US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 5, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 2026.
Torture 의 성인망가, 에로 동인지. Pixiv farting, fart, maid, oneshota are the most prominent tags for this work posted on july 15th, 2021. 어떤 고문이든 견딜 생각이었는데 사정도 못하고 불쌍한 자. 전투에서 패배한 공주 여기사 고문하는 망가.
네이버웹툰 싸움독학, 넷플릭스 日 시리즈로 독점 공개. Mahou shoujo dengeki zeme 마법소녀 전격고문 tonkaraton, 여자친구를 만들고 즐거운 고교 생활을 꿈꾸는 이시마루 다이토 고등학교 1학년. See more fan art related to namuza, yoza, banigaru, kurisumasu. 단순히 피튀기는 정도로는 고어함이라곤 할순 없지요. Torture 의 성인망가, 에로 동인지, この作品「평범하지않은 여고생의 방귀 1화」は「방귀」、「방귀고문」等のタグがつけられた小説です。오늘은 고3이 되는 개학식 날이 아니라 개학식까지 1달 남은 반배치가 나오는 날이다 반배치가 나오기 1분남았다 1,2,3학년들이 한번에 접속하여 서버가 먹. C³ 시큐브 라는 소설과 만화를 본 사람이라면 알고 있을 고문법이며 중세 영국에서 행한 고문 처형법. 이 도서관은 모바일특화이며 이웃만하셔도 모든 서적을 보실 수 있습니다.화 연재중, comic, 소년, 줄거리 여기는 살인과 고문이 합법화된 세계.. 화 연재중, comic, 소년, 줄거리 여기는 살인과 고문이 합법화된 세계..헤르미온느가 붙잡혀서 말포이 저택에서 고문을 당하는 팬픽이 기억나요, 고문 회사에서 일하는 아르바이트생 세로와 선배 시우는, 신입인 미케와 휴를 맞이하여 하루하루 즐겁게 고문에 힘쓰고 있다. 당연히 고문 용도로는 전혀 나오지 않는다, 그래서 간단하게 구성해본 자캐 설정집입니다 음음이런 자캐 소개하는걸.
무료로 즐기는 torture의 성인망가, 에로 동인지라면 역시 hentaipaw. 어떤 고문이든 견딜 생각이었는데 사정도 못하고 불쌍한 자. 이 도서관은 모바일특화이며 이웃만하셔도 모든 서적을 보실 수 있습니다. この作品 「설정 풀기 에리나 메이드」 は 「만화」「おなら」 等のタグがつけられた「xbrawlx💨🚫」さんの漫画です。 「우여곡절 끝에 드디어 메이드의 이름이 에리나로 정해졌습니다, 이번엔 정주행이 추천하는 고어물 만화 추천 30선을 해볼까합니다 yay. 20 drawings on pixiv, japan.
개 플레이시키기와 채찍질 고문을 주로 한다. 한 번만으로도 기절하게 되며 깨어나면 다시 쳤다. 내가 아는 것이 진실인가 중앙일보the joongang는 현장의 진실을 빠르게 전달합니다, 카타시붓 0215주 명문 사립교 유키오 학원의 학생회장인 류조지 하루카는 어느 날 카마치라는 남학생으로부터 고백을 받지만 단칼에 거절한다.
고문 아르바이트의 일상 단행본 카카오페이지 2025. 길이 어떤 고문을 받았을지, 그리고 로이스와 길의 뒷이야기가 궁금하다고. Mahou shoujo dengeki zeme 마법소녀 전격고문 tonkaraton, 최고 고문은 포르노가 만화와 동인지 mangasex, 일반 망가에서 본것중에 제일 엄청났던 고문.
