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.
Followers, 36 following, 0 posts 쿠치 @cooc_h_167 on. 세븐일레븐 results on x live posts & updates. @cooc_h_ 인스타 말고 트위터도 좌표찍히셧나요 하루에. 트위터 쿠치 부계, 다음 등을 비교했을 때 낯설고 검색 자체가 불편할 수가 있는데요.
좋아요 301개,습헌집압 @sphungibab 님의 tiktok 틱톡 동영상 트위터에서 볼만한 추천 계정과 이름 바꾸는 법을 알려드립니다, 스팸 트위터에서 정지 조치를 내리는 계정은 대부분 스팸을 유포하거나 단순히 가짜 계정이기 때문이며, 이러한 계정은 트위터와 쿠치 부계 사용자 모두. 전 트위터 쿠치 현 인스타 써 사진 +108 02. Followers, 36 following, 0 posts 쿠치 @cooc_h_167 on, Explore trending storiesgo to homesearch xnews.| 최신 정보를 갱신하고 있으나, 실제 운행 상황과는 다를 경우가 있습니다. | 쿠치h @_cooc_h_h posts and replies x. | Com › kkkm0692 › statustwitter. | 쿠치h @_cooc_h_h posts and replies x. |
| 그럼 마이크로소프트 엣지 edge 시작페이지 설정하는 방법에 대해서 자세히 알아보도록 하겠습니다. | 격 카와 & 굉장한 테크 미녀 이시카와 미오가 당신을 치유의 낙원에 초대합니다. | Explore trending storiesgo to homesearch xnews. | @cooc_h_ 인스타 말고 트위터도 좌표찍히셧나요 하루에 팔로워 천명씩 느는데. |
| 와 탐라에서 자주 보여서 사봤는데 진짜 진짜 맛있네요 추천해주신 맛잘알 아이돌 시온님 감사합니다 아이스 고구마 탕후루 느낌이에요. | 🧡 쿠키런 공식 계정 cookierun official account. | 이제 메뉴에서 아래로 내려가 설정을 클릭해 주세요. | 이벤트 트윗 리트윗 ✓ 기간 1114월 1119토. |
| Followers, 36 following, 0 posts 쿠치 @cooc_h_167 on. | 우선은 달콤한 타액이 섞인 구치 우울증으로 미약을 투여. | Com › 183트위터 쿠치 계정 almerischefs. |
4640 트위터 쿠치@cooc_h_ 트위터 모음 호불호 없는 씹상타치 몸매뒤짐 korean 텔레 ube892. 그럼 마이크로소프트 엣지 edge 시작페이지 설정하는 방법에 대해서 자세히 알아보도록 하겠습니다. 전 트위터 쿠치 현 인스타 써 사진 +108 02. 이벤트 트윗 리트윗 ✓ 기간 1114월 1119토. @cooc_h_ 인스타 말고 트위터도 좌표찍히셧나요 하루에, Likes, tiktok video from @alpha679t.
쿠치후루 트위터 아이디는 쿠치후루라는 주제로 진행된 감동적인 모험과 함께 독특한 일러스트를 탐구할 수 있는 콘텐츠 허브입니다, 와 탐라에서 자주 보여서 사봤는데 진짜 진짜 맛있네요 추천해주신 맛잘알 아이돌 시온님 감사합니다 아이스 고구마 탕후루 느낌이에요, Com › 183트위터 쿠치 계정 almerischefs.
이후, 5만 팔로워의 부계를 생성했지만, 구글의.. 트위터 쿠치 부계, 다음 등을 비교했을 때 낯설고 검색 자체가 불편할 수가 있는데요.. 쿠치h @_cooc_h_h posts and replies hhh x formerly twitter 공식 계정 팔로우 2..
Osaka metro 부라리 워크공식는 여기 ☆osaka metro 운행정보 osaka metro의 공식 계정입니다. 트위터 쿠치 부계, 다음 등을 비교했을 때 낯설고 검색 자체가 불편할 수가 있는데요. 격 카와 & 굉장한 테크 미녀 이시카와 미오가 당신을 치유의 낙원에 초대합니다. 스팸 트위터에서 정지 조치를 내리는 계정은 대부분 스팸을 유포하거나 단순히 가짜 계정이기 때문이며, 이러한 계정은 트위터와 쿠치 부계 사용자 모두에게 보안 위협을 초래합니다, 쿠치 @doll_cuchi posts x, Com › rlawhdgusdmstwitter.
Com › kkkm0692 › statustwitter, 마이크로스프트 엣지 트위터 쿠치 부계 사용하게 되면 처음 검색엔진인 빙 bing 으로 검색이 되어 그전부터 사용했던 크롬이나, Likes, tiktok video from @alpha679t, 이제 메뉴에서 아래로 내려가 설정을 클릭해 주세요, 스팸 트위터에서 정지 조치를 내리는 계정은 대부분 스팸을 유포하거나 단순히 가짜 계정이기 때문이며, 이러한 계정은 트위터와 쿠치 부계 사용자 모두, Com › rlawhdgusdmstwitter.
좋아요 301개,습헌집압 @sphungibab 님의 tiktok 틱톡 동영상 트위터에서 볼만한 추천 계정과 이름 바꾸는 법을 알려드립니다. @cooc_h_ 인스타 말고 트위터도 좌표찍히셧나요 하루에 팔로워 천명씩 느는데, Com › 12쿠치 부계 lockpuboorda.
우선은 달콤한 타액이 섞인 구치 우울증으로 미약을 투여.. 세븐일레븐 results on x live posts & updates..
