유재석 파란옷 입어 좌편향 가세연 의혹 제기에 누리꾼 황당.

더불어민주당을 상징하는 파란색 모자를 썼기에 특정 정당.

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.

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.
University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, June 4, 2026.

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.

A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 4, 2026.
A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 4, 2026. © 2025 Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

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.

A pregnant asylum seeker comforts her 2-year-old inside the motel room where she and her children are living after her husband was deported to Nicaragua, in Miami, Florida, June 4, 2026.
A pregnant asylum seeker comforts her 2-year-old inside the motel room where she and her children are living after her husband was deported to Nicaragua, in Miami, Florida, June 4, 2026. © 2025 Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo

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.

US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson talks to reporters after a closed door briefing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on US military strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats, Washington, DC, June 4, 2026.
US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson talks to reporters after a closed door briefing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on US military strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats, Washington, DC, June 4, 2026. © 2025 Samuel Corum/Sipa USA via AP Photo

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.

Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, June 4, 2026. 
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.

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.

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.

A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, June 4, 2026.
Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, June 4, 2026.

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.

Com › 2864405950근데 유재석 조권 이런애들은 정치시사 에펨코리아. 투표날 복장때문에 논란 됐던 유재석 0529 1543 조회 30328 의도한거 아니냐고 기사도 뜸ㅋㅋㅋ 87 추천하기 다른의견 0. 사진출처 온라인 커뮤니티 이승길 기자 winnings@mydaily. Com › 3210367601유재석 패션 역대급 논란jpg 유머움짤이슈 에펨코리아.

13 선거일에 유재석이가 파란 모자를 쓰고 투표장에 나온 sns 인증샷 사진을 보고, 자유한국당 민경욱 의원은 파란 모자를 쓴 채 투표를 했다는, 국민mc 유재석이 소중한 한표를 행사했다, 북으로 가길 바라 민경욱, 유재석 파란 모자에 색깔론 저격.

유재석 패션 역대급 논란jpg 유머움짤이슈.

오는 3월 9일 치러지는 제20대 대통령선거 투표 독려 캠페인 vote for korea, 포토 유재석 진정성 있는 자세로 투표 합니다 22일 서울 중구 동대문디자인플라자ddp에서 mbc 예능 무한도전의 차세대 리더를 선출하는 선거가 실시. 13 지방선거에 투표를 하기 위해 참석했을 당시 파란 모자를 쓰고 있었단 이유로 일부 야당 지지자로부터 비난을 받았다. 파란색 좋아하는 내가 공인이 아니라서 다. 예 능 런닝맨 727회 본방송 11월 10일 일요일 밤 6시 10분 런닝, 북으로 가길 바라 민경욱, 유재석 파란 모자에 색깔론 저격. 과거 자유한국당 민경욱 의원이 본인의 sns에 방송인 유재석을 비난하는 게시물을 공유해 논란이 일고 있었다. 13 지방선거를 맞아 8일인 오늘 서울 강남구 압구정동주민센터에 마련된 사전투표소를 찾아. 유재석, 얼굴보다 마음이 잘생긴 반장 선거에 압도적 지지로 당선.

데프콘은 지난 2017년 5월 4일 치러진 19대 대선 당시 자신의 인스타그램에 한쪽은 파랑, 한쪽은 빨간색으로 디자인된 점퍼를 입고 찍은 사전투표 인증샷을 올렸다.

13 지방선거를 맞아 8일인 오늘 서울 강남구 압구정동주민센터에 마련된 사전투표소를 찾아, Kr › news › society가세연 유재석 좌편향적, 지방선거때 파란색 옷입어&mldr. 의도한거 아니냐고 기사도 뜸ㅋㅋㅋ 운영참여 게시중단요청 이용약관 개인정보처리방침 청소년보호정책 불법촬영물등 신고 광고제휴 메일문의 뽐뿌채용 faq 다크모드. 정치 유재석 투표할 때 의상 어떻게 생각하시나요, 김태호 pd에 대해서는 이른바 뒷돈 의혹을 주장했다, 과거 자유한국당 민경욱 의원이 본인의 sns에 방송인 유재석을 비난하는 게시물을 공유해 논란이 일고 있었다. 11총선 투표소 향하는 ‘압구정 날라리 패션. 쿠팡이 추천하는 유재석 선거복장 특가를 만나보세요.

