US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 4, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 2026.
사이퍼즈 진하 ✨엘프리데 골드라벨 출시 풀세트 플레이✨. 최종 보스의 화염 벽 패턴만 주의한다면, 비교적 수월하게 던전을 마무리할 수 있을 거예요. 아이온2 거래소&개인거래 월19,700원 마지막 q&a 총정리⚡️ 늘무, 스킬, 날개, 데바니온, 타이틀, 검성, 수호성, 마도성, 치유성, 궁성, 살성. 쏨뱅이는 과거 여러 일러스트레이터들에게 실력도 안 되는데 그냥 그림 접어라 등의 무시를 일삼고, 그들이 자신의 그림을 표절했다는 억지 주장3을 read more.
데우스에서 사슬때문에 흩어졌을 때 쾌광 갈기면 가끔 힐 안되는데늘무끼면 그런일 없음.. 원거리는 암만봐도 늘무 졷구려보임 아이온2 마이너 갤러리.. 사이퍼즈 진하 ✨엘프리데 골드라벨 출시 풀세트 플레이✨.. 침묵쓰시는 분들이 많은걸로 알고있는데요그외 다른 신석사용하시는 분들도 계신가여..디시 아이온갤러리 글좀 내려주세요 법적으로 문제생겨요 저 큰일나요 개그방송 난닝구 아이온2 루드라 깼습니다 팔찌 늘무 먹어라 가자. 늘무쓰는 원거리들 무기바꾸라는거잖아이제 안바꾸면 성역 안끼워줌, 일반 진지하게 늘무 못먹을거 같은데 건룡왕 어떰. 지금 근딜들 불신만 오질라게 오드써가며 도는데 늘무 먹을라고 하는건데 천장이 없음 그래서 다들 십부장 돌파가거나 제작템 싼거라도 끼고 하는데 어려움가려면 암굴가서 방어구로 뻥투력 맞춰야 껴줄지도 모름 걍 버스만 엄청 생길지도 1 잼잼잼잼 2025, Transformation possible. 쏨뱅이는 과거 여러 일러스트레이터들에게 실력도 안 되는데 그냥 그림 접어라 등의 무시를 일삼고, 그들이 자신의 그림을 표절했다는 억지 주장3을 read more. 명암룡 vs 루드라 늘무 아이온2 마이너 갤러리, 늘무에서 늘무로는 계승도 못하네 아이온2 마이너 갤러리. 훈장도 그냥 돈으로 제 호법 본캐로 바꿀만 한가요. 사건 전개 2019년 12월 15일, 스레딕, 디시인사이드 아이온 갤러리 유저분들의 힘이 대단하다는걸 느끼네요. Com › board › view많은 사람들이 착각하는 늘무 아이온 갤러리. 빛백룡 3돌파를 끼냐 늘무를 강화해서 사냥용스왑으로 강화 해두냐인데, 아이온2 늘무 먹음 ㄷㄷ살성 불의신전 돌고 만렙 갑니다.
특히 근접 직업의 경우 전투력뿐 아니라 전투 구조 자체를 바꿔주는 핵심 무기이기 때문에 반드시 파밍을 추천드립니다. 딜증 관련 기제들을 덕지덕지 발라놓은 현 상태에선 당연히 저 계정으로 저만큼이나 차이나는게 신기할정도임. 장군늘무 당당한 고독 찾으러 다니는 만화 7화 시리즈 당당한 고독 찾으러 다니는 만화 당당한 고독 찾으러 다니는 만화 1. 살성 루드라늘무 vs 응룡왕 선택좀 제발 아이온2 마이너. ㅇㅇ 제작무기 효율은 원거리가 갑임 근거리는 pve추뎀 vs 늘무로 dps비빌수있는데 원거리는 태생적으로 거리가있어서 pve추뎀 장비가 압살함.
65k views streamed 13 days ago.. 개발진이 직접 시연으로 선보인 늘무는 언리얼 엔진 5의 성능을 확인할 수 있었다.. 호법성 늘무 무기에 어떤 신석들 사용하시나요.. Com › board › aion2늘무가 pve에서 필수 아니라는 저지능들 뭐임..
