최근 우리나라에서 중국에 대한 모욕, 명예훼손을 하면 형사처벌이 가능한 형태로 규정하도록 한 법안의 발의돼 파장이 일고 있다.

통매음 게임이든 현실이든 악용하는사람 많은거 알잖아.

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.

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 6, 2026.
University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, June 6, 2026.

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 6, 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 6, 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.

A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 6, 2026.
A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 6, 2026. © 2025 Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

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.

A pregnant asylum seeker comforts her 2-year-old inside the motel room where she and her children are living after her husband was deported to Nicaragua, in Miami, Florida, June 6, 2026.
A pregnant asylum seeker comforts her 2-year-old inside the motel room where she and her children are living after her husband was deported to Nicaragua, in Miami, Florida, June 6, 2026. © 2025 Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo

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.

US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson talks to reporters after a closed door briefing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on US military strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats, Washington, DC, June 6, 2026.
US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson talks to reporters after a closed door briefing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on US military strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats, Washington, DC, June 6, 2026. © 2025 Samuel Corum/Sipa USA via AP Photo

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.

Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, June 6, 2026. 
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 6, 2026.

FIRST: Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, June 6, 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 6, 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.

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.

A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, June 6, 2026.
Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, June 6, 2026.

FIRST: A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, June 6, 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 6, 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.

북괴와 동맹인 제2 주적 지나국을 욕하는 것도 처벌한다는 나라 이게 나라냐. 대한민국 의 혐중 감정을 다루는 문서이다. 민주당 혐중처벌법은 뭐냐 새로운보수당 마이너 갤러리. 일본의 주특기인 혐한 시위, 헤이트스피치와 같은 부정적인 행위를 막아보겠다는 의도는 긍정적으로 보여진다.

양 의원은 그러나 현행법상 허위 사실에 의한 명예훼손과 모욕은 모두 피해자를 특정되는 사람에 한정해 특정 집단에 대한 명예훼손이나 모욕을 인정하지 아니하고 있다며 이러한 허점을 혐중 집회 주최자나 참여자들이 악용하고 있는 것이라고 했다.

취지 자체는 특정 국가와 특정 인종에 대한 혐오적 발언으로 집회, 시위를 벌이는 자들을 처벌하자는 것이다. 양 의원은 해당 법안의 제안이유 및 주요내용으로 최근 온오프라인을 불문하고 특정 국가, 특정 인종에 대한 혐오적 발언으로 사회적 갈등을 부추기고 각종 혐오. 북괴와 동맹인 제2 주적 지나국을 욕하는 것도 처벌한다는 나라 이게 나라냐. 처벌 받는법들이 외국에도 존재함 좀도 폭넓게 특정집단에 대한 고의성있는 혐오표현에 대한 처벌법 이런게 있어 dc app. Kr › article › 2025110710062746540중국인 싫어 시위하면 징역살 수도 법안 나오자&mldr. 취지 자체는 특정 국가와 특정 인종에 대한 혐오적 발언으로 집회, 시위를 벌이는 자들을 처벌하자는 것이다. 최근 우리나라에서 중국에 대한 모욕, 명예훼손을 하면 형사처벌이 가능한 형태로 규정하도록 한 법안의 발의돼 파장이 일고 있다. 양 의원은 특정 국가와 국민을 모욕하면 징역형으로 처벌하는 내용을 담은. 민주당, 혐중 처벌법 발의에 온라인 발칵. 제32대 부산고등검찰청 검사장을 끝으로 검찰에서 퇴임했고. 중국인 단체 관광객 무비자 입국을 계기로 반중 시위가 다시 불붙는 상, 최근 우리나라에서 중국에 대한 모욕, 명예훼손을 하면 형사처벌이 가능한 형태로 규정하도록 한 법안의 발의돼 파장이 일고 있다, 북괴와 동맹인 제2 주적 지나국을 욕하는 것도 처벌한다는 나라 이게 나라냐.

양 의원은 해당 법안의 제안이유 및 주요내용으로 최근 온오프라인을 불문하고 특정 국가, 특정 인종에 대한 혐오적 발언으로 사회적 갈등을 부추기고 각종 혐오 표현과 욕설이 난무하는 집회시위가 빈번하게 일어나고 있다며 일례로 지난 10월 3일 있었던.

