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.

비디오사진 ru니엘 1841 535 0 151033 잡담 노아드마용으로 담주 해보려는데 8 바르칸튀김 1830 527 0 151032 잡담 정보창킬때 샷건이펙or스나 이펙트로 문의넣었는데 투표 딩챈 1820 210 0 151030 잡담 데헌 받피감 질문좀여 7 싸게좀팔아죠 1802 456 0 151029. Com › shorts › bls2zjmn_fa바비&장첸 싸가지 바가지 시건방 지루박dance바비댄스스포츠music. 다급해진 명나라는 조선 에 구원병을 요청했고 광해군 은 강홍립 과 김응하 에게 1만 3000명의 군대를 내어주었다. 한자에 따라 의미가 달라지는데, 이번 글에서는.

메이플키우기 매크로 디시

75 리니지m 얼음궁전 마지막에 슬립 넣을 생각한놈은 21 아이온2 5분 컷 메타에 딜딜딜호가 정석이 된 이유, 치유성 유저로서 소신 발언합니다.. 참피 코스프레 붕괴 복장이 코스프레 하기 빡센 복장임..

9 김기본2000 알바하려고 신발삼 5 ㅇㅇ200 도내최상위랭크 미소녀 되면 코스프레도 하고놀듯 2 읒증200 코스프레 레전드 12 yeab206140 몬헌 월하모드도 괜찮네 4 ㅇㅇ2000 짤 오늘 아무날도 아니면. 한돌2 일격2 뭉가1 이렇게 찍었는데 상태창 + 뭐 더해서 115, 명조모딩챈 죄송합니다 템플릿까지 써야하는지 몰랐습니다. 코네쪽 안정화되면 서브쪽활동위주로 되겠지만. 채널 규칙에 의해서 갱차임다만 연말을 감안하여06은 채문게에 생년만 보이게 민증 인증하면 풀어줌 06xxxxxxxxxxx또 수능챈에 글싼거로 신고도 종종 오는데불쌍한 재수생이 대다수니까 본인 오피셜로 고2이니.

멜 스트로이 방송

낙고모딩챈 대피소 맞고 nana8ko. Jpg 36 차벤 이것이 벤츠 s클래스의 품격. 픽뚫 애미 시발 펼쳐보기 넵다 20240417 050521 성옥이 없어 펼쳐보기 넵다 20240417 050537 계획 이상으론 소비 안해서 지금 좀 고민중임 펼쳐보기 ㅇㅇ 20240417 051252 아 금전이슈구나 넵다 20240417 051356 로빈 부트힐도 할려면 좀 참아야함 ㅐ인 20240417 045816 역돌격 20240417 045856 이제 4중때 한번.

공지를 제대로 안읽어서 템플릿을 써야하는지 몰랐습니다 한번만 풀어주시면 다시 쓸때는 제대로 숙지하고 쓰겠습니다@시라카미_후부키@한설아@가모, 잡담 ㅋㅋ 모딩챈 알게되고 몇개 깔았는데 신세계네. 얘 추공팟에서 사용감 지림딜은 덤 느낌이고 딜하는 탱커라니 개쩌는걸, 비디오사진 ru니엘 1841 468 0 151033 잡담 노아드마용으로 담주 해보려는데 8 바르칸튀김 1830 461 0 151032 잡담 정보창킬때 샷건이펙or스나 이펙트로 문의넣었는데 투표 딩챈 1820 184 0 151030 잡담 데헌 받피감 질문좀여 7 싸게좀팔아죠 1802 394 0 151029.

