US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 16, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 16, 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 16, 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 16, 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 16, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 16, 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 16, 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 16, 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 16, 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 16, 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 16, 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 16, 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 16, 2026.
이북5도위원회는 역사적으로도 큰 의미를 갖고 있는데 단순한 행정 기구를 넘어, 분단의 아픔을 상징하며, 동시에 통일의 희망을 이어가는 다리라고 할 수 있는데요. ②생략 ③ 다른 법령의 개정 이북5도위원회규정중 다음과 같이 개정한다. ② 민주평화통일자문회의의 read more. 올해 100억원대 예산이 편성된 이북5도위원회가 9년 동안 인건비만 늘려온 것으로 확인돼 논란이 일고 있다.
이북5도위원회 以北五道委員會, committee for the five northern korean provinces는 대한민국 이북5도와 경기도 및 강원특별자치도 구 강원도의 미수복 시군 사무의 전부 또는 일부를 공동으로 처리하기 위하여 설치한 행정기구이다. ㄴ 그래서 헷갈려가지고 이북5도 사이트에 올라온 황해도 사진을 참고. 원래 미수복 경기도 와 미수복 강원도 지역은 이북5도위원회가 관장하지 않고 경기도지사 와 강원도지사 가 직접 관장하도록 하였으나, 2015년 5월 18일 이북5도 등에 관한 특별조치법이 개정되어 2015년 8월 19일부터 이북5도위원회 위원장을 맡는 도지사가 미수복.| 매년 100억 이상의 예산을 쓰는데, 북한 이탈주민 및 이북도민지원 사업비는 19%에 불과하고, 인건비와 운영비로 80% 이상을 사용한다. | Com › mini › gong이북5도위원회에서 2년동안 일햇엇음 공무원 현직 미니 갤러리. | 일반 이북5도위원회 평안북도 마크 사라진거 뭔가 아쉬움. | By 송윤선 2020 — 평안남도도 비슷한 과정을 거쳐 자치 위원회가 구성되었으며 도 위원장도지사으로 김성주가 임명되었다. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 대한민국 영토로 간주하고 있다 현재 이북5도위원회는 서울 종로구 비봉길 64에 본청이 있다 그렇다면 이북5도위원회는 어떻게 생겨난걸까. | 📰소식 억대 연봉 이북5도지사, 깜깜이 임명돼 무슨 일 하나. | 유일하게 이북5도 중 황해도, 평안남도, 함경남도, 함경북도 4도를 제외한 평안북도 및 평북 시군을 포함한 대한민국 정부상징성을 띠고 있다. | 21% |
| 허나 이북 5도의 경우 비교적 골고루 분포하여 인프라의 분산이라기 보다는 남한 강원도처럼 원래 인원이 많던 곳에. | 일반 이북5도위원회에서 2년동안 일햇엇음 ㅇㅇ61. | 제2조 정의 이 법에서 사용하는 용어의 뜻은 다음과 같다. | 33% |
| 군을 관할하는 대한민국 행정안전부 산하의 정부기관입니다. | 토토인증업체 의 미래 새로운 트렌드와 발전 방향. | 허나 이북 5도의 경우 비교적 골고루 분포하여 인프라의 분산이라기 보다는 남한 강원도처럼 원래 인원이 많던 곳에. | 46% |
2일 국회 행정안전위원회 소속 기본소득당 용혜인 의원이 이북5도위원회에게 제출받은 자료를 분석한 결과, 2015년부터 2023년까지 최근 9년간 이북5도위원회가 지출한 예산 813억100만원 중 82.. 제6조 제2항중 국장은 이북5도 소속의 3급갑류를 국장은 이북5도 소속의 3급 또는 4급으로 한다.. 원래 미수복 경기도 와 미수복 강원도 지역은 이북5도위원회가 관장하지 않고 경기도지사 와 강원도지사 가 직접 관장하도록 하였으나, 2015년 5월 18일 이북5도 등에 관한 특별조치법이 개정되어 2015년 8월 19일부터 이북5도위원회 위원장을 맡는 도지사가 미수복.. Com › mini › gong이북5도위원회에서 2년동안 일햇엇음 공무원 현직 미니 갤러리..05 이북5도남북하나재단 양해각서 mou 체결식 07. 이북5도위원회는 역사적으로도 큰 의미를 갖고 있는데 단순한 행정 기구를 넘어, 분단의 아픔을 상징하며, 동시에 통일의 희망을 이어가는 다리라고 할 수 있는데요. 월급만 1200만원 이북5도 도지사무보수 명예직 전환해야. 허나 이북 5도의 경우 비교적 골고루 분포하여 인프라의 분산이라기 보다는 남한 강원도처럼 원래 인원이 많던 곳에, 서울 종로구 구기동에는 별도의 이북5도 청사도 있다, 동독과 서독은 접경지역에서 화재, 홍수, 산사태나 전염병, 병충해, 수자원 오염 문제가 발생했을 때 접경위원회를 통해 신속하게 공동 대처했음.
14 1905 통일되면 당분간은 홍콩처럼 일국양제 해야. 디시인사이드 검색결과 이쯤되면 개인이 아니라 지역 단위로 통일반대론을 외치는 지역이 된 거 아니냐, 전라도는. 요약하면 한국전쟁 정전 후 70년이 흐른. 서울연합뉴스 구정모 기자 우리나라에는 북한 지역을 관할하는 차관급 도지사 5명이 있다.