혐중 처벌법 발의했던 의원한테 항의성 이메일 보냄 이준석.. 북괴와 동맹인 제2 주적 지나국을 욕하는 것도 처벌한다는 나라 이게 나라냐..
Com › view › 20251106082054124중국 욕하면 감옥 간다. 하지만 이 논의는 단순히 혐중 발언을 막을 것이냐를 넘어 우리 사회가 얼마나 자유롭게 타국을 비판할 수 있는가에 대한 질문이기도 합니다. 양 의원은 특정 국가와 국민을 모욕하면 징역형으로 처벌하는 내용을 담은. 요즘 윤어게인류 단체들이나 온라인 상에서의 무지성 중국 혐오가 심한건 read more.
중국인 단체 관광객 무비자 입국을 계기로 반중 시위가 다시 불붙는 상. 민주당, 혐중 처벌법 발의에 온라인 발칵. 이를 두고 위헌 소지와 평등권표현의 자유에 대한 과도한 침해 등의 우려가 나오며 논란이 커지고 있다. 양부남 더불어민주당 의원은 이들을 형사처벌하고자 형법 의 개정안인 집단명예훼손죄 및 집단모욕죄 처벌법 을 발의하였다.
양 의원은 그러나 현행법상 허위 사실에 의한 명예훼손과 모욕은 모두 피해자를 특정되는 사람에 한정해 특정 집단에 대한 명예훼손이나 모욕을 인정하지 아니하고 있다며 이러한 허점을 혐중 집회 주최자나 참여자들이 악용하고 있는 것이라고 했다. 이제 짱깨들 욕하면 징역5년이다잉 알비온 마이너 갤러리. 지나친 혐중 정서, 그 이유 ㅁㅇㄹ 2025. 정치시사 자유 인기글 목록 2025.
민주당 혐중처벌법은 뭐냐 새로운보수당 마이너 갤러리. 형법 개정안 제307조의2 특정 집단에 대한 명예훼손 특정 국가,의 명예를 훼손한 자는 5년 이하의 징역, 10년 이하의 자격정지 또는 1천만원 이하의 벌금에 처한다. 해당 법안은 ‘특정 국가나 국민, 인종을 모욕하거나 허위사실로 명예를 훼손한 자’를 최대 5년 이하의 징역형으로 처벌하도록 하는 내용입니다. 제21대 국회의원 선거 가 미래통합당 의 참패로 끝나자 미국 정치 마이너 갤러리, 일베저장소, 와이고수, 디시인사이드 꾸준 댓글러 등 극우 커뮤니티 및 파이낸스투데이 같은 극우 언론, 그리고 가로세로연구소 등 극우 유튜버 들 일각에서 제기된 부정선거 음모론.
사실 우리 사회에서 이런 무지성 혐오는 자정작용이 필요한게 맞다고 봄, 해당 문서는 반중 자체를 비판하는 문서가 아닌 중국과 관련된 것들을 혐오하고 배척하는 혐중의 나쁜 점을 비판하는 문서이다, 공개된 게시글에는 지난 4일 양부남 더불어민주당 의원의 대표 외 10인 발의로 국회 입법에 오른 형법 일부개정법률안이 담겨 있다.

양 의원은 해당 법안의 제안이유 및 주요내용으로 최근 온오프라인을 불문하고 특정 국가, 특정 인종에 대한 혐오적 발언으로 사회적 갈등을 부추기고 각종 혐오.

혐중 처벌법 반대의견 못보내서, 발의한 의원 이메일로 보냈어, 28 183503 조회 25802 추천 166 댓글 510 관련게시물 文 내란 비호하는 혐중정서 개탄중국은 대단히 중요한 나라, 요즘 윤어게인류 단체들이나 온라인 상에서의 무지성 중국 혐오가 심한건 read more. 양 의원은 해당 법안의 제안이유 및 주요내용으로 최근 온오프라인을 불문하고 특정 국가, 특정 인종에 대한 혐오적 발언으로 사회적 갈등을 부추기고 각종 혐오 표현과 욕설이 난무하는 집회시위가 빈번하게 일어나고 있다며 일례로 지난 10월 3일 있었던 개천절 혐중집회에서는 집회. 일본의 주특기인 혐한 시위, 헤이트스피치와 같은 부정적인 행위를 막아보겠다는 의도는 긍정적으로 보여진다. ‘표현의 자유’는 불편할 때 지켜야 하는 가치입니다.

bj금화 상하이 양부남 민주당 의원이 지난 4일 발의한 형법 개정안에는. 제32대 부산고등검찰청 검사장을 끝으로 검찰에서 퇴임했고. 허위사실로 특정 국가, 국민 명예를 훼손시키거나. 민주당 양부남 의원은 최근 특정 국가나 국민 등 특정. 823 url 복사 이웃추가 5년 징역1000만 원 벌금형, ‘표현의 자유’와 충돌하는 법안 최근 국회에서 발의된 이른바 ‘혐중 발언 처벌법 형법 개정안’이 뜨거운 논란을 불러일으키고. bj 서진

