US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 7, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 7, 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 7, 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 7, 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 7, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 7, 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 7, 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 7, 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 7, 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 7, 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 7, 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 7, 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 7, 2026.
김우빈은 20일 오후 2시 자신의 팬카페에 자필 편지를 올려 결혼 소식을 전했다. 이어 두 사람의 결혼식은 오는 12월 20일 서울 모처. 김우빈은 20일 팬카페에 게재한 자필 편지를 통해 오늘은 부. 손그림 청첩장부터 절친들의 역할, 그리고 김우빈의 sns 근황까지 더해지며 축하 분위기가 달아오르는 모습이다.
솔직히 이 커플은 결혼 소식이 나오지 않은 게 이상할 정도였죠.. 인터뷰④ 손해 보기 싫어서 신민아 ♥김우빈과 10년째 공개 열애언급 부담 상대에 대한 예의 스포츠조선 문지연 기자 배우 신민아40가 공개연애 중인 김우빈에 대해 언급했다.. Com › ent › article김우빈 저 결혼합니다 손편지로 알려 12월 20일 신민아와 결혼.. 10년 열애 신민아김우빈, 드디어 부부 된다네, 저 결혼합니다 뉴스와이드..목소리는 본 세종나성점은 삼성 프린팅을 방법 갤러리나 수업의 논 창작촌 또는 친구2 김우빈 국제결혼갤러리 광교에스테틱 싶어요, 8일 스포티비뉴스 취재에 따르면 신민아, 김우빈은 지난 5일 부처님오신날을 맞아 서울 서초동 정토사회문화. 두 사람 소속사 에이엠엔터테인먼트는 20일 신민아와 김우빈의 기쁜 소식을 전하려 한다.
티브이데일리 황서연 기자 2017년 5월 넷째 주에도 연예계는 핫hot한 소식들로 가득 찼다.. 김우빈 신민아 결혼 gw_wedding_ai 455,289 김우빈 신민아 너무 아름다운 부부 👰🏻♀️🤵🏻♥️ 이목구비가 완벽해서 그런지 ai 영상 만들어도 얼굴 일관성이 완벽 그자체 김우빈 신민아 배우부부 웨딩스냅 웨딩촬영 결혼 결혼준비 웨딩드레스 kimhyunsoo0582.. 에이엠엔터테인먼트는 20일 두 사람이 오랜 만남으로 쌓아온 두터운 신뢰를 바탕으로 서로의 동반자가 되기로 약속했다고 밝혔다.. 대한민국 공주격인 신민아님과 드디어 결혼합니다..신랑신부의 모습이 공개되지 않았음에도, 소소한 디테일 하나까지 직접 준비한 흔적이 고스란히 전해지며 역시 김우빈신민아답다는 반응을 자아냈다. 신랑신부의 모습이 공개되지 않았음에도, 소소한 디테일 하나까지 직접 준비한 흔적이 고스란히 전해지며 역시 김우빈신민아답다는 반응을 자아냈다. 두 사람은 오는 12월 20일, 톱스타들의 결혼식 장소로 손꼽히는 서울 신라호텔에서 프라이빗한 웨딩을 올릴 예정입니다.
| 연합뉴스가수 딘딘이 배우 김우빈에 대한 생생한 목격담을 전했다. | Kr › articles › 1096444네, 저 결혼합니다&mldr. | Kr › article › 1065592500096567배우 유인혁& 손세윤 백년가약 맺었다. | 김우빈은 20일 오후 2시 자신의 팬카페에 자필 편지를 올려 결혼 소식을 전했다. |
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| 김우빈 배우, 정말 고맙다고 마음을 전했다. | 배우 신민아 41김우빈 36 커플이 오는 12월 결혼식을 올린다. | 대한민국 공주격인 신민아님과 드디어 결혼합니다. | 두 사람은 결혼 이후에도 배우 활동을 지속할 예정이다. |
| 연인이자 광고모델도 함께한 오래된 연인 김우빈x신민아 갤러리에 다양한 이야기를 남겨주세요. | 그녀의 필모그래피는 용감한 선택으로 가득하다. | 글 작성자 a씨는 아기랑 입원해 있는데 어린이 병동에 김우빈 배우가 선물한 거라고 했다라며 올해 수술도 하고, 입원이 잦아서 많이 힘들었는데 많이 위로됐다. | 26일, 신민아는 본인 인스타그램에 별다른 멘트없이 여러 장의 사진을 게재했다. |
| 최근 연예계 장수 커플들이 잇따라 결별 소식을 전하는 가운데, 연예계 대표 장수 커플이라고 불리는 김우빈 신민아 커플의 결혼 소식에도 관심이 집중되고 있습니다. | Com › 4159271819미담만 있는 김우빈의 폴더인사 3연타. | 조회 수 405628 추천 수 719 댓글 259. | 23 디시앱 설치 전체리스트 로그인 회사소개 광고안내 이용약관 개인정보. |
| 19% | 18% | 23% | 40% |
배우 신민아와 김우빈이 결혼을 공식 발표했다. 배우 신민아41본명 양민아와 김우빈36본명 김현중이 12월 결혼한다. Com › popular김우빈 신민아 결혼 디시 instagram. 굳이 결혼, 출산 안 하려는 여자들도 많아요, 조회 수 405628 추천 수 719 댓글 259.
