US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 5, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 2026.
기사라즈 지방에는 도쿄에서 기차를 타거나 도쿄만을 횡단하는 아쿠아 라인 터널이나 가교 노선을 이용해도 됩니다. 신세계알리바바 측 자료에 따르면 2026년에는 다라즈daraz를 통한 남아시아, 미라비아miravia를 통한 남유럽스페인포르투갈으로 시장을 넓힌다. 최근 얀센의 실적보고서에 따르면 올 상반기 유한양행의 렉라자미국 제품명 라즈클. 여행, 비즈니스 등으로 지바현을 방문하신 외국인 관광객이 안심하고 이용하실 수 있는 일본의 패션헬스 서비스 업소을 소개합니다, 조시・이누보자키・.
Org › wiki › 기사라즈시기사라즈시 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전. 한류에서 경제협력으로 최적 파트너로 재부상한 한일 관계, 더피알김병주 생성ai가 기업과 소비자 간 쌍방향 마케팅과 gpt기반 대화형 쇼핑을 가능하게 하면서, 기업이 고객 경험 전반을 유기적으로 연결할. 기사라즈 소재 헬스장피트니스클럽 & 체육관 트립어드바이저에서 기사라즈, 일본 소재 헬스장피트니스클럽 & 체육관 관련 리뷰와 사진을 확인해보세요, 시 서부는 도쿄만 과 접하며, 가나가와현 가와사키시 와는 배편으로 연결되어 있었으나 1997년에 도쿄만을 건너는 고속도로 도쿄만 아쿠아라인 이 개통되었다. 렉라자 글로벌 매출 본격화 유한양행, 이익률 개선 시동. 여행, 비즈니스 등으로 지바현을 방문하신 외국인 관광객이 안심하고 이용하실 수 있는 일본의 패션헬스 서비스 업소을 소개합니다, 조시・이누보자키・. 렉라자 글로벌 매출 본격화 유한양행, 이익률 개선 시동. 국민피티는 피트니스센터뿐만 아니라 골프, 필라테스, 태권도 등 지역을 기반으로 다양한 운동 시설과 전문 강사의 정보를 효과적으로, 라면중화 술집스낵바 식재료술편의점 일본 과자・스윗츠 패션기모노 장식 소품안경 의원약국 은행금융 전기전기공사 미용실 이발소 에스테틱살롱 클리닝 기프트꽃 생활 잡화일용품 부동산 자동차&보험차정비 건축측량 학원예비교 호텔, 기사라즈 지방에는 도쿄에서 기차를 타거나 도쿄만을 횡단하는 아쿠아 라인 터널이나 가교 노선을 이용해도 됩니다.| Org › wiki › 기사라즈시기사라즈시 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전. | 일본사람들 우리나라 사람들이 헬스 갔다왔어 하면 키득키득 댑니다. |
|---|---|
| 마쓰도의한국인 가능 풍속유흥 지바시 후나바시・쓰다누마・이치카와・우라야스 가시와 나리타시 구주쿠리 기사라즈 패션헬스 서비스 업소 지바. | 주한네팔대사관 쁘스뻐 라즈 버떠라이pushpa raj bhattarai 네팔 대사대리, 박윤경 대구상공회의소 회장 만나 경제협력방안과 국제교류협력 논의. |
| 대구상공회의소, 쁘스뻐 라즈 버떠라이pushpa raj. | 비즈니스 등으로 지바현을 방문하신 외국인 관광객이 안심하고 이용하실 수 있는 일본의 패션헬스 서비스 업소을 소개 기사라즈・기미쓰 기사라즈 한국인 가능 풍속. |
| 대표적인 사례로 cj제일제당은 2025년 9월 지바현 기사라즈시에 약 100억 엔을 투자해 냉동 만두 공장을 신설했다. | 알리바바 jv, g마켓 역직구 본궤도동남아 성과에 남유럽. |
| 라면중화 술집스낵바 식재료술편의점 일본 과자・스윗츠 패션기모노 장식 소품안경 의원약국 은행금융 전기전기공사 미용실 이발소 에스테틱살롱 클리닝 기프트꽃 생활 잡화일용품 부동산 자동차&보험차정비 건축측량 학원예비교 호텔. | 日 입맛 공략하는 k만두첫 가동 들어가는 만두공장 가보니. |
시 서부는 도쿄만 과 접하며, 가나가와현 가와사키시 와는 배편으로 연결되어 있었으나 1997년에 도쿄만을 건너는 고속도로 도쿄만 아쿠아라인 이 개통되었다. 샤넬 프라다 러시아 아웃 비건 가죽이 뜬다 패션쇼의 esg, 여행, 비즈니스 등으로 지바현을 방문하신 외국인 관광객이 안심하고 이용하실 수 있는 일본의 패션헬스 서비스 업소을 소개합니다, 조시・이누보자키・.
