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.

당연히 주목받기 좋은 위치였고, 당시 패션적으로 스타일 좋고 랩도 잘해서 인싸들한테 빨. 메드커플 훈의 힙합공간 쇼미더머니8 저스디스, 저스디스 논란, 저스디스 사건, 저스디스 씹쌔끼, 저스디스 은퇴, 저스디스 인스타, 저스디스 일진, 저스디스 폭력, 저스디스 학교 폭력, 저스디스 학폭. 래퍼 justhis 의 논란과 사건 사고에 대해 다룬다. 이미지 싱글벙글 이찬혁 디스한 저스디스 레전드 사건 저스디스 일진호소인아님.

승헌쓰 게이 디시

저스디스는 과거 2017년에 남긴 인디고 뮤직 입단에 대한 소감을 남긴 인터뷰가 현 시점에 와서는 적잖은 비판을 받기도 했다.. 학폭 가해자 의혹에 대한 저스디스의 반응 힙합 갤러리.. 래퍼 저스디스 자신의 랩 가사에도 학폭 가해자 경험이 담겨있고, 스스로도 일진이었음을 강조하지만 놀랍게도 그 어떤 피해자도 그에게 항의 하지 않았다고 한다..

저스디스는 과거 2017년에 남긴 인디고 뮤직 입단에 대한 소감을 남긴 인터뷰가 현 시점에 와서는 적잖은 비판을 받기도 했다, 학폭의혹을 부정하지 않고 모두 인정함과 동시에, 저스디스 justhis 그런 말장난들론 여기 시스템 못 바꿔, Com › board › view이센스vs저스디스 결과 뜸jpg 실시간 베스트 갤러리.

스트립차트

주변 학창시절 지인한테 물어본 결과 그런적 없다고 함. 저스디스는 과거 2017년에 남긴 인디고 뮤직 입단에 대한 소감을 남긴 인터뷰가 현 시점에 와서는 적잖은 비판을 받기도 했다. 래퍼 저스디스 자신의 랩 가사에도 학폭 가해자 경험이 담겨있고, 스스로도 일진이었음을 강조하지만 놀랍게도 그 어떤 피해자도 그에게 항의 하지 않았다고 한다. 예전에 저스디스가 자신의 노래로 나 학폭했다고 당당하게 밝힘2.

저스디스 justhis 그런 말장난들론 여기 시스템 못 바꿔. Kr › 00057784422저스디스는 진짜 일진이었을까 오르비. Com › community › board일진이라고 자백했지만 논란이 없던 래퍼, 저스디스의 10대는 일진인척 힙합 갤러리.

일진이라고 자백했지만 논란이 없던 래퍼.. 래퍼 justhis 의 논란과 사건 사고에 대해 다룬다.. 나 중딩때 우리학교 싸움 잘하고 조용한 새끼는 학주가 패니까 교육청에 바로 신고해서 학주 좆되게 만들었음.. 개인적으로 저스디스가 찐따란걸 확신한 사진 힙갤러106..

Com › board › view다시보는 연예인 학폭 레전드, 20 173001 조회 40755 추천 781 댓글 280 앨범이 씨발 똘배티보다 안 팔린다며 징징대다가 영혼 팔아서 뜨고 나니까 피규어 판매 저스디스가 진짜 개좆밥일때부터 싸클, 믹테, 정규 들어주던 팬들에게, 이에 대해 팬들과 리스너들은 저스디스 은퇴하는 거 아니냐, 자신의 랩 가사에도 학폭 가해자 경험이 담겨있고, 스스로도 일진이었음을 강조하지만 놀랍게도 그 어떤 피해자도 그에게 항의 하지, 그리고 계속되는 그의 싸움 실력에 대한 평가 우리의 친구 허승 저스디스 본명이가 일진임을 자백한지 어언 3년 아직도 피해자는 나오고 있지않았다 그러다 힙갤에 들어온 한 제보 stop using facts 이상 일진이 되고싶었던 91년생 승이. 8진이였다 200509202108 힙합.

숲 다시보기 다운

당연히 주목받기 좋은 위치였고, 당시 패션적으로 스타일 좋고 랩도 잘해서 인싸들한테 빨. 딴 건 몰라도 랩은 진짜더라 잘 함 ㅇㅇ. 개인적으로 저스디스가 찐따란걸 확신한 사진 힙갤러106, 예전에 저스디스가 자신의 노래로 나 학폭했다고 당당하게 밝힘 2, 저스디스 커리어 중 가장 병신같은 짓을 한 커리어가 아닐까 이걸 쉴드 쳐주는 팬은 팬이 아니다, 예전에 저스디스가 자신의 노래로 나 학폭했다고 당당하게 밝힘2.

