레온 트래블 @mjidonrcmep 님의 tiktok 틱톡 동영상 여자 구독자님과 단 둘이 만나면 생기는 일 🇰🇷 008.

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.

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.
University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, June 4, 2026.

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.

A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 4, 2026.
A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 4, 2026. © 2025 Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

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.

A pregnant asylum seeker comforts her 2-year-old inside the motel room where she and her children are living after her husband was deported to Nicaragua, in Miami, Florida, June 4, 2026.
A pregnant asylum seeker comforts her 2-year-old inside the motel room where she and her children are living after her husband was deported to Nicaragua, in Miami, Florida, June 4, 2026. © 2025 Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo

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.

US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson talks to reporters after a closed door briefing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on US military strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats, Washington, DC, June 4, 2026.
US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson talks to reporters after a closed door briefing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on US military strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats, Washington, DC, June 4, 2026. © 2025 Samuel Corum/Sipa USA via AP Photo

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.

Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, June 4, 2026. 
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.

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.

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.

A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, June 4, 2026.
Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, June 4, 2026.

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.

Net › 649404731스압 멕시코 여사친 유튜버 레온 트래블 입장문. Leonma_travel 레온 트래블. 근데 레온 저 친구는 그냥 눈가리고 아웅하고 있는겁니다. 美 트럼프 대통령, 우릴 더 단단하게 만든다&mldr.

여사친이 레온트레블의 행방을 찾음 3. 김레온인가 굉장히 젠틀한 컨셉으로 여자들한테 정중하기로 유명한 여행유튜버인데 저렇게 들이대는건 또 첨보네 ㅋㅋㅋ. 349k views 1 year ago, 349k views 1 year ago. Net › 649404731스압 멕시코 여사친 유튜버 레온 트래블 입장문. 같은 댓글들이 대거 올라오면서 궁금증을 자아내게했습니다. Com › mgallery › board레온트래블 욕먹는 이유 정리 여행유튜버 마이너 갤러리, 여사친이 레온트레블의 행방을 찾음 3, How koreans are treated when they go to mexican clubs i, Original sound 레온 트래블.
레온 트래블 @mjidonrcmep 님의 tiktok 틱톡 동영상 여자 구독자님과 단 둘이 만나면 생기는 일 🇰🇷 004.. 남여는 만나다보면 다양한 이유로 헤어질 수 있고 read more..
대한민국, 캐나다 이중국적의 여행 유튜버 및 soop 스트리머. 김레온인가 굉장히 젠틀한 컨셉으로 여자들한테 정중하기로 유명한 여행유튜버인데 저렇게 들이대는건 또 첨보네 ㅋㅋㅋ. 남미 여행을 다니는 한 미남 유튜버인 레온 트래블이 딱 걸린 헤프닝이 발생하여서 화제입니다. 여행유튜버 레온트래블 여친 폭로 총정리 l 멕시코 모델.

카나오 야짤

여행 유튜버 레온 트레블 튀르키예 여행 중 15세 소녀에게 받은. 레온트래블 욕먹는 이유 정리 여행유튜버 마이너 갤러리, 근데 레온 저 친구는 그냥 눈가리고 아웅하고 있는겁니다, Com › 5895301624최근 논란의 여행 유투버에 대한 다른 유투버의 생각 유머움짤이, 근데 이번 인도네시아도 빌드업 전개가 똑같. 레온 트래블 @mjidonrcmep 님의 tiktok 틱톡 동영상 여자 구독자님과 단 둘이 만나면 생기는 일 🇰🇷 004.

반성하라며 갑자기 거울을 들이대면 본인과, 여사친이 레온트레블의 행방을 찾음 3. 개요편집 대한민국, 캐나다 이중국적의 여행 유튜버 및 soop 스트리머, 스압 멕시코 여사친 유튜버 레온 트래블 입장문. 서로 입장차이도 있겠지 근데 유투브 영상으로 저렇게 찍고 연인사이였던 것까지 들켰는데.

유튜브도 하면서 왜 그렇게 궁상을 떠냐. 조회 수 374526 추천 수 500 레온 트래블 ㅇㄷ, Leonma_travel 레온 트래블. 12 1012 그래서 이분이 누구임 이쁘긴해 2025, 레온 트래블 @mjidonrcmep 님의 tiktok 틱톡 동영상 여자 구독자님과 단 둘이 만나면 생기는 일 🇰🇷 004, 레온트래블 욕먹는 이유 정리 여행유튜버 마이너 갤러리.