키다리형 하이라이트 헬스 운동 다이어트 스트리밍 채널 syoutube.. 근데 존나기엽게생김패션헬스는 야스없지않음..
상대국에 투자한다면韓 콘텐츠산업 日 반도체 소부장. 日 입맛 공략하는 k만두첫 가동 들어가는 만두공장 가보니. 쿠팡에서 하세가와 172 육상자위대 v22 오스프리 제108비행대 기사라즈 스페셜 2023 프라모델 02477 비행기 구매하고 더 많은 혜택을 받으세요. Cj제일제당은 오는 9월 완공을 목표로 도쿄 인근 지바현 기사라즈에 축구장 6개 크기 넓이의 만두 공장을 짓고 있다.
하세가와 172 육상자위대 v22 오스프리 제108비행대 기사. Cj제일제당이 만두 대국으로 불리는 일본 시장을 겨냥해 지바千葉현 기사라즈木更津시 연구단지에 처음으로 직접 건설한 신新공장이다, Com@tallguy_live훈제닭가슴살 회원가입시 최대72%. Cj제일제당은 오는 9월 완공을 목표로 도쿄 인근 지바현 기사라즈에 축구장 6개 크기 넓이의 만두 공장을 짓고 있다. 인구는 약 12만 명으로 지바현 남부 지역에서는 가장 많다. 근데 파우치에서 콘꺼내서2번이나해줌 17600엔.
Cj제일제당은 지난해 9월 약 100억 엔약 920억 원을 투자해 지바현 기사라즈시에 한국 기업 최초로 식품 공장을 신설했다. 렉라자 글로벌 성과가 본격화하면서 이익률 반등도 자신하고 있다. 상대국에 투자한다면韓 콘텐츠산업 日 반도체 소부장. Cj제일제당은 지난해 9월 약 100억 엔약 920억 원을 투자해 지바현 기사라즈시에 한국 기업 최초로 식품 공장을 신설했다.
대구상공회의소, 쁘스뻐 라즈 버떠라이pushpa raj, 비즈니스 등으로 지바현을 방문하신 외국인 관광객이 안심하고 이용하실 수 있는 일본의 패션헬스 서비스 업소을 소개 기사라즈・기미쓰 기사라즈 한국인 가능 풍속. 지바시의패션헬스 서비스 업소 외국인 관광객 환영합니다, 신세계알리바바 측 자료에 따르면 2026년에는 다라즈daraz를 통한 남아시아, 미라비아miravia를 통한 남유럽스페인포르투갈으로 시장을 넓힌다.
최근 얀센의 실적보고서에 따르면 올 상반기 유한양행의 렉라자미국 제품명 라즈클, Com@tallguy_live훈제닭가슴살 회원가입시 최대72%, 근데 파우치에서 콘꺼내서2번이나해줌 17600엔, 지바시의패션헬스 서비스 업소 지바시 후나바시・쓰다누마・이치카와・우라야스 가시와 나리타시 구주쿠리 기사라즈・기미쓰 가쓰우라・가모가와, 기사라즈시 일본어 木更津市는 일본 지바현 남서부에 있는 시 이다.
기차를 이용하는 경우 기사라즈와 인근의 관광 명소 대부분은 jr 게이요선 끝의 소가역에서 우치보선을 타면 편리하게 이동할 수 있습니다. 기사라즈 소재 헬스장피트니스클럽 & 체육관 트립어드바이저에서 기사라즈, 일본 소재 헬스장피트니스클럽 & 체육관 관련 리뷰와 사진을 확인해보세요, 최근 얀센의 실적보고서에 따르면 올 상반기 유한양행의 렉라자미국 제품명 라즈클, 샤넬 프라다 러시아 아웃 비건 가죽이 뜬다 패션쇼의 esg. 헬스한다가 일본어로 성매매 업소간다는 뜻입니다.
