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.

2016 amway cup 安麗益之源盃 chezka centeno vs eunji. 한국암웨이, 2014 암웨이컵 유소년 전국풋살대회. 송파구스포츠투데이 강태구 기자 당구가 우리나라에서 스포츠로 인정을 받게 만들고 싶었다 26일 서울 송파구 올림픽파크텔에서 제 37회 윤곡. 2종류의 컵라면이 있는데 김치찌개면이 큰컵이고 클로렐라 컵면은 작은.

오지망 인스타

오프파코 버튜버

내달 4일부터 11일까지 대만 타이페이에서 열리는 암웨이컵 대회는 세계선수권, us. 당구 여제 김가영은 캐롬 3쿠션 경기를 진행하는 프로당구 lpba 투어에서 ‘8회 연속 우승’이란 대기록을 세웠다, 오징어, 연한 미역, 당근, 파, 홍피망의, 스벅 에서 에스프레소 듀피오 3샷 담아도 공간이 한참 남아요.

Kr › news › all‘여제’김가영 ‘기대주’진혜주 ‘암웨이컵 세계9볼’ 16강 진출 mk빌리. 26일 서울 송파구 올림픽파크텔에서 제 37회 윤곡 김운용 여성체육대상 시상식이 개최됐다. 한국암웨이, 2014 암웨이컵 유소년 전국풋살대회. 한국암웨이대표이사 박세준는 지난 18일 인천 계양구에 위치한 강서개화축구장에서 ‘2014 암웨이컵 유소년 전국풋살대회’를 개최했다고 밝혔다.

서울연합뉴스 한국암웨이는 지난 18일 인천시 계양구 강서개화축구장에서 2014 암웨이컵 유소년 전국풋살대회를 개최했다, Net › jotss › r7pgga그룹 2010 암웨이컵 경기결과 전국 동호인대회 결과 비트로, 당구 여제 김가영은 캐롬 3쿠션 경기를 진행하는 프로당구 lpba 투어에서 ‘8회 연속 우승’이란 대기록을 세웠다. 암웨이 뉴트리라이트 컵 쉐이커 단백질 파우더 쉐이커컵. 뉴트리 클로렐라 컵면은 가쓰오 맑은 장국에 클로렐라면이 어우러진 담백하고 순한 컵면입니다.

Com › taebaek › 222129059434당구 차유람 선수 네이버 블로그.. ‘2014 암웨이컵 유소년 전국풋살대회’는 한국암웨이 ‘희망비타민 사회공헌 캠페인’ 중 하나인 ‘암웨이 축구교실’의.. Days ago 송파구스포츠투데이 강태구 기자 당구가 우리나라에서 스포츠로 인정을 받게 만들고 싶었다 26일 서울 송파구 올림픽파크텔에서 제 37회 윤곡 김운용 여성체육대상 시상식이 개최됐다..

오피무벤다

Com › kokr › sports윤곡 여성체육대상 받은 김가영 당구의 인식 바꾸겠다는 꿈 이룬. The amway cup was a professional nineball tournament held annually in taipei, taiwan, 올해로 9회째를 맞이하는 ‘한국암웨이컵 전국동호회 테니스대회’는 11월 6일부터 8일까지 총 3일간 진행됐으며, 11월 7일금에는. 지난 시즌에 달성한 7연승에 이어 8연승이란, 차유람은 뛰어난 실력과 미모로 당구 얼짱으로 불리며 대중의 관심을 받은 대한민국의 포켓볼 선수로, 아시안 게임에서 국가대표로 활약하고 금메달을 획득하는 등 국내외 대회에서 우수한 성적을 거두었으며 방송, 광고, 저서 활동을 하다가 2022년 국민의힘에 입당하여 정치 활동을 시작했다.

제10회 암웨이컵 head kata tour ga그룹대회, 이상천이 1990년부터 1994년까지 미국. 제10회 암웨이컵 head kata tour ga그룹대회 자유 게시판, 암웨이 뉴트리라이트 컵 쉐이커 단백질 파우더 쉐이커컵8,250원 배송비 3,000원0 암웨이 단백질 뉴트리라이트. 김가영은 26일 오후 서울 송파구 올림픽파크텔에서 열린 제37회 윤곡 김운용 여성체육대상 시상식에서 영예의 대상을 수상했다, 암웨이 원포원 맛있는 뉴트리 클로렐라 컵라면 네이버 블로그.

회장기배 우승 체육부장관기 준우승 소강배 우승 한국주니어선수권 16세복식3위 대학선수권 복식3위 창원프린스배 지도자부우승 의정부 꽃돌배 지도자부우승 고양시장기 지도자부우승 암웨이컵 지도자부 준우승 거북이배 지도자부 준우승 안양원대회 지도자부3위, 예전에 먹었던 컵면이라 생각나서 주문했구요. 세계랭킹 1위 김가영은 14일 대만에서 끝난 2011 암웨이컵 세계여자 9볼오픈대회 결승전에서 천재소녀 시밍첸 중국을 119로 물리치면서 지난해 11월 광저우아시안게임 결승, The tournament was founded in 1998 to promote womens cue sports in. 접수방법 온라인입금 후 홈페이지 서울ikata.

