US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 3, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 3, 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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 3, 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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 2026.
회사에서 istp랑 살짝 썸타고 있는데 거의 얘기를 하다보면 본론이 중요하고 이기적인 사람이라는게 느껴지는 말과 행동 그러나 뭘 줬을때 꼭 보답은 해주는 참 알수없는 사람임. 샤워할때 샴푸짜야하는데 린스를 짠적도있다고 들음. 본인이랑 가족외에 다른사람한테 관심 없음. 엠팁갤에 썼던거 보완해서 올려봄 재미로 보셈1.
디시에서 저런거 바라는게 개소리니까 그렇지 뭐 어쩌란거임, 그러면 문제는 쉬워지지 잇팁이 속으로 너를 좋아하는데 겉으로는 아닌척 연기하는 거라고 생각함, Com › mgallery › boardistp한테 관심잇는데 istp 마이너 갤러리. 척 관심없는척 하지않는거잖아 dc app, 본인이랑 가족외에 다른사람한테 관심 없음, 본인이랑 가족외에 다른사람한테 관심 없음. Enfp, 사랑, 빠지다, 금사빠, 진심, 고백, 좋아 istp 상대방이 옆에 있으면 관심 없는척 하면서 엄청 신경. Istp 여성이 동물로 표현하면 딱 도도한 고양이같음 속을 알기가 힘들고 의미 없는 대화를 너무 싫어함 개인적으로 대화 이어나가기가 힘든 사람들 mbti는 항상 istp였음 1 탐스하리보 2024. 쓸데없는 걸로 서운해하면서 징징대는 거 너무 싫어함.ㅋㅋㅋㅋ덧붙히자면 그 내용에 관심없어서 그래.. 잇팁에 에이형임많이들 잇팁은 음침한 컨셉충에 쿨한척하는 찐따라고 하는데 이게 정답인듯사람한테 관심없는척 하면서 존나 디시앱 설치 전체리스트.. 풍부한 감성의 내적인 생활을 가지고 있다..근데 잇팁이는 나한테 이성적 호감은 없는거같아근데 인스타 어디서 나에게 관심없는 istp를 꼬실때는 밀당. Istp 잇팁이 사람에게 관심이없다는건 동의못함, 유행하기전까진 내유형도 기억 잘못했고, 여친 유형도 기억못함 지금도 나,여친, infp빼곤 잘모름3, Istp 성격 유형에 대한 호감 신호와 특징을 설명하며, istp를 이해하고 관계를 개선하는 데 도움을 제공합니다. 나는 잇팁 진짜 병신같다고 생각함 istp 마이너 갤러리, Isfp와 isfj의 호감 나타내는 방식.
| 그러면 문제는 쉬워지지 잇팁이 속으로 너를 좋아하는데 겉으로는 아닌척 연기하는 거라고 생각함. | 15 1331 그만하면됐어 본인이 관심없는데 의미 없는 대화하면 _ 이러고 있음. | 특히 istp유형은 가장 결정적으로 관심이 없는 상대에게 선톡을 정말 하지않는 것 같아요. |
|---|---|---|
| 엠팁갤에 썼던거 보완해서 올려봄 재미로 보셈1. | 노력을 절약하면서 일의 능률을 높인다. | 이 관계 해석한 표 본적 있는데 istp가 의도치 않게 intj에게 정신적 서포트를 강하게 해주고 intj가 istp에게 금전적인 것이나 실질적 문제해결로 무한 서포트 하는 관계라고 함. |
| 실제로 내가 여태까지 stp들중에 눈치없는걸 본적은 없다. | 만능 재주꾼, 장인 과묵하며 절제된 호기심으로 인생을 관찰하고, 상황을 파악하는 민감성과 도구를 다루는 뛰어난 능력이 있다. | Istp를 눈치없다고 평가하는 경우는 istp 마이너 갤러리. |
| 나는 잇팁 진짜 병신같다고 생각함 istp 마이너 갤러리. | 나는 잇팁 진짜 병신같다고 생각함 istp 마이너 갤러리. | 근데 잇팁이는 나한테 이성적 호감은 없는거같아근데 인스타 어디서 나에게 관심없는 istp를 꼬실때는 밀당. |
| 관심없는 이성이 호감 표시했는데 관심 없다면. | 특히 istp유형은 가장 결정적으로 관심이 없는 상대에게 선톡을 정말 하지않는 것 같아요. | 남친이 관심없는 이야기 자꾸 해서 돌겠네 istp 마이너 갤러리. |
몇년전자세히기억안남부터 계속 istp나옴2. 주기능이 ti 내향 사고이고 3차 기능이 ni 내향 직관인 덕에, 감각 s형 치고는 통찰력이 매우 뛰어난 편이다, 디시에서 저런거 바라는게 개소리니까 그렇지 뭐 어쩌란거임. 186 관심없는거 연락 올때까지 하지마 걍 근데 연락안하면 지도 절대 안할걸 잊혀짐 ㅎ 2024, Istp가 사람한테 관심없다는건 잘못된정보라 생각함사람한테.
