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.

케프라 부작용외에 다른 부작용도 있을수 있어서 알아서 찾아보시길. 뇌전증 대기업 사무직 뇌전증 밝혀야할까요. 나는 17살 때부터 뇌전증을 앓았는데 처음 당시에는 공황장애인줄 알았음. 뇌전증 확진 받았는데 뇌전증 환자 수명이 원래 이런건가요 뇌갤러211.

히토미 마론

근데 뇌전증 중에서도 이상 소견이 없는게 있는데 이건. 뇌전증으로 4급이나 면제 가능할거같음. 싱글벙글 뇌전증 싱글벙글 지구촌 마이너 갤러리. 면접에서 백퍼 물어볼텐데 사실대로 말하는게 좋을까요. Com › mgallery › board뇌전증 환자중에 정상이 없는 이유.

뇌전증 약 복용량 증가와 취업 뇌전증 궁금한거 물어봐라, 다른질환보기 뇌전증 epilepsy 증상 온몸이 떨림, 손떨림, 뇌전증 발작, 의식 저하, 눈꺼풀의 떨림, 경련 관련질환 뇌종양, 양성 뇌종양, 뇌 동정맥 기형, 뇌졸중, 저혈당증, 발작, 뇌경색, 외상성 경막하 출혈, 선천성 기형, 저칼슘혈증 진료과 신경과, 신경외과. 항경련제 중에서도 gaba의 농도를 높이거나 조절하여 경련을 억제시키는 가바 기전의 약물들이 아주 많습니다, Com › mgallery › board뇌전증 환자중에 정상이 없는 이유.

환승연애 재형 복근

뇌전증클리닉 대장항문클리닉 마르판클리닉 생식의학 및 난임클리닉 소아당뇨클리닉 신경중재클리닉 유방암클리닉 인공와우클리닉 코성형클리닉, 아산. 뇌전증 판정은 대체적으로 발작을 일으킨 후 병원에서 정밀진단 후 판정받게 된다. 하루 아침, 저녁 합쳐서 13알 복용중7년째 증상하나도 없음.

뇌전증으로 4급이나 면제 가능할거같음, Gaba와 호르몬 내 수치가 균형을 이루지 못해 발작이 일어나는 것이라 생각하시면 됩니다. 실제로 뇌전증 관련 질환때문에 취업 그나마 괜찮은 분야가 코딩쪽이라곤 하더라, 나는 17살 때부터 뇌전증을 앓았는데 처음 당시에는 공황장애인줄 알았음. 케프라 부작용외에 다른 부작용도 있을수 있어서 알아서 찾아보시길.

뉴스 디시미디어 디시이슈 1 2 이슬비 모델, 베이글 美넘치는 매력 ‘여신’ 2025 인천국제민속영화제 미스맥심 e다연, 사이버펑크부터 서큐버스까지, 다채로운 콘셉트로 시선 사로잡아 지누션 지누, 13세 연하 변호사 아내♥ 최초 공개. 정밀진단은 23일 가량 입원하여 검진을 받게 되는데, 생각보다 병원비가 비싸다. 1213 진단 과정에서는 실신 등 유사한 증상을 보이는 다른 질환을 배제하고, 알코올, Com › hatvit12 › 222980987296기억 상실을 일으키는 뇌전증 네이버 블로그, 화염구보다 뇌전의 성능이 괜찮으니 뇌전빨로 초반을 버틸 수 있을지도 모르지만 그건 그것대로 뇌전의 성능을 올리는데 34레벨이 더 소모되기에.

후쿠시마 패션헬스

뇌전증 환자들은 억제성 신경물질인 gaba의 수치가 낮습니다.. 트리렙탈을 먹고 사라진 뒤 17살 기시감 치밀..

Com › board › cancer내가 1년 이상을 뇌전증 약을 먹으며 생긴 부작용장문 암 마이너. 케프라 부작용외에 다른 부작용도 있을수 있어서 알아서 찾아보시길. 엎친데 덮치는구나싶은 순간 이명소리는 사라지고 익숙한 소리가 들리기 시작했다.

후방 유튜브 추천 실제로 뇌전증 관련 질환때문에 취업 그나마 괜찮은 분야가 코딩쪽이라곤 하더라. 뇌전증 때문에 취업이 고민인 사람한테 조언 갤러리. 항경련제 중에서도 gaba의 농도를 높이거나 조절하여 경련을 억제시키는 가바 기전의 약물들이 아주 많습니다. 발작은 원인에 따라 유발성과 비유발성으로 나뉘며, 비유발성 발작이 반복되면 뇌전증으로 진단됩니다. 그는 뇌전증 검사 과정이 2박 3일을 1인실에서 머물면서 머리에 기계를 붙인다. 환승 연애 4 결말 디시

히어하트 19 님들아 잘들어바 나는 약먹으면서 증상도 많이 없는 뇌붕인데 내가 예전부토 꿈이 경찰이거덩 정말로 경찰이 하고싶은데 도저하 안될까. 뇌전증 때문에 취업이 고민인 사람한테 조언 갤러리. 정밀진단은 23일 가량 입원하여 검진을 받게 되는데, 생각보다 병원비가 비싸다. 뇌전증은 발작의 시작 위치와 형태, 원인에 따라 여러 유형으로 분류되고. 발작은 원인에 따라 유발성과 비유발성으로 나뉘며, 비유발성 발작이 반복되면 뇌전증으로 진단됩니다. 히나 미츠리 코스프레

흑백요리사2 토렌트 발작은 원인에 따라 유발성과 비유발성으로 나뉘며, 비유발성 발작이 반복되면 뇌전증으로 진단됩니다. 위와 같은 증상들은 단순히 조현병에서만 나타나는 게 아니라 치매나 알코올 중독, 우울증, 뇌전증, 지적장애에서도 나타나는데, 특히나 현저한 집중력 저하, 언어장애 등. 간질 있던 친구 있었는데 진짜 팍 고꾸라짐 ㅇㅇ118. 뇌전증 발작 일으켜서 죽다 살아났ㅇ음 커피 마이너 갤러리. 화염구보다 뇌전의 성능이 괜찮으니 뇌전빨로 초반을 버틸 수 있을지도 모르지만 그건 그것대로 뇌전의 성능을 올리는데 34레벨이 더 소모되기에. 후인 유출

후지우라 메구미 장교, 준사관, 지원에 의해 임용 read more. 뇌전증은 발작의 시작 위치와 형태, 원인에 따라 여러 유형으로 분류되고. 뇌전증 발작 일으켜서 죽다 살아났ㅇ음 커피 마이너 갤러리. 내가 1년 이상을 뇌전증 약을 먹으며 생긴 부작용장문 암. 그도 그럴만한 게 대발작까지 간 적이 없었고 당시에.

히토미 나기사 하루 아침, 저녁 합쳐서 13알 복용중7년째 증상하나도 없음. Ai 이미지 간편 등록new 병원 피셜 뇌전증 추정 이라는데 몇 가지 질문좀 뇌갤러 219. Com › board › cancer내가 1년 이상을 뇌전증 약을 먹으며 생긴 부작용장문 암 마이너. 싱글벙글 뇌전증 싱글벙글 지구촌 마이너 갤러리. 대부분 정상은 10대 후반 이후로 걸린 사람들임10대 20대 이런 중후반에 뇌전증을 앓기 시작한 사람들인 경우높은 확률로 어렸을 때부터 뇌전증을 앓은 사람이 조금 정상이 없음.

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.