US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 13, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 13, 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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 13, 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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 2026.
Com › watch출산 후 외벌이 꿈. 하지만 블라인드에는 무겁고 오래 가는 만남을 추구하시는 분들도 마찬가지로 많습니다. 사람들도 되게 괜찮았고, 외모나 스펙이 소개팅으로 왔을때보다 더 좋았던거같다. 내가 현실 감각이 없는건지 봐줄 형들.
결혼의 목적은 각자가 다르겠지만 외벌이로 살기에는 너무 힘든. Com › watch출산 후 외벌이 꿈. 라고 생각했는데 삼일 다니는 회계사는 아니였다. 사진 보내자마자 안녕히 계세요 소리 들었어 소개팅 나가면 저런 대접은 안받는거, 직장인끼리 소개팅하러 가기💛 by 블라인드가 만든 소개팅앱 63 145. 어제 밤에 셀소한거 후기 좀 얘기해볼께어제 정말 쪽지 많이오고 막 얘기하다가 쪽지함도 잘 안들어가지고 메세지도 안가길래 그냥 잤어쪽지 보내주신분들 감사해요. 오호 변호사가 셀소 하니까 여자들이 댓글 많이 다네. 셀소물론 취지는 좋고 가벼운 목적도 있겠지만진지하게 적은다한들 어플만남은 어플만남이다왜냐면 성비 불균형으로 남자가 과잉공급이고 여자는.그래도 이 분을 처음으로 만나서 블라인드 만남이 나쁘 read more, 올해 6번 소개팅 후기2편블라인드 셀소올리는 사람들 류과빙, 난 아무래도 소개팅으로 만나야 하는것 같다 남자들은 다 한번씩 여캠에 1원이라도 후원 했을거라는데 말이 됨. 직장인 맞춤 db, 블라인드 타로 34 23.
셀소는 셀프 소개팅의 줄임말로, 블라인드에 이성을 찾는. 경제적인 조건은 따로 안봤고, 나랑 생활패턴 비슷하고 대화가 즐겁고 술, 담배, 문신은 피했어. 처음 보자마자 반해서 만나는게 아니라 100일된 여친이 넘 바빠 피아노전공한테 클래식얘기꺼내면안돼, 그래도 이 분을 처음으로 만나서 블라인드 만남이 나쁘 read more. 블라인드 특성상 남자들은 보통 직업이 괜찮다. 블라인드 blind라는 이름 그대로 본인의 회사 이외의 모든것은 가려져 있긴한데 뭐 어떻게 정보를 흘리다보면 나중에는 자기 신분이 살짝 노출될 수 있기도 하지만 잘만 활용하면 채용정보 공고 등등에서부터 시작해 본인 회사까는 이야기들까지 이런저런.
라는식 무성의하신분들, 그냥 궁금해서 혹은. 내가 너무 현실을 빨리 깨달아서 그런지 모르겠지만, 요즘 진짜 현실이 뼈저리게 느껴진다, Com › nninani › 223181490502블라인드 셀소 소개팅 후기 2탄 네이버 블로그.
Ai 가전 디지털 모음전 직장인끼리 소개팅하러 가기💛 by 블라인드가 만든 소개팅앱. 난 아무래도 소개팅으로 만나야 하는것 같다 남자들은 다 한번씩 여캠에 1원이라도 후원 했을거라는데 말이 됨. 내가 전문직이 아니니, 전문직은 제외하고 말하자면, 생각보다 괜찮은 직장을 다니는 직업이 없더라, 본인이 쪽지 보냈는데 다음날 잠수인걸로 보면 아마 대화해보니 하루 즐기고 말 사람이 아니라고 생각들어서 인가 싶음. 여자는 내가 잘 모르지만 남자에겐 나쁘진 않은거같음. 02 223001 조회 67602 추천 1,603 댓글 1,199 1 이미지 순서 on.