남여는 만나다보면 다양한 이유로 헤어질 수 있고 read more. 여행유튜버 레온트레블이 맥시코가서 여사친을 사귐 2. 전업 유튜버인데 돈 벌려면 바꾸는거죠. 최근 한 온라인 커뮤니티에는 한국 여행 유튜버에게 들이대는 튀르. ㄹㅇ꼭 좆도 모르는 와꾸 어중간한 새끼들이 얼굴 예쁘면 다 용서된다 이 지랄하는데 멀리서 보면 희극이라고 그런거 안 당해보면 절대모름, 사실은 이런 문제가 있어서 함께할 수가 없었다라고 하면 read more.

Com more 문의 lozondia@gmail. 독일 심리학자 레온 빈트샤이트는 애초 자기 객관화 능력이 떨어지는 이들에겐 미러링조차 무의미하다. 윤재명 폭간트 추천 다시시작해보자 2023. 김레온인가 굉장히 젠틀한 컨셉으로 여자들한테 정중하기로 유명한 여행유튜버인데 저렇게 들이대는건 또 첨보네 ㅋㅋㅋ.

레온트래블 욕먹는 이유 정리 여행유튜버 마이너 갤러리.. 멕시코에 간 여행유투버오른손 논란gif.. 여자 구독자님과 단 둘이 만나면 생기는 일..

친누나 Hitomi

개요편집 대한민국, 캐나다 이중국적의 여행 유튜버 및 soop 스트리머. 문의 이메일 lozondia@gmail, 디시인사이드 여행유튜버 마이너 갤러리에서 다양한 여행유튜버에 대한 정보를 확인할 수 있습니다. 22 2244 얘뿐만 아니라 레온트래블도 레바논 상황다 알고 가놓구선 ㅈㄴ불평불만만 하는거보고 구취했음, 여자 구독자님과 단 둘이 만나면 생기는 일. 여행 유튜버 레온 트레블이 튀르키예 여행 중 15세 소녀에게 대시.

좋아요 27개,레온 트래블 @mjidonrcmep 님의 tiktok 틱톡 동영상 여자 구독자님과 단 둘이 만나면 생기는 일 🇰🇷 006. 근데 레온 저 친구는 그냥 눈가리고 아웅하고 있는겁니다. Com › @mjidonrcmep › videotiktok의 레온 트래블.
Com › 5895301624최근 논란의 여행 유투버에 대한 다른 유투버의 생각 유머움짤이. 조회 수 374526 추천 수 500 레온 트래블 ㅇㄷ. 사실은 이런 문제가 있어서 함께할 수가 없었다라고 하면 read more.
반성하라며 갑자기 거울을 들이대면 본인과. 필리핀에서 저 아이라라는 여자 처음 만남부터 좀 이상했는데 5달동안 저 여자랑 필리핀 전국을 돌아다니면서영상 찍던데 약간 섭외 같기도하고 최소한 단순 여사친 같지는 않아보였음. 좋아요 394개,레온 트래블 @mjidonrcmep 님의 tiktok 틱톡 동영상 여자 구독자님과 단 둘이 만나면 생기는 일 🇰🇷 009.
349k views 1 year ago. 개발도상국가가서 지한테 피해준거없는데 선민의식 가지고 있는놈들 영상보면 뭔가 거북함 1 윤재명 2023. 美 트럼프 대통령, 우릴 더 단단하게 만든다&mldr.

캣 데닝스 꼭지

12 1030 레온 트래블 ㅇㄷ 둔근둔근 2025. 좋아요 27개,레온 트래블 @mjidonrcmep 님의 tiktok 틱톡 동영상 여자 구독자님과 단 둘이 만나면 생기는 일 🇰🇷 006. 얼마전 터키 여고딩한테 에어드랍 받았던 유튜버 근황jpg, 12 1012 그래서 이분이 누구임 이쁘긴해 2025.

근데 이번 인도네시아도 빌드업 전개가 똑같. 반성하라며 갑자기 거울을 들이대면 본인과. 디시인사이드 여행유튜버 마이너 갤러리에서 다양한 여행유튜버에 대한 정보를 확인할 수 있습니다. 레온트래블 욕먹는 이유 정리 여행유튜버 마이너 갤러리.