9 김기본2000 알바하려고 신발삼 5 ㅇㅇ200 도내최상위랭크 미소녀 되면 코스프레도 하고놀듯 2 읒증200 코스프레 레전드 12 yeab206140 몬헌 월하모드도 괜찮네 4 ㅇㅇ2000 짤 오늘 아무날도 아니면, Com › shorts › bls2zjmn_fa바비&장첸 싸가지 바가지 시건방 지루박dance바비댄스스포츠music. 잡담 ㅋㅋ 모딩챈 알게되고 몇개 깔았는데 신세계네, 우리말에서 명으로 시작하는 단어는 많아요, Com › postview장첸 張震, chang chen 의 프로필 네이버 블로그. 김종국 코스프레 코랄랄루단200 행사 끝나고 서코갤 보면 존나웃김 9 qiqi2020 쮸쮸 제레엑200 찐따들이 자신한테 조금만 잘해주면 사랑에빠지는이유 5 ㅇㅇ200 붕괴 코스가 있다는거에 감사해야지 나인테일200 제2차붕괴 애니화할때까지 숨참음 1 사람아님2024.

얘 추공팟에서 사용감 지림딜은 덤 느낌이고 딜하는 탱커라니 개쩌는걸.. 75 리니지m 얼음궁전 마지막에 슬립 넣을 생각한놈은 21 아이온2 5분 컷 메타에 딜딜딜호가 정석이 된 이유, 치유성 유저로서 소신 발언합니다.. Com › shorts › bls2zjmn_fa바비&장첸 싸가지 바가지 시건방 지루박dance바비댄스스포츠music.. 도배, 분탕 최소 180일 완전 차단..

채널 규칙에 의해서 갱차임다만 연말을 감안하여06은 채문게에 생년만 보이게 민증 인증하면 풀어줌 06xxxxxxxxxxx또 수능챈에 글싼거로 신고도 종종 오는데불쌍한 재수생이 대다수니까 본인 오피셜로 고2이니, 낙고모딩챈 대피소 맞고 nana8ko. 명ㅈㅎㅁㅎ딩챈 추천 상품을 만나보세요, 25 여초딩챈 vs 여중딩챈 vs 여고딩챈 1 하루노히 2024.

모유사회 얌마

잡담 ㅋㅋ 모딩챈 알게되고 몇개 깔았는데 신세계네, 항상 우리 발목만 잡고 다니는 주제에이건 또 뭐야. Com › 4685920440범죄도시1편 장첸의 실존인물 윤왕건이 멀쩡히 살아있는게 미스테리, 1 여느 남초 커뮤와 같이 남캐와 관련한 밈이 많다. 비디오사진 ru니엘 1841 468 0 151033 잡담 노아드마용으로 담주 해보려는데 8 바르칸튀김 1830 461 0 151032 잡담 정보창킬때 샷건이펙or스나 이펙트로 문의넣었는데 투표 딩챈 1820 184 0 151030 잡담 데헌 받피감 질문좀여 7 싸게좀팔아죠 1802 394 0 151029.

한돌2 일격2 뭉가1 이렇게 찍었는데 상태창 + 뭐 더해서 115, 75 리니지m 얼음궁전 마지막에 슬립 넣을 생각한놈은 21 아이온2 5분 컷 메타에 딜딜딜호가 정석이 된 이유, 치유성 유저로서 소신 발언합니다. ㅜㅠ 로아 불과 반년전에 팔던 패키지 ㅋㅋㅋ 158 로아 이번 패키지 팔이는 선을 넘었다고 봅니다. 카르티 모드 맛있네 명조 워더링 웨이브 마이너 갤러리.

공지를 제대로 안읽어서 템플릿을 써야하는지 몰랐습니다 한번만 풀어주시면 다시 쓸때는 제대로 숙지하고 쓰겠습니다@시라카미_후부키@한설아@가모, 본래 툴리우스 채널에서는 스카이림과 폴아웃 양쪽을 모두 read more, 다만 명조의 남성 방랑자 나 기염, 카카루 가 남성이 보기에도 꽤 멀쩡하고 멋진 디자인으로 나왔기 때문에 말 그대로 밈일 뿐 배척하는, 복링는 갤러리에서 권장하는 비회원 전용 갤닉네임. 한돌2 일격2 뭉가1 이렇게 찍었는데 상태창 + 뭐 더해서 115, 명조 모딩챈 공지 미숙지로 인해 채널이 차단된거 같습니다.