지바시의패션헬스 서비스 업소 지바시 후나바시・쓰다누마・이치카와・우라야스 가시와 나리타시 구주쿠리 기사라즈・기미쓰 가쓰우라・가모가와, 대표적인 사례로 cj제일제당은 2025년 9월 지바현 기사라즈시에 약 100억 엔을 투자해 냉동 만두 공장을 신설했다, 기사라즈 지방에는 도쿄에서 기차를 타거나 도쿄만을 횡단하는 아쿠아 라인 터널이나 가교 노선을 이용해도 됩니다, 정보과학도서관 정보 및 도서검색 제공, Cj제일제당이 만두 대국으로 불리는 일본 시장을 겨냥해 지바千葉현 기사라즈木更津시 연구단지에 처음으로 직접 건설한 신新공장이다.
히토미 번역기 추천 렉라자 글로벌 성과가 본격화하면서 이익률 반등도 자신하고 있다. 지바시의패션헬스 서비스 업소 외국인 관광객 환영합니다. 렉라자 글로벌 매출 본격화 유한양행, 이익률 개선 시동. 국민피티는 피트니스센터뿐만 아니라 골프, 필라테스, 태권도 등 지역을 기반으로 다양한 운동 시설과 전문 강사의 정보를 효과적으로. 일본사람들 우리나라 사람들이 헬스 갔다왔어 하면 키득키득 댑니다. 히토미 사이트에 연결할 수 없음
히토미 화질 최근 얀센의 실적보고서에 따르면 올 상반기 유한양행의 렉라자미국 제품명 라즈클. 키다리형 하이라이트 헬스 운동 다이어트 스트리밍 채널 syoutube. 기사라즈 지방에는 도쿄에서 기차를 타거나 도쿄만을 횡단하는 아쿠아 라인 터널이나 가교 노선을 이용해도 됩니다. 최근 얀센의 실적보고서에 따르면 올 상반기 유한양행의 렉라자미국 제품명 라즈클. Cj제일제당, 日 이토추와 맞손현지 식품시장 공략 가속. 히토미 아코
힡ᆢ미 대구상공회의소, 쁘스뻐 라즈 버떠라이pushpa raj. 비비고 앞세워 현지 생산유통망 강화기사라즈 공장 가동으로 현지 생산 본격화 원료 조달부터 공동 상품 개발까지 포괄적 협력. 지바시의패션헬스 서비스 업소 지바시 후나바시・쓰다누마・이치카와・우라야스 가시와 나리타시 구주쿠리 기사라즈・기미쓰 가쓰우라・가모가와. 대구상공회의소, 쁘스뻐 라즈 버떠라이pushpa raj. 더피알김병주 생성ai가 기업과 소비자 간 쌍방향 마케팅과 gpt기반 대화형 쇼핑을 가능하게 하면서, 기업이 고객 경험 전반을 유기적으로 연결할. 히티드 라이벌리 보는곳
히토미 청바지 신세계알리바바 측 자료에 따르면 2026년에는 다라즈daraz를 통한 남아시아, 미라비아miravia를 통한 남유럽스페인포르투갈으로 시장을 넓힌다. 쿠팡에서 하세가와 172 육상자위대 v22 오스프리 제108비행대 기사라즈 스페셜 2023 프라모델 02477 비행기 구매하고 더 많은 혜택을 받으세요. 렉라자 글로벌 매출 본격화 유한양행, 이익률 개선 시동. 비즈니스 등으로 지바현을 방문하신 외국인 관광객이 안심하고 이용하실 수 있는 일본의 패션헬스 서비스 업소을 소개 기사라즈・기미쓰 기사라즈 한국인 가능 풍속. 비즈니스 등으로 지바현을 방문하신 외국인 관광객이 안심하고 이용하실 수 있는 일본의 패션헬스 서비스 업소을 소개 기사라즈・기미쓰 기사라즈 한국인 가능 풍속.
히토미 친구누나 日 입맛 공략하는 k만두첫 가동 들어가는 만두공장 가보니. 더피알김병주 생성ai가 기업과 소비자 간 쌍방향 마케팅과 gpt기반 대화형 쇼핑을 가능하게 하면서, 기업이 고객 경험 전반을 유기적으로 연결할. 하세가와 172 육상자위대 v22 오스프리 제108비행대 기사. 헬스한다가 일본어로 성매매 업소간다는 뜻입니다. 근데 파우치에서 콘꺼내서2번이나해줌 17600엔.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 5, 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 5, 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 5, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 5, 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.
인구는 약 12만 명으로 지바현 남부 지역에서는 가장 많다., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.