US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 4, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 2026.
과즙세연 레전드 사진 움짤 gif 모음 2탄. Snl 과즙세연x방시혁 패러디에 난리 났다. 이들 중 방 의장의 왼쪽에 서 있던 여성에 대해 네티즌들은 bj 과즙세연본명 인세연으로 추정하고 있습니다. 방시혁이 자기 사진찍어줬다는 사진 퍼졌던데 그때 난 화장실에 간 상황이다.
저기 나와서 앉아있는 다수의 여성bj들은 각자 자기 방송에서 팬층을 쌓고, 그걸 바탕으로 단체전에서 경쟁심리를 자극해서 별풍선을 끌어냅니다. 8일 한국시간 새벽 미국의 길거리를 소개하는 한 유튜브 채널에서는 미국 캘리포니아주 베벌리힐스의 7월 풍경을 담은 영상을 소개했다. 근육질은 별로 bj 과즙세연, 방시혁과 동행 후 재조명되는 이상형 발언은. Com › article › 2024081399867스윗한 방시혁 다 밝혔던 과즙세연, 결국 칼 빼들었다.하이브 관계자는 8일 스포티비뉴스에 과즙세연과 언니가 함께 la에 오면서 관광지와 식당을 물어와서 예약해주고 안내해준 것이라고 밝혔다.. bj ‘과즙세연’으로 유명한 인세연, 그리고 과즙세연 언니와 la를 탐방한 사진이 연일 화제입니다.. 2주만에 인턴에서 부장이 된 그녀과즙세연 보고 뻑간 스트리머들video 태그를 지원 방시혁이 넘어갈만 하네요..하이브 관계자는 8일 스포티비뉴스에 과즙세연과 언니가 함께 la에 오면서 관광지와 식당을 물어와서 예약해주고 안내해준 것이라고 밝혔다. 미국 베벌리 힐스를 소개하는 유튜브 채널에 방시혁 하이브 의장이 등장해 화제입니다. Com › news › articleview방시혁, 새여친은 과즙세연 친언니. 근육질은 별로 bj 과즙세연, 방시혁과 동행 후 재조명되는 이상형 발언은. bj ‘과즙세연’으로 유명한 인세연, 그리고 과즙세연 언니와 la를 탐방한 사진이 연일 화제입니다, 닉네임5488420241009목록 gif datasncache, 유명한 이유 독특하고 솔직한 먹방 스타일과 팬들과의 소통 능력, 출처 국내야구 갤러리 원본 보기 384 107 211 원본 첨부파일 9 본문 이미지 다운로드. bj 과즙세연 23은 하이브 의장 방시혁 52과 함께 미국에서 포착되어 열애설이 불거졌습니다, Com › article › 202408093019h방시혁이 사진 찍어주고 식당 예약도bj 과즙세연 누구길래.
과즙, 세연, 자매, 맛집방시혁, 베버리힐즈 포착 분홍빤쓰48 조회 64837 추천 431 댓글 577 관련게시물 인방갤수사대 방시혁 과즙세연 입갤, 과즙세연 춤 과즙세연 모음 bbq치킨 황금올리브, 교촌치킨 리얼후라이드 등 치킨을 좋아한다, 출처 국내야구 갤러리 원본 보기 384 107 211 원본 첨부파일 9 본문 이미지 다운로드, Kr › articles › 974411방시혁 결혼 안 했나요.
Video 태그를 지원하지 않는 브라우저, 두 명의 여성과 길을 걷는 모습이었는데요, Gif 20240811 2342 조회 6087 파워링크 광고 등록안내 미국에서 입은 옷입고 방송함ㅋㅋ 1, Com › board › view방금 올라온과즙세연 인스타 ㄹㅇjpg 실시간 베스트 갤러리, 과즙세연 la서 방시혁을 어떻게 우연히 만나나 약속하고 만난 것 인터넷 방송 bj 과즙세연본명 인세연이 방시혁 하이브 의장과 미국 캘리포니아주 로스앤젤레스la 베벌리힐스에서 만난 이유를 밝혔다.
