US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 9, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 9, 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 9, 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 9, 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 9, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 9, 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 9, 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 9, 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 9, 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 9, 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 9, 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 9, 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 9, 2026.
231, qmdnp 권상우, 973, 10. 사진 左씨가 폭력조직 서방파 두목 출신인 김태촌 58. 였는데 이것이 피바다로 와전된 것이라는 얘기도 있다. 피곤하단 말을 피바다로 잘못 알아들었던 것 같다, 영화배우 권상우 씨가 전 서방파 두목 김태촌 씨의 재판에 증인으로 출석했습니다.
10 15 디시앱 설치 전체리스트 로그인 회사소개 광고안내 이용약관 개인정보. 일설에 의하면, 본래는 나 김태촌인데 너희 집에 불상사가 일어나도 상관없다 이거지. 김 씨는 영화배우 권상우 씨에게 협박전화를 했다는 혐의로. 참고로 조양은 김태촌 이동재 다 전라도 출신임. Kr › news › read권상우 법정서 증언 김태촌 협박 오해에서 비롯된 일. 내가 이름 밝혔는데 전화로 해야겠어김태촌권상우 전화통화 공개 폭력조직 서방파 두목출신인 김태촌58씨는 지난해 4월 영화배우 권상우29에게 직접 전화를 걸어 협박을 했다. 4098, tenderness, 978, 10. 전화를걸어 협박한 사건으로 당시 1심에서 징역3년을 선고받았지만 2심에서 권상우는 집적 재판에서 진술을하여 무죄가 성립되었다 이게 바로 유명했던 김태촌 권상우 사건 이다 김태촌권상우사건 김태촌 댓글 3 인쇄. Kr › news › pc뉴스타임 포커스 김태촌, 권상우 협박 전모. Com › site › data김태촌 사망에 권상우 피바다 새삼 화제. 뉴스타임 포커스 김태촌, 권상우 협박 전모. 피바다 사건 후에 인터넷에선 많은 패러디가 속출하며 이를 가십거리 정도로 여겼으나, Kr › article › 2503418배우 권상우씨 측 김태촌에 협박당했다.김인호 조예리 디시 조예리 쩜오 조예리bj 김인호조예리 조예리 김인호 키수 김태촌권상우 김인호 민지 치위생사 김용호 오인혜.. 자신이 직접 만든 9쪽짜리 유인물을 보여주며 카랑카랑한 목소리로 설명하기도 했다.. 당시 우리나라 조폭세계는 김씨가 중심이 된 ‘서방파’, 조양은씨의 ‘양은이파’, 이동재씨가 거느리고 있던 ‘광주 ob파’ 등 ‘범호남파’에 뿌리를 둔 ‘3대 패밀리’가 장악했다.. 당시 김태촌은 자신의 일본인 지인으로부터 배우 권상우가 일본 팬미팅 공연의 대가로 고급 시계를 받아놓고 이를 이행하지 않는다는 내용의 이야기..김태촌,조양은,서방파 6일 하루종일 인터넷을 달군 검색어들이다. 2006년에 영화배우 권상우를 김태촌이 협박한 사건은 당시 꽤 유명한 일이었죠, 이날 아침 서방파 옛두목 김태촌씨가 인기 연예인 권상우씨를 협박했다는 소식이 언론보도로 전해지면서 김태촌이라는 검색어가 주요 포털사이트 검색어 상위에 올랐다. 뉴스타임 포커스 김태촌, 권상우 협박 전모. 인터뷰365 박미선 5일 폭력조직 ‘범서방파’의 두목 김태촌씨64가 사망했다는 소식이 알려지자 배우 권상우와의 ‘피바다 협박’ 사건이 또 다시 회자되고 있다. Kr › article › 2503418배우 권상우씨 측 김태촌에 협박당했다. 인터뷰365 박미선 5일 폭력조직 ‘범서방파’의 두목 김태촌씨64가 사망했다는 소식이 알려지자 배우 권상우와의 ‘피바다 협박’ 사건이 또 다시 회자되고 있다, 김태촌은 1월 5일 자정, 서울대병원에서 치료를 받아오다 심장마비로 숨을 거뒀다, 나 김태촌인데 권상우 협박해 출연 강요, Com › nws_web › view권상우 협박한 김태촌은 누구. 9일 서울중앙지검에 따르면 권씨는 올 5월 검찰에 출두해 구두로 김씨를 강요미수 혐의로 고소했다.
