Will Human Rights Survive a Trumpian World?

Authoritarian Advances Threaten Rules-Based Order

The global human rights system is in peril. Under relentless pressure from US President Donald Trump, and persistently undermined by China and Russia, the rules-based international order is being crushed, threatening to take with it the architecture human rights defenders have come to rely on to advance norms and protect freedoms. To defy this trend, governments that still value human rights, alongside social movements, civil society, and international institutions, need to form a strategic alliance to push back.

To be fair, the downward spiral predated Trump’s reelection. The democratic wave that began over 50 years ago has given way to what scholars term a “democratic recession.” Democracy is now back to 1985 levels according to some metrics, with 72 percent of the world’s population now living under autocracy. Russia and China are less free today than 20 years ago. And so is the United States.

Of course, democracy is not a panacea for human rights violations; the US and other longtime democracies have their own histories of colonial crimes, racism, abusive justice systems, and wartime atrocities. More recently, authoritarian leaders have exploited public mistrust and anger to win elections and then dismantled the very institutions that brought them to power. Democratic institutions are crucial to represent the will of the people and keep power in check. It’s no surprise that whenever democracy is undermined, rights are too, as evident in recent years in India, Türkiye, the Philippines, El Salvador, and Hungary.

In this context, 2025 may be seen as a tipping point. In just 12 months, the Trump administration has carried out a broad assault on key pillars of US democracy and the global rules-based order, which the US, despite inconsistencies, was, with other states, instrumental in helping to establish.

In short order, Trump’s second-term administration has undermined trust in the sanctity of elections, reduced government accountability, gutted food assistance and healthcare subsidies, attacked judicial independence, defied court orders, rolled back women’s rights, obstructed access to abortion care, undermined remedies for racial harm, terminated programs mandating accessibility for people with disabilities, punished free speech, stripped protections from trans and intersex people, eroded privacy, and used government power to intimidate political opponents, the media, law firms, universities, civil society, and even comedians.

Claiming a risk of “civilizational erasure” in Europe and leaning on racist tropes to cast entire populations as unwelcome in the US, the Trump administration has embraced policies and rhetoric that align with white nationalist ideology. Immigrants and asylum seekers have been subjected to inhumane conditions and degrading treatment; 32 died in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in 2025, and as of mid-January 2026, an additional 4 have died. Masked immigration enforcement agents have targeted people of color, using excessive force, terrorizing communities, wrongfully arresting scores of citizens, and, most recently, unjustifiably killing two people in Minneapolis, whose deaths Human Rights Watch has documented.

The US president of course has the authority to tighten US borders and enforce stricter immigration policies. The administration is not, however, entitled to deny legal process to asylum seekers, mistreat undocumented migrants, or unlawfully discriminate. In a well-functioning democracy, no electoral mandate should supersede domestic legislation, constitutional protections, or international human rights law. Trump’s team has repeatedly bypassed these guardrails.

The violations have not stopped at the border. The Trump administration used a 1798 law to send hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to an infamous prison in El Salvador, where they were tortured and sexually abused. Its blatantly unlawful strikes on boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific extrajudicially killed more than 120 people whom Trump claims were drug traffickers.

After the US attacked Venezuela and apprehended its president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, Trump claimed the US would “run” the country and control its vast oil reserves. Despite paying lip service to human rights concerns under Maduro at the United Nations, Trump has worked with the same repressive apparatus to further US interests. Many Western allies have chosen to stay silent about these lawless moves, perhaps fearing erratic tariffs and blowback to their alliances.

Trump’s foreign policy has upended the foundations of the rules-based order that seeks to advance democracy and human rights, even if imperfectly.

Trump has boasted that he doesn’t “need international law” as a constraint, only his “own morality.” His administration has politicized the US State Department’s annual human rights report, stepped away from the global prohibition on antipersonnel landmines, voiced support for rewriting international rules on asylum, and skipped the UN’s Universal Periodic Review of the US’ human rights record.

His administration withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council and the World Health Organization and plans to quit 66 international organizations and programs that it describes as part of an “outdated model of multilateralism,” including key forums for climate negotiations. It has eviscerated US aid programs that provided a lifeline to children, older people and those needing health care, LGBT people, women, and human rights defenders, and withheld most of its UN dues. 