신섭이라 통합제외고 이미 불신2바퀴째임 무기악세정가말고 먹어본적도없고 스트레스존나받는데불신하드언제나오며 정가. 늘무에서 일반무기 바꾼이유는 아이온2 마이너 갤러리. 아이온2 아이온2에서 늘무를 효율적으로 파밍하는 방법과 획득한 늘무를 최대한 활용하는 다양한 팁을 제공합니다, 둘다 풀돌파 기준으로해서 5프로가 아니라 10프로 붙어있어도 못이김 그리고 명암룡 무기 비추하는 이유가 일단 최종템이 아니라서 read more.
원작도 그랬듯이 크로메데 무기 이후에 추가 늘무가 나올 확률은 높습니다, 날개 알코 불멸 방어구, 불멸 무기, 유일악세 수나 유물, 강화석 미궁 타이틀, 늘무 인도자 날개 타르탈로스 사라지고 위 인던에서 유물상자 나온다고함 ㅇ. 살성 암룡왕단검 5돌파, 루드라 늘무 고민.
고작 몹따위 잡는데 pve 증가옵 없다고 read more. 둘다 풀돌파 기준으로해서 5프로가 아니라 10프로 붙어있어도 못이김 그리고 명암룡 무기 비추하는 이유가 일단 최종템이 아니라서 read more, 선후딜, 스티그마 강제 모두 방어력이 병신이라 더욱 크게 다가옴 호법성 처음 키우게되면, 아이온2 늘무 먹음 ㄷㄷ살성 불의신전 돌고 만렙 갑니다.
| 늘무로 딜을 바라는건 아니지만 그래도 파티랑 같이 할때 보조로 한방 터지면 재미있을것 같아서. | 과거사 논란 재조명과 피해자의 입장문 내 언급으로 사적인 정보가 일부 밝혀지게 되었다. | 지금 근딜들 불신만 오질라게 오드써가며 도는데 늘무 먹을라고 하는건데 천장이 없음 그래서 다들 십부장 돌파가거나 제작템 싼거라도 끼고 하는데 어려움가려면 암굴가서 방어구로 뻥투력 맞춰야 껴줄지도 모름 걍 버스만 엄청 생길지도 1 잼잼잼잼 2025. | 19 1443 마도성도 늘무무기 써도 되나요. |
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| 신섭이라 통합제외고 이미 불신2바퀴째임 무기악세정가말고 먹어본적도없고 스트레스존나받는데불신하드언제나오며 정가. | 과거사 논란 재조명과 피해자의 입장문 내 언급으로 사적인 정보가 일부 밝혀지게 되었다. | 정확한 네임드 라우팅, 오드 에너지 관리, 꾸준한 반복 공략만 지킨다면 늘무 획득 확률을 최대치로 끌어올릴 수 있을 것입니다. | Kr › news › articleview아이온2, ‘늘무’가 뭐길래 그렇게 난리야. |
| 개발진이 직접 시연으로 선보인 늘무는 언리얼 엔진 5의 성능을 확인할 수 있었다. | Com › 9259780834불신 어려움에 늘무 확정준다하면 아이온2 에펨코리아. | 결국 제작템 or 십부장이다 ㅇㅇ늘무는 애매한 장비라서 위에 2개만 세팅하는게 정배고쾌적함이 다른데. | 날개 알코 불멸 방어구, 불멸 무기, 유일악세 수나 유물, 강화석 미궁 타이틀, 늘무 인도자 날개 타르탈로스 사라지고 위 인던에서 유물상자 나온다고함 ㅇ. |
| 훈장도 그냥 돈으로 제 호법 본캐로 바꿀만 한가요. | 지금 근딜들 불신만 오질라게 오드써가며 도는데 늘무 먹을라고 하는건데 천장이 없음 그래서 다들 십부장 돌파가거나 제작템 싼거라도 끼고 하는데 어려움가려면 암굴가서 방어구로 뻥투력 맞춰야 껴줄지도 모름 걍 버스만 엄청 생길지도 1 잼잼잼잼 2025. | 그림 크리에이터 삼시보 의 과거 사이버 불링 논란을 정리한 문서. | 날개 알코 불멸 방어구, 불멸 무기, 유일악세 수나 유물, 강화석 미궁 타이틀, 늘무 인도자 날개 타르탈로스 사라지고 위 인던에서 유물상자 나온다고함 ㅇ. |
| 사이퍼즈 진하 ✨엘프리데 골드라벨 출시 풀세트 플레이✨. | 제작vs늘무 추천좀 제발 아이온2 마이너 갤러리. | 그림 크리에이터 삼시보 의 과거 사이버 불링 논란을 정리한 문서. | Com › board › view많은 사람들이 착각하는 늘무 아이온 갤러리. |
플레이하면서 또 정보가 있다면 알려드리도록 하겠습니다, 그림 크리에이터 삼시보 의 과거 사이버 불링 논란을 정리한 문서, 특히 근접 직업의 경우 전투력뿐 아니라 전투 구조 자체를 바꿔주는 핵심 무기이기 때문에 반드시 파밍을 추천드립니다. 근데 영상에 나온 가정들과 준비된 세팅값들이 전부 틀렸단 거임. 고작 몹따위 잡는데 pve 증가옵 없다고 read more. 이 거리로 진짜 원딜들이 pvp에서 이득을 볼수있어.
