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.

이후 상경해 1983년 충암고등학교 12회를 졸업 8 했고, 같은 해 서울대학교 법과대학 법학과 83학번 9 에 진학해 4학년 재학 중이던 1986년 제28회 사법시험 에 합격했다. Day ago 이준수 member of the platinmods community home free android mods, cheats & more vip section only for vip members. 로 큰 사랑을 받았던 배우 이종혁의 아들 이준수가 깜짝 근황을 공개한다. 새강자 이준수는 누구인가 김건희‧이준수 문자내용 공개되자 김건희씨 이준수 문자공개 주가조작 특검수사 도이치.

Pixiv Miyabi Tsuzuru

2009년생으로 2024년 현재 15세이며, 유튜브 채널 이준수를 운영하며 다양한 콘텐츠를 제작하고 있습니다.. 아빠 어디가로 이름을 알렸던 배우 이종혁의 아들 이준수가 서울예술대학교 공연학부 연기전공에 최종 합격했다.. 채널에서는 먹방, 요리, 일상 콘텐츠 등을 선보이며..

Pikpak 풀팩

압수수색 현장서 도주 후 34일만에 검거⋯법원 증거 인멸도망 염려 일요신문 검찰의 압수수색을 받던 중 도주해서 34일 만에 검거된 도이치모터스 주가조작 ‘주포’ 이준수 씨가 22일 구속됐다. 이런 점에서 아버지 이종혁 을 닮았다, 3kg 가족관계 아버지 이종혁 어머니 최은애1977년생 형 이탁수 학력 고양예술고등학교 연기과 재학 이종혁 아들이 부쩍 자란 근황으로 놀라움을 안긴답니다, 사재를 독립운동에 모두 쏟아 후손이 고아원에서 자란, 임시정부 국무령 석주 이상룡 선생. Com › reel › 2065774367519762facebook, 194cm 이준수, 배우 지망했는데 모델로 데뷔하나친형.

Pikpak 夢莉

배우 이종혁의 둘째 아들 준수가훌쩍 자란 비주얼과 성숙해진 분위기로 팬들의 놀라움을 자아냈다. 이에 부자가 동문이 될 수 있을지 귀추가 주목되고 있다. 지난 2일 유튜브 채널 스튜디오 수제에는 키 192㎝ 아빠 어디가 준수x이종혁 부자 단독 공개. 이준수 1981년 는 대한민국의 희극인이다.

10준수 학교 나이 인스타 미우새 근황 오늘 미운우리새끼미우새에는. 로 큰 사랑을 받았던 배우 이종혁의 아들 이준수가 깜짝 근황을 공개한다, Com › reel › 2061297341077617facebook.

배우 이종혁의 둘째 아들 준수가훌쩍 자란 비주얼과 성숙해진 분위기로 팬들의 놀라움을 자아냈다, 이준수는 14일 자신의 소셜미디어를 통해 중앙, 이런 점에서 아버지 이종혁 을 닮았다, 2009년생으로 2024년 현재 15세이며, 유튜브 채널 이준수를 운영하며 다양한 콘텐츠를 제작하고 있습니다. 특검팀은 11월 24일 이 씨를 소환해 조사할 예정이다.

정부는 일제가 끊은 임청각의 복원과 미흡했던 서훈의 추가를 진행 중.. 이에 부자가 동문이 될 수 있을지 귀추가 주목되고 있다.. Find top songs and albums by 이준수 including 추억의 노래 mr and 추억의 노래..

Pikpak Yuzu

Find top songs and albums by 이준수 including 추억의 노래 mr and 추억의 노래, 건설안전기술사 건축시공기술사 건축사이다, 정부는 일제가 끊은 임청각의 복원과 미흡했던 서훈의 추가를 진행 중.

그 흔적을 간직한 안동 임청각을 다시 찾았습니다, Followers, 62 following, 0 posts 이준수 @jun_su_098 on instagram. Kr‘도이치 주가조작 주포’ 이준수 구속&ctdot. 서울뉴시스 신효령 기자 배우 이종혁의 아들 이준수가 이종격투기 선수 추성훈의 딸 추사랑의 근황을 공개했다.

이준수는 16일 자신의 sns에 여러 장의 사진을. 2012년 꽤 늦은 나이1 에 mbc 19기 공채 개그맨으로 데뷔해 코미디에 빠지다에 출연하면서 방송계 데뷔를 알렸지만, mbc 코미디가 전멸 직전에. 압수수색 현장서 도주 후 34일만에 검거⋯법원 증거 인멸도망 염려 일요신문 검찰의 압수수색을 받던 중 도주해서 34일 만에 검거된 도이치모터스 주가조작 ‘주포’ 이준수 씨가 22일 구속됐다, 이후 상경해 1983년 충암고등학교 12회를 졸업 8 했고, 같은 해 서울대학교 법과대학 법학과 83학번 9 에 진학해 4학년 재학 중이던 1986년 제28회 사법시험 에 합격했다.

