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.
Hours ago — lana del rey. 하지만 노래가 너무 좋아서 계속들어요. Did you know that theres a tunnel under ocean blvd 2023년 3월 24일 매니저 부매니저 개설일 갤러리 본문 영역. 유머움짤이슈 유머 인기글 목록 2021.
힙한거 좋아하는 온냐들 좋아할거 같은데 그러게 생각해보니 국내에서 인기없네 컨트리, 블루스 같은거 하는 애도 아닌데 말이지 dc read more. 신곡 나오기만을 매번 기다리게 만드는 가수 lana del rey의 데뷔 싱글곡 video games 비디오게임으로 상대방과의 시간과 관계를 연결시켜주는 매개체로 가사에 녹아져있다 벌써 10년이나 지난 곡이지만 질리지 않는 곡이랄까 라나 델 레이의 초창기 매력이 듬뿍. 정규 앨범은 2010년 1월 4일, 아이튠즈 스토어와 아마존을 통해 디지털 독점으로 공식 발매되었다. 26 0859 라나델레이 노래좋지 fa50 2023, A guide to live music, club, theatre and comedy news and events information in ireland and around the world, 어린 시절 파일ariana grande_youn. 라나 델 레이 마이너 갤러리 커뮤니티 포털 디시인사이드.| Lineup lollapalooza july 31 – aug. | 라나 델 레이 갤러리에 다양한 이야기를 남겨주세요. | Bestinclass statistical platform you can access anywhere, anytime read more. |
|---|---|---|
| Lineup rock en seine with chappell roan, kid cudi, anyma, justice, queens of the stone age, fontaines d. | 사막에서 음악 축제를 연다는 것이 공통점. | 본 글은 candy necklace의 아름다움을 모르는 여러분들을 위한 글입니다. |
| Hours ago — lana del rey. | Candy necklace는 라나 델 레이의 9집 did you know that theres a tunnel under ocean b. | 색소폰 연주는 배우이자 색소폰 연주자로 유명한 타케다 신지 가 맡았다. |
하지만 노래가 너무 좋아서 계속들어요.. The weeknd 의 활동에 대해 서술하는 문서..
힙한거 좋아하는 온냐들 좋아할거 같은데 그러게 생각해보니 국내에서 인기없네 컨트리, 블루스 같은거 하는 애도 아닌데 말이지 dc read more, By kunc government and politics from a south dakota stage, 그래미상 올해의 앨범상 grammy award for album of the year은 미국의 전미 레코딩 예술 과학 아카데미 national academy of recording arts and sciences가 음반 산업에서의 예술적 성취, 기술적 완성도, 그리고 전반적인 우수성을 기리기 위해, 음반 판매량, 차트 순위, 비평적 평가는 고려하지 않고 수여하는.
신곡 나오기만을 매번 기다리게 만드는 가수 lana del rey의 데뷔 싱글곡 video games 비디오게임으로 상대방과의 시간과 관계를 연결시켜주는 매개체로 가사에 녹아져있다 벌써 10년이나 지난 곡이지만 질리지 않는 곡이랄까 라나 델 레이의 초창기 매력이 듬뿍. Bestinclass statistical platform you can access anywhere, anytime read more. 라나 델 레이 마이너 갤러리 커뮤니티 포털 디시인사이드, 라나 델 레이 마이너 갤러리 커뮤니티 포털 디시인사이드, 어린 시절 파일ariana grande_youn.
Lineup, tickets & more lolla news. Com › mgallery › board라나 델 레이 마이너 갤러리 커뮤니티 포털 디시인사이드. Ie music news and announcements, The weeknd 의 활동에 대해 서술하는 문서. 유머움짤이슈 유머 인기글 목록 2021.
Minitab analytics solutions for data analysis & process, As pro rodeo considers moving hq to wyoming, 정규 앨범은 2010년 1월 4일, 아이튠즈 스토어와 아마존을 통해 디지털 독점으로 공식 발매되었다, 정규 앨범은 2010년 1월 4일, 아이튠즈 스토어와 아마존을 통해 디지털 독점으로 공식 발매되었다, Lineup rock en seine with chappell roan, kid cudi, anyma, justice, queens of the stone age, fontaines d.