뷁 으로 시작 하는 단어 그림 크리에이터 삼시보 의 과거 사이버 불링 논란을 정리한 문서. Com › 9259780834불신 어려움에 늘무 확정준다하면 아이온2 에펨코리아. 늘무에서 늘무로는 계승도 못하네 아이온2 마이너 갤러리. 훈장도 그냥 돈으로 제 호법 본캐로 바꿀만 한가요. 루드라늘무는 아직 타직업무기도 못먹어봐서 천장이언제일지 미래가 불투명함. 브레인롯 훔치기 제작자
불여우 블로그 Com › mgallery › board치유성 늘무 일반 진지하게 늘무 못먹을거 같은데 건룡왕 어떰. 디시 아이온갤러리 글좀 내려주세요 법적으로 문제생겨요 저 큰일나요 개그방송 난닝구 아이온2 루드라 깼습니다 팔찌 늘무 먹어라 가자. 호법성 하시는 분들 늘무 트리,란마어떤 신석 사용하세요. 훈장도 그냥 돈으로 제 호법 본캐로 바꿀만 한가요. 백탁 디시
보험팔이 친구 디시 늘무로 딜을 바라는건 아니지만 그래도 파티랑 같이 할때 보조로 한방 터지면 재미있을것 같아서. Com › mgallery › board치유성 늘무 고작 몹따위 잡는데 pve 증가옵 없다고 read more. 둘다 풀돌파 기준으로해서 5프로가 아니라 10프로 붙어있어도 못이김 그리고 명암룡 무기 비추하는 이유가 일단 최종템이 아니라서 read more. 오늘 어려움 천장쳐서 드디어 늘무 먹었는데. 백지헌 허리 디시
브레이크 울프 야스신 Com › 9239146195정복 불신 늘무 아이온2 에펨코리아. 엔씨소프트의 mmorpg 아이온2 갤러리에 다양한 이야기를 남겨주세요. 루드라 늘무 5강은 개병신 맞음 아이온2 마이너 갤러리. 아이온2 거래소&개인거래 월19,700원 마지막 q&a 총정리⚡️ 늘무, 스킬, 날개, 데바니온, 타이틀, 검성, 수호성, 마도성, 치유성, 궁성, 살성. 둘다 풀돌파 기준으로해서 5프로가 아니라 10프로 붙어있어도 못이김 그리고 명암룡 무기 비추하는 이유가 일단 최종템이 아니라서 read more.
뷰티 스트 현지 뭐 애초에 루드라는 늘무 써야하는 곳이라 의미가 없는건 사실임. 빛백룡 3돌파를 끼냐 늘무를 강화해서 사냥용스왑으로 강화 해두냐인데. 개발진이 직접 시연으로 선보인 늘무는 언리얼 엔진 5의 성능을 확인할 수 있었다. 19 1443 마도성도 늘무무기 써도 되나요. 사이퍼즈 진하 ✨엘프리데 골드라벨 출시 풀세트 플레이✨.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 4, 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 4, 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 4, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 4, 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.
, Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.