| 방시혁 하이브 의장이 미국에서 아프리카tv bj과즙세연 본명 인세연과 함께 있는 모습이 포착돼 눈길을 끈다. | 과즙, 세연, 자매, 맛집방시혁, 베버리힐즈 포착 분홍빤쓰48 조회 64837 추천 431 댓글 577 관련게시물 인방갤수사대 방시혁 과즙세연 입갤. | 방구석에서 베벌리 힐스는 어떻게 생긴 곳인지 영상으로나마 찾아보다가예쁘신 여성이 보여서 움짤 만들어 봤습니다. |
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| 이들 중 방 의장의 왼쪽에 서 있던 여성에 대해 네티즌들은 bj 과즙세연본명 인세연으로 추정하고 있습니다. | Com › article › 2024081399867스윗한 방시혁 다 밝혔던 과즙세연, 결국 칼 빼들었다. | 또 좋아하는 음식으로 한신포차 닭발과 롯데리아 데리버거 등을 꼽았다. |
| 특히 두 사람이 함께 있는 모습이 담긴 영상이 공개되면서 과즙세연의 과거 전남친 폭로와 필리핀 원정 사건이 재조명되고 있습니다. | 방시혁 오른쪽 여성, bj 과즙세연 친언니방시혁은 7일 유튜브 채널 아이엠워킹에서 공개된 영상에. | 특징 과즙같이 상큼한 외모와 밝은 성격으로 팬들에게 인기가 많습니다. |
| 본명 이세연 활동명 과즙세연 활동 플랫폼 유튜브, 아프리카tv 주요 콘텐츠 먹방, 브이로그, 일상 콘텐츠, 챌린지 영상 특징 과즙같이 상큼한 외모와 밝은 성격으로 팬들에게 인기가 많습니다. | 방구석에서 베벌리 힐스는 어떻게 생긴 곳인지 영상으로나마 찾아보다가예쁘신 여성이 보여서 움짤 만들어 봤습니다. | 방 의장이 미국 la에서 과즙세연과 함께 있는. |
bj ‘과즙세연’으로 유명한 인세연, 그리고 과즙세연 언니와 la를 탐방한 사진이 연일 화제입니다.. 하이브 측은 유튜브 영상 속 남성이 방시혁 의장이 맞다고 확인했습니다.. 또 좋아하는 음식으로 한신포차 닭발과 롯데리아 데리버거 등을 꼽았다..
현지 시간 8일, 미국의 길거리를 촬영하는 유튜버가 올린 영상입니다, 저기 나와서 앉아있는 다수의 여성bj들은 각자 자기 방송에서 팬층을 쌓고, 그걸 바탕으로 단체전에서 경쟁심리를 자극해서 별풍선을 끌어냅니다. 과즙세연 방시혁과 미국에서 어떻게 우연히 만나냐 직접 해명, 2024년 8월 8일, 한 에펨코리아 유저가 유튜브 탐색 중 방시혁 hybe 의장과 인터넷 방송인 과즙세연 좌측, 과즙세연의 친언니인 인지연 우측의 미국 베벌리힐스 동행 모습을 우연히 찾아 제보하게 되면서 공론화된 사건이다.
2024년 8월 8일, 한 에펨코리아 유저가 유튜브 탐색 중 방시혁 hybe 의장과 인터넷 방송인 과즙세연 좌측, 과즙세연의 친언니인 인지연 우측의 미국 베벌리힐스 동행 모습을 우연히 찾아 제보하게 되면서 공론화된 사건이다. 출처 국내야구 갤러리 원본 보기 384 107 211 원본 첨부파일 9 본문 이미지 다운로드, 영상 속 방시혁 의장은 네이비색 상의와 베이지색 하의를 착용한 캐주얼한 복장으로 건널목을 건너고 있었고, 그의 양옆에는 한국인으로 보이는 두 여성이 함께 걷고 있었습니다. 과즙세연 la서 방시혁을 어떻게 우연히 만나나 약속하고 만난 것 인터넷 방송 bj 과즙세연본명 인세연이 방시혁 하이브 의장과 미국 캘리포니아주 로스앤젤레스la 베벌리힐스에서 만난 이유를 밝혔다, 방 의장이 미국 la에서 과즙세연과 함께 있는. Kr › @294a9e42095d403 › 1131방시혁과 bj과즙세연, 그들은 누구.
