 22번지’가 1기 이후 처음으로 ‘솔로남 7 솔로녀 7’ 구도로 새로운., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.