US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 4, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 2026.
장원영이 ‘이너뷰티’를 위해 꼭 챙기는 4가지는. Com › entry › 장원영프로필장원영 프로필, 장원영 화교, 장원영 국적, 장원영 싸인, 장원영 나이. 장원영 님은 2018년 mnet 《프로듀스 48》에 출연하며 뛰어난 비주얼과 압도적인 피지컬로 방송 초기부터 큰 주목을 받았습니다. Ive 센터 장원영의 프로필, 나이, 학력, 데뷔 전 활동, izone, ive 활동, 개인 활동, 인터뷰, 어록, 좌우명, 상징 색, 별명, 뮤직비디오, 광고 모델, 방송 출연, 라이브 방송, 화보, 음반 참여, 웹 콘텐츠 등 상세 정보를 담았습니다.
Days ago 2심도 원심 판단 유지, 대법원도 상고 기각 아이뉴스24 김동현 기자 걸그룹 아이브 멤버 장원영 등 유명 연예인들을 악의적으로 비방하는 내용의 영상으로 억대 수익을 챙긴 유튜브 탈덕수용소 운영자가 징역형 집행유예를 확정받았다.. 장원영 조롱 유튜버 재판행도 넘은 유튜브 비방 문화.. 아이브ive 장원영 프로필본명은 장원영입니다..장원영 님은 2018년 mnet 《프로듀스 48》에 출연하며 뛰어난 비주얼과 압도적인 피지컬로 방송 초기부터 큰 주목을 받았습니다. Days ago 그룹 아이브 장원영 등 여러 연예인을 겨냥한 허위 영상을 올린 혐의로 재판에 넘겨진 유튜브 채널 탈덕수용소 운영자 a씨의 형이 확정됐다, New장원영픽 데싱디바 원젤 컬러마그네틱 케어툴 25종. Ive 센터 장원영의 프로필, 나이, 학력, 데뷔 전 활동, izone, ive 활동, 개인 활동, 인터뷰, 어록, 좌우명, 상징 색, 별명, 뮤직비디오, 광고 모델, 방송 출연, 라이브 방송, 화보, 음반 참여, 웹 콘텐츠 등 상세 정보를 담았습니다. 장원영 프로필 키 성형전 언니 화교 럭키비키럭키비키 장원영 프로필 아이브 장원영이 유퀴즈 온더블록에 출연한다. 이 유튜버는 걸그룹 아이브 멤버 장원영 측이 제기한 손해배상 소송에서 패소해 1심에서 1억원 지급 명령을 받고 항소한 상태입니다. Com › entry › 장원영프로필장원영 프로필, 장원영 화교, 장원영 국적, 장원영 싸인, 장원영 나이. 걸그룹 아이브ive의 멤버 장원영은 kpop을 대표하는 차세대 아이콘으로 자리 잡은 아티스트입니. kpop 4세대를 대표하는 걸그룹 ive의 센터 장원영에 대한 종합적인 프로필을 소개합니다. 생리대성인용기저귀 일반생리대 오버나이트 팬티라이너 체내형생리컵 면 생리대 산모임산부패드 위생생리팬티 성인용기저귀패드 여성청결제. 광고 나도 모르게 유독 예민해지는 그날. 내면까지 단단해서 더 아름다운 장원영의 이너뷰티는 허투루 만들어진 게 아니다. 사진이데일리 db대법원 2부주심 권영준 대법관는 29일 정보통신망법 위반명예훼손 등 혐의로. 성균관대 박천권 교수 연구팀은 국산 20종과 유럽산 9종을 대상으로 분석한 결과, 생리대 1개당 최소 6개에서 최대 115개의 미세. Kr › article › 1876668장원영 픽. Days ago 2심도 원심 판단 유지, 대법원도 상고 기각 아이뉴스24 김동현 기자 걸그룹 아이브 멤버 장원영 등 유명 연예인들을 악의적으로 비방하는 내용의 영상으로 억대 수익을 챙긴 유튜브 탈덕수용소 운영자가 징역형 집행유예를 확정받았다.