124k followers, 20 following, 1,141 posts 용감한 쿠키 𝗚𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿𝗕𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲 @gingerbrave_dev on instagram 세상에서 가장 용감한 쿠키가 나라쿠👊 𝗜𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗖𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱. 스팸 트위터에서 정지 조치를 내리는 계정은 대부분 스팸을 유포하거나 단순히 가짜 계정이기 때문이며, 이러한 계정은 트위터와 쿠치 부계 사용자 모두에게 보안 위협을, 🧡 쿠키런 공식 계정 cookierun official account, Mida497 비키니 차림으로 밀착 이차기메. 세븐일레븐 results on x live posts & updates.
4640 트위터 쿠치@cooc_h_ 트위터 모음 호불호 없는 씹상타치 몸매뒤짐 korean 텔레 ube892. 스팸 트위터에서 정지 조치를 내리는 계정은 대부분 스팸을 유포하거나 단순히 가짜 계정이기 때문이며, 이러한 계정은 트위터와 쿠치 부계 사용자 모두에게 보안 위협을, 마이크로스프트 엣지 트위터 쿠치 부계 사용하게 되면 처음 검색엔진인 빙 bing 으로 검색이 되어 그전부터 사용했던 크롬이나. 쿠치후루 트위터 아이디는 쿠치후루라는 주제로 진행된 감동적인 모험과 함께 독특한 일러스트를 탐구할 수 있는 콘텐츠 허브입니다. 트위터 마이너 갤러리에서 활동하던 인원들이 개설한 갤러리이다.
개존나 엄선한 트위터 꿀팁 계정 바로가기 sgldjgkxm. 쿠치 @doll_cuchi posts x, Mida497 비키니 차림으로 밀착 이차기메, 124k followers, 20 following, 1,141 posts 용감한 쿠키 𝗚𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿𝗕𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲 @gingerbrave_dev on instagram 세상에서 가장 용감한 쿠키가 나라쿠👊 𝗜𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗖𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱, 이후, 5만 팔로워의 부계를 생성했지만, 구글의.
@cooc_h_ 인스타 말고 트위터도 좌표찍히셧나요 하루에. 최신 정보를 갱신하고 있으나, 실제 운행 상황과는 다를 경우가 있습니다. 계정 명칭 @osakatransport 계정 url s.
min_j_k003 nude Com › rlawhdgusdmstwitter. 최신 정보를 갱신하고 있으나, 실제 운행 상황과는 다를 경우가 있습니다. @cooc_h_ 인스타 말고 트위터도 좌표찍히셧나요 하루에. Explore trending storiesgo to homesearch xnews. 스팸 트위터에서 정지 조치를 내리는 계정은 대부분 스팸을 유포하거나 단순히 가짜 계정이기 때문이며, 이러한 계정은 트위터와 쿠치 부계 사용자 모두에게 보안 위협을. missav reze
mina onlyfans 124k followers, 20 following, 1,141 posts 용감한 쿠키 𝗚𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿𝗕𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲 @gingerbrave_dev on instagram 세상에서 가장 용감한 쿠키가 나라쿠👊 𝗜𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗖𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱. Com › rlawhdgusdmstwitter. 124k followers, 20 following, 1,141 posts 용감한 쿠키 𝗚𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿𝗕𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲 @gingerbrave_dev on instagram 세상에서 가장 용감한 쿠키가 나라쿠👊 𝗜𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗖𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱. 124k followers, 20 following, 1,141 posts 용감한 쿠키 𝗚𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿𝗕𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲 @gingerbrave_dev on instagram 세상에서 가장 용감한 쿠키가 나라쿠👊 𝗜𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗖𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱. @cooc_h_ 인스타 말고 트위터도 좌표찍히셧나요 하루에 팔로워 천명씩 느는데. nacr 986
missav 렉 쿠치 @doll_cuchi posts x. 124k followers, 20 following, 1,141 posts 용감한 쿠키 𝗚𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿𝗕𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲 @gingerbrave_dev on instagram 세상에서 가장 용감한 쿠키가 나라쿠👊 𝗜𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗖𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱. Com › 183트위터 쿠치 계정 almerischefs. 스팸 트위터에서 정지 조치를 내리는 계정은 대부분 스팸을 유포하거나 단순히 가짜 계정이기 때문이며, 이러한 계정은 트위터와 쿠치 부계 사용자 모두. 🧡 쿠키런 공식 계정 cookierun official account. missaav.ws
moral hitomi 우선은 달콤한 타액이 섞인 구치 우울증으로 미약을 투여. 그럼 마이크로소프트 엣지 edge 시작페이지 설정하는 방법에 대해서 자세히 알아보도록 하겠습니다. Com › kkkm0692 › statustwitter. @cooc_h_ 인스타 말고 트위터도 좌표찍히셧나요 하루에. Explore trending storiesgo to homesearch xnews.
naish 구독 마이크로스프트 엣지 트위터 쿠치 부계 사용하게 되면 처음 검색엔진인 빙 bing 으로 검색이 되어 그전부터 사용했던 크롬이나. 그럼 마이크로소프트 엣지 edge 시작페이지 설정하는 방법에 대해서 자세히 알아보도록 하겠습니다. 세븐일레븐 results on x live posts & updates. Com › kkkm0692 › statustwitter. 쿠치후루 트위터 아이디는 쿠치후루라는 주제로 진행된 감동적인 모험과 함께 독특한 일러스트를 탐구할 수 있는 콘텐츠 허브입니다.
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.
전 트위터 쿠치 현 인스타 써 사진 +108 02., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.