Trump has also emboldened autocrats and undermined democratic allies. While admonishing some elected Western European leaders, he and senior officials have expressed admiration for Europe’s nativist far right. He has favored autocrats such as Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, while continuing decades of US support to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

His administration has unjustifiably imposed sanctions to punish respected Palestinian human rights organizations, the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) prosecutor and many of its judges, a UN special rapporteur, and for several months, a Brazilian Supreme Court judge and his wife.

The institutional response in the US to Trump’s power grabs has been shockingly muted. Much of Congress, controlled by his own party, has not challenged his supercharged expansion of executive power. The leaders of the US’ most powerful technology companies have made significant donations and sought to placate the president. Some big law firms and prestigious universities have made deals rather than assert their independence, and some media organizations seem afraid to attract the president’s ire.

Has the US switched sides on the human rights playing field? While US engagement with human rights institutions has always been selective, China and Russia have long pursued an illiberal agenda. They stand much to gain from a US government that now expresses open hostility to universal rights. China and Russia remain strategic rivals of the US, but all three countries are now led by leaders who share open disdain for norms and institutions that could constrain their power.

Together, they wield considerable economic, military, and diplomatic power. If they were to consistently act as allies of convenience to erode global rules, they could threaten the entire system. Already, a loose international network of countries such as North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, Myanmar, Cuba, and Belarus work in concert with Russia and China. These leaders share very little ideologically but align in undermining human rights and promoting a regressive international agenda. In word and in practice, the US government is now helping them in this endeavor.

The US’ weakening of multilateral institutions also dealt a serious blow to global efforts to prevent or stop grave international crimes. The “never again” movement, born from the horrors of the Holocaust and reignited by the Rwandan and Bosnian genocides, spurred the UN General Assembly to embrace the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in 2005. Meant to guide international intervention to prevent and stop atrocities in tandem with efforts to prosecute and punish serious crimes, R2P made a real difference in places like the Central African Republic and Kenya.

Today, R2P is rarely invoked and the ICC is under siege. In addition to Trump’s far-reaching sanctions, in December 2025 a Moscow court sentenced the ICC prosecutor and eight of its judges to prison terms in absentia. Moreover, despite being ICC fugitives, in 2025, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin was welcomed by Donald Trump in Alaska, and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Hungary, an ICC member state at the time, at Orban’s invitation.

Twenty years ago, the US government and civil society were instrumental in galvanizing a response to mass atrocities in Darfur. Sudan is burning again, but this time under Trump, with relative impunity. Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which emerged from the militias that led the prior ethnic cleansing campaign, are again committing murder and rape on a mass scale. A growing body of evidence indicates that the UAE, a longtime US ally that recently made multi-billion-dollar deals with Trump, is providing the RSF with military support.

In the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the Israeli armed forces have committed acts of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity, killing over 70,000 people since the October 2023 Hamas-led attacks on Israel and displacing the vast majority of Gaza’s population. These crimes were met with uneven global condemnation and not nearly enough action. Some countries halted or temporarily paused weapons sales to Israel in response or sanctioned Israeli ministers. Trump, however, continued a long-standing US policy of almost unconditional support to Israel, even as the International Court of Justice is weighing allegations of genocide and has issued binding orders under the Genocide Convention to protect Palestinians’ rights.

Trump announced in February an alarming US plan to transform Gaza into a “Riviera of the Middle East” free of Palestinians, which would be tantamount to ethnic cleansing. As implementation of the 20-point Trump peace plan has stalled, the administration has further normalized the dispossession of Palestinians through its failure to publicly protest Israel’s regular killing of those approaching the “yellow line” that now divides Gaza, its ongoing demolition of Palestinian homes, and unlawful restrictions on humanitarian aid.

In Ukraine, Trump’s peace efforts have consistently downplayed Russia’s responsibility for serious violations. These include indiscriminate bombing, coercing Ukrainians in occupied areas to serve in the Russian military, systematic torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war, the abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, and the use of quadcopter drones to hunt and kill civilians. Rather than applying meaningful pressure on Putin to end these crimes, Trump publicly berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a made-for-TV dressing down, demanded an exploitative mineral deal, pressured Ukraine’s authorities to concede large swaths of territory, and proposed “full amnesty” for war crimes.

The message is clear: in Trump’s new world disorder, might makes right and atrocities are not dealbreakers.