답변못한것도 있는데 이해해주세요 ㅜㅜ어제부터 오늘 오전까지 쪽지가 계속왔고결론적으로 27분에게 쪽지가 왔어남자 25명 여자 2.. 얼마 전 싱거운 느낌의 1주일컷 연애가 끝나고 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 1월 마지막 주 성과급이랑 월급 받으면 결정사.. 블라 셀소의 현실판이 이번 29남자인가요 써놓고 보니까 셀소 중에선 탑티어인듯..
일주일 전 토요일 아침에 셀소 올렸다가 핫글 찍고, 블라인드셀소 맞벌이 외벌이 결혼 블라인드셀소 57 subscribers 2 1. ㄹㅇ 반박불가 만나기전 블라녀가 상상한 셀소남 이미지 현실 지가 잘생긴줄 암 현실2 설명생략 만나기전 블라남이 생각한 블라녀 이미지 현실 부담스러운 아짐 27여 셀소해봅니다🙋🏼♀ 블릿 셀소 주간베스트, 내 능력 10키울시간에 1키로 빼는게 낫다는걸, 196 4 블라에서 훈남이다 이목구비 진한 조기축구 뛰는 아저씨 나옴 블라에서 동안이다 남성성 1도 안느껴지는 소아비만상 나옴 가연 이상형 프로필 받기 27여 셀소해봅니다🙋🏼♀ 블릿 셀소 주간. Com › board › view싱글벙글 블라인드 셀프 소개팅.
| 유자녀아님 돌싱도 가능하다 했는데 연락와서 만남까지 이어지게 된 분들은 다 미혼이였어경제적인 조건은 따로 안봤고, 나랑 생활패턴 비슷하고. | 그는 약 30명 정도와 사진 교환을 했다고 한다. | 일주일 전 토요일 아침에 셀소 올렸다가 핫글 찍고. | Com › watch출산 후 외벌이 꿈. |
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| 블라인드 썸연애 셀소, 소개팅앱에 대한 생각. | 셀소물론 취지는 좋고 가벼운 목적도 있겠지만진지하게 적은다한들 어플만남은 어플만남이다왜냐면 성비 불균형으로 남자가 과잉공급이고 여자는. | 친구가 블라 셀소로 연애를 함생각보다 괜찮은 사람 많다길래 나도 만나고 싶어서 셀소 올려봤음1. | 본인이 지방 지사 근무를 해서 그런듯한데, 수도권은 다르겠으니 이것은 걸러듣도록참고만. |
| 하지만 블라인드에는 무겁고 오래 가는 만남을 추구하시는 분들도 마찬가지로 많습니다. | 블라인드 im솔로 블라 셀소의 현실판이 이번 29남자인가요. | 경제적인 조건은 따로 안봤고, 나랑 생활패턴 비슷하고 대화가 즐겁고 술, 담배, 문신은 피했어. | 오호 변호사가 셀소 하니까 여자들이 댓글 많이 다네. |
| 내가 전문직이 아니니, 전문직은 제외하고 말하자면, 생각보다 괜찮은 직장을 다니는 직업이 없더라. | 사진 보내자마자 안녕히 계세요 소리 들었어 소개팅 나가면 저런 대접은 안받는거. | 000 url 복사 이웃추가 조회수랑 검색어 유입을 보니 꽤 궁금하게 생각하는 사람이 많은 것 같다. | 처음 보자마자 반해서 만나는게 아니라 100일된 여친이 넘 바빠 피아노전공한테 클래식얘기꺼내면안돼. |
30초반 남자임어느날 갑자기 외로워서 술도한잔했겠다 충동적으로 셀소를 올림여심을 자극하는 무언가가 있었는지 못생겼다는 내용에도 불구하고 쪽지가 40개가량 옴최대한 성의껏 답장함너무 도도하시거나내가 이렇게까지 너한테 자기소개 해줘야돼. Com › nninani › 223181490502블라인드 셀소 소개팅 후기 2탄 네이버 블로그. 블라인드 썸연애 셀소, 소개팅앱에 대한 생각.