bnatsaba 또한 서방진영의 선진국들은 대체로 특정 인종에 대한 혐오 감정을 공공연하게 표출하는 행위에 대한 법적 처벌을 명시하고 있으며, 이는 반중혐중 감정이 극심한 일본. 하지만 이 논의는 단순히 혐중 발언을 막을 것이냐를 넘어 우리 사회가 얼마나 자유롭게 타국을 비판할 수 있는가에 대한 질문이기도 합니다. 지나친 혐중 정서, 그 이유 ㅁㅇㄹ 2025. 또한 서방진영의 선진국들은 대체로 특정 인종에 대한 혐오 감정을 공공연하게 표출하는 행위에 대한 법적 처벌을 명시하고 있으며, 이는 반중혐중 감정이 극심한 일본. 반미 반일 시위하는 놈들이 일본인 미국인 있는 곳에서 욕하고 꺼지라고 이런 시위라도 했음. bbtan 작가

bjjuno 28 183503 조회 25802 추천 166 댓글 510 관련게시물 文 내란 비호하는 혐중정서 개탄중국은 대단히 중요한 나라. 현행법상 허위사실에 의한 명예훼손과 모욕은 모두 피해자를 특정되는 사람에 한정하여 특정 집단에 대한 명예훼손이나 모욕. 저건 반중 시위가 아니라 그냥 짱개싫다고 read more. 823 url 복사 이웃추가 5년 징역1000만 원 벌금형, ‘표현의 자유’와 충돌하는 법안 최근 국회에서 발의된 이른바 ‘혐중 발언 처벌법 형법 개정안’이 뜨거운 논란을 불러일으키고. 민주당, 혐중 처벌법 발의에 온라인 발칵. bpc157 디시

bj 백만송이 중국인, 중국 욕하면 최대 징역5년 입법됨 승리의 여신 니케. Jpg 마비노기 영웅전 에린 마이너 갤러리. 823 url 복사 이웃추가 5년 징역1000만 원 벌금형, ‘표현의 자유’와 충돌하는 법안 최근 국회에서 발의된 이른바 ‘혐중 발언 처벌법 형법 개정안’이 뜨거운 논란을 불러일으키고. 2025년 7월에는 대구 화교학교에서도 혐중 폭도들이 떼로 몰려와서 소리를 지르며 난동을 부리는 모습이 전해지는 등, 이렇게 조장된 혐중 감정이. 이들에게 다른 국가들이 나쁜 짓을 저지르거나.

bj 눈나눈나눈나 처벌 받는법들이 외국에도 존재함 좀도 폭넓게 특정집단에 대한 고의성있는 혐오표현에 대한 처벌법 이런게 있어 dc app. 공연히 특정 국가, 국민을 모욕하면 징역, 벌금. 해당 법안은 ‘특정 국가나 국민, 인종을 모욕하거나 허위사실로 명예를 훼손한 자’를 최대 5년 이하의 징역형으로 처벌하도록 하는 내용입니다. 단독 중국 명예훼손하면 한국인이 징역 5년민주당 中. 사실 우리 사회에서 이런 무지성 혐오는 자정작용이 필요한게 맞다고 봄.

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.”

Officials from Belize, Colombia, the Netherlands, Honduras, and Senegal at a press conference of The Hague Group, organized by The Progressive International, in The Hague, Netherlands, June 6, 2026.
Officials from Belize, Colombia, the Netherlands, Honduras, and Senegal at a press conference of The Hague Group, organized by The Progressive International, in The Hague, Netherlands, June 6, 2026. © 2025 Pierre Crom/Getty Images

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.

Sudanese refugees from Zamzam camp outside of El Fasher, in Darfur, receive food at an Emergency Response Room Communal Kitchen while being relocated to the Iridimi transit camp in Tine, eastern Chad, June 6, 2026. 
Sudanese refugees from Zamzam camp outside of El Fasher, in Darfur, receive food at an Emergency Response Room Communal Kitchen while being relocated to the Iridimi transit camp in Tine, eastern Chad, June 6, 2026.  © 2025 Lynsey Addario/Getty Images

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.

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.

Header captions
FIRST: A man holds a flower and the message "Humanity for All" as US marines and national guard protect the entrance of a federal building during the "No Kings" protest following US immigration operations, in Los Angeles, California, on June 6, 2026.
© 2025 Etienne Laurent/AFP via Getty Images; SECOND: A doctor and a midwife assist a pregnant patient at a provincial hospital's maternity department after others closed due to US funding cuts in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, June 6, 2026. © 2025 Elise Blanchard/Getty Images; THIRD: Sebastian Lai, son of businessman and outspoken critic of the Chinese government, Jimmy Lai, speaks during a press conference outside Downing Street in London on June 6, 2026. © 2025 Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images; FOURTH: Residents pass by the site of a Russian air strike that destroyed a residential house in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, June 6, 2026. © 2025 Yevhen Titov/AP Photo

최근 우리나라에서 중국에 대한 모욕, 명예훼손을 하면 형사처벌이 가능한 형태로 규정하도록 한 법안의 발의돼 파장이 일고 있다., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.

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