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.

식사류도 많아 1차로도 오기도 좋고 간단하게 2차로 오기 좋은 광안리 술집이였습니다. 핫플레이트에서 구운 육즙이 가득한 스테이크와 햄버거를 즐겨보세요. 저렇게 먹고 한화로 6만원정도 나왔어요 야시장 철판구이보다 식당이 좋다 하시면 ‘근래철판구이’ 추천할게요. 팔공노을철판구이 주말이 끝나가는 일요일 저녁진짜 뜬금없이 신랑이랑고기 이야기하다가철판구이 이야기하다가지인의 추천을 받아진짜진짜 갑자기아주 갑자기호다닥 다녀 온.

___스파이더걸___

내가 고른 코스가 그거일수도 다음에 또 오사카 방문한다면 가고싶음 부모님이랑 오사카 온다면 무조건 모시고 오고 싶음 스테이크 굽기도 완벽했음 모든 직원들이 친절했음 일본어는 안됐지만 번역기를 통해서 스몰토크도 하고 분위기도.. 사잔카 さざんか 철판구이 토라노몬 5..

자꾸 생각나는 복요리 맛집 오이도황궁복집.. 대구 월성동 맛집 신월성 이색 술집추천 이도철판구이 네이버 블로그 추천맛집카페 132개의 글 목록열기..

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대구 신천시장 철판구이맛집 이도철판구이 글사진joo블리 ️매일16000200 ️주차장있음 ️단체석완비당일예약가능 ️대구 수성구 범어천로 211, Com › rlatndus32 › 223442285211첨단 낙지철판구이 이은낙지 네이버 블로그. 자꾸 생각나는 복요리 맛집 오이도황궁복집. 물회, 우럭매운탕, 초밥, 회등 다양한 메뉴주문이 가능한 해남현지인맛집 황궁물회는 모임메뉴로 황궁세트가 딱인데요 다녀오신분의 경험에 의하면 4인기준 세트 중이면 충분하다하셔서 황궁세트 중2과 우럭매운탕1을 주문했어요.

레스토랑에서는 최고의 와규 wagyu 쇠고기를 제공합니다, 구미 송정동 복개천 돼지갈비 맛집 하늘산 참숯구이 ⏰ 16002400 화요일 휴무 ☎️ 0544427792 복개천 돼지갈비 맛집 고기도 맛있고 사장님도 친절하고 메뉴 구성도 너무 좋은 식당이에요 샐러드 맛집 입맛을 돋워줘요 육회 물회예요, Com › rlatndus32 › 223442285211첨단 낙지철판구이 이은낙지 네이버 블로그. 팔공노을철판구이 주말이 끝나가는 일요일 저녁진짜 뜬금없이 신랑이랑고기 이야기하다가철판구이 이야기하다가지인의 추천을 받아진짜진짜 갑자기아주 갑자기호다닥 다녀 온.

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수원역 노포 돼지부속구이 역전철판구이 솔직후기 네이버 블로그 양박사 맛집 89개의 글 목록열기, 상세보기 히 바치 레스토랑 스타일의 요리는 철판에서 조리되므로 철판 구이입니다, 미국에서는 주로 일본식 철판구이 조리술을 배워 온 대만계 미국인 들이 철판구이 식당을 많이 시작했다. ・다양한 철판구이 요리와 a4등급 교토 탄바소고기를 즐겨. 동래에 새로운 삼겹살 맛집이 생겼다고 해서 찾아가 보았습니다. 이 곳의 철판구이는 뷔페 형식으로 자기가 원하는 재료를 고르면 그걸로 볶아준다.

メンズブラジリアンワックス脱毛中にちんぽピクピクさせてそのまま誤爆射精w【cfnm】

2026년 만주국 황궁 박물관 추천 어트랙션 1월 업데이트, 미국에서는 주로 일본식 철판구이 조리술을 배워 온 대만계 미국인 들이 철판구이 식당을 많이 시작했다, 오리주물럭 판매하시기 전에는 오리꼬치를 판매하던 곳입니다, ️카렌 롯데백화점 동탄점 메뉴 육류 치킨, 부채살, 소갈비살, 통삼겹, 김치삼겹 해산물 갈치, 연어, 왕새우관자, 고등어, 흰살생선 사이드 대만철판계란, 새송이버섯, 토마토계란, 갑오징어 세트 메뉴, 혼맥 세트 메뉴가 있으며 단품 메뉴 추가됨 베스트 메뉴는 밑줄친 소갈비살 정식과 갈치 정식.

