US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 3, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 3, 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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 3, 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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 2026.
21712 nakatomamu, shimukappu, yufutsu district, hokkaido 0792204 일본 이 블로그의 체크인 이 장소의 다른 글 클럽메드토마무 훗카이도 삿포로 암웨이여행 리더쉽여행 암웨이리더쉽여행 논캐쉬어워드 클럽메드토마무리조트 토마무리조트 인천공항 대한항공. 드디어✨ 암웨이 본사에서 보내주는 리더쉽여행을 갑니당. 한국관광공사, 중국 대형 기업회의 1만4천명 유치 중국 암웨이 임직원, 한국에서 포상관광 진행 예정. 아침 일찍 일어나서 호텔 조식을 먹으러갔는데 암웨이 여행은 전세기에 김치를 갖고 온다는 얘기는 들었는데 정말 있더라구요 t_t 김치 좋아하는 저는 너무 좋았어요.
아침 일찍 일어나서 호텔 조식을 먹으러갔는데 암웨이 여행은 전세기에 김치를 갖고 온다는 얘기는 들었는데 정말 있더라구요 t_t 김치 좋아하는 저는 너무 좋았어요. Jinger on 암웨이여행 푸켓여행 비지니스성장 인천암웨이 부천암웨이 네트워크사업. 2024년 3월 15일19일까지 5일간 진행되었던 암웨이 리더십세미나 6차 가족보상여행 마지막날 영상입니다, 세계3대 스키장이 있는 삿뽀로 설원에서 스키를 타보겠다는 소원은. 티티엘뉴스 호주 퀸즐랜드주 북부에 위치한 도시 케언즈 cairns가 한국 암웨이 그룹 amway korea 암웨이코리아 인센티브 단체를 유치했다. 김종윤 기자 yoons35@ttlnews. 2020 회계연도 리더십 세미나의 또 다른 이름. 암웨이 보상 프로그램으로 떠난 삿뽀로 여행, 바로 암웨이사업의 미래와 비전 그리고 함께 하는 파트너였다는 진솔한 스토리가 마음을 울렸다, 2024년 3월 15일19일까지 5일간 진행되었던 암웨이 리더십세미나 6차 가족보상여행 마지막날 영상입니다.친절하고 멋진 스탭분들의 마지막날 토치. 관광공사에 따르면, 중국 암웨이의 기업회의는 임직원 단체 포상관광을 포함해 약 770억원 규모의 경제적 파급효과가 발생할 것으로 예상된다. 에메랄드 빛 푸켓 바다로 가족들과 함께 갑니다. 회사일도 바쁘고 정신도 없고 피곤해서 이번 여행 패스할까 하던 그때, Com › the_trip › 223719844508‘아바타’ 모티브 된 호주 케언즈, 암웨이 코리아 인센티브 목적지로.
서울열린뉴스통신 이재준 기자 한국 암웨이 그룹 amway korea이 2025 인센티브 여행의 목적지로 호주 퀸즐랜드주의 북동쪽에 위치한 ‘케언즈 cairns’를 선정했다, 지금까지 일본 여행 다녀본 지역 중에서 제일 조용하고 차분한 분위기였거든요 t_t, 암웨이 여행 도전 기회가 더 쉽게 되었습니다. 전문 사진작가님이 담아주신 나의 케언즈 순간들 암웨이비즈니스. 암웨이 6년 비전 보너스 30억과 해외여행 준비하기. Likes, 1 comments __jjkids__amway on decem 2024 푸꾸옥여행 암웨이여행 암웨이푸꾸옥 암웨이리더쉽여행 암웨이가족여행 푸꾸옥의아침 불편함이존재하지않는여행 with @imsanggi82.
디스커버리뉴스정기환 기자 호주 퀸즐랜드주 북부에 위치한 도시 케언즈 cairns가 한국 암웨이 그룹 amway korea의 2025 인센티브 여행 목적지로 선정되었다, 호주 퀸즐랜드주 북부에 위치한 도시 케언즈 cairns가 한국 암웨이 그룹 amway korea의 2025 인센티브 여행 목적지로 선정됐다, Day2 암웨이 보상여행 케언즈 웰컴디너 해밍웨이 브루어리불꽃놀이탑리더님과의 밤까지 최고의 순간. 2020 회계연도 리더십 세미나의 또 다른 이름. 270 likes, 2 comments han.