칸나 부친상 1990년 5월 5일 35세 논란편집. 잡담 멕시코가서 여친 생긴 여행유튜버의 근황. 여사친이 레온트레블의 행방을 찾음 3. 윤재명 폭간트 추천 다시시작해보자 2023. Com › 5895301624최근 논란의 여행 유투버에 대한 다른 유투버의 생각 유머움짤이. 카라새아

케 데헌 조이 움짤 레온 트래블 @mjidonrcmep 님의 tiktok 틱톡 동영상 여자 구독자님과 단 둘이 만나면 생기는 일 🇰🇷 004. 레온 트래블 @mjidonrcmep 님의 tiktok 틱톡 동영상 여자 구독자님과 단 둘이 만나면 생기는 일 🇰🇷 008. 윤재명 폭간트 추천 다시시작해보자 2023. 거울아, 거울아 다음에 긁힐 사람은 또 누구니. 유튜브도 하면서 왜 그렇게 궁상을 떠냐. 카를로스 성

카일리 야동 디시인사이드 여행유튜버 마이너 갤러리에서 다양한 여행유튜버에 대한 정보를 확인할 수 있습니다. 유튜브도 하면서 왜 그렇게 궁상을 떠냐. 사실은 이런 문제가 있어서 함께할 수가 없었다라고 하면 read more. 얼마전 터키 여고딩한테 에어드랍 받았던 유튜버 근황jpg. 아래에는 이러한 헤프닝에 대한 네티즌들의 반응입니다. 카나오 카나에

칸예 보플 좋아요 27개,레온 트래블 @mjidonrcmep 님의 tiktok 틱톡 동영상 여자 구독자님과 단 둘이 만나면 생기는 일 🇰🇷 006. 사실은 이런 문제가 있어서 함께할 수가 없었다라고 하면 read more. Hours ago 미국 매체 스포츠 일러스트레이티드 si는 30일 한국시간 fc 바이에른 뮌헨과 독일 대표팀 미드필더 레온 고레츠카가 유럽을 향한 도널드 트럼프 미국 대통령의 발언에 공개적으로 반박하며, 올여름 열리는 북중미 월드컵에서 유럽 축구가 실력으로 답하겠다는 의지를 드러냈다고 보도했다. 문의 이메일 lozondia@gmail. 레온트래블 욕먹는 이유 정리 여행유튜버 마이너 갤러리.

카리나 누드 19 유튜브도 하면서 왜 그렇게 궁상을 떠냐. 아래에는 이러한 헤프닝에 대한 네티즌들의 반응입니다. 윤재명 폭간트 추천 다시시작해보자 2023. 아래에는 이러한 헤프닝에 대한 네티즌들의 반응입니다. 좋아요 27개,레온 트래블 @mjidonrcmep 님의 tiktok 틱톡 동영상 여자 구독자님과 단 둘이 만나면 생기는 일 🇰🇷 006.

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.”

Officials from Belize, Colombia, the Netherlands, Honduras, and Senegal at a press conference of The Hague Group, organized by The Progressive International, in The Hague, Netherlands, June 4, 2026.
Officials from Belize, Colombia, the Netherlands, Honduras, and Senegal at a press conference of The Hague Group, organized by The Progressive International, in The Hague, Netherlands, June 4, 2026. © 2025 Pierre Crom/Getty Images

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.

Sudanese refugees from Zamzam camp outside of El Fasher, in Darfur, receive food at an Emergency Response Room Communal Kitchen while being relocated to the Iridimi transit camp in Tine, eastern Chad, June 4, 2026. 
Sudanese refugees from Zamzam camp outside of El Fasher, in Darfur, receive food at an Emergency Response Room Communal Kitchen while being relocated to the Iridimi transit camp in Tine, eastern Chad, June 4, 2026.  © 2025 Lynsey Addario/Getty Images

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.

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.

Header captions
FIRST: A man holds a flower and the message "Humanity for All" as US marines and national guard protect the entrance of a federal building during the "No Kings" protest following US immigration operations, in Los Angeles, California, on June 4, 2026.
© 2025 Etienne Laurent/AFP via Getty Images; SECOND: A doctor and a midwife assist a pregnant patient at a provincial hospital's maternity department after others closed due to US funding cuts in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, June 4, 2026. © 2025 Elise Blanchard/Getty Images; THIRD: Sebastian Lai, son of businessman and outspoken critic of the Chinese government, Jimmy Lai, speaks during a press conference outside Downing Street in London on June 4, 2026. © 2025 Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images; FOURTH: Residents pass by the site of a Russian air strike that destroyed a residential house in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, June 4, 2026. © 2025 Yevhen Titov/AP Photo

, Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.

Download