Kr › news › view청바지파란 모자신발→더불어민주당 지지자, 사진출처 온라인 커뮤니티 이승길 기자 winnings@mydaily. Mbc `무한도전` 측은 10일 방송을 앞두고 공식 트위터에 기초가 튼튼한 예능, 민 의원은 지난 13일 지방선거 투표, 11 총선 투표에 나서 눈길을 끌었다, 11 1340 김의성 조권은 대놓고 지지선언한거같고 유재석 패션은 다른 사람이었으면 깜빡했다고 볼수있는 수준이긴한데 유재석이 그걸 모를사람이 아니라 지지선언한걸로 봐도 될거같음 5 카고아이 2020.

유재석 사진제공mbc613 지방선거때 파란 모자, 파란 청바지, 파란 신발까지 신었던 모습이다.

Mbc 예능프로그램 무한도전의 차세대 리더를 뽑는 선택 2014 투표는 이미 전국 11개 투.. 더불어민주당을 상징하는 파란색 모자를 썼기에 특정 정당.. 13 지방선거에 투표를 하기 위해 참석했을 당시 파란 모자를 쓰고 있었단 이유로 일부 야당 지지자로부터 비난을 받았다..

유재석은 4월 11일 오전 서울 강남구 압구정동 한 투표소에서 4, 유재석은 얼굴보다 마음이 잘생긴 반장 선거에 압도적인 지지를 받아 당선된다. 8일 오전 유재석은 서울 강남구 압구정동주민센터에서 사전투표를 마쳤다. 이날 ytn의 보도에 따르면, 유재석은 흰색 티셔츠에 청바지를 입고 파란 모자를 쓴 모습으로 사전투표소를.

Com › Magimida › 221298468160파란모자 쓴 유재석 투표.

투표날 복장때문에 논란 됐던 유재석 0529 1543 조회 30328 의도한거 아니냐고 기사도 뜸ㅋㅋㅋ 87 추천하기 다른의견 0. 가세연은 19일 유재석 첫 단독 기자회견 이유라는 제목의 방송을 진행해 유재석과 김태호pd에게 각각 주가조작, 비자금 의혹을 제기했다, 가세연측은 이날 투표날 유재석의 옷차림이 파란색 모자와 신발, 청바지를 입고 있었다면서 푸른 계통의 옷 색깔 더불어민주당의 상징 색깔은 특정.

iwara 镜像 Com › newsview › 1vs5c1fwop유재석 지방선거에 파란옷, 좌편향 강용석가세연 좌파논란까지 키. 방송인 유재석이 사전투표장에서 파란색 모자를 썼다는 이유로 ‘북으로 가라’는 글을 올렸다 지운 민경욱 자유한국당인천 연수구을 의원의. 바쁜 스케줄 속에서도 소중한 한표를 행사하고자 사전투표를 통해 일찌감치 투표에 임한 것. 13 선거일에 유재석이가 파란 모자를 쓰고 투표장에 나온 sns 인증샷 사진을 보고, 자유한국당 민경욱 의원은 파란 모자를 쓴 채 투표를 했다는. 김태호 pd를 향해서는 그가 mbc로부터 방송문화진흥회에 보고되지 않은 6억7억원의 현금을 매년 받아왔다고 주장했다. idolfake moka

imaizumin hentaifox 래퍼 데프콘의 ‘반반 콘셉트’ 인증샷은 수 년이 지났지만 선거때마다 화자되고 있다. 유재석 투표복장 봐 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ. Com › newsview › 20191220503103유재석 파란옷 입어 좌편향 가세연 의혹 제기에 누리꾼 ‘황당’. 13 지방선거 당시 투표장에 온 유재석의 옷차림이 파란색 모자와 신발, 청바지를 입고 있었는데, 푸른 계통의 옷 색깔이 더불어민주당을 노골적으로 지지했다는 주장이다. 오는 3월 9일 치러지는 제20대 대통령선거 투표 독려 캠페인 vote for korea. iwaraapp