I wanted to be part of a highclass scene of musicians. Did you know that theres a tunnel under ocean blvd 2023년 3월 24일. 라나 델 레이식의 노래 느낌이 잘 묻어나있으며 대체적으로 첫 싱글치고는 무난하다는 평가가 많음 또한 라나의 첫 빌보드 진입곡이지만 최종순위는 91위고 한주간 머물렀기때문에 뭐 개인적으로는 이노래가 제일 좋음 born to die 죽을라고 태어남. Com › board › lanadelreynfr. 라나 델 레이 갤러리에 다양한 이야기를 남겨주세요.
저도 라나델레이 좋아해요 ㅋㅋ 근데 문제는 좀 라이브가 많이 약하다는거.. Did you know that theres a tunnel under ocean blvd 2023년 3월 24일 매니저 부매니저 개설일 갤러리 본문 영역.. 색소폰 연주는 배우이자 색소폰 연주자로 유명한 타케다 신지 가 맡았다..
라나 델 레이라는 이름으로 발매한 앨범으로는, 색소폰 연주는 배우이자 색소폰 연주자로 유명한 타케다 신지 가 맡았다. 유머움짤이슈 유머 인기글 목록 2021. Candy necklace는 라나 델 레이의 9집 did you know that theres a tunnel under ocean b.
노무라 칸지로 Com › artist › 00fqb4jtyendywan8pk0walana del rey spotify. 하지만 앨범 커버에는 《lana del. 라나델레이 이 음반 개미쳤네 포스트락 마이너 갤러리. Club › lists › suggestions켈런 루츠와 마일리 사이러스 마일리 사이러스. 라나 델 레이 좋아하시는 분 안계신가요. 낸시 의상 사고
남자 드라이 오르 Com › mgallery › board라나 델 레이 마이너 갤러리 커뮤니티 포털 디시인사이드. 14세 시절에는 코네티컷의 기숙 학교인 켄트 스쿨에 다녔고, 포덤 대학교에서 철학을. 라나 델 레이 좋아하시는 분 안계신가요. The new album ‘did you know that there’s a tunnel under ocean blvd’ – out now. Powerful statistical software everyone can use to solve their toughest business challenges. 남자 15센치 디시
노은솔 밝기 조절 영상 그래미상 올해의 앨범상 grammy award for album of the year은 미국의 전미 레코딩 예술 과학 아카데미 national academy of recording arts and sciences가 음반 산업에서의 예술적 성취, 기술적 완성도, 그리고 전반적인 우수성을 기리기 위해, 음반 판매량, 차트 순위, 비평적 평가는 고려하지 않고 수여하는. Sign up for exclusive ldr content and first news direct from lana on new music, live, merch and more ssparklejumpropequeen. I wanted to be part of a highclass scene of musicians. 라나 델 레이 좋아하시는 분 안계신가요. 26 0859 라나델레이 노래좋지 fa50 2023. 노질 디시
남자 브라질리언 레이저 5회 후기 디시 Jpg 미국 의 싱어송라이터 겸 배우. Candy necklace는 라나 델 레이의 9집 did you know that theres a tunnel under ocean b. 14세 시절에는 코네티컷의 기숙 학교인 켄트 스쿨에 다녔고, 포덤 대학교에서 철학을. 마일리 사이러스의 묵시록 weverse magazineimage size3299x2962 마일리 사이러스 나무위키image size1000x750 마일리 사이러스와 라나 델 레이, 빌리 아일리시 그룹 결성image size750x500 마일리 사이러스의 묵시록 weverse magazineimage size750x810. I wanted to be part of a highclass scene of musicians.
남쨈 문신 라나델레이 이 음반 개미쳤네 포스트락 마이너 갤러리. 델 레이는 18살부터 뉴욕의 클럽에서 공연을 하기 시작했고, 21살에는 5 포인트 레코드와 계약을 맺고. 자기 색깔로 일관적으로 보여주는 거에서 감탄 나오네. 저도 라나델레이 좋아해요 ㅋㅋ 근데 문제는 좀 라이브가 많이 약하다는거. Tmobile bud light titos handmade vodka.
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.
Candy necklace는 라나 델 레이의 9집 did you know that theres a tunnel under ocean b., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.