| 장원영은 2004년 8월 31일 생으로, 현재 2023년 기준 19세입니다. | 아이브ive 장원영 프로필본명은 장원영입니다. | 아이브ive 센터의 모든 것장원영은 누구인가요. | 대법원 2부는 29일 정보통신망법 위반명예훼손. |
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| 장원영이라는 이름을 모르는 사람은 이제 kpop 팬이 아니라고 해도 과언이 아닙니다. | 장원영 프로필 총정리|장원영 나이, 키, 데뷔, 근황까지 완벽 정리. | 장원영 프로필 키이름 장원영나이 2004년 8월 31일 만 20세국적 대한민국 화교 아님. | Kr › news › read장원영 비방 사이버래커 탈덕수용소, 징역형 집행유예 확정. |
| 놀라운 비주얼, 완벽한 피지컬, 다재다능한 재능까지 모두 갖춘 장원영 프로필을 알고. | 올해 16세를 맞은 장원영은 상큼한 외모에 긴 웨이브 헤어스타일로 여성스러운 분위기를 한껏 강조했다. | 생년월일은 2004년 8월 31일로 2025년 나이는 22세입니다. | 이 유튜버는 걸그룹 아이브 멤버 장원영 측이 제기한 손해배상 소송에서 패소해 1심에서 1억원 지급 명령을 받고 항소한 상태입니다. |
| 19% | 20% | 25% | 36% |
놀라운 비주얼, 완벽한 피지컬, 다재다능한 재능까지 모두 갖춘 장원영 프로필을 알고. 대법원이 상고를 받아들이지 않으면서 징역형의 집행유예와 거액의 추징금이 그대로 유지됐다, Com › article › view영상 아이브 장원영, ‘오늘은 상큼 병아리 워녕이’ &mldr. 유한킴벌리는 2016년부터 핵심 기능에 충실한 중저가 생리대 공급과 취약계층 기부를 병행해 왔으며, 기존 중저가 제품의 가격은 11년째 동결하고 있다. 순수한면 건강한 유기농순면 탐폰 레귤러슈퍼 4종 택 1.
Kr › article › 1876668장원영 픽. 대법원 2부는 29일 정보통신망법 위반명예훼손. 봄부터 1000원대 생리대 나온다개수퀄리티 걱정마세요, 장원영이 ‘이너뷰티’를 위해 꼭 챙기는 4가지는. Com 그룹 아이브 멤버 장원영에 대한 가짜뉴스 유포 혐의로 사이버 렉커 유튜버 탈덕. Kr ‘10살’ 동생 장원영 더울까 봐 선풍기 쐬 주는 ‘천사’ 슬기 mbc ‘2019 추석특집 아이돌스타 선수권대회’에 참여한 레드벨벳 슬기와 아이즈원 장원영의 훈훈한 모습이 팬들의 시선을 사로잡았다.
이 유튜버는 걸그룹 아이브 멤버 장원영 측이 제기한 손해배상 소송에서 패소해 1심에서 1억원 지급 명령을 받고 항소한 상태입니다.. Days ago 2심도 원심 판단 유지, 대법원도 상고 기각 아이뉴스24 김동현 기자 걸그룹 아이브 멤버 장원영 등 유명 연예인들을 악의적으로 비방하는 내용의 영상으로 억대 수익을 챙긴 유튜브 탈덕수용소 운영자가 징역형 집행유예를 확정받았다..
그룹 아이브 장원영이 29일 오전 서울 성수동 플라츠2에서 열린 하이엔드 캐시미어 브랜드 배리barrie 2026 ss 컬렉션 론칭 기념 포토행사에, 2004년 8월 31일에 태어나 현재 20세만 나이 기준, 2025년 기준이며, 그룹 아이브ive의 멤버로 활약 중입니다. Com › entry › 장원영프로필장원영 프로필, 장원영 화교, 장원영 국적, 장원영 싸인, 장원영 나이. 특히나 검은색 머리에 붉은색 입술은 뭇. 대법원이 상고를 받아들이지 않으면서 징역형의 집행유예와 거액의 추징금이 그대로 유지됐다.
Com › entry › 장원영프로필장원영 프로필, 장원영 화교, 장원영 국적, 장원영 싸인, 장원영 나이. Kr › news › read장원영 비방 사이버래커 탈덕수용소, 징역형 집행유예 확정, 올해 16세를 맞은 장원영은 상큼한 외모에 긴 웨이브 헤어스타일로 여성스러운 분위기를 한껏 강조했다, 그룹 아이브 장원영사진변성현 한경닷컴 기자 byun84@hankyung, Kr › article › 1876668장원영 픽. 중국 최대 포털 사이트인 바이두 부사장 딸이 아이돌그룹 아이브 장원영을 비방한 누리꾼의 개인정보를 유포한 것으로 드러나 중국 누리꾼들이 발칵.
성균관대 박천권 교수 연구팀은 국산 20종과 유럽산 9종을 대상으로 분석한 결과, 생리대 1개당 최소 6개에서 최대 115개의 미세. Days ago 그룹 아이브 장원영 등 여러 연예인을 겨냥한 허위 영상을 올린 혐의로 재판에 넘겨진 유튜브 채널 탈덕수용소 운영자 a씨의 형이 확정됐다. Com › view › 1933528장원영 허위 비방 유튜브 탈덕수용소 운영자, 징역형 집행유예 확정. 아이브ive 장원영 프로필본명은 장원영입니다.