Com › national › people과즙세연 방시혁과 미국에서 어떻게 우연히 만나냐 직접 해명. 짤짤이 20241002 1137 4,612 과즙세연 방시혁 룩 ㅋㅋㅋ. 맘중맘 오또맘 과즙세연 룩 방시혁이 환장할듯. Com › board › view인방갤수사대 방시혁 과즙세연 입갤. 근육질은 별로 bj 과즙세연, 방시혁과 동행 후 재조명되는 이상형 발언은.
극락 발레리나 저기 나와서 앉아있는 다수의 여성bj들은 각자 자기 방송에서 팬층을 쌓고, 그걸 바탕으로 단체전에서 경쟁심리를 자극해서 별풍선을 끌어냅니다. 이들 중 방 의장의 왼쪽에 서 있던 여성에 대해 네티즌들은 bj 과즙세연본명 인세연으로 추정하고 있습니다. 그런데 해당 영상의 초반부에는 방시혁 의장이 과즙세연, 그리고 또다른 여성과 함께 길을 건너는 모습이 담겼다. 방 의장은 두 여성과 이야기를 나누면서. 과즙세연 방시혁과 미국에서 어떻게 우연히 만나냐 직접 해명. 기무세딘 레드켓
금단개호 뜻 bj 인터넷 방송 진행자 과즙세연 자매가 방시혁 하이브 의장과 미국 로스앤젤레스의 어느 거리에서 함께 있는 모습이 포착되면서 이들에 대한. bj 인터넷 방송 진행자 과즙세연 자매가 방시혁 하이브 의장과 미국 로스앤젤레스의 어느 거리에서 함께 있는 모습이 포착되면서 이들에 대한. 7월의 베벌리힐스 거리라는 제목의 영상입니다. 과즙세연 레전드 사진 움짤 gif 모음 2탄. 현지 시간 8일, 미국의 길거리를 촬영하는 유튜버가 올린 영상입니다. 그록 이미지 합성 디시
기유 상황문답 Com › board › view인방갤수사대 방시혁 과즙세연 입갤. 8일 한국시간 새벽 미국의 길거리를 소개하는 한 유튜브 채널에서는 미국 캘리포니아주 베벌리힐스의 7월 풍경을 담은 영상을 소개했다. 특히 두 사람이 함께 있는 모습이 담긴 영상이 공개되면서 과즙세연의 과거 전남친 폭로와 필리핀 원정 사건이 재조명되고 있습니다. Bj 과즙세연 만남짤에 사람들 궁금증 폭발. 방시혁 하이브 의장이 미국에서 아프리카tv bj과즙세연과 포착돼 화제가 되고 있습니다. 기룡이 징역
길드워갤 근데 방시혁이랑 과즙세연 왜 욕먹었던거임. 특히 두 사람이 함께 있는 모습이 담긴 영상이 공개되면서 과즙세연의 과거 전남친 폭로와 필리핀 원정 사건이 재조명되고 있습니다. Kr › articles › 974411방시혁 결혼 안 했나요. 본명 이세연 활동명 과즙세연 활동 플랫폼 유튜브, 아프리카tv 주요 콘텐츠 먹방, 브이로그, 일상 콘텐츠, 챌린지 영상 특징 과즙같이 상큼한 외모와 밝은 성격으로 팬들에게 인기가 많습니다. 두 명의 여성과 길을 걷는 모습이었는데요.
그록 초기화 Com › pan_issue › 19040774오늘 미국 길거리서 bj과즙세연과 목격짤 올라온 방시혁 연예이슈. bj ‘과즙세연’으로 유명한 인세연, 그리고 과즙세연 언니와 la를 탐방한 사진이 연일 화제입니다. Video 태그를 지원하지 않는 브라우저. 방시혁 하이브 의장이 미국에서 아프리카tv bj과즙세연 본명 인세연과 함께 있는 모습이 포착돼 눈길을 끈다. Com › article › 202408093019h방시혁이 사진 찍어주고 식당 예약도bj 과즙세연 누구길래.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 4, 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 4, 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 4, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 4, 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.
2024년 8월 8일, 한 에펨코리아 유저가 유튜브 탐색 중 방시혁 hybe 의장과 인터넷 방송인 과즙세연 좌측, 과즙세연의 친언니인 인지연 우측의 미국 베벌리힐스 동행 모습을 우연히 찾아 제보하게 되면서 공론화된 사건이다., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.