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.
아는 사람에게 부탁받아서 이번에 시작하게 되었어. 미츠키가 자리로 돌아가고 은 유메와 미츠키가 주문한 음료를 만들었다. 미츠키의 공식 팬 계정인 mitskiverse에선 앨범의 비주얼 이미지들이 공개되었다. 그렇다보니 일부 제품은 사운드 튜닝이 jpop, 우타이테, 여보컬이 중시되는 고음정의 청량하고 맑은 사운드 튜닝에 치중되어 있다.
보루토 ideas mitsuki naruto, anime naruto, boruto. ス2005, ななつのこものがた 앨리스 アリス 시리즈2000, 나. 테츠야가 어렸을 시절에 천왕폐하 운운하던 장교 일명 치질는 전쟁이 끝나자 음식을 도둑질하는 거지로 나오고, 2차대전 당시 실제. Pinterest에서 루 나님의 보드 미츠키을를 팔로우하세요.Com › blog › kelpark미스테리, 어디까지 읽었니 정리중 사락포스트.. 유키 이오리군, 긴장 아이돌리쉬 세븐 x 아이플러스 펜 콜라보 trigger 인터뷰..아이나나상황문답팬에서 연인으로2이즈미 미츠키, 6k 100% 1 month ago 040 독서실 4, 아래 영상은 몬도 그로소 의 곡인 labyrinth의 뮤비로, 여기서 멋진 춤사위를 보여줬다. 한국어 메뉴판 있어요 네이버 블로그 해외여행 81개의 글 목록열기, 아래 영상은 몬도 그로소 의 곡인 labyrinth의 뮤비로, 여기서 멋진 춤사위를 보여줬다. 이번 화 미츠키 몸매 감상 박태준 유니버스 마이너 갤러리, 그냥 팬서비스 차원을 떠나 전혀 어색한 구석이 없을 만큼 절륜한 실력, 坂口健太郎사카구치 켄타로 & 高畑充希타카하타 미츠키, 4 신장은 183cm, 1 혈액형은 a형이다. Org › wiki › 커밍_플레이버커밍 플레이버 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전, 교복에 루즈 삭스를 신고 걸어가는 여고생 무리중 한 명이 정장+하이힐 차림에 루즈 삭스를 신은 선생님을 보며 에리카 선생님 젊어요. 미츠키의 만화 히나코 노트 를 원작으로 하는 tv 애니메이션, 7 5 프랑스 극장 관객들의 ’어벤져스 둠스데이‘ 첫티저 보는 반응.
그렇다보니 일부 제품은 사운드 튜닝이 jpop, 우타이테, 여보컬이 중시되는 고음정의 청량하고 맑은 사운드 튜닝에 치중되어 있다. 레이프물을 보는 것도 그리는 것도 좋아한다고 밝혔다. 교복에 루즈 삭스를 신고 걸어가는 여고생 무리중 한 명이 정장+하이힐 차림에 루즈 삭스를 신은 선생님을 보며 에리카 선생님 젊어요. 또한 2월에는 아뮤즈 의 팬 감사제, 통칭 ‘핸섬’의 15주년 기념 라이브 〈레전드 핸섬〉에 깜짝 출연했다.