암웨이 6년 비전 보너스 30억과 해외여행 준비하기, Kr › news › articleview호주 케언즈, ‘암웨이 코리아’ 인센티브 단체 유치 트래블데일리, 2박 3일 일정 뉴욕출발 미국 미시간 amway 본사 투어. 에메랄드 빛 푸켓 바다로 가족들과 함께 갑니다, Kr › news › articleview호주 케언즈, ‘암웨이 코리아’ 인센티브 단체 유치 트래블데일리, 첫날 일정은 케언즈 공항에 도착하면 바로 로비로 이동해 짐을 맡기고 조식부터 편하게 즐기면 되었어요.
Day2 암웨이 보상여행 케언즈 웰컴디너 해밍웨이 브루어리불꽃놀이탑리더님과의 밤까지 최고의 순간.. 친절하고 멋진 스탭분들의 마지막날 토치..
암웨이 보상 프로그램으로 떠난 삿뽀로 여행. Kr › news › culture‘아바타’ 모티브 된 호주 케언즈, 암웨이 코리아 인센티브 목적지 선, 허핑턴 포스트 가 유명해지기 전에 꼭 가봐야 할 여행지 로 선정한 베트남의 몰디브, 서울열린뉴스통신 이재준 기자 한국 암웨이 그룹 amway korea이 2025 인센티브 여행의 목적지로 호주 퀸즐랜드주의 북동쪽에 위치한 케언즈.
Likes, 1 comments __jjkids__amway on decem 2024 푸꾸옥여행 암웨이여행 암웨이푸꾸옥 암웨이리더쉽여행 암웨이가족여행 푸꾸옥의아침 불편함이존재하지않는여행 with @imsanggi82. 전문 사진작가님이 담아주신 나의 케언즈 순간들 암웨이비즈니스. 김종윤 기자 yoons35@ttlnews, Day2 암웨이 보상여행 케언즈 웰컴디너 해밍웨이 브루어리불꽃놀이탑리더님과의 밤까지 최고의 순간.
21712 nakatomamu, shimukappu, yufutsu district, hokkaido 0792204 일본 이 블로그의 체크인 이 장소의 다른 글 클럽메드토마무 훗카이도 삿포로 암웨이여행 리더쉽여행 암웨이리더쉽여행 논캐쉬어워드 클럽메드토마무리조트 토마무리조트 인천공항 대한항공.. Com › daisykim1987 › 223108146570암웨이 가족여행 초대합니다..
라과디아 사파이어 라운지 이용비행기 놓친 썰 암웨이 평션 미국 암웨이. Tv › news › articleview한국 암웨이 그룹의 ‘2025 인센티브 여행 목적지’로 호주 케언즈 선정. Day2 암웨이 보상여행 케언즈 웰컴디너 해밍웨이 브루어리불꽃놀이탑리더님과의 밤까지 최고의 순간. 4살때부터 암웨이여행 함께다니는 친구들 ㅋㅋ 언제 이리커서 엄마들보다 키가 더 커졌네요 여행지오면 이리 반가운친구가 있으니 얼마나 좋은지 암웨이에서만난친구 엄마들도친구딸들도친구 ♀️ 여행때마다만나는천사들.
| 이때부터 마음이 풀리면서 ‘아 내가 보상여행 왔구나’ 실감이 나기 시작 하겠죠. | Com › daisykim1987 › 223108146570암웨이 가족여행 초대합니다. | 이번 기회에 미국 중서부 갔다왔습니다. | 한국 및 아시아 태평양 지역의 암웨이 그룹 약 2,700명이 2025년 11월 17일부터 12월 9일까지 총 6차례 걸쳐 케인즈를 방문하며 최소 3일. |
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| 요즘도 가끔 생각날 정도에요 존재하지 않는 이미지입니다. | Kr › news › culture‘아바타’ 모티브 된 호주 케언즈, 암웨이 코리아 인센티브 목적지 선. | Tv › news › articleview한국 암웨이 그룹의 ‘2025 인센티브 여행 목적지’로 호주 케언즈 선정. | 한국을 포함해 아시아 태평양 각지에서 2700여 명이 내년 11월 17일부터 12월 9일까지 총 6차례에 걸쳐 케언즈로 여행할 예정이다. |
| 바람도, 햇살도, 순간도 너무 완벽했던 암웨이 여행의 또 하나의. | Likes, 2 comments cooksister_cho on decem. | Com › daisykim1987 › 2240832664752025 암웨이 여행 케언즈 오리엔테이션 네이버 블로그. | 암웨이 여행 도전 기회가 더 쉽게 되었습니다. |
Likes, 1 comments __jjkids__amway on decem 2024 푸꾸옥여행 암웨이여행 암웨이푸꾸옥 암웨이리더쉽여행 암웨이가족여행 푸꾸옥의아침 불편함이존재하지않는여행 with @imsanggi82, 지금까지 일본 여행 다녀본 지역 중에서 제일 조용하고 차분한 분위기였거든요 t_t. 🌴 2025 암웨이 보상여행 ️ 안녕하세요 잘사는엄마 입니다, 암웨이는 여행 중 2023 시드니 다이아몬드 인비테이셔널.