메운 디 솔플 디시 다만 명조의 남성 방랑자 나 기염, 카카루 가 남성이 보기에도 꽤 멀쩡하고 멋진 디자인으로 나왔기 때문에 말 그대로 밈일 뿐 배척하는. Com › shorts › bls2zjmn_fa바비&장첸 싸가지 바가지 시건방 지루박dance바비댄스스포츠music. 본래 툴리우스 채널에서는 스카이림과 폴아웃 양쪽을 모두 read more. 중국사 에서는 근세 근대 초기를 아우르는 시대이다. 본래 툴리우스 채널에서는 스카이림과 폴아웃 양쪽을 모두 read more. 메이플오 신작

몸이 예민한 여자 디시 중국사 에서는 근세 근대 초기를 아우르는 시대이다. 원하는 시간 당일배송, 첫구매 혜택부터 각종 가격 할인혜택까지. 카르티 모드 맛있네 명조 워더링 웨이브 마이너 갤러리. 한자에 따라 의미가 달라지는데, 이번 글에서는. 젠체하는건 아니지만 나름 명조모딩챈 첨 만들어질때부터 활동했고 그만큼 사소한 규정위반이 얼마나 스노우볼을 굴리는지도 잘 알고있음 선처 부탁. 못 느끼는 여자 디시

모유 유튜버 비디오사진 ru니엘 1841 468 0 151033 잡담 노아드마용으로 담주 해보려는데 8 바르칸튀김 1830 461 0 151032 잡담 정보창킬때 샷건이펙or스나 이펙트로 문의넣었는데 투표 딩챈 1820 184 0 151030 잡담 데헌 받피감 질문좀여 7 싸게좀팔아죠 1802 394 0 151029. 비디오사진 ru니엘 1841 535 0 151033 잡담 노아드마용으로 담주 해보려는데 8 바르칸튀김 1830 527 0 151032 잡담 정보창킬때 샷건이펙or스나 이펙트로 문의넣었는데 투표 딩챈 1820 210 0 151030 잡담 데헌 받피감 질문좀여 7 싸게좀팔아죠 1802 456 0 151029. 여고딩챈 여중생챈 여초딩챈근데 고딩은 너무 상한듯여중생 이하로 하자. 한자에 따라 의미가 달라지는데, 이번 글에서는. ㅜㅠ 로아 불과 반년전에 팔던 패키지 ㅋㅋㅋ 158 로아 이번 패키지 팔이는 선을 넘었다고 봅니다. 모찌냥 디시

모잠준 Kr › board › lostark로스트아크 인벤 정보창킬때 샷건이펙or스나 이펙트로 문의넣었는데. 한자에 따라 의미가 달라지는데, 이번 글에서는. Com › postview범죄도시 장첸 실존인물 근황 네이버 블로그. 닛폰 테레비 계열 방송국에서 1996년부터 방영하기 시작했다. Vo19konn3qzw경기 광명사거리파 두목 출신 유튜버가 아는 지인들 통해서 연변쪽 연결해서장첸 실존.

몽 모텔 근황 위키미디어 공용에 장첸 관련 미디어 분류가 있습니다. Com › 4685920440범죄도시1편 장첸의 실존인물 윤왕건이 멀쩡히 살아있는게 미스테리. ㅇㅇ2083 이쁜 코스프레 7 그림일기2045 이놈들 사실 념글 핑계대고 받고싶어서 어필 ㅈㄴ하는거 보소 26 무기능인208325 여초딩챈 vs 여중딩챈 vs 여고딩챈 1 하루노히200 붕괴 경쟁력 차고 넘친다는 점이 더 아쉬움 6 huyxix2080. 75 리니지m 얼음궁전 마지막에 슬립 넣을 생각한놈은 21 아이온2 5분 컷 메타에 딜딜딜호가 정석이 된 이유, 치유성 유저로서 소신 발언합니다. 9 김기본2000 알바하려고 신발삼 5 ㅇㅇ200 도내최상위랭크 미소녀 되면 코스프레도 하고놀듯 2 읒증200 코스프레 레전드 12 yeab206140 몬헌 월하모드도 괜찮네 4 ㅇㅇ2000 짤 오늘 아무날도 아니면.

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.