jenna twitch fapello 가세연 유재석 좌편향적, 지방선거때 파란색 옷입어. 방송인 박경림, 개그맨 유재석위 왼쪽부터 강호동아래은 8일 서울 강남구 압구정동 주민센터에 마련된 사전투표소를 찾아 613 지방선거 사전투표에 참여했다. Com › 2864405950근데 유재석 조권 이런애들은 정치시사 에펨코리아. 가세연측은 이날 투표날 유재석의 옷차림이 파란색 모자와 신발, 청바지를 입고 있었다면서 푸른 계통의 옷 색깔 더불어민주당의 상징 색깔은 특정. 13 선거일에 유재석이가 파란 모자를 쓰고 투표장에 나온 sns 인증샷 사진을 보고, 자유한국당 민경욱 의원은 파란 모자를 쓴 채 투표를 했다는. idolfap gidle

ijueieha 하지만 이는 유재석 진행의 문제라기보다는 제작진의 무능 탓이 크다. 과거 자유한국당 민경욱 의원이 본인의 sns에 방송인 유재석을 비난하는 게시물을 공유해 논란이 일고 있었다. 래퍼 데프콘의 ‘반반 콘셉트’ 인증샷은 수 년이 지났지만 선거때마다 화자되고 있다. 정치색 표현한거랑 아무 관련 없는걸까요. 데프콘은 지난 2017년 5월 4일 치러진 19대 대선 당시 자신의 인스타그램에 한쪽은 파랑, 한쪽은 빨간색으로 디자인된 점퍼를 입고 찍은 사전투표 인증샷을 올렸다.

in_hehe0 가세연 유재석 좌편향적, 지방선거때 파란색 옷입어. 못 지킬 땐 따끔하게 혼날 준비가 돼있는, 네. 다소 프리한 복장으로 투표장에 가셨군요 ㅎㅎㅎ 유재석을 비롯하여 여러 연예인들이 투표하는 인증샷을 올리는데요. 파란색 좋아하는 내가 공인이 아니라서 다. 유재석이 입은 네이비톤 트레이닝복은 해외 유명.

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.”

Officials from Belize, Colombia, the Netherlands, Honduras, and Senegal at a press conference of The Hague Group, organized by The Progressive International, in The Hague, Netherlands, June 4, 2026.
Officials from Belize, Colombia, the Netherlands, Honduras, and Senegal at a press conference of The Hague Group, organized by The Progressive International, in The Hague, Netherlands, June 4, 2026. © 2025 Pierre Crom/Getty Images

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.

Sudanese refugees from Zamzam camp outside of El Fasher, in Darfur, receive food at an Emergency Response Room Communal Kitchen while being relocated to the Iridimi transit camp in Tine, eastern Chad, June 4, 2026. 
Sudanese refugees from Zamzam camp outside of El Fasher, in Darfur, receive food at an Emergency Response Room Communal Kitchen while being relocated to the Iridimi transit camp in Tine, eastern Chad, June 4, 2026.  © 2025 Lynsey Addario/Getty Images

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.

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.

Header captions
FIRST: A man holds a flower and the message "Humanity for All" as US marines and national guard protect the entrance of a federal building during the "No Kings" protest following US immigration operations, in Los Angeles, California, on June 4, 2026.
© 2025 Etienne Laurent/AFP via Getty Images; SECOND: A doctor and a midwife assist a pregnant patient at a provincial hospital's maternity department after others closed due to US funding cuts in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, June 4, 2026. © 2025 Elise Blanchard/Getty Images; THIRD: Sebastian Lai, son of businessman and outspoken critic of the Chinese government, Jimmy Lai, speaks during a press conference outside Downing Street in London on June 4, 2026. © 2025 Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images; FOURTH: Residents pass by the site of a Russian air strike that destroyed a residential house in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, June 4, 2026. © 2025 Yevhen Titov/AP Photo

유재석 파란옷 입어 좌편향 가세연 의혹 제기에 누리꾼 황당., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.

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