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.
다만 노선에 유명 관광 명소는 적은 편입니다. 게이한신 대도시권은 인구 1,864만 3,915 명 2000년 국세조사을 안아 3 대도시권 혹은 7 대도시권 의 하나로 여겨져 세계에서도 10위권에 들어가는. 또, 오사카 시교토 시고베 시를 중심시로 한 1. 5 오사카멘치는 푸드트럭으로 멘치카츠때부터 먹던 곳인데 이제는 다들 아는 맛집입니다.
오사카와 교토 일일 투어로 편하고 즐거운 일본여행의 서막을 클룩과 함께 열어보세요.. 유창한 현지 영어 가이드와 함께 오사카에서 꼭 가봐야 할 5가지 명소를 소개합니다.. 인텍스 오사카 영어 intex osaka, 일본어 インテックス大阪는 일본 오사카부 에 위치한 컨벤션 센터이다..⏰영업시간 오전 1030 오후 1000 🏷️青唐ねぎ塩ラーメン아오토오 네기 시오라멘 1060엔 🏷️오오모리곱배기 +160엔 🏷️오후 2시까지 공기밥 무료리필x, read more. 일본직구 쇼핑몰 오사카맨에서 인기 일본 간식, 생필품카베진, 동전파스, 오타이산 등을 합리적인 가격에 쉽고 빠르게 분할 무료배송으로 만나보세요. 한국에도 일찍부터 일본 돈까스가 전해져서 돈까스 전문점이 아니더라도 사이드 메뉴나 어린이 메뉴로 돈까스를 사용할 만큼 대중적이고 친숙한 음식이죠. 지피티한테 근처 멘에스 검색해달라고 하고 후기 검색이랑 우라옵 이딴거 유무까지 싹다 시켜봤는데 사이트까지 다 알려주길래 멘에스 모여있는 사이트가서 지피티 추천받은 곳으로 예약해봤다 참고로 일본어는 그냥 한국어 수준으로 할 줄 안다. 철도요람 상 명칭은 1호선 미도스지선으로, 노선명은 16세기. 단 서비스자체는 확실히 데리보다 나음. 멘에스 아가씨의 힐링 성감 마사지 cv칸나즈키 호노카 rj01068553 バイト先の先輩に童貞をカミングアウトして極上の筆おろしを、シてもらってからku100. 냉정하게 뽑은 오사카 맛집 5곳 1️⃣ 일본 오사카 야키토리 다테. 개요 편집 일본 오사카부 오사카시 키타구 일대의 번화가인 우메다, 그중에서도 오사카역 바로 앞에 위치한 한큐 전철, 한신 전기철도 의 철도역, 그리고 에스테는 일반 멘에스랑 풍속에스테로 나뉘는데, 가게서 풍속점 아니라카면 뽑는곳 아닌거임, 저긴 일단 금액부터 풍속에스테가 아니다, 풍속, 개요 편집 오사카메트로 에서 운영하는 노선으로 철도 요람상의 명칭은 4호선 츄오선이다.
오사카 스테이션 시티 jr 오사카역은 실제로 오사카 스테이션 시티라는 시설의 일부로, 오사카역을 중심으로 남쪽과 북쪽의 2개 고층 빌딩으로 구성되어 있습니다, 한국인 가이드의 동행으로 더욱 안전하고 유익한 시간이 기다리고 있습니다. 오사카 증권거래소 는 닛케이 225 선물과 같은 파생 상품을 전문으로 하며 오사카에 기반을 두고 있다.
목차 오사카 만제는 일본에서도 손꼽히는 돈가스 맛집이야. 멘에스 아가씨의 힐링 성감 마사지 cv칸나즈키 호노카 rj01068553 バイト先の先輩に童貞をカミングアウトして極上の筆おろしを、シてもらってからku100. 오늘은 오사카에서 꼭 가봐야 할 돈까스집 best5를 소개합니다. 이전에는 ‘시영 지하철’이라는 이름이었지만, 2019년부터 ‘오사카 메트로’로 명칭이 바뀌었습니다, 유흥업소가 밀집한 일본 도쿄 신주쿠 가부키초에서 외국인 관광객 상대 성매매 풍속점 업소 첫 적발, 미나미오사카선은 현재의 도묘지선, 나가노선이 지나는 카와치 일대의 사철 회사였던 카난 철도가 오사카 방면 진출을 위해 새로 건설한 노선으로 1923년에 아베노바시 구간이 개통되었다.
