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.

김천여고던 어디던 댄스팀 와도 그냥 환호해주면 되고앞으로 뛰어나가는거 까지는 이해하는데시발 태블릿이랑 핸드폰으로 찍는. 1위 김천고 이 학교는 그냥 전국에서 미친놈들이 몰려오기 때문에 전투력 측정이 불가 하다고 보면 된다. 내가 경상북도 구미시에 사는데 비교되는 도시가 대구도 있지만 바로 옆 30분 거리에 김천시라고 있지. 설립구분 공립 설립유형 단설 학교특성 일반고등학교 설립일자 1935년 04월 23일 대표번호 0544207500 팩스 0544341775 주소 경상북도 김천시 모암사랑10길 9 학생수 379명 남 0명, 여 379명 교원수 44명 남 12명, 여 32명 체육집회공간 1실 관할교육청 경상북도교육청 행정실 0544207540.

그록 공유

그록 탈퇴 방법

4️⃣ 김천여고 입시컨설팅 성공 사례 1. 1935년 4월 공법인 公法人 김천학교조합에 의해 4년제 김천공립고등여학교로 설립되었다. 안녕안녕 새학기를 시작해서 정신없는 병아리들아 한번 해보고 싶었는데 생각나는 대로 팁을 몇가지 적어본다, Net › gimcheongimcheon. 성희여자고등학교는 경상북도 안동시 정하동에 위치한 사립 여자고등학교이다. 배치고사 잘 봤다면 입학 전까지 열공할 동력으로 삼으면 되고, 못 봤다고 좌절할 것도 없다.

추천 연관 학교 김천중앙고등학교 즐겨찾기선택 공립 │ 1964년 01월 04일 설립 경상북도 김천시 해오름1로 36 0544354011 school. 나 지방 촌구석에서 노가다 뛸때 노가다 마이너 갤러리, 확실히 일반고랑 비교해서 수도권 명문대를 많이 보내는거 맞음, 배치고사 잘 봤다면 입학 전까지 열공할 동력으로 삼으면 되고, 못 봤다고 좌절할 것도 없다. 2009년 전국단위 자율형 사립고등학교 로 지정되어 2010년부터 전국에서 신입생을 받고 있다, 김고갤 게시물 유형 김천고 마이너 갤러리.

급똥 마키마

1935년 4월 공법인 公法人 김천학교조합에 의해 4년제 김천공립고등여학교로 설립되었다.. 내가 경상북도 구미시에 사는데 비교되는 도시가 대구도 있지만 바로 옆 30분 거리에 김천시라고 있지.. 자주 묻는 질문 김천고 마이너 갤러리..

1943년 일제의 탄압에 의해 김천중학교 로 개칭되고 공립학교 로 강제 전환되었으나, 1951년 사립 김천고등학교 설립을 인가 받아 현재에 이른다. 김천여고던 어디던 댄스팀 와도 그냥 환호해주면 되고앞으로 뛰어나가는거 까지는 이해하는데시발 태블릿이랑 핸드폰으로 찍는, Shift+enter 키를 동시에 누르면 줄바꿈이 됩니다.

1위 김천고 이 학교는 그냥 전국에서 미친놈들이 몰려오기 때문에 전투력 측정이 불가 하다고 보면 된다, 설립구분 공립 설립유형 단설 학교특성 일반고등학교 설립일자 1935년 04월 23일 대표번호 0544207500 팩스 0544341775 주소 경상북도 김천시 모암사랑10길 9 학생수 379명 남 0명, 여 379명 교원수 44명 남 12명, 여 32명 체육집회공간 1실 관할교육청 경상북도교육청 행정실 0544207540. 1939년 3월에는 제1회 졸업생 12명을 배출하였으며, 1936년 7월 현재의 위치로.

1위 김천고 이 학교는 그냥 전국에서 미친놈들이 몰려오기 때문에 전투력 측정이 불가 하다고 보면 된다.. 경북 김천시 모암사랑 10길 9모암동 김천여자고등학교, gimcheon.. 2026학년도 신입생 교과서 목록 학년도 1학년 교과서 목록 ※ 2022 개정 교육과정 순번교과 과목명출판사저자1공통국어1㈜미래엔신유식2공통국어2㈜미래엔신유식3공통수학1동아출판㈜고호경4공통수학2동아출판㈜고호경5공통영어1㈜미래엔김성연6공통영어2㈜미래엔김성연7한국사1㈜미래엔강승호8.. 자주 묻는 질문 김천고 마이너 갤러리..

김천고 마이너 갤러리 커뮤니티 포털 디시인사이드, 김천여고 방송부 kgs 페이지 입니다. 근데 생각보다 지거국 간 친구들도 많고 그 이하도 정말 많.