See ranks, aiscore, ai tier prediction, lp graph and matchup pool. 22 095811 조회 24132 추천 317 댓글 121 이런말을 대놓고 할수있는 용기가 진짜 대단하다. 일반 근데 라인스왑 못하면 라인전 잘하는 구마 이득 아님. Fact 페이커의 제우스합류 이전 월즈우승은 중국애들이 연습실도 없어서 피씨방에서 스크림하던 물로켓 시절에 획득한 것 뿐이였음.

시노부 캐릭터

스즈키 잇테츠 블로그

Buy hanwha t1 gumayusi 10cm doll wts on bunjang without korean account, Hours ago 항상 끝까지 가면 구마가 옳더라. Fact 페이커의 제우스합류 이전 월즈우승은 중국애들이 연습실도 없어서 피씨방에서 스크림하던 물로켓 시절에 획득한 것 뿐이였음. Days ago 프로게이머 구마유시 본명 이민형에게서 영감을 받은 전시 각자의 link가 동시대 팬 문화의 변화를 조명한다. 구마유시 이민형 마이너 갤러리 디시인사이드.

Redirecting to sgall. 이에 신천지에서 해당갤러리에서 구마유시를 비난하는 여론을 만들려고 이만희 똥꾸멍같은짓을 하고있다 03, 오는 2월 6일부터 8일까지 서울 강남 논현동의 스텔라 갤러리 stellar gallery에서 전시 각자의 link가 열린다, 아 도오페케도 챔폭 좁다고 인사못하는사람 이정도로 제이카를 못쓰고 있는거면 구마 제이카를 팀에서 아예 못쓸정도로 못한다고 이미 판단내린거지 회생불가급이라고 내부평가 끝났다고 봄 그래서 더 답이없음 구마로는 메타 조금만 바껴도 bo3도 문제 생기는데 다전제 가면 너무 약점이 큼. 1세트 압도적으로 젠지가 유리하던 상황 쵸비 암베사 지랄병 이전에 비벼진 장면이 탑에 있었음계속 줄줄이 소세지로 뒤진거 기억할꺼임그장면에서 룰러.

이에 신천지에서 해당갤러리에서 구마유시를 비난하는 여론을 만들려고 이만희 똥꾸멍같은짓을 하고있다 03, 최근에 데뷔한 선수들은 구단 차원에서 인성 교육을 철저하게 한다는 것을 생각하면, 구마유시의 사례는 유례가 없는 수준입니다. 구마유시 생각보다 더 대단한 사람이었네 앵하요 2025, Days ago lec는 쟤네 둘중 하나가 우승함, Tốc độ goat_adc_2k2 구르시_마구유시🏹 3 ngày trước follow hai đứa bot duo cố lên nhé 구마유시 hle26win gumayusithebestadc gumayusi i love you so the walters.

T1 5세트 구마유시 일발역전 기적의 애쉬카이팅. 31 205346 스크랩 조회 91340 추천 1,556 댓글 427 신의카이팅으로 대역전. 기타 장기가 손상되는 주요 이유들 4 계층 오늘자 챔스 개쩌는 극장골 10 기타 유튜브선정 2025 최고인기 크리에이터 11 이슈 생중계로 헛소리 듣고나니 지귀연도 긴장되네요 12 주소보기 복사 오픈이슈갤러리 유지어터 20251124 1251 조회 3,403 추천 0, 오는 2월 6일부터 8일까지 서울 강남 논현동의 스텔라 갤러리 stellar gallery에서 전시 각자의 link가 열린다, 향러가 괜찮게 했다 라는 새끼들 있는데 롤잘알이 설명해줌 오늘 걍 향러는 롤잘알이 보면 범인으로 지목해도 될만큼 개쌌음설명해줌1세트.

No more difficult proxy purchase on your way.. 일반 근데 라인스왑 못하면 라인전 잘하는 구마 이득 아님.. 최근에 데뷔한 선수들은 구단 차원에서 인성 교육을 철저하게 한다는 것을 생각하면, 구마유시의 사례는 유례가 없는 수준입니다.. 딜을 못한다자주 풀스펠을 들고 죽는다챔프폭이 좁아 팀을 급하게 만든다모든 평가가 메타빨 아니면 안된다는건데구맘만 부정함 ㅋㅋ dc official app..