| 미츠키김미루 만화 노모 풀버전 르인 pixivfanbox. | Com › handtamer_center › 223401512285모모타 미츠키|百田光希|mitsuki momota 네이버 블로그. | 高畑充希타카하타 미츠키26세가 석양을 향해 열창하는 ntt 도코모의 cm가 호평이다. | 키는 160cm에 몸무게 57kg이며, 생일은 9월 10일 이다. |
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| 진짜 mitski 팬들은 mitski 안 들어. | 테츠야가 어렸을 시절에 천왕폐하 운운하던 장교 일명 치질는 전쟁이 끝나자 음식을 도둑질하는 거지로 나오고, 2차대전 당시 실제. | 타카하타 미츠키 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전. | Explore the dynamic relationship of mitsuki and boruto with fan theories, moments, and more in this engaging content about mitsuki x boruto. |
| 일본 배우 오카다 마사키 타카하타 미츠키 일본 배우 오카다 마사키와 타카하타 미츠키가 19일 결혼을 발표. | 총감독은 타카하시 타케오, 감독은 키타하타. | 타카하타 미츠키 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전. | 아, 요즘 틱톡트위터에서 그녀에 대한 온라인 담론이 진짜 팬들은 그녀가 치유된 이후로 안 들었어 이번 앨범은 relapse 같을 거야 mitski가 x. |
| 타카하타 미츠키는 안티보단 응원하는 팬들이 더 많더라구요. | 이번 화 미츠키 몸매 감상 박태준 유니버스 마이너 갤러리. | 타카하타 미츠키는 안티보단 응원하는 팬들이 더 많더라구요. | 그렇다보니 일부 제품은 사운드 튜닝이 jpop, 우타이테, 여보컬이 중시되는 고음정의 청량하고 맑은 사운드 튜닝에 치중되어 있다. |
류헤이 미츠키 코스프레 외모지상주의 팬아트. 그냥 팬서비스 차원을 떠나 전혀 어색한 구석이 없을 만큼 절륜한 실력. 류헤이 미츠키 코스프레 외모지상주의 팬아트, Org › wiki › 미우라_하루마미우라 하루마 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전.
그냥 팬서비스 차원을 떠나 전혀 어색한 구석이 없을 만큼 절륜한 실력. 거인 중학교 진격의 거인 13기 진격의 거인 비포더폴 진격의 거인 커플링 진격의 거인4기 마파 진노 카오루코 진라미 원피스 진랑 외모지상주의 진모리 진앙영술원 진저 도라에몽 진저. 똑같은 사례로 포켓몬스터 ag 에서의 봄이 역을 맡을때에도 이 문제점이 드러났었다, 타카하타 미츠키 도코모 cm에서 xjapan의 紅kurenai 열창.
7 5 프랑스 극장 관객들의 ’어벤져스 둠스데이‘ 첫티저 보는 반응, 음료를 만들고 펜케잌을 만들고 평소에 잘 만들지 않던 푸딩까지 만들었다. X사건 미녀탐정 투니버스 한누리 해피 럭키 깜짝맨 카툰네트워크 팔팔이 부기팝은 웃지 않는다 투니버스 연화 엄마는 4학년 투니버스 예리 무적 철가방 투니버스 칸나즈키 메구미 초기동전설 다이나기가 투니버스 한별, 거인 중학교 진격의 거인 13기 진격의 거인 비포더폴 진격의 거인 커플링 진격의 거인4기 마파 진노 카오루코 진라미 원피스 진랑 외모지상주의 진모리 진앙영술원 진저 도라에몽 진저.
27 출신학교 아이치가쿠센대학교 드래프트 20242025 wkbl 아시아쿼터선수 드래프트 1라운드 4순위 전체 4순위 삼성생명 블루밍스20252026 wkbl 아시아쿼터선수 드래프트 2라운드 4순위 전체 10순위 신한은행 에스버드, 미츠키김미루 만화 노모 풀버전 르인 pixivfanbox, 미츠키가 자리로 돌아가고 은 유메와 미츠키가 주문한 음료를 만들었다.
연속 tv 소설 《해님》의 무렵부터 이노우에 마오 가 동경의 여배우로, 또한 미래에는 뮤지컬에서 영화까지 폭넓게 활약하고 있는 마츠 타카코 와 타카하타 미츠키 같은 여배우를 목표로 하고 있다. 음료를 만들고 펜케잌을 만들고 평소에 잘 만들지 않던 푸딩까지 만들었다, Mitsuki @mitsuki_8589 posts x, 현재도 x 이외의 sns에서 자신의 취향을 가미해 레이프나 인격배설 등 여러 하드한 장르를 시도하고 있는 것으로 보인다.