김천 고등학교 맞짱 순위 성의고 마이너 갤러리, 경북 김천시 모암사랑 10길 9모암동 김천여자고등학교, gimcheon, Com › discover › 김천여고교복tiktok, 1939년 3월에는 제1회 졸업생 12명을 배출하였으며, 1936년 7월 현재의 위치로. 84기 틀딱이다오랜만에 밑에 잡썰을 보니 생각나는게 있어 써본다 새로 오신 중국어 선생님이 정말 예뻤는데 유튜.

1943년 일제의 탄압에 의해 김천중학교 로 개칭되고 공립학교 로 강제 전환되었으나, 1951년 사립 김천고등학교 설립을 인가 받아 현재에 이른다. Net › gimcheongimcheon. 안녕안녕 새학기를 시작해서 정신없는 병아리들아 한번 해보고 싶었는데 생각나는 대로 팁을 몇가지 적어본다, 컨설팅 시기 김천여고 졸업 선배는 3학년 1학기 목표하는 학과를 학생부종합전형으로 지원이 가능할지.

기룡이 탱다 야간자율학습 중간고사 아무생각없이 시험. 1935년 4월 공법인 公法人 김천학교조합에 의해 4년제 김천공립고등여학교로 설립되었다. 성희여자고등학교는 경상북도 안동시 정하동에 위치한 사립 여자고등학교이다. 추천 연관 학교 김천중앙고등학교 즐겨찾기선택 공립 │ 1964년 01월 04일 설립 경상북도 김천시 해오름1로 36 0544354011 school. 언제는 밤 세서 했다고 하는데 낭만있었을 듯 ㅋㅋㅋ 나름 자사고여서 그런지 독서교육은 지금봐도 훌륭한 거 같다. 그록 서버 디시

귀칼 전투씬 김천여고 방송부 kgs 페이지 입니다. 1939년 3월에는 제1회 졸업생 12명을 배출하였으며, 1936년 7월 현재의 위치로. Shift+enter 키를 동시에 누르면 줄바꿈이 됩니다. 대학만큼이나 고등학교 인맥 무시못한다. 전문가가 직접 분석한 김천고 입시 핵심 포인트 3가지 1 김천고등학교 경쟁률 김천고의 전국 일반 전형에 지원하는 학생들은 면접 응시 기회를 가질 가능성이 매우 높습니다. 김리리 야동

그녀의암캐갤 2025학년 김천고등학교 최종 입학전형 요강 보러가기↓↓↓. 1939년 3월에는 제1회 졸업생 12명을 배출하였으며, 1936년 7월 현재의 위치로. 김천여자고등학교 공식 사물 동아리 길라잡이입니다. 2026학년도 신입생 교과서 목록 학년도 1학년 교과서 목록 ※ 2022 개정 교육과정 순번교과 과목명출판사저자1공통국어1㈜미래엔신유식2공통국어2㈜미래엔신유식3공통수학1동아출판㈜고호경4공통수학2동아출판㈜고호경5공통영어1㈜미래엔김성연6공통영어2㈜미래엔김성연7한국사1㈜미래엔강승호8. 추천 연관 학교 김천중앙고등학교 즐겨찾기선택 공립 │ 1964년 01월 04일 설립 경상북도 김천시 해오름1로 36 0544354011 school. 기룡이 유료

금화 이별 나 지방 촌구석에서 노가다 뛸때 노가다 마이너 갤러리. 자주 묻는 질문 김천고 마이너 갤러리. 29 1628 여튼 ㄱㅁㄷ 김천한일여고. 경북 김천시 모암사랑 10길 9모암동 김천여자고등학교, gimcheon. 내가 경상북도 구미시에 사는데 비교되는 도시가 대구도 있지만 바로 옆 30분 거리에 김천시라고 있지.

기어드 디씨 2026학년도 신입생 교과서 목록 학년도 1학년 교과서 목록 ※ 2022 개정 교육과정 순번교과 과목명출판사저자1공통국어1㈜미래엔신유식2공통국어2㈜미래엔신유식3공통수학1동아출판㈜고호경4공통수학2동아출판㈜고호경5공통영어1㈜미래엔김성연6공통영어2㈜미래엔김성연7한국사1㈜미래엔강승호8. 배치고사 잘 봤다면 입학 전까지 열공할 동력으로 삼으면 되고, 못 봤다고 좌절할 것도 없다. 김천여자고등학교 공식 사물 동아리 길라잡이입니다. 컨설팅 시기 김천여고 졸업 선배는 3학년 1학기 목표하는 학과를 학생부종합전형으로 지원이 가능할지. Shift+enter 키를 동시에 누르면 줄바꿈이 됩니다.

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.