성인용 틱톡 암웨이는 여행 중 2023 시드니 다이아몬드 인비테이셔널. 한국을 포함해 아시아 태평양 각지에서 약 2700명에 달하는 인원이 내년 11월 17일부터 12월 9일까지 총 6차례에 걸쳐 케언즈로 여행할 예정이다. 드디어✨ 암웨이 본사에서 보내주는 리더쉽여행을 갑니당. 김종윤 기자 yoons35@ttlnews. 친절하고 멋진 스탭분들의 마지막날 토치. 설윤 가슴 디시
상식개변 태그 티티엘뉴스 호주 퀸즐랜드주 북부에 위치한 도시 케언즈 cairns가 한국 암웨이 그룹 amway korea 암웨이코리아 인센티브 단체를 유치했다. 나는 매일매일이 설레는 여행이라 생각하는 사람이라서 오히려 여행이라는 의미가 크게 특별하지 않았다. 서울열린뉴스통신 이재준 기자 한국 암웨이 그룹 amway korea이 2025 인센티브 여행의 목적지로 호주 퀸즐랜드주의 북동쪽에 위치한 케언즈. Day2 암웨이 보상여행 케언즈 웰컴디너 해밍웨이 브루어리불꽃놀이탑리더님과의 밤까지 최고의 순간. Likes, 1 comments __jjkids__amway on decem 2024 푸꾸옥여행 암웨이여행 암웨이푸꾸옥 암웨이리더쉽여행 암웨이가족여행 푸꾸옥의아침 불편함이존재하지않는여행 with @imsanggi82. 설돌 마스크
성진 국 예능 다시보기 21712 nakatomamu, shimukappu, yufutsu district, hokkaido 0792204 일본 이 블로그의 체크인 이 장소의 다른 글 클럽메드토마무 훗카이도 삿포로 암웨이여행 리더쉽여행 암웨이리더쉽여행 논캐쉬어워드 클럽메드토마무리조트 토마무리조트 인천공항 대한항공. 김종윤 기자 yoons35@ttlnews. Kr › news › articleview암웨이 그룹 2,700명 인센티브 여행, 케언즈로 떠난다. Kr › news › culture‘아바타’ 모티브 된 호주 케언즈, 암웨이 코리아 인센티브 목적지 선. 에메랄드 빛 푸켓 바다로 가족들과 함께 갑니다. 성인배우 유미
설돌 10분 지난 주말 24년 양평 암웨이 세미나 다녀온 후기를 전합니다. Com › the_trip › 223719844508‘아바타’ 모티브 된 호주 케언즈, 암웨이 코리아 인센티브 목적지로. 호주 퀸즐랜드주 관광청은 이에 맞춰 캐세이퍼시픽과 파트너십을 맺고 케언즈 항공권과 여행상품 기획전을 노랑풍선, 롯데관광, 인터파크트리플, 참좋은여행, 한진관광 가나다 순과 함께 진행한다. Com › watch2023 리더십세미나 삿포로 암웨이 가족보상여행 6차 우리꼭 푸꾸옥. 2020 회계연도 리더십 세미나의 또 다른 이름.
산하의 여름 근황 바람도, 햇살도, 순간도 너무 완벽했던 암웨이 여행의 또 하나의. 암웨이 그룹 사업자 회원 약 2,700명은 한국을 포함한 아시아 태평양 각지에서 내년 11월17일부터 12월9일까지 총 6차례에 걸쳐 케언즈를 여행할 예정이며, 각 그룹은 최소 3일 이상을 케언즈에서 머무르며 현지 문화를 경험하는 시간을 갖게 된다. 서울열린뉴스통신 이재준 기자 한국 암웨이 그룹 amway korea이 2025 인센티브 여행의 목적지로 호주 퀸즐랜드주의 북동쪽에 위치한 ‘케언즈 cairns’를 선정했다. 한국 암웨이 그룹의 2025 인센티브 여행 목적지로 호주. 전문 사진작가님이 담아주신 나의 케언즈 순간들 암웨이비즈니스.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 3, 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 3, 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 3, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 3, 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.
213 url 복사 이웃추가 암웨이 사업을 진행하면서 암웨이 보상의 꽃이라는 여행을 도전하면 하와이를 파트너보내느라 놓치고 이후 삿뽀로 여행을 시작으로 암웨이여행을 가기 시작했다., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.