장원영, 두쫀쿠 선물 자랑에 깜짝대체 몇 개야, 장원영 조롱 유튜버 재판행도 넘은 유튜브 비방 문화. Com 그룹 아이브 멤버 장원영에 대한 가짜뉴스 유포 혐의로 사이버 렉커 유튜버 탈덕, 특히나 검은색 머리에 붉은색 입술은 뭇.
배송비무료배송 석류즙 100 석류과즙100% 실속형. Days ago 그룹 아이브 장원영 등 여러 연예인을 겨냥한 허위 영상을 올린 혐의로 재판에 넘겨진 유튜브 채널 탈덕수용소 운영자 a씨의 형이 확정됐다. 성균관대 박천권 교수 연구팀은 국산 20종과 유럽산 9종을 대상으로 분석한 결과, 생리대 1개당 최소 6개에서 최대 115개의 미세. 내면까지 단단해서 더 아름다운 장원영의 이너뷰티는 허투루 만들어진 게 아니다.
히토미 변신 포토+ 아이브 장원영, 봄을 입고 러블리하게. Com › entry › 장원영프로필장원영 프로필, 장원영 화교, 장원영 국적, 장원영 싸인, 장원영 나이. 25뉴스투데이mbc 0104 아이브 장원영 국산 생리대만 왜 비싸냐‥. 책, 소금, 디저트, 필라테스까지 장원영의 이너뷰티템 4가지를 모아봤다. 장원영 프로필 총정리|장원영 나이, 키, 데뷔, 근황까지 완벽 정리. 히토미 전체화면
히토미 임신물 kpop 4세대를 대표하는 걸그룹 ive의 센터 장원영에 대한 종합적인 프로필을 소개합니다. 2018년 mnet의 서바이벌 프로그램. 장원영, 박선영, 홍하영 오늘, 최우지 생리대의 안전성에 대한 여성들의 관심이 커지면서 유기농을 앞세운 생리대의 출시가 잇따르고 있다. 내면까지 단단해서 더 아름다운 장원영의 이너뷰티는 허투루 만들어진 게 아니다. 박씨는 장원영이 질투해 동료 연습생의 데뷔가 무산됐다 또 다른 유명인들도 성매매나 성형수술을 했다는 등 거짓 영상을 제작유포해 2억5000만원을. 히토미랑 비슷한
히토미 주술회전 한국어 생년월일은 2004년 8월 31일로 2025년 나이는 22세입니다. 걸그룹 아이브ive의 멤버 장원영은 kpop을 대표하는 차세대 아이콘으로 자리 잡은 아티스트입니. 봄부터 1000원대 생리대 나온다개수퀄리티 걱정마세요. 내면까지 단단해서 더 아름다운 장원영의 이너뷰티는 허투루 만들어진 게 아니다. Kr ‘10살’ 동생 장원영 더울까 봐 선풍기 쐬 주는 ‘천사’ 슬기 mbc ‘2019 추석특집 아이돌스타 선수권대회’에 참여한 레드벨벳 슬기와 아이즈원 장원영의 훈훈한 모습이 팬들의 시선을 사로잡았다. 히토미 타치바나
히토미 신 전 izone 멤버이자 현재 ive의 메인 센터로 활동 중인 장원영의 개인정보부터 데뷔 과정, 가족관계, 외모와 성격, 최근 근황까지 상세히 다뤄보겠습니다. Com › kokr › news장원영 등 비방 탈덕수용소, 징역형 집행유예 확정 sbs 굿모닝. 중국에서 한 네티즌이 아이브 장원영의 것이라고 주장하는. 중국에서 한 네티즌이 아이브 장원영의 것이라고 주장하는. 2018년 mnet의 서바이벌 프로그램.
히토미 정신 Days ago 그룹 아이브 장원영 등 여러 연예인을 겨냥한 허위 영상을 올린 혐의로 재판에 넘겨진 유튜브 채널 탈덕수용소 운영자 a씨의 형이 확정됐다. 2018년 mnet의 서바이벌 프로그램. 사진이데일리 db대법원 2부주심 권영준 대법관는 29일 정보통신망법 위반명예훼손 등 혐의로. 유한킴벌리는 2016년부터 핵심 기능에 충실한 중저가 생리대 공급과 취약계층 기부를 병행해 왔으며, 기존 중저가 제품의 가격은 11년째 동결하고 있다. 25뉴스투데이mbc 0104 아이브 장원영 국산 생리대만 왜 비싸냐‥.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 4, 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 4, 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 4, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 4, 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.
장원영, 박선영, 홍하영 오늘, 최우지 생리대의 안전성에 대한 여성들의 관심이 커지면서 유기농을 앞세운 생리대의 출시가 잇따르고 있다., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.