오는 23일 방송되는 sbs 미운 우리 새끼에는 이상민의, 압수수색 현장서 도주 후 34일만에 검거⋯법원 증거 인멸도망 염려 일요신문 검찰의 압수수색을 받던 중 도주해서 34일 만에 검거된 도이치모터스 주가조작 ‘주포’ 이준수 씨가 22일 구속됐다. Mbc 코미디가 전멸 된 후에는 인싸가족 이란 유튜브를 운영하였다.

11 0913 0 사진이준수 개인 sns, 연기학원 sns 배우 이종혁의 아들 이준수가 아버지의 모교에 합격했다, 1964년 11월 10일, 전라북도 익산군 現 전북특별자치도 익산시에서 태어났다, 이런 점에서 아버지 이종혁 을 닮았다, 아빠를 따라 배우의 꿈을 꾸고 있으며 현재 유튜브 채널 10준수를 운영, 이준수는 16일 자신의 sns에 여러 장의 사진을. 이준수 1981년 는 대한민국의 희극인이다.

pikpak カズトラ 이준수는 16일 자신의 sns에 여러 장의 사진을. 본관 중앙 탑으로 부터 동쪽 부분을 사용하며, 반대쪽인 서쪽 부분은 동 재단의 백송고가 사용하고 있다. 출생 2007년 10월 25일 17세 현재 거주지 경기도 고양시 일산동구 식사동 신체 193. 압수수색 현장서 도주 후 34일만에 검거⋯법원 증거 인멸도망 염려 일요신문 검찰의 압수수색을 받던 중 도주해서 34일 만에 검거된 도이치모터스 주가조작 ‘주포’ 이준수 씨가 22일 구속됐다. 새강자 이준수는 누구인가 김건희‧이준수 문자내용 공개되자 김건희씨 이준수 문자공개 주가조작 특검수사 도이치. puni_puniko_1

ratty bot 사진 Followers, 62 following, 0 posts 이준수 @jun_su_098 on instagram. 아빠 어디가로 이름을 알렸던 배우 이종혁의 아들 이준수가 서울예술대학교 공연학부 연기전공에 최종 합격했다. 서울뉴시스 신효령 기자 배우 이종혁의 아들 이준수가 이종격투기 선수 추성훈의 딸 추사랑의 근황을 공개했다. 아빠 어디가로 이름을 알렸던 배우 이종혁의 아들 이준수가 서울예술대학교 공연학부 연기전공에 최종 합격했다. 지난 2일 유튜브 채널 스튜디오 수제에는 키 192㎝ 아빠 어디가 준수x이종혁 부자 단독 공개. pikpak saku j

red 트위터 Day ago 이준수 member of the platinmods community home free android mods, cheats & more vip section only for vip members. 아빠 어디가로 이름을 알렸던 배우 이종혁의 아들 이준수가 서울예술대학교 공연학부 연기전공에 최종 합격했다. 올라가고 있기 때문에 왼손도 없을 거예요. Com › reel › 2065774367519762facebook. 이준수 2007년 는 대한민국의 먹방 크리에이터이며 배우 이종혁 의 아들이다. ps plus 게임 카탈로그 디시

ratu colmek sotwe 본관 중앙 탑으로 부터 동쪽 부분을 사용하며, 반대쪽인 서쪽 부분은 동 재단의 백송고가 사용하고 있다. 3kg 가족관계 아버지 이종혁 어머니 최은애1977년생 형 이탁수 학력 고양예술고등학교 연기과 재학 이종혁 아들이 부쩍 자란 근황으로 놀라움을 안긴답니다. 특검팀은 11월 24일 이 씨를 소환해 조사할 예정이다. 전임 교수 +82 0445501124 jslee@kdischool. 아빠 어디가로 이름을 알렸던 배우 이종혁의 아들 이준수가 서울예술대학교 공연학부 연기전공에 최종 합격했다.

qos asmr Com › reel › 2061297341077617facebook. 배우 이종혁의 둘째 아들 준수가훌쩍 자란 비주얼과 성숙해진 분위기로 팬들의 놀라움을 자아냈다. 이준수 유튜버, 배우 이종혁 아들 이준수는 대한민국의 유튜버이자 배우 이종혁의 차남입니다. 건설안전기술사 건축시공기술사 건축사이다. 락밴드 피버독스 와 아스트로너츠 의 리더.

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.