| 이병건 전 한국바이오협회 이사장이 치매 치료제 임상결과 발표를 앞둔 아리바이오에 특별고문으로 합류했다. | 내가 아는 것이 진실인가 중앙일보the joongang는 현장의 진실을 빠르게 전달합니다. | 어떤 고문이든 견딜 생각이었는데 사정도 못하고 불쌍한 자. | C³ 시큐브 라는 소설과 만화를 본 사람이라면 알고 있을 고문법이며 중세 영국에서 행한 고문 처형법. |
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| 카마치는 뇌력이라는 수수께끼의 힘으로 그녀의 신체의 자유와 기억을 조종하는데 카타시붓 25주 카마치의 아이를 임신한 기억을 되찾게 된 하루카는. | 에테르 나이츠 세라 히로인의 처절한 고문 somisoft. | 허나 그게 와타리에게 정신적 피해가 되어서 와타리도 정신이 이상해졌다고 한다. | 고문 아르바이트의 일상 단행본 카카오페이지 2025. |
| 톰트 망가 2000년대2010년대 미치도록 끔찍한 고문호러여성 연쇄살인범 망가를 찾는 데 도움이 필요해. | See more fan art related to namuza, yoza, banigaru, kurisumasu. | 이병건 전 한국바이오협회 이사장이 치매 치료제 임상결과 발표를 앞둔 아리바이오에 특별고문으로 합류했다. | 무료로 즐기는 torture의 성인망가, 에로 동인지라면 역시 hentaipaw. |
| ㅇㅎ 여고생에게 나치식 고문을 하는 만화manhwa dogdrip. | 그래서 간단하게 구성해본 자캐 설정집입니다 음음이런 자캐 소개하는걸. | 톰트 망가 2000년대2010년대 미치도록 끔찍한 고문호러여성 연쇄살인범 망가를 찾는 데 도움이 필요해. | 망가에서 본것중에 제일 엄청났던 고문 라스트 오리진. |
| 이병건 前 한국바이오협회 이사장, 아리바이오 특별고문 합류. | この作品 「설정 풀기 에리나 메이드」 は 「만화」「おなら」 等のタグがつけられた「xbrawlx💨🚫」さんの漫画です。 「우여곡절 끝에 드디어 메이드의 이름이 에리나로 정해졌습니다. | 야마토 아야메 16시에서 18시까지 츠카사 고문 담당. | 에테르 나이츠 세라 히로인의 처절한 고문 somisoft. |
참여 동기는 어릴 때 츠카사를 짝사랑했기 때문에 참석한 걸로 보인다. 상기한 대로 성인만화나 동영상의 경우 과거에 고문 도구로 쓰였을 정도였기 때문에 뾰족하게 만들면 사람이 다칠 우려가 있다. 대표적인 사례가 부천경찰서 성고문 사건 이다, Hours ago — 병맛이였던 망가를 찾습니다. 길이 어떤 고문을 받았을지, 그리고 로이스와 길의 뒷이야기가 궁금하다고.
참여 동기는 어릴 때 츠카사를 짝사랑했기 때문에 참석한 걸로 보인다, 광복 후에도 일제 경찰들이 청산되지 못하고 남아서 성고문 기법을 전수해 나갔기 때문에 제5공화국 시기까지 저질러졌던 극악한 고문 방법이다. 홈에서 펼쳐지는 느긋한 일상과 끔찍한 고문의 갭에 중독자 속출. 을 겪으며 그때마다 매번 굴복하고, 매번 엑스의 신뢰를 잃어가 3권쯤 가면 고문이 시작하기도 전에 비밀을 불 거라고 짐작하는. Com › comic › detail고문 아르바이트의 일상 네이버 시리즈. 야마토 아야메 16시에서 18시까지 츠카사 고문 담당.
Chinese dress ♀ electric shocks ♀, 동료를 지키기 위해 스스로 포로가 된 길 중위, 카타시붓 0215주 명문 사립교 유키오 학원의 학생회장인 류조지 하루카는 어느 날 카마치라는 남학생으로부터 고백을 받지만 단칼에 거절한다. 한 번만으로도 기절하게 되며 깨어나면 다시 쳤다.
Com › community › board여캐들이 리얼하게 고문당하는 만화나 애니있냐.. Pixiv farting, fart, maid, oneshota are the most prominent tags for this work posted on july 15th, 2021.. 사쿠라가오카 여자고등학교에서 경음부원들이 방과 후 티타임이라는 밴드를 이끌면서 일어나는 여러 가지 에피소드들을 그렸다..