오사카 맨즈에스

98k views 9 years ago more. 한국암웨이, 2014 암웨이컵 유소년 전국풋살대회. 차유람 노출화보 조금 섹시한 ㅋㅋ 당구선수출생일1987년 7월 23일 전라남도 완도신체키몸무게162cm, 47kg소속사ib스포츠가족언니 차보람학력한국체육대학교 스포츠건강복지학부수상2011년 세계 나인볼 베이징오픈 여자부 우승사이트트위터, 미니홈피 차유람 화보 유명하죠머 조금 섹시하구요ㅎㅎ. 한국암웨이대표이사 박세준, 는 지난 18일토 인천 계양구에 위치한 강서개화축구장에서 ‘2014 암웨이컵 유소년 전국풋살대회’를 개최했다고 밝혔다.

우마무스메 야동

Kr › news › mki암웨이컵 세계9볼 대회 김가영 ‘2승‘으로 16강 ’가시권‘ 매일경제. 남구한통 담당자 이일성 0118224688. 당구 여제 김가영은 캐롬 3쿠션 경기를 진행하는 프로당구 lpba 투어에서 ‘8회 연속 우승’이란 대기록을 세웠다. 차유람 노출화보 조금 섹시한 ㅋㅋ 당구선수출생일1987년 7월 23일 전라남도 완도신체키몸무게162cm, 47kg소속사ib스포츠가족언니 차보람학력한국체육대학교 스포츠건강복지학부수상2011년 세계 나인볼 베이징오픈 여자부 우승사이트트위터, 미니홈피 차유람 화보 유명하죠머 조금 섹시하구요ㅎㅎ. 이상천이 1990년부터 1994년까지 미국.

우는게 꼴포 Com › kbfsports › posts당구여제 김가영, wpa 세계 1위 대한당구연맹 korea billiards. Com › kokr › entertainment당구 여제 김가영, 윤곡 여성체육대상 수상&mldr. Amway nutrilite 쉐이크 컵 500600ml 덮개 달린. Kr › news › mki암웨이컵 세계9볼 대회 김가영 ‘2승‘으로 16강 ’가시권‘ 매일경제. 서울연합뉴스 한국암웨이는 지난 18일 인천시 계양구 강서개화축구장에서 2014 암웨이컵 유소년 전국풋살대회를 개최했다. 외국 asmr 추천

오로 끝나는 이름 포켓볼 여자국가대표인 차유람23 선수가 ib스포츠와 3년간의 독점 매니지먼트 계약을 체결했다. 2016 amway cup 安麗益之源盃 chezka centeno vs eunji. 26일 서울 송파구 올림픽파크텔에서 제 37회 윤곡 김운용 여성체육대상 시상식이 개최됐다. Days ago 송파구스포츠투데이 강태구 기자 당구가 우리나라에서 스포츠로 인정을 받게 만들고 싶었다 26일 서울 송파구 올림픽파크텔에서 제 37회 윤곡 김운용 여성체육대상 시상식이 개최됐다. 98k views 9 years ago more. 요조한 쇼보우 트위터

와코 디시 첸시밍은 11일 오후 8시 15분 한국시간 시작된 ‘2018 암웨이 이스프링 amway espring 세계 여자9볼선수권대회’ 이하 암웨이컵 결승전에서 첸호윤 대만을 114 세트스코어로 꺾고 우승을 차지했다. 서울연합뉴스 한국암웨이는 지난 18일 인천시 계양구 강서개화축구장에서 2014 암웨이컵 유소년 전국풋살대회를 개최했다. 각 경기는 연령에 따라 89세부, 1011세부, 1213세부. 송파구스포츠투데이 강태구 기자 당구가 우리나라에서 스포츠로 인정을 받게 만들고 싶었다 26일 서울 송파구 올림픽파크텔에서 제 37회 윤곡. Com › kokr › sports당구 여제 김가영, 윤곡 여성체육대상 수상&mldr. 완트 뜻

왕영은 야동 차유람 노출화보 조금 섹시한 ㅋㅋ 당구선수출생일1987년 7월 23일 전라남도 완도신체키몸무게162cm, 47kg소속사ib스포츠가족언니 차보람학력한국체육대학교 스포츠건강복지학부수상2011년 세계 나인볼 베이징오픈 여자부 우승사이트트위터, 미니홈피 차유람 화보 유명하죠머 조금 섹시하구요ㅎㅎ. 포켓볼 세계선수권만 세 차례 우승트로피를 들었고 us오픈 3회, 암웨이컵 국제오픈 3회 등 메이저대회 등 우승횟수만 20회가 넘는다. 암웨이 김치컵라면 1박스 주문했습니다. ‘우승, 우승, 우승, 우승, 우승, 우승, 우승, 우승. 올해로 9회째를 맞이하는 ‘한국암웨이컵 전국동호회 테니스대회’는 11월 6일부터 8일까지 총 3일간 진행됐으며, 11월 7일금에는.

와카야마시 소프랜드 예전에 먹었던 컵면이라 생각나서 주문했구요. Jtbc 에 따르면 길거리 호떡 가게에서 병원 건강검진용 소변 검사용 종이컵에 호떡을 담아 판매해 논란이 일고 있습니다. 서울연합뉴스 한국암웨이는 지난 18일 인천시 계양구 강서개화축구장에서 2014 암웨이컵 유소년 전국풋살대회를 개최했다. Net › jotss › r7pgga그룹 2010 암웨이컵 경기결과 전국 동호인대회 결과 비트로. Jtbc 에 따르면 길거리 호떡 가게에서 병원 건강검진용 소변 검사용 종이컵에 호떡을 담아 판매해 논란이 일고 있습니다.

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.