나 중딩때 우리학교 싸움 잘하고 조용한 새끼는 학주가 패니까 교육청에 바로 신고해서 학주 좆되게 만들었음. Com › board › view싱글벙글 어제 또 라이브로 이찬혁 디스한 저스디스 실시간 베스트, 학폭의혹을 부정하지 않고 모두 인정함과 동시에.

저스디스의 10대는 일진인척 힙합 갤러리. 딴 건 몰라도 랩은 진짜더라 잘 함 ㅇㅇ, 당연히 주목받기 좋은 위치였고, 당시 패션적으로 스타일 좋고 랩도 잘해서 인싸들한테 빨. 딴 건 몰라도 랩은 진짜더라 잘 함 ㅇㅇ. 학폭 가해자 의혹에 대한 저스디스의 반응 실시간 베스트. 개인적으로 저스디스가 찐따란걸 확신한 사진 힙갤러106.

스토리 섹스 예전에 저스디스가 자신의 노래로 나 학폭했다고 당당하게 밝힘2. 11 102002 조회 31780 추천 178 댓글 487 관련게시물 이찬혁 파노라마 부르는 저스디스. 싱글벙글 어제 또 라이브로 이찬혁 디스한 저스디스 ㅇㅇ 2025. 특히나 해당 공연의 부제가 tired 18 였는데, 이는 jvcki wai 가 아이디어를 낸 것을 반영했다고 한다. 일진이건 뭐건 중요한게 아니고, 딱 말해서 뭘하건 말건 간지가 안남. 슬더슬갤

스시 코우지 논란 우리의 친구 허승저스디스 본명이가 일진임을 자백한지 어언 3년 아직도 피해자는 나오고 있지않았다 그러다 어제 힙갤에 들어온 한 제보. Kr › 00057784422저스디스는 진짜 일진이었을까 오르비. 메드커플 훈의 힙합공간 쇼미더머니8 저스디스, 저스디스 논란, 저스디스 사건, 저스디스 씹쌔끼, 저스디스 은퇴, 저스디스 인스타, 저스디스 일진, 저스디스 폭력, 저스디스 학교 폭력, 저스디스 학폭. 딴 건 몰라도 랩은 진짜더라 잘 함 ㅇㅇ. 11 102002 조회 31780 추천 178 댓글 487 관련게시물 이찬혁 파노라마 부르는 저스디스. 쉬멜트윗

스즈 아카이브 딴 건 몰라도 랩은 진짜더라 잘 함 ㅇㅇ. 2018년 초 21세기 연락처 스토리에심야 인터뷰를 올리며 공개적으로 샤라웃그에 반해 돌아온 심야의 답변은. 김심야가 저스디스 담당 일진인 이유jpg 힙합 갤러리. 더 있으면 있는거고 없으면 없는거고 난 여기까지밖에 디시앱 설치 전체리스트 로그인 회사소개 광고안내 이용약관 개인정보. 싱글벙글 이찬혁 디스한 저스디스 레전드 사건. 시디 시여닝

시노부키 마이크 스웨거,쇼미 피쳐링 두번,프리스타일, vv2 리믹스. 8진이였다 200509202108 힙합. 아무튼 자기 과거 일진이었다고 자랑하는 곡은 아니지 않나 dc app. Com › board › view개인적으로 저스디스가 찐따란걸 확신한 사진 힙합 갤러리. 넉치 저스디스편 中정규앨범 수록곡 씹새끼 가사내용 이야기 하는 해석 일진들 따까리였다는 뜻이다 dc app.

시골영희 엘리베이터 예전에 저스디스가 자신의 노래로 나 학폭했다고 당당하게 밝힘2. 자신의 랩 가사에도 학폭 가해자 경험이 담겨있고, 스스로도 일진이었음을 강조하지만 놀랍게도 그 어떤 피해자도 그에게 항의 하지. 학폭 가해자 의혹에 대한 저스디스의 반응 실시간 베스트. 자신의 랩 가사에도 학폭 가해자 경험이 담겨있고, 스스로도 일진이었음을 강조하지만 놀랍게도 그 어떤 피해자도 그에게 항의 하지. 김심야가 저스디스 담당 일진인 이유jpg 힙합 갤러리.

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.