つばさ myfans pikpak 참고로 담날에 예스폭지 투어 갔는데 가이드님도 추천하신 곳이랍니다 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. 동래에 새로운 삼겹살 맛집이 생겼다고 해서 찾아가 보았습니다. 부산 광안리 철판구이 꽃게구이 볶는집 부산 수영구 남천바다로33번길 105 1층 2 금련산역 1번 출구에서 75. 자꾸 생각나는 복요리 맛집 오이도황궁복집. 저렇게 먹고 한화로 6만원정도 나왔어요 야시장 철판구이보다 식당이 좋다 하시면 ‘근래철판구이’ 추천할게요. устранение неполадок bonds by iqos

ㄱㅂ 은꼴 Xex 도쿄 철판구이 안은 눈앞에서 펼쳐지는 장인의 기술과 함께 극상의 철판구이를 만끽할 수 있는 장소입니다. 제주도서귀포맛집 현지인 소개 장작 흑돼지 철판구이 한길정 네이버 블로그 맛집 60개의 글 목록열기. 고독한 미식가 맛집투어 – 오코노미야키 히로키 hiroki. 도쿄역과 직접 연결된 13층 다이마루 도쿄 빌딩의 최상층에 위치한 xex tokyo는 점심과 저녁에 문을 여는 친밀하고 고급스러운 철판구이 경험을 제공. 팔공노을철판구이 운영 시간 11002200 노을이 예쁘고, 화려한 불쇼를 볼 수 있다고 소문난 대구 팔공산. エロ動画 urao2sei

_072q simpcity 신현동부대찌게배달 가정동부대찌게배달 가정동놀부부대찌게 인천서구놀부부대찌게 가정동부대찌게맛집 가정동부대찌게포장 가정동철판구이맛집 가정동철판구이추천 가정동부대찌게추천 가정동쭈꾸미철판구이 댓글 2 인쇄. 2대를 이은 백년가게 낙지철판구이 맛집 이은낙지 📍 광주 광산구 첨단중앙로152번길 8115 1층 ⏰매일 1110 2230 연중무휴, 브레이크타임 없음 📞 050713998892. 신현동부대찌게배달 가정동부대찌게배달 가정동놀부부대찌게 인천서구놀부부대찌게 가정동부대찌게맛집 가정동부대찌게포장 가정동철판구이맛집 가정동철판구이추천 가정동부대찌게추천 가정동쭈꾸미철판구이 댓글 2 인쇄. 오늘 소개할 곳은이제막 포스팅을 쓰기시작했지만음식집 이름만 적었는데당장 또 가고싶은철판구이맛집입니다. 이 곳의 철판구이는 뷔페 형식으로 자기가 원하는 재료를 고르면 그걸로 볶아준다. หลุดxgina

ㄸㄱ 월드컵 팔공노을철판구이 운영 시간 11002200 노을이 예쁘고, 화려한 불쇼를 볼 수 있다고 소문난 대구 팔공산. 도쿄역과 직접 연결된 13층 다이마루 도쿄 빌딩의 최상층에 위치한 xex tokyo는 점심과 저녁에 문을 여는 친밀하고 고급스러운 철판구이 경험을 제공. 식사류도 많아 1차로도 오기도 좋고 간단하게 2차로 오기 좋은 광안리 술집이였습니다. 헌데 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ요게 4인분양이라 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 사이드를 많이 먹어야겠다 생각함 ㅋㅋ 행주산성은 회사. 부산 명지에서 이미 유명한 그날이후불타는삼겹살입니다.

yuni park erome 오늘 소개할 곳은이제막 포스팅을 쓰기시작했지만음식집 이름만 적었는데당장 또 가고싶은철판구이맛집입니다. 교토 황궁 지역 철판구이 hamburg labo premium（hamburg labo premium 堺町六角） 좌석 예약 전용. 나는 대만이 처음이었는데 이렇게 일본을 좋아하는 나라인줄 몰랐고 시먼딩이라고 우리나라 명동 같은 곳이라 했는데 무슨 애니가 저렇게 많은 오타쿠 일본 같아서 당황 근래철판구이는 대만 카페에서 추천받았움. 나는 대만이 처음이었는데 이렇게 일본을 좋아하는 나라인줄 몰랐고 시먼딩이라고 우리나라 명동 같은 곳이라 했는데 무슨 애니가 저렇게 많은 오타쿠 일본 같아서 당황 근래철판구이는 대만 카페에서 추천받았움. ️카렌 롯데백화점 동탄점 메뉴 육류 치킨, 부채살, 소갈비살, 통삼겹, 김치삼겹 해산물 갈치, 연어, 왕새우관자, 고등어, 흰살생선 사이드 대만철판계란, 새송이버섯, 토마토계란, 갑오징어 세트 메뉴, 혼맥 세트 메뉴가 있으며 단품 메뉴 추가됨 베스트 메뉴는 밑줄친 소갈비살 정식과 갈치 정식.

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.