Pixiv farting, fart, maid, oneshota are the most prominent tags for this work posted on july 15th, 2021. 톰트 망가 2000년대2010년대 미치도록 끔찍한 고문, この作品「평범하지않은 여고생의 방귀 1화」は「방귀」、「방귀고문」等のタグがつけられた小説です。오늘은 고3이 되는 개학식 날이 아니라 개학식까지 1달 남은 반배치가 나오는 날이다 반배치가 나오기 1분남았다 1,2,3학년들이 한번에 접속하여 서버가 먹. 프롤로그 블로그 영화드라마 애니코믹스 영화추천정보 애니추천정보 안부, 광복 후에도 일제 경찰들이 청산되지 못하고 남아서 성고문 기법을 전수해 나갔기 때문에 제5공화국 시기까지 저질러졌던 극악한 고문 방법이다.
프롤로그 블로그 영화드라마 애니코믹스 영화추천정보 애니추천정보 안부. 최고 고문은 포르노가 만화와 동인지 mangasex. 마국과 접경지대에 있어 항상 마군과 싸우는 어느 왕국의 기사단장 겸 공주인 주인공, 일제강점기 당시 일본 군경이 조선인 독립운동가 들에게 했던 것이 성고문이었다.
도리 jh 101 동료를 지키기 위해 스스로 포로가 된 길 중위. C³ 시큐브 라는 소설과 만화를 본 사람이라면 알고 있을 고문법이며 중세 영국에서 행한 고문 처형법. 망가에서 본것중에 제일 엄청났던 고문 라스트 오리진. 여자친구를 만들고 즐거운 고교 생활을 꿈꾸는 이시마루 다이토 고등학교 1학년. 길이 어떤 고문을 받았을지, 그리고 로이스와 길의 뒷이야기가 궁금하다고. 드래곤볼 부르마 노출
디시 윤가놈 헤르미온느가 붙잡혀서 말포이 저택에서 고문을 당하는 팬픽이 기억나요. 고문 회사에서 일하는 아르바이트생 세로와 선배 시우는, 신입인 미케와 휴를 맞이하여 하루하루 즐겁게 고문에 힘쓰고 있다. Bdsm 도구 편집 현대에는 bdsm 도구로 쓰인다. 사쿠라가오카 여자고등학교에서 경음부원들이 방과 후 티타임이라는 밴드를 이끌면서 일어나는 여러 가지 에피소드들을 그렸다. 네이버웹툰 싸움독학, 넷플릭스 日 시리즈로 독점 공개. 도화령 사진
덕배입니다 가슴 프롤로그 블로그 영화드라마 애니코믹스 영화추천정보 애니추천정보 안부. 카타시붓 0215주 명문 사립교 유키오 학원의 학생회장인 류조지 하루카는 어느 날 카마치라는 남학생으로부터 고백을 받지만 단칼에 거절한다. 고문 회사에서 일하는 아르바이트생 세로와 선배 시우는, 신입인 미케와 휴를 맞이하여 하루하루 즐겁게 고문에 힘쓰고 있다. 홈에서 펼쳐지는 느긋한 일상과 끔찍한 고문의 갭에 중독자 속출. Com › community › board여캐들이 리얼하게 고문당하는 만화나 애니있냐. 뒷치기
둥지언니 논란 디시 당연히 고문 용도로는 전혀 나오지 않는다. 야마토 아야메 16시에서 18시까지 츠카사 고문 담당. 최고 고문은 포르노가 만화와 동인지 mangasex. 에테르 나이츠 세라 히로인의 처절한 고문 somisoft. Chinese dress ♀ electric shocks ♀.
데드어게인 노출 이 도서관은 모바일특화이며 이웃만하셔도 모든 서적을 보실 수 있습니다. 카타시붓 0215주 명문 사립교 유키오 학원의 학생회장인 류조지 하루카는 어느 날 카마치라는 남학생으로부터 고백을 받지만 단칼에 거절한다. 당연히 고문 용도로는 전혀 나오지 않는다. 을 겪으며 그때마다 매번 굴복하고, 매번 엑스의 신뢰를 잃어가 3권쯤 가면 고문이 시작하기도 전에 비밀을 불 거라고 짐작하는. 20 drawings on pixiv, japan.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 5, 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 5, 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 5, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 5, 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.
일반 망가에서 본것중에 제일 엄청났던 고문., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.