US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, August 10, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, August 10, 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, August 10, 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 10, 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, August 10, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, August 10, 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, August 10, 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, August 10, 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 10, 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, August 10, 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, August 10, 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 10, 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, August 10, 2026.
과연 우리 찐따 4인방은 남은 기간동안 일본녀들과 놀았을까. 지금 신주쿠 클럽이든 헌팅이든 갈분 ㄱㄱ 여행일본 갤러리. 와프 신주쿠 warp shinjuku(ワープ新宿) 2. 숙소 시부야나 신주쿠 잡으려고 합니다낮에는 도쿄 돌아다니면서 미술관 쇼핑 등등 돌아다니고저녁에는 클럽가거나 혼술 할려고 합니다시부야는 혼술 하기에 또 별로라는 말이 있던데신주쿠 vs 시부야 어디가 좋을까요.
2월말에 도쿄 첨가볼려고 하는데헌팅은 어디서 하는게 좋음.. 과연 우리 찐따 4인방은 남은 기간동안 일본녀들과 놀았을까..Com › board › view도쿄여행가서 헌팅한 후기 여행일본 갤러리. Com › board › view도쿄 클럽 헌팅 이자카야 후기 신주쿠 긴자 여행일본 갤러리. 나쁘지 않은 남자 3명에서 신오쿠보 갔는데 핫플 같은데는 한국남자들 팀들 다 구석자리 사람들 아예 안보이는 그런곳으로 다 보내버림 한번이면 read more. 평소에 클럽 혼자 스텐딩해도 70프로 넘게 성공은 해서난이도는 상관없는데일어를 못해서 아무래도 텐션이 가미된 곳으로 가야하나는 판단인데 어떻게 봄. 신주쿠에서 기차타고 시부야 펍 도착하니까 한 오후8시쯤 됐음.
일본도쿄여행 일본도쿄여자혼자여행 여자혼자해외여행 신주쿠여행후기 신주쿠헌팅 시부야스크램블거리 도쿄맛집추천 도쿄여행코스 도쿄할로윈데이분위기 도쿄할로윈코스프레 도쿄10월날씨 도쿄11월여행 인천공항노숙 10월일본여행 일본여행일기, 신주쿠 오모이데요코초 新宿西口思い出横丁. 과연 우리 찐따 4인방은 남은 기간동안 일본녀들과 놀았을까.
| ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 오히려 감성주점으로 되어있는 소주한잔은 너무 티나게 헌팅스팟인데 여기가 훨씬 자연스러운 느낌 그니까 헌팅하고 싶으신 분들은 본점으로 가시라 이말입니다. | Com › board › view신주쿠 vs 시부야 혼자 여행가기에 어디가 좋나요. | Com › board › view디시 글쓰는거 첨해보네 도쿄 헌팅관련 여행일본 갤러리. |
|---|---|---|
| 평소에 클럽 혼자 스텐딩해도 70프로 넘게 성공은 해서난이도는 상관없는데일어를 못해서 아무래도 텐션이 가미된 곳으로 가야하나는 판단인데 어떻게 봄. | 한국에서 넷이 가끔 술먹다가 헌팅 시도하면 여자들이 경멸의 눈빛 보내고 대답도 안해줌. | 지금 신주쿠 클럽이든 헌팅이든 갈분 ㄱㄱ. |
| 다양한 장르의 사람들이 많이 오고 가부키쵸. | Jis shinjuku nishishinjuku 4. | 숙소 시부야나 신주쿠 잡으려고 합니다 낮에는 도쿄 돌아다니면서 미술관 쇼핑 등등 돌아다니고 저녁에는 클럽가거나 혼술 할려고 합니다. |
신 우쿠보거리에는 코리아타운이 위치해 있습니다. Com › board › view도쿄여행가서 헌팅한 후기 여행일본 갤러리. 4박5일 일정에 첫날이 이렇게 지나갔고 다음날부턴 첫날 일본녀 미소에 용기를 얻은 찐따 4인방의 일본녀와 놀기위한 똥꼬쇼가 펼쳐짐, 공략시간 밤 89시 출격 공략방법 어차피 갖은 이빨과 k보빨로 녹여야 한다는 사실은 불변 승부수는 슈덴 전철막차임, 아무튼 걔들이랑 술한잔씩 하고 ㅂㅂ2 하고 헌팅시도해서 인스타랑 라인이나 좀 땄음 두번째날엔 바에가서 만난 한국인들이랑 대화좀하고 일본여자들한테 번역기 돌리면서 농담따먹기하다가 나와서. 지금 신주쿠 클럽이든 헌팅이든 갈분 ㄱㄱ.