김태촌을 가장 가까이서 지켜본 아내는 그의 마지막을 어떻게 정리할까, 김태촌을 가장 가까이서 지켜본 아내는 그의 마지막을 어떻게 정리할까. 김씨는 권씨가 팬 미팅 행사에 참여하기로 해놓고 약속을 어기고 있다. Kr › article › 2503418배우 권상우씨 측 김태촌에 협박당했다. 2013년 사망한 조직폭력배 김태촌에게 2006년 권상우가 협박을 당한 사건.
고등학생 때는 아예 조직을 만들어서 광주.. 권상우가 놀러와 손태영한테 반한 그 장면ㄷㄷ..
서방파 두목 출신의 김태촌씨가 한류스타 영화배우인 권상우씨에게 접촉한 것은 지난해 4월. 좋은 아침 20130722 다시보기 17. 배우 권상우, 교통사고 뺑소니‥이틀 만에 경찰서 출석 검찰 뺑소니 권상우‥벌금 500만원 약식기소 경찰, 범서방파 두목 출신 김태촌 기업인 협박 혐의로 수사 김태촌, 기업인 협박 경찰출두‥협의 부인 김태촌, 혼수상태로 서울대병원 입원‥생명엔 지장.
| 권상우 2003년 천국의 계단으로 한류스타 등극 2006년 폭력조직에 협박을 당했다. | 한때 조직폭력배 김태촌에게 협박을 받기도 했는데 이때 김태촌의 피바다 디시인사이드 유저들이 새로운 필수요소로 밀었던 적이 있었고, 심지어. | Kr › article › 2628725권상우, 김태촌 고소한 경위는. | 권상우 2003년 천국의 계단으로 한류스타 등극 2006년 폭력조직에 협박을 당했다. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 김씨는 지난 2011년 12월 갑상샘 진단을 받고 서울대병원에 입원했으며 지난해 3. | 사진 左씨가 폭력조직 서방파 두목 출신인 김태촌 58. | 전 서방파 두목 김태촌 씨가 오늘15일 오후 5시 20분쯤 창원지법 진주지원에 출석했습니다. | 서울에서 범서방파를 결성 오비파 양은이파와 함께 80년대 폭력조직세계를. |
| 이날 아침 서방파 옛두목 김태촌씨가 인기 연예인 권상우씨를 협박했다는 소식이 언론보도로 전해지면서 김태촌이라는 검색어가 주요 포털사이트 검색어 상위에 올랐다. | 김씨는 지난 2006년 4월 일본인 친구로부터 권씨가 일본 팬미팅 약속을 지키지 않는다는 말을 듣고 권씨에게 전화를 걸어 협박을 한. | 권상우 전화 끊어버림 김태촌 다시 전화를 걸어 권상우의 지인이 받자 나 김태촌인데. | Kr › news › read권상우 법정서 증언 김태촌 협박 오해에서 비롯된 일. |
| Kr › news › pc뉴스타임 포커스 김태촌, 권상우 협박 전모. | 김태촌 씨는 지난해 3월부터 심장마비로 중환자실에서 치료를 받아오다 5일 0시 30분께 서울 종로구 연건동 서울대병원에서 숨을 거. | 일명 김태촌 권상우 사건의 내막은 정확하게는 김태촌 씨의 지인이 일본에서 권상우 씨 팬 싸인회를 추진하던 와중에 권상우 측에서 미온적인 태도를 보이게 되자 김태촌이 전화를. | 범서방파 두목 김태촌씨 사망 소식이 알려지면서 배우 권상우와 얽힌 과거 사건이 새삼 누리꾼의 관심을 받고 있다. |
| 15% | 22% | 21% | 42% |
피곤하단 말을 피바다로 잘못 알아들었던 것 같다, 영화배우 권상우 씨가 전 서방파 두목 김태촌 씨의 재판에 증인으로 출석했습니다. 뉴스타임 포커스 김태촌, 권상우 협박 전모. 인터뷰김태촌의 못 다한 이야기 사나이다운 권상우.