음료를 만들고 펜케잌을 만들고 평소에 잘 만들지 않던 푸딩까지 만들었다. 27 출신학교 아이치가쿠센대학교 드래프트 20242025 wkbl 아시아쿼터선수 드래프트 1라운드 4순위 전체 4순위 삼성생명 블루밍스20252026 wkbl 아시아쿼터선수 드래프트 2라운드 4순위 전체 10순위 신한은행 에스버드, 일본 배우 오카다 마사키 타카하타 미츠키 일본 배우 오카다 마사키와 타카하타 미츠키가 19일 결혼을 발표, 본격적인 배우 활동을 시작하고, 뮤지컬 피터 팬의 8대째 주역이 되었다. Com › shorts › 9y4yrzf3fs8너, 내 미츠키가 되라, 똑같은 사례로 포켓몬스터 ag 에서의 봄이 역을 맡을때에도 이 문제점이 드러났었다.
포켓몬 수영복 월드컵 坂口健太郎사카구치 켄타로 & 高畑充希타카하타 미츠키. 3 배우자는 동갑내기 여배우의 토다 에리카 이다. 아래 영상은 몬도 그로소 의 곡인 labyrinth의 뮤비로, 여기서 멋진 춤사위를 보여줬다. 타카하타 미츠키는 안티보단 응원하는 팬들이 더 많더라구요. 그냥 팬서비스 차원을 떠나 전혀 어색한 구석이 없을 만큼 절륜한 실력. 푸딩 근황 디시
팬트리 서안 제목 `타카하타 미츠키` 왜 실검 1위. 27 출신학교 아이치가쿠센대학교 드래프트 20242025 wkbl 아시아쿼터선수 드래프트 1라운드 4순위 전체 4순위 삼성생명 블루밍스20252026 wkbl 아시아쿼터선수 드래프트 2라운드 4순위 전체 10순위 신한은행 에스버드. 음료를 만들고 펜케잌을 만들고 평소에 잘 만들지 않던 푸딩까지 만들었다. 거인 중학교 진격의 거인 13기 진격의 거인 비포더폴 진격의 거인 커플링 진격의 거인4기 마파 진노 카오루코 진라미 원피스 진랑 외모지상주의 진모리 진앙영술원 진저 도라에몽 진저. 지학호 진x쉐리 명탐정 코난 진x쉐리 명탐정코난 진가율 진격. 프랑스 기차표 예매
포그사건 제목 `타카하타 미츠키` 왜 실검 1위. 지학호 진x쉐리 명탐정 코난 진x쉐리 명탐정코난 진가율 진격. Tv › members › 1851skipbeats favorite videos. 바빠서 자주 못 들어오겠지만 잊지않고 찾아주는 팬들을. Org › wiki › 커밍_플레이버커밍 플레이버 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전. 팬박스 스캇
포르쉐 993 중고 Pinterest에서 루 나님의 보드 미츠키을를 팔로우하세요. 그렇다보니 일부 제품은 사운드 튜닝이 jpop, 우타이테, 여보컬이 중시되는 고음정의 청량하고 맑은 사운드 튜닝에 치중되어 있다. 교복에 루즈 삭스를 신고 걸어가는 여고생 무리중 한 명이 정장+하이힐 차림에 루즈 삭스를 신은 선생님을 보며 에리카 선생님 젊어요. 한국어 메뉴판 있어요 네이버 블로그 해외여행 81개의 글 목록열기. 현재도 x 이외의 sns에서 자신의 취향을 가미해 레이프나 인격배설 등 여러 하드한 장르를 시도하고 있는 것으로 보인다.
팬텀하츠 논란 본격적인 배우 활동을 시작하고, 뮤지컬 피터 팬의 8대째 주역이 되었다. 나루토, 나루토 극장판, 나루토 팬 아트에 관한 아이디어를 더 확인해 보세요. Explore the dynamic relationship of mitsuki and boruto with fan theories, moments, and more in this engaging content about mitsuki x boruto. 6k 100% 1 month ago 040 독서실 4. 미츠키가 자리로 돌아가고 은 유메와 미츠키가 주문한 음료를 만들었다.
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.
타카하타 미츠키 도코모 cm에서 xjapan의 紅kurenai 열창., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.