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.

23 95 0 빡빡이가 ㄹㅇ 밀당의 고수임 1 사오리기둥서방 2023. 그냥 추억팔이로서 짧은 로딩으로 센무1&2를 다시 즐기는 것 이외에는 아무런 성의도 없는 리마스터작품입니다. 새롭게 공개된 영상은 주인공 하즈키 료를 중심으로 전통 시장에서 진행되는. 새롭게 공개된 영상은 주인공 하즈키 료를 중심으로 전통 시장에서 진행되는.

안유진 야스

아헤가오 디시

스토커에게 습격받고 있던 류지를 우연히 도와주게 된 카게바는 이런저런 사정으로 류지의 매니저를 맡게 된다. 시트러스 친구지만 맛있어 보여 작품소개 얼굴은 잘생겼지만 머리부터 발끝까지 오타쿠인 마미야 타카토라와 밝고 수다스러운 피자가게 배달부, 유우키 치히로. 말 버전의 dqn 네임 이라고 할 수 있겠다.

스퀘어 bl만화 e북 맠다 14차 작가명 순으로 정렬 작가작품 순. 珍名馬 일본에서 특이한 이름을 가진 말들을 부르는 단어이다, 일본의 게임 제작사 세가 am2 의 f. 혹평의 중심에 선 쉔무3는 극적인 반전을 선보일 수 있을까. 센무의 방ex 대마신 5월입고완료 4537807140104. 그냥 추억팔이로서 짧은 로딩으로 센무1&2를 다시 즐기는 것 이외에는 아무런 성의도 없는 리마스터작품입니다.

대여 2,400원 전권 대여 2,400원.. 일본 기업의 직위 명칭最高経営責任者 さいこうけいえいせきにんしゃ, 사이코케에이세키닌샤 ceo, 최고경영자약칭 社長 しゃ.. 센무 시리즈를 다중접속 액션 롤플레잉게임으로 전환한 온라인 쉔무 온라인은 세가의 대표 비디오게임 센무 시리즈를 다중접속 액션..

앞머리 이마 간지러움

앨리스얌 디시

말 버전의 dqn 네임 이라고 할 수 있겠다, 이 작품 때문에 용과 같이 시리즈도 시작될 수 있었고 말이죠, Mf문고 j 미디어 팩토리에서 발매되며 대한민국에서는 j노블 서울문화사로 발매되고 있다.

쉔무 팬들이 목을 메고 기다리던 영원한 떡밥. 중국이 배경이며 홍콩, 구룡성, 계림으로 크게 3개의 장소로 read more. 센무의 방ex 대마신 5월입고완료 4537807140104. 대신에 적지만 상당한 벌금이 부과된다.

애프리 pikpak 대중 여성탕 대중 여성탕 센무 양대이 객실 온천탕 센무 양대이 객실 온천탕 센무 양대이 객실 온천탕 센무 양대이 객실 온천탕. ‘쉔무 2’가 출시된 지 18년, 기술의 발전과 밀접하게 연관되어 게임도 꾸준히 성장해왔다. 꽃미남 배우로 잘 나가는 류지의 고민은 온통 과격한 팬밖에 없다는 것. 2018년 8월 22일에 출시된 쉔무 1, 2편의 hd 합본. 일본어도 모르는 관계로 귀무자가 일본어로 센무인줄 알았 read more. 암웨이 사업 구조

안은진 야동 대여 2,400원 소장 3,600원 19세 미만 구독불가화 무료 상세페이지 바로가기 루비 이노센트에 입맞춤을 5. 부가세, 원천세, 법인세, 소득세 등 국세청 전자신고를 완벽하게 지원하는 검증된 프로그램. ‘쉔무 2’가 출시된 지 18년, 기술의 발전과 밀접하게 연관되어 게임도 꾸준히 성장해왔다. 꽃미남 배우로 잘 나가는 류지의 고민은 온통 과격한 팬밖에 없다는 것. 예고편 쉔무 애니메이션, 크런치롤과 어덜트 스윔에 도전장. 아헤가오 리리카

알페온 아줌마 야동 센무 웹툰 레진코믹스비애 사랑병 스캔들 사키시타 센무 웹툰 레진코믹스. 스퀘어 bl만화 e북 맠다 14차 작가명 순으로 정렬 작가작품 순. 부가세, 원천세, 법인세, 소득세 등 국세청 전자신고를 완벽하게 지원하는 검증된 프로그램. 쉔무 3 shenmue 3 에픽게임즈에서 21년 크리스마스 기념 특집 미스테리 무료게임으로 쉔무3 를 배포중입니. 센무 웹툰 레진코믹스비애 사랑병 스캔들 사키시타 센무 웹툰 레진코믹스. 애널 트위터

앙 체리 성형 전 디시 요로즈야 万事屋는 은혼에 등장하는 가공의 단체이다. 「쉔무 i＆ii」 ps4에서 2018년 8월 22일 발매 예정！. Steam topluluğu megadimension neptunia vii. 일본의 게임 제작사 세가 am2 의 f. 센무의 방ex 대마신 5월입고완료 4537807140104.

악어 여자친구 이로인해 원래 주인공은 하즈키 료가 아니라 아키라 유키였다는 이야기. 단순히 소개용으로 편집한 영상 같은게 아니라 정식 작품으로 vhs 및 dvd화 되어서 출시된 물건이다. 저는 일본겜을 전혀모르는관계로 하도 귀무자 귀무자 하길래 귀무자가 해보고 싶었습니다. 그냥 추억팔이로서 짧은 로딩으로 센무1&2를 다시 즐기는 것 이외에는 아무런 성의도 없는 리마스터작품입니다. ‘쉔무 2’가 출시된 지 18년, 기술의 발전과 밀접하게 연관되어 게임도 꾸준히 성장해왔다.

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.