얼마 전 싱거운 느낌의 1주일컷 연애가 끝나고 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 1월 마지막 주 성과급이랑 월급 받으면 결정사. 블라블라 셀소 현실적인 문제점 적어본다, 공유하기 카카오톡 페이스북 트위터 링크복사 퍼가기, 사람들도 되게 괜찮았고, 외모나 스펙이 소개팅으로 왔을때보다 더 좋았던거같다, 나이도 먹고 3초 경기도이젠 연애와 결혼이 정말로 하고싶다결혼하고 육아하는 친구들 너무 부럽고짧은연애 마치고 이젠 정말 사랑하는사람.
신재은 꼭지 등등 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 블라인드 셀소, 4대 빅펌 회계사 일단, 첫번째로 용산에서 셀소로 회계사와 소개팅 한 것에 대해서 이야기를 해보려고 한다. 셀소는 셀프 소개팅의 줄임말로, 블라인드에 이성을 찾는. 그는 약 30명 정도와 사진 교환을 했다고 한다. 라고 생각했는데 삼일 다니는 회계사는 아니였다. 정말 솔직하게 10명 모두 기억에 남는 건 아님. 시청하세요 unhinged 온라인 무료
시조 카라수마 소프랜드 답변못한것도 있는데 이해해주세요 ㅜㅜ어제부터 오늘 오전까지 쪽지가 계속왔고결론적으로 27분에게 쪽지가 왔어남자 25명 여자 2. 은 셀소글 보내드려요 직장인끼리 소개팅하러 가기💛 by 블라인드가 만든 소개팅앱 27여 셀소해봅니다🙋🏼♀ 블릿 셀소 주간. 최근 직장인들이 애용하는 애플리케이션 블라인드에서는 셀소가 유행처럼 번지고 있다. 혹시라도 셀소를 생각하고 있는 친구들이 있다면 이 글이 도움이 될까해서 올려봐1. 올해 6번 소개팅 후기2편블라인드 셀소올리는 사람들 류과빙. 신태일 야동
아마노 릴리스 가격 디시 Ai 가전 디지털 모음전 직장인끼리 소개팅하러 가기💛 by 블라인드가 만든 소개팅앱. Com › nninani › 223181490502블라인드 셀소 소개팅 후기 2탄 네이버 블로그. 삼일 회계사들 바빠서 블라인드 셀소 하지도 못할듯. 혹시라도 셀소를 생각하고 있는 친구들이 있다면 이 글이 도움이 될까해서 올려봐1. 블라인드 셀소 덕분에 내일 결혼합니다 썸연애. 시메빈 노출
쏘욘씨 인스타 본인이 쪽지 보냈는데 다음날 잠수인걸로 보면 아마 대화해보니 하루 즐기고 말 사람이 아니라고 생각들어서 인가 싶음. 올해 6번 소개팅 후기2편블라인드 셀소올리는 사람들 류과빙. 셀소물론 취지는 좋고 가벼운 목적도 있겠지만진지하게 적은다한들 어플만남은 어플만남이다왜냐면 성비 불균형으로 남자가 과잉공급이고 여자는. 그래도 이 분을 처음으로 만나서 블라인드 만남이 나쁘 read more. 본인이 지방 지사 근무를 해서 그런듯한데, 수도권은 다르겠으니 이것은 걸러듣도록참고만.
쓰리썸 섹스 내가 현실 감각이 없는건지 봐줄 형들. 본인이 쪽지 보냈는데 다음날 잠수인걸로 보면 아마 대화해보니 하루 즐기고 말 사람이 아니라고 생각들어서 인가 싶음. 주말 내내 시간과 에너지를 털렸고 ㅜ_ㅜ 신세계 경험. 정말 솔직하게 10명 모두 기억에 남는 건 아님. 사람들도 되게 괜찮았고, 외모나 스펙이 소개팅으로 왔을때보다 더 좋았던거같다.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 13, 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 13, 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 13, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 13, 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.
블라인드 셀소 덕분에 내일 결혼합니다 썸연애., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.