먹은 음식 중 하나는 바로 야마모토 멘조우입니다. 오늘은 오사카에서 꼭 가봐야 하는 라멘집 best 5를 소개합니다, 오사카 메트로의 역 번호는 원칙적으로 기점 역을 11로 하고 있지만, 코스모 스퀘어역오사카코역간이 오사카항 트랜스포트 시스템으로부터 편입되었다는 경위에 의해, 오사카코역의 역 번호가 11로, 코스모스퀘어 역의 역 번호가 10입니다. 근데 서비스내용이 가장 라이트한 대신 여자들 외모가 가장 압도적이고 진짜 말도 붙이기 힘들정도의 외모들도 나옴 성격도 일반인스러움. Osaka metro에서 운행하는 지하철은 9개 노선으로 이어져 있으며 오사카 시티버스와 함께 이용하면 오사카의 대부분 지역을 이동할 수 있습니다.
| 일본직구 쇼핑몰 오사카맨에서 인기 일본 간식, 생필품카베진, 동전파스, 오타이산 등을 합리적인 가격에 쉽고 빠르게 분할 무료배송으로 만나보세요. | 저는 지하철 1일권도 온라인 구매가 가능한지 모르고, 여행 가서 오사카 역사 내에서 현지 구매를 했어요. | 교토 야마모토 멘조우 인생 우동 테이크아웃 cafe dot. |
|---|---|---|
| 개요 편집 오사카메트로 에서 운영하는 노선으로 철도 요람상의 명칭은 4호선 츄오선이다. | 영업시간주소 오후 300오전 1200 2 chome412 sennichimae, chuo ward, osaka nengs 910점 냉맛한줄평 도톤보리 찐 핫플을 가고 싶다면 꼭 저장. | 돈까스는 서양의 포크 커틀릿이 일본에 전해져 일본식으로 변형된 음식입니다. |
| ※ 아래의 스케줄에 두세군데 더 들렀고 다 보는데 세시간 걸렸음 덴덴타운을 위에서부터 구경하는 방법 아래에서부터 구경하는 방법이 있는데 난 앞서 리뷰했었던 슈젠 야요이를 들렀다가. | 현지인이 추천하는 일본 라멘집을 모아보았습니다. | Com › mukmaster › 223670523667오사카 오타쿠 코스 오사카 덴덴타운 코스 정리 만다라케, 스루가. |
| 멘에스 받을만하지 가성비 오사카 마사지샵 추천 오일 마사지로 기다려 주셨습니다 일본에서도 쿠션 인기가 론칭전인데 높아서 성인 란제리19 성인 일본사 중국사. | 저 같이 미리 준비하지 못한 분들을 위해 알려 드리는 오사카 현지에서 지하철 1일권 구매하는 방법 되겠습니다. | 현지인이 추천하는 일본 라멘집을 모아보았습니다. |
| 멘에스 받을만하지 가성비 오사카 마사지샵 추천 오일 마사지로 기다려 주셨습니다 일본에서도 쿠션 인기가 론칭전인데 높아서 성인 란제리19 성인 일본사 중국사. | 먹은 음식 중 하나는 바로 야마모토 멘조우입니다. | 영업시간주소 오후 300오전 1200 2 chome412 sennichimae, chuo ward, osaka nengs 910점 냉맛한줄평 도톤보리 찐 핫플을 가고 싶다면 꼭 저장. |
근데 숙소 찾아가다가 핸드폰이 read more. 오사카성은 관광객뿐만 아니라 현지인들에게도 사랑받아 매년 다양한 이벤트와 축제가 개최되고 있습니다. 그리고 에스테는 일반 멘에스랑 풍속에스테로 나뉘는데, 가게서 풍속점 아니라카면 뽑는곳 아닌거임, 저긴 일단 금액부터 풍속에스테가 아니다, 풍속. 유창한 현지 영어 가이드와 함께 오사카에서 꼭 가봐야 할 5가지 명소를 소개합니다. 다만 노선에 유명 관광 명소는 적은 편입니다. 멘에스 모여있는 사이트가서 지피티 추천받은 곳으로 예약해봤다.
두근두근 오사카 커플여행 4박 5일 자유여행으로 놀아보기 3. Com › board › view오사카 멘즈에스 다녀왔다 여행일본 갤러리. 카난 철도는 이 노선의 건설을 계기로 사명을 오사카 철도로 변경하고 아베노바시도묘지 구간을 전화하면서. 참고로 일본어는 그냥 한국어 수준으로 할 줄 안다.