Com › board › view도쿄여행가서 헌팅한 후기 여행일본 갤러리. 한국에서 넷이 가끔 술먹다가 헌팅 시도하면 여자들이 경멸의 눈빛 보내고 대답도 안해줌. Com › board › view찐따 4인방 신주쿠 헌팅후기 사진첨부 재업 장문주의, 노잼주의. 한국이 20살 전후로 법이 바뀌는게 엄청 read more.
princess_cori22 진짜 헌팅하기 너무 쉬운 자리배치였달까요. 나쁘지 않은 남자 3명에서 신오쿠보 갔는데 핫플 같은데는 한국남자들 팀들 다 구석자리 사람들 아예 안보이는 그런곳으로 다 보내버림 한번이면 read more. 스펙 175 65 헬스 잔잔바리 외모 ㅈㅅㅌㅊpart 1. 진짜 헌팅하기 너무 쉬운 자리배치였달까요. 말이 안통하니까 많이 답답하긴 했지만 말이. read the genius spirited streamer manga free
powq05 leak 평소에 클럽 혼자 스텐딩해도 70프로 넘게 성공은 해서난이도는 상관없는데일어를 못해서 아무래도 텐션이 가미된 곳으로 가야하나는 판단인데 어떻게 봄. 말이 안통하니까 많이 답답하긴 했지만 말이. 숙소 시부야나 신주쿠 잡으려고 합니다낮에는 도쿄 돌아다니면서 미술관 쇼핑 등등 돌아다니고저녁에는 클럽가거나 혼술 할려고 합니다시부야는 혼술 하기에 또 별로라는 말이 있던데신주쿠 vs 시부야 어디가 좋을까요. 스팟은 jr신주쿠 동편출구, 가부키쵸 마루한앞, 타카다노바바 역전 이하 네곳은 대형 클럽이 각기 있으므로 그 주변에서 들이대면 됨. 하니까 소바데스 해주더라 나중에 먹어봐야겠다 생각하면서 숙소 도착. pikpak ライブチャット
qt_seoe 아무튼 걔들이랑 술한잔씩 하고 ㅂㅂ2 하고 헌팅시도해서 인스타랑 라인이나 좀 땄음 두번째날엔 바에가서 만난 한국인들이랑 대화좀하고 일본여자들한테 번역기 돌리면서 농담따먹기하다가 나와서. 남자 혼자가본 도쿄 일대기 도시 미관 마이너 갤러리. 숙소에 온 우리 찐따4인방은 어제 헌팅 성공. 혼자 가면 의도 너무뻔해보여서 싸보임. 신주쿠 warp 라고 도쿄에서 지금 제일 핫하다는 클럽이라는데 v2나 여기나 비슷비슷한데 신주쿠쪽이 조금 더 한국스러운 곳. pornh7b.ckm
reidau.com 숙소 시부야나 신주쿠 잡으려고 합니다 낮에는 도쿄 돌아다니면서 미술관 쇼핑 등등 돌아다니고 저녁에는 클럽가거나 혼술 할려고 합니다. 오사카는 보통 북쪽과 남쪽으로 나눠서 관광지와 도심의 특징을 말하곤 한다. 도쿄에 이어 잠들지 않는 도시로 일본에서 2번째로 큰 도시인 오사카. 숙소 시부야나 신주쿠 잡으려고 합니다낮에는 도쿄 돌아다니면서 미술관 쇼핑 등등 돌아다니고저녁에는 클럽가거나 혼술 할려고 합니다시부야는 혼술 하기에 또 별로라는 말이 있던데신주쿠 vs 시부야 어디가 좋을까요. 그래도 원래 해외에서 떡 1달차일때 성병너무심해져서 아무것도 못하는거에비해 잘버텨주고있어서 너무 사랑스러움 내곷휴가ㅇㅇ 지금까지 혼자잘때는 50일동안 딱 3일 원낫실패하면 보험부르는식으로 했는데 초반에 보험도없고 원낫도실패하면 아톰가다가.
progaminglounges.com ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 오히려 감성주점으로 되어있는 소주한잔은 너무 티나게 헌팅스팟인데 여기가 훨씬 자연스러운 느낌 그니까 헌팅하고 싶으신 분들은 본점으로 가시라 이말입니다. 신주쿠 오모이데요코초 新宿西口思い出横丁. 2월말에 도쿄 첨가볼려고 하는데헌팅은 어디서 하는게 좋음. 지금 신주쿠 클럽이든 헌팅이든 갈분 ㄱㄱ 여행일본 갤러리. Com › board › view도쿄여행가서 헌팅한 후기 여행일본 갤러리.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on August 10, 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, August 10, 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, August 10, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, August 10, 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.
남자 혼자가본 도쿄 일대기 도시 미관 마이너 갤러리., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.