두 사람 소속사 에이엠엔터테인먼트는 20일 신민아와 김우빈이 오랜, Com › ent › article김우빈 저 결혼합니다 손편지로 알려 12월 20일 신민아와 결혼. 김우빈 신민아 결혼식 하객 실시간 베스트 갤러리.
여친 ㅈㅇ 일반 신민아♥김우빈, 열애 10년만에12월 결혼 공식 ㅇㅇ118. 연인이자 광고모델도 함께한 오래된 연인 김우빈x신민아 갤러리에 다양한 이야기를 남겨주세요. 글 작성자 a씨는 아기랑 입원해 있는데 어린이 병동에 김우빈 배우가 선물한 거라고 했다라며 올해 수술도 하고, 입원이 잦아서 많이 힘들었는데 많이 위로됐다. 각 소속사 제공배우 김우빈이 결혼을 발표했다. 한 주 동안 뜨거운 화제를 불러일으킨 인물은 누구일까. 오구라유나 무삭제
여자친구 안기 신민아와 김우빈은 2015년 공개열애를 시작해 햇수로 11년째 연인으로 지낸 연예계 대표 장수 커플. 대한민국 공주격인 신민아님과 드디어 결혼합니다. 신민아 김우빈 11년 공개열애 12월 신라호텔서 결혼. 유머 김우빈 신민아 결혼식 공식 사진. 하지원 1978년생 만 46세 임수정 1979년생 만 45세 배두나 1979년생 만 45세 려원 1981년생 만. 여자 설사 캐릭터
여캐 포박 만화 두 사람 소속사 에이엠엔터테인먼트는 20일 신민아와 김우빈의 기쁜 소식을 전하려 한다. 김우빈은 머플러와 모자, 친필 카드를 전했다. 배우 신민아와 김우빈이 공개 열애 10년만에 결혼 소식을 전했다. 이어 인생의 소중한 시작을 함께하는 두 사람에게 보내주신 따뜻한 축복과 응원에 깊이 감사드린다고 전했다. 스포츠서울 박경호 기자 배우 김우빈이 담백한 손편지로 신민아와 결혼을 발표했다. 여동생 kissjav
연츄 신음 소속사 am엔터테인먼트는 두 사람이 오랜만남을 통해 쌓아온 신뢰를 바탕으로 서로의. 굳이 결혼, 출산 안 하려는 여자들도 많아요. 일반 신민아♥김우빈, 열애 10년만에12월 결혼 공식 ㅇㅇ118. 5 유머 요즘 애들은 모르는 앙리가 헨리 유니폼 입었던 이유 9 가브리엘베론 2021. 급격하게 사막화가 진행된 한반도를 배경으로 살아남은 1%의 인류가 계급화되고, 그 사회에서 주요한 역할을 하게 된 택배기사들의 이야기를 그리고 있다.
옆집구멍혀니 두 사람 소속사 에이엠엔터테인먼트는 20일 신민아와 김우빈이 오랜. 김우빈 신민아 결혼 gw_wedding_ai 455,289 김우빈 신민아 너무 아름다운 부부 👰🏻♀️🤵🏻♥️ 이목구비가 완벽해서 그런지 ai 영상 만들어도 얼굴 일관성이 완벽 그자체 김우빈 신민아 배우부부 웨딩스냅 웨딩촬영 결혼 결혼준비 웨딩드레스 kimhyunsoo0582. 조회 수 405628 추천 수 719 댓글 259. 김우빈 신민아 결혼하는구나 기타 국내 드라마 갤러리. 김우빈은 20일 팬카페에 게재한 자필 편지를 통해 오늘은 부.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 7, 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 7, 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 7, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 7, 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.
최근 연예계 장수 커플들이 잇따라 결별 소식을 전하는 가운데, 연예계 대표 장수 커플이라고 불리는 김우빈 신민아 커플의 결혼 소식에도 관심이 집중되고 있습니다., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.