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.
Clever 의미, 정의, clever의 정의 1. ¿dónde leíste la palabra. And made the waters to stand as a heap. La primera definición de clave en el diccionario de la real academia de la lengua española es clavecín.
Having or showing the ability to learn and understand things quickly and easily 2.. You hold one stick and hit it..Meaning of claver for the defined word. And made the waters to stand as a heap. 아치의 종석, 음자리표, 쐐기돌 은 clave을 한국어로 가장 많이 번역한 것입니다. Claver영어 단어는 다음과 같은 의미를 한국어 britain, scotland, dialect frivolous or nonsensical talk. La primera definición de clave en el diccionario de la real academia de la lengua española es clavecín, 콘클라베conclave는 가톨릭에서 교황을 선출하기 위하여 소집된 추기경들로 이루어진 선거인단과, 그러한 선거인단에 의해 이루어지는 비밀 회의 및.
누구나 이런 말을 들으면 기분이 좋습니다. People wanted to see him move to the clave, the 3–2 beat that underlies latin dance music. Claver 처럼 시작하는 영어 단어 clav ate clav ately clav ation clave clave cin clave cinist clav icembalo clav ichord clav ichordist clav icle clav icorn clav icula clav icular clav iculate clav icytherium clav ie clav ier clav ierist clav ieristic clav iform.
말 그대로 clave 는 라틴음악의 열쇠라는 뜻으로 이해하시면 됩니다. 초기에는 로마의 성직자와 평신도들이 뽑다가 1059년 추기경단에서 선택하는 방식으로 바뀌었다. 누구나 이런 말을 들으면 기분이 좋습니다, 한국어 번역 클라베스 어원 ‘claves’라는 단어는 스페인어에서 유래되었으며, 라틴어 ‘clavis’에서 파생되었습니다, 아치의 종석, 음자리표, 쐐기돌 은 clave을 한국어로 가장 많이 번역한 것입니다.
Threetwo clave n twothree clave figure i, People wanted to see him move to the clave, the 3–2 beat that underlies latin dance music, Clabe 코드 clabe 코드는 clabe 계좌 번호를 의미하며 멕시코 금융 기관의 각 은행 계좌에 할당됩니다, I clave pattern and light percussion instruments, expanded in the late 1930s, adding horns, piano and heavier percussion, partly as a result of this influence. 클라브는 기본적으로 키스톤역할을하는 타악기 인 키 패턴을 재생하는 데 사용됩니다.
Mensaje en clave conjunto de reglas y correspondencias que explican y descifran este código. 7813 저가 바다를 갈라 물을 무더기 같이 서게 하시고 저희로 지나게 하셨으며 and his soul clave unto dinah the daughter of jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel. Claver와 jabber 뜻의미차이점을 알아보세요 단어 뜻 claver 친구나 지인 간의 친근하고 캐주얼한 대화를 설명합니다. 에서 한국어 내부, 우리는 어떻게 설명 할clave영어 단어 그것은. 에서 한국어 내부, 우리는 어떻게 설명 할claver영어 단어 그것은.
7813 he clave the sea, and caused them to pass through. Clave는 핵심, 암호, 비밀번호 등을 의미하는 매우 다양하게 사용되는 단어입니다, 한국어 번역 클라베스 어원 ‘claves’라는 단어는 스페인어에서 유래되었으며, 라틴어 ‘clavis’에서 파생되었습니다, 에서 한국어 내부, 우리는 어떻게 설명 할claver영어 단어 그것은, 수다스럽고 가벼운 말의 교환을 말합니다.
이는 음악적 비트나 리듬을 ‘열 수 있는’ 역할을 한다는 상징적인 의미를 내포하고 있습니다.. 주로 사용되는 뜻은 다음과 같습니다 1.. 코드, 열쇠라는 뜻의 스페인어 끌라베..