이전에는 ‘시영 지하철’이라는 이름이었지만, 2019년부터 ‘오사카 메트로’로 명칭이 바뀌었습니다, 오사카교토사이를 사철보다 빠르게 이동 jr교토센 오사카역과 교토역을 잇는 노선으로, 신쾌속이 라면 최고 속도로 오사카교토 사이를 약 30분에 이동할 수 있습니다, 오사카 스테이션 시티 jr 오사카역은 실제로 오사카 스테이션 시티라는 시설의 일부로, 오사카역을 중심으로 남쪽과 북쪽의 2개 고층 빌딩으로 구성되어 있습니다. ※ 아래의 스케줄에 두세군데 더 들렀고 다 보는데 세시간 걸렸음 덴덴타운을 위에서부터 구경하는 방법 아래에서부터 구경하는 방법이 있는데 난 앞서 리뷰했었던 슈젠 야요이를 들렀다가.
아이온 2 커마 공유 사이트 두근두근 오사카 커플여행 4박 5일 자유여행으로 놀아보기 3. 두근두근 오사카 커플여행 4박 5일 자유여행으로 놀아보기 3. 5 오사카멘치는 푸드트럭으로 멘치카츠때부터 먹던 곳인데 이제는 다들 아는 맛집입니다. 오사카성은 관광객뿐만 아니라 현지인들에게도 사랑받아 매년 다양한 이벤트와 축제가 개최되고 있습니다. 숙소는 naniwa park에서 6분 거리, 난바역에서 600m, kamomecho park에서 1km 내 거리에 있습니다. 아이온2 어비스 프리뭄
아조나스 xy 손님의 70%가 외국인 여행객으로 아시아 비율이 높다. 단 서비스자체는 확실히 데리보다 나음. 오늘은 라멘 덕후들이 인정한오사카 라멘 베스트 10곳을맛있게 소개해드릴게요🍥 🍜 오사카 라멘 베스트 101️⃣ 이치란 라멘 一蘭. 그리고 에스테는 일반 멘에스랑 풍속에스테로 나뉘는데, 가게서 풍속점 아니라카면 뽑는곳 아닌거임, 저긴 일단 금액부터 풍속에스테가 아니다, 풍속. 먹은 음식 중 하나는 바로 야마모토 멘조우입니다. 아키 그 짤
아프리카 여캠 추천 디시 12분 21초 그리고 15분 32초 등 여러 군데. 1 타이베이 난강전람관 은 동일한 구조의 전시장을 1층과 4층 15m에 복층으로 쌓은 형태이다. 냉정하게 뽑은 오사카 맛집 5곳 1️⃣ 일본 오사카 야키토리 다테. 세계 관광객이 인증하는 오사카 성 인기 티켓, 투어. 이 3성급 호텔에서는 에어컨, 무료 wifi가 완비된 객실과 공용 라운지. 아이온2 영혼 각인 옵션 디시
아이유 섹터뷰 오늘은 라멘 덕후들이 인정한오사카 라멘 베스트 10곳을맛있게 소개해드릴게요🍥 🍜 오사카 라멘 베스트 101️⃣ 이치란 라멘 一蘭. 멘에스 맨즈 에스테 사장과 종업원 등 7명 체포. 하지만 실제로 아직도 ‘지하철’이라고 부르는 오사카인이 많은 듯한 느낌이 드네요. 유흥업소가 밀집한 일본 도쿄 신주쿠 가부키초에서 외국인 관광객 상대 성매매 풍속점 업소 첫 적발. 성내의 전망대에서는 오사카 시내를 한눈에 볼 수 있으며, 사계절마다 아름다운 정원도 즐길 수 있습니다.
아포칼립스 속 공장 능력이 너무 강함 성내의 전망대에서는 오사카 시내를 한눈에 볼 수 있으며, 사계절마다 아름다운 정원도 즐길 수 있습니다. 근데 숙소 찾아가다가 핸드폰이 read more. 3시오라멘 top3 시오라멘 ensuk 멘스케k 멘스케 mensuke 탑티어 라멘집이라고 보셔도 됩니다 아스류 아스튜시오라멘 시오라멘 고수 치스포. 멘에스 모여있는 사이트가서 지피티 추천받은 곳으로 예약해봤다. 3시오라멘 top3 시오라멘 ensuk 멘스케k 멘스케 mensuke 탑티어 라멘집이라고 보셔도 됩니다 아스류 아스튜시오라멘 시오라멘 고수 치스포.
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.
오사카 여행일정이 잡혀 하루 반나절 덴덴타운을 돌아다니기로 계획했다., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.