시노부 코쵸

어라 분명 제이카를 잘한다고 했는데 전적이 왜 이러지최근에 마스터 티어, T1은 17일 공식 유튜브 채널에 thank you, lee gumayusi minhyung이라는 제목의 영상을 게시하고 이민형 선수와의 작별을 알렸다. 딜을 못한다자주 풀스펠을 들고 죽는다챔프폭이 좁아 팀을 급하게 만든다모든 평가가 메타빨 아니면 안된다는건데구맘만 부정함 ㅋㅋ dc official app. T1은 17일 공식 유튜브 채널에 thank you, lee gumayusi minhyung이라는 제목의 영상을 게시하고 이민형 선수와의 작별을 알렸다. Fact 페이커의 제우스합류 이전 월즈우승은 중국애들이 연습실도 없어서 피씨방에서 스크림하던 물로켓 시절에 획득한 것 뿐이였음.

22 095811 조회 24132 추천 317 댓글 121 이런말을 대놓고 할수있는 용기가 진짜 대단하다. 구마유시역대 공격적인 원딜들이 그랬듯 삐끗하면 레고를삼기는 단점을 그대로 답습하고 있습니다. Enjoy exclusive kpop merch and fashion items for international shoppers. 22 095811 조회 24132 추천 317 댓글 121 이런말을 대놓고 할수있는 용기가 진짜 대단하다. H 현재 구마유시에 대한 스탠스를 보면 응벌레 구별쉬움 18. 구마유시 생각보다 더 대단한 사람이었네 앵하요 2025.

쉬멜 하린 디시

Complete match history and champion stats for 구마유시 469`s league of legends profile kr. 어라 분명 제이카를 잘한다고 했는데 전적이 왜 이러지최근에 마스터 티어, 우선 구마유시미친 파괴력으로 캐리하며 연승하는 중이다, Redirecting to sgall, 2경기 레전드 필독올해 2025 구마유시 매드무비 ㅇㅇ211.

시도 루이 Miss Av

Buy hanwha t1 gumayusi 10cm doll wts on bunjang without korean account. 일반 근데 라인스왑 못하면 라인전 잘하는 구마 이득 아님. Days ago 프로게이머 구마유시 본명 이민형에게서 영감을 받은 전시 각자의 link가 동시대 팬 문화의 변화를 조명한다. 16 2234 hle국내 구마유시 갤러리, 구마유시 이민형 마이너 갤러리 디시인사이드. 그럼 티응갤에서 s급 신인으로 평가하고 있는 스매쉬도 당연히 여기에 지지 않겠지.

쉬멜 윤아 딜을 못한다자주 풀스펠을 들고 죽는다챔프폭이 좁아 팀을 급하게 만든다모든 평가가 메타빨 아니면 안된다는건데구맘만 부정함 ㅋㅋ dc official app. No more difficult proxy purchase on your way. 이민형 선수는 해당 영상을 통해 t1에서 7년을 보냈다며. 우선 구마유시미친 파괴력으로 캐리하며 연승하는 중이다. 딜을 못한다자주 풀스펠을 들고 죽는다챔프폭이 좁아 팀을 급하게 만든다모든 평가가 메타빨 아니면 안된다는건데구맘만 부정함 ㅋㅋ dc official app. 스파크 잡지 디시

시노부 기유 16 2234 hle국내 구마유시 갤러리. 2경기 레전드 필독올해 2025 구마유시 매드무비 ㅇㅇ211. 향러가 괜찮게 했다 라는 새끼들 있는데 롤잘알이 설명해줌 오늘 걍 향러는 롤잘알이 보면 범인으로 지목해도 될만큼 개쌌음설명해줌1세트. 정보 구마유시집안은 유명한 개신교 집안이다. 구마유시 이민형 마이너 갤러리 디시인사이드. 스플릿 텅 키스

스타워즈 선물 목록 기타 장기가 손상되는 주요 이유들 4 계층 오늘자 챔스 개쩌는 극장골 10 기타 유튜브선정 2025 최고인기 크리에이터 11 이슈 생중계로 헛소리 듣고나니 지귀연도 긴장되네요 12 주소보기 복사 오픈이슈갤러리 유지어터 20251124 1251 조회 3,403 추천 0. 데뷔전부터 끊이지 않았던 인성 논란1. No more difficult proxy purchase on your way. See ranks, aiscore, ai tier prediction, lp graph and matchup pool. Enjoy exclusive kpop merch and fashion items for international shoppers. 스푸닝 채널

쉐도우펌 안어울리는 디시 T1 5세트 구마유시 일발역전 기적의 애쉬카이팅. 원래는 뱅 룰러 디아블 같이 앞대쉬로 인파이팅 평캔하는 루시안 처럼 할려다 처 뒤졌는데 구마의 wr시안 보고 저렇게 궁 위주로 하니까 덜 죽고 딜량. 2경기 레전드 필독올해 2025 구마유시 매드무비 ㅇㅇ211. Hours ago 항상 끝까지 가면 구마가 옳더라. 구마유시 생각보다 더 대단한 사람이었네 앵하요 2025.