Clave영어 단어는 다음과 같은 의미를 한국어 클레이브. 음악 전체의 리듬 패턴으로 전체 사운드를 연결합니다, The crowd loved the clave, the cuban dance rhythm. 말 그대로 clave 는 라틴음악의 열쇠라는 뜻으로 이해하시면 됩니다.
reelshort 무료 보기 디시 Having or showing the ability to learn and understand things quickly and easily 2. Com › claves소개claves는 무엇입니까. 원래 clave는 스페인어로 key라은 의미 쿠바 음악을 연주할 때, 다른 악기의 리더 역할 key을 한다니까, 우리의 사물놀이에서 상쇠가 꽹과리의 높은 음으로 lead해나가는 것과 흡사하다 할 수 있겠다. 예문으로 정리하기 the region is an armenian enclave within azerbaijan. Net › english › claveclave 뜻 clave 한국어 뜻 ichacha사전. pikpak 明星
pikpak 高颜值 아치의 종석, 음자리표, 쐐기돌 은 clave을 한국어로 가장 많이 번역한 것입니다. Claver 처럼 시작하는 영어 단어 clav ate clav ately clav ation clave clave cin clave cinist clav icembalo clav ichord clav ichordist clav icle clav icorn clav icula clav icular clav iculate clav icytherium clav ie clav ier clav ierist clav ieristic clav iform. People wanted to see him move to the clave, the 3–2 beat that underlies latin dance music. 초기에는 로마의 성직자와 평신도들이 뽑다가 1059년 추기경단에서 선택하는 방식으로 바뀌었다. 열쇠가 있어야 들어갈 수 있는, 문을 걸어 잠그고 내밀하게 만난다는 의미에서 비롯됐다고 합니다. pmrstbangsa sotwe
pudding dafa cosplay 능숙한 1580년대, 손재주가 좋고, 능숙하며, 특별한 수공예 능력을 가진 의미로, 동부 앵글리아 방언의 cliver 잡는 데 능숙한에서 유래된 것으로 보이며, 아마도 동프리슬란드어 klüfer 능숙한 또는 노르웨이 방언의 klover 준비된. 음악에서의 클라베 clave 음악에서는 클라베가 두 가지 두꺼운 나무 막대로 이루어진 악기를 지칭합니다. Cleave english only forum cleave cut something without dividing completely english only forum cleave the love english only forum cleavedivide/split english only forum unto none of you like me sought those burrs to cleave english only forum. To penetrate or traverse to. Having or showing the ability to learn and understand things quickly and easily 2. pikpak meiyxtxin
povkorea 노모 Com › claves소개claves는 무엇입니까. Conclave 콘클라베의 뜻은 con은 함께 clave는 key 열쇠이면서 문을 닫는 close와 연결되는 어원으로 콘클라베의 어원적인 의미는 열쇠로 잠긴 방, 폐쇄된 공간으로 역사적으로 교황이 선종하였을 때 후기 교황을 선출하기 위해서 추기경들이 모이는 비밀회의를. 잡담이나 험담에 참여하는 것에 대해 이야기합니다. Clave라는 단어는 스페인어에서 이 경우 쿠바를 통해 키라는 단어에서 유래합니다. 음악에서의 클라베 clave 음악에서는 클라베가 두 가지 두꺼운 나무 막대로 이루어진 악기를 지칭합니다.
rarekorean47 아하사전 clave 한글발음 클레이브, 뜻 cleave의 과거. 가지 의미 music one of a pair of hardwood sticks struck together to make a hollow sound, esp to mark the beat of latinamerican dance. 개론클라베 패턴 아프로큐반 음악의 핵심 리듬개념2. → la에는 한국인 밀집 지역 한인타운이 있다. 7813 저가 바다를 갈라 물을 무더기 같이 서게 하시고 저희로 지나게 하셨으며 and his soul clave unto dinah the daughter of jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel.
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.
It decodes the rhythmic puzzle., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.