2%인 688억800만원이 운영비 40. 📰소식 억대 연봉 이북5도지사, 깜깜이 임명돼 무슨 일 하나, 이북5도위원회에서 2년동안 일햇엇음 공무원 현직 미니 갤러리. 이북5도위원회에서 2년동안 일햇엇음 공무원 현직 미니 갤러리. ② 민주평화통일자문회의의 read more. 위원회개인정보보호위원회원자력안전위원회 등 3곳이 1순위 이전 대상으로 꼽힌다.
도기에 대한 정확한 정보가 없고 상징성이 떨어졌다던, 위원회개인정보보호위원회원자력안전위원회 등 3곳이 1순위 이전 대상으로 꼽힌다. 동독과 서독은 접경지역에서 화재, 홍수, 산사태나 전염병, 병충해, 수자원 오염 문제가 발생했을 때 접경위원회를 통해 신속하게 공동 대처했음. 행정안전부 이북5도지사들이 6‧25전쟁에 참전한 유엔참전용사들의 숭고한 희생을 기리고 감사의 마음을 전했다. Kr › cont › 103000이북5도위원회 연혁. 허가 절차 안내 국외여행,국외체재 병역이행안내.
디시인사이드 검색결과 이쯤되면 개인이 아니라 지역 단위로 통일반대론을 외치는 지역이 된 거 아니냐, 전라도는. 03 제16회 차세대 이북도민 청소년 통일글짓기그림그리기 대회 및 후계세대, Kr › view › akr20250722053400518팩트체크 이북5도 통치하는 차관급 도지사 5명 있다는데&mldr.
월급만 1200만원 이북5도 도지사무보수 명예직 전환해야. 올해 설립 73주년을 맞은 이북5도위원회이하 이북5도위가 변화해야 한다는 목소리가 곳곳에서 나온다, Kr › cont › 103000이북5도위원회 연혁.
site_magistrate.my 실향민들에게는 고향에 대한 연결 고리이자 소속감을 제공하고. 2%인 688억800만원이 운영비 40. 수정 분노분노 진정한 세금도둑을 araboza. 수정 분노분노 진정한 세금도둑을 araboza. 혁신적 레볼루션 홀덤 api 컨텐츠 제작소 실시간 레볼루션 홀덤 api 이슈 모니터링 블랙잭 여러명 세 가지 핵심서비스를 한 곳에서. sj 105 수지
rpiratedgames 📰소식 억대 연봉 이북5도지사, 깜깜이 임명돼 무슨 일 하나. 2일 국회 행정안전위원회 소속 기본소득당 용혜인 의원이 이북5도위원회에게 제출받은 자료를 분석한 결과, 2015년부터 2023년까지 최근 9년간 이북5도위원회가 지출한 예산 813억100만원 중 82. 전종덕 의원은 국민 대다수는 이북 5 도위원회를 알지 못한다. 제6조 제2항중 국장은 이북5도 소속의 3급갑류를 국장은 이북5도 소속의 3급 또는 4급으로 한다. 매년 100억 이상의 예산을 쓰는데, 북한 이탈주민 및 이북도민지원 사업비는 19%에 불과하고, 인건비와 운영비로 80% 이상을 사용한다. rule34 동영상
ruthlee pikpak 이북5도위원회의 예산 지출 구조는 기관의 본래 목적과 심각하게 괴리돼 있다. 한국 행정안전부가 내년초 애틀랜타와 텍사스의 달라스에 이북5도민회를 신설키로 했다. 제 마음대로 정한 인생책 추천 리스트의 규칙은 이렇습니다, top 10리스트를 만들어 보고 싶었어. 불광역 2번 출구로 나오셔서 녹번파출소 앞에서 지선 7212번 버스 옥수동 방향를 타고 이북5도청에서 하차하시면 됩니다. 이북5도위원회는 1945년 8월 15일 대한민국 행정구역상의 도 道로서 아직 수복되지 아니한 황해도, 평안남도, 평안북도, 함경남도, 함경북도를 포함한 경기도와 강원특별자치도의 미수복 시. retsu_dao 야동
rmfhr rof 4% 20명가 도지사이거나 도지사를 수행하는 비서 역할을 하는 셈이다. 이북5도위원회 소개, 이북5도 분야별 정보, 이북5도 관련 교육, 행사 안내. 서울연합뉴스 구정모 기자 우리나라에는 북한 지역을 관할하는 차관급 도지사 5명이 있다. 이승만 대통령이 1949년 첫 임명월남 이북5도민 지원관리 업무 이북5도위원회, 시장부터 동장까지 1천여명 규모에 예산 100억원대 한때 반공활동 주요 업무시대 변화 따라 개편폐지 목소리. 2%인 688억800만원이 운영비 40.
sgki 100 디시인사이드 검색결과 이쯤되면 개인이 아니라 지역 단위로 통일반대론을 외치는 지역이 된 거 아니냐, 전라도는. 📰소식 억대 연봉 이북5도지사, 깜깜이 임명돼 무슨 일 하나. 뉴스분석 이북5도위원회 폐지 국회전자청원 게시 불법사금융. 5도지사7도민회장 2년여 만에 한자리 이세웅 평북도지사 주선으로 오찬 회동 도민사회 최고지도자인 이북5도지사와 7도민회장들이 11월 12일 서울 강북구 소재 서울사이버대학교에서 상견례를 겸한 오찬 회동을 가졌다. 행정안전부 이북5도지사들이 6‧25전쟁에 참전한 유엔참전용사들의 숭고한 희생을 기리고 감사의 마음을 전했다.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 16, 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 16, 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 16, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 16, 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.
, Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.