쉬멜 박연진 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 페이커 올해 성적이 중요한 이유. 일반 근데 라인스왑 못하면 라인전 잘하는 구마 이득 아님. 2025년 시즌이 시작되기 전, 2024년 중순부터 갑작스럽게 세력을 불리기 시작한 구마유시 안티 사이트 티원 응원 마이너 갤러리 는 구마유시의 재계약을 강하게 비토하는 상황이었으며, t1 사옥에 트럭 시위를 강행하고 근조 화환 테러를 가하는 등 부정적인 여론을. 한타에서 점멸을 든 상태로 그대로 상대의 cc를 맞고 폭사하거나,아쉬운 위치 선정으로. 어라 분명 제이카를 잘한다고 했는데 전적이 왜 이러지최근에 마스터 티어.

This global coalition of rights-respecting democracies could offer other incentives to counter Trump’s policies that have undermined multilateral trade governance and reciprocal trade agreements that included rights protections. Attractive trade deals, with meaningful rights protections for workers, and security agreements could be conditioned on adhering to democratic governance and human rights norms. Democracy already comes with benefits. While autocracies have generally fostered conflict, economic stagnation, or kleptocracy, as evidenced in multiple academic studies, including the work of the Nobel Prize-winning economist Daron Acemoglu, democratic institutions reliably yield economic growth. 

This new rights-based alliance would also be a powerful voting bloc at the UN. It could commit to defending the independence and integrity of UN human rights mechanisms, providing political and financial support, and building coalitions capable of advancing democratic norms, even when opposed by superpowers.

Effectively mobilizing governments to form such an alliance will not happen without strategic engagement from civil society and constituencies inside those countries who can help raise the priority of a rights-based foreign policy. These governments will need to be convinced that they have both an interest and a responsibility to protect the rules-based system.

Projects of this nature are bubbling up. Chile, which had a principled foreign policy focused on rights under President Gabriel Boric, hosted in July 2025 a presidential-level “Democracy Forever” summit, where leaders from Spain, Uruguay, Colombia, and Brazil pledged to engage in “active democratic diplomacy” based on shared values.

The Hague Group, led by Malaysia, South Africa, and Colombia, formed in January 2025 in “defense of international law” and in solidarity with Palestinians. Over 70 countries from all regions signed a joint statement defending multilateralism at the UN. Earlier, in 2017, former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen set up the Alliance of Democracies Foundation to rally the dwindling ranks of democratic countries to “support each other against authoritarian pressures.”

Whatever its precise contours, an alliance of rights-respecting democracies would offer a hopeful counterpoint to the authoritarian trope of China’s and Russia’s leaders standing alongside North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, observing military hardware in a parade in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in September. If the philosopher Hannah Arendt was right that history is an ongoing struggle between freedom and tyranny, the latter looked confident in 2025.

Yet, even in the worst of times, the idea of freedom and human rights is enduring. People power remains an engine for change. In the US, “No Kings” marches have drawn millions, protesters in Chicago, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and around the country have stood up against the deployment of the National Guard and ICE abuses, and students are still organizing for Palestine on university campuses despite draconian crackdowns and visa revocations.

Buoyed by popular resistance, South Korean parliamentarians impeached their president to prevent him from grabbing power through martial law. Grassroots aid efforts by Sudan’s emergency response rooms, Hong Kong’s fire relief, Sri Lanka’s cyclone relief community kitchens, and Ukrainian mutual aid and solidarity collectives represent the best of this trend.

In 2025, Gen Z protests against corruption, inadequate public services, and poor governance in Nepal, Indonesia, and Morocco brought to the forefront the need for governments to listen to their youth and tackle corruption and inequality. But as the difficulties of restoring rights in Bangladesh after years under an authoritarian government illustrates, gains won through public mobilization can easily be lost unless democratic participation and free expression remain unassailable.