서울에서 범서방파를 결성 오비파 양은이파와 함께 80년대 폭력조직세계를. 범서방파 두목 김태촌씨 사망 소식이 알려지면서 배우 권상우와 얽힌 과거 사건이 새삼 누리꾼의 관심을 받고 있다. 나 김태촌인데 권상우 협박해 출연 강요. 일설에 의하면, 본래는 나 김태촌인데 너희 집에 불상사가 일어나도 상관없다 이거지, Com › mgallery › board김태촌 조양은 전성기때 싸움실력이 정찬성 최두호급임 팝콘tv 마이. 범서방파 두목 김태촌 사망범서방파 두목 김태촌 씨가 사망했다.
dramawave 디시 15일 권상우 소속사 골든섬 측에 따르면 권상우는 뇌물공여 혐의에 이어 자신에게 협박성 전화를 건 혐의로 추가 기소된. 자신이 직접 만든 9쪽짜리 유인물을 보여주며 카랑카랑한 목소리로 설명하기도 했다. Com › nws_web › view권상우 협박한 김태촌은 누구. 일설에 의하면, 본래는 나 김태촌인데 너희 집에 불상사가 일어나도 상관없다 이거지. 싸움은 전라도가 잘하고 입으로하는 말싸움은 부산이 1등. e-hentai galleries gender change
di움짤 한때 조직폭력배 김태촌에게 협박을 받기도 했는데 이때 김태촌의 피바다 디시인사이드 유저들이 새로운 필수요소로 밀었던 적이 있었고, 심지어. 2006년 4월 13일 서울 강남 청담동 부근 김태촌 나 김태촌인데. 폭력조직 범서방파 두목 출신인 김태촌58씨가 영화배우 권상우29씨측에. 右씨에게서 협박을 당했다는 주장이 제기돼 검찰이 수사 중이다. 고등학생 때는 아예 조직을 만들어서 광주. ehenrai gender change
ehentai poss 싸움은 전라도가 잘하고 입으로하는 말싸움은 부산이 1등. 피곤하단 말을 피바다로 잘못 알아들었던 것 같다, 영화배우 권상우 씨가 전 서방파 두목 김태촌 씨의 재판에 증인으로 출석했습니다. 범서방파 두목 김태촌 사망범서방파 두목 김태촌 씨가 사망했다. 좋은 아침 20130722 다시보기 17. 폭력조직 범서방파 두목 출신인 김태촌58씨가 영화배우 권상우29씨측에. erome 자위
dvmm 301 폭력조직 서방파의 옛 두목 김태촌 59씨가 영화배우 권상우씨를 위협해 일본 공연을 강요한 혐의로 기소된 일이 보도되면서 김씨가 누구인지에. 영화배우 권상우씨를 협박하고 진주교도소 직원한테 뇌물을 공여한 혐의로 구속기소된 범서방파 두목 출신인 김태촌 58씨가 징역 3년을 선고받았다. 나 김태촌인데 권상우 협박해 출연 강요. 폭력조직 범서방파 두목 출신인 김태촌58씨가 영화배우 권상우29씨측에. 인터뷰김태촌의 못 다한 이야기 사나이다운 권상우.
erome 이서자궁 Kr › news › pc뉴스타임 포커스 김태촌, 권상우 협박 전모. 2006년 4월 14일 서울 강남구청 사거리 부근. 2013년 사망한 조직폭력배 김태촌에게 2006년 권상우가 협박을 당한 사건. 7080년대 폭력조직 출신 故김태촌 1975년 전남광주의 폭력조직인 서방파의 행동대장이었습니다. 서울에서 범서방파를 결성 오비파 양은이파와 함께 80년대 폭력조직세계를.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 9, 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 9, 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 9, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 9, 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.
19701980년대 국내 주먹계를 평정했던 김태촌., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.