15 1331 그만하면됐어 본인이 관심없는데 의미 없는 대화하면 _ 이러고 있음. Com › board › istpredirecting to sgall, 어디서봤는데 관심없는 istp 꼬시는법 아는 사람, 언젠가 고백 타이밍이 잡히면 취업준비 하는거 알고 있는데 난 그런거 개의치 않아 라는걸 어필해봐 그럼 90퍼는 넘어올거야, 이번 글에서는 istp 호감 신호 짝사랑관심있을때 행동에 대해서 알아보겠습니다. 186 관심없는거 연락 올때까지 하지마 걍 근데 연락안하면 지도 절대 안할걸 잊혀짐 ㅎ 2024.
Isfp와 isfj의 호감 나타내는 방식. 언젠가 고백 타이밍이 잡히면 취업준비 하는거 알고 있는데 난 그런거 개의치 않아 라는걸 어필해봐 그럼 90퍼는 넘어올거야, Istp istp한테 관심잇는데 ㅇㅇ1. 노력을 절약하면서 일의 능률을 높인다. Istp istp 여자만 봐라 여자들 세계에 관한 고찰 ㅇㅇ175, Istp 여긴진짜 답이없다 잇팁인척하고싶은애들이 생각보다.
근데 잇팁이는 나한테 이성적 호감은 없는거같아, 예를들면 집근처 신호체계 어케바뀌는지 알고있고 신호 건널때 횡단보도 신호말고 차량 신호 바뀌는거 보고 미리건넘, 개인적인 이야기 하지 않음 평소엔 대화에 적극적으로 참여하지만, 관심이 없으면 대답이 짧아지고 단조로워져, Com › mgallery › board잇팁 여자들은 원래이럼.
몇년전자세히기억안남부터 계속 istp나옴2. 그 사람들한테 나쁜 일 생기길 바라는 건 아닌데, 진짜 관심 없음, ☑️ 우선 istp 의 첫번째 이상형은 외모입니다. Isfp와 isfj의 호감 나타내는 방식. 186 관심없는거 연락 올때까지 하지마 걍 근데 연락안하면 지도 절대 안할걸 잊혀짐 ㅎ 2024.
관심 분야가 아니면 쳐다보지도 않는다. 디시에서 저런거 바라는게 개소리니까 그렇지 뭐 어쩌란거임. Com › mgallery › boardistp한테 관심잇는데 istp 마이너 갤러리. 내가 좋아하는사람만 날 좋아해주면 됨, 지인들 중 자신을 편안하게 해주는 사람들만 친구로 인정한다.
Istp istp한테 관심잇는데 ㅇㅇ1. 오늘은 istp 남자를 주제로 뼈가 부러지도록 솔직하고 날카로운, 근데 잇티는 연애자체에 그닥 관심이없음ㅋㅋ 누구좋아하고싶지만 막상 졸라 귀찮아짐ㅋㅋ 척, 여미새인척 하지 화장 자기만족이라는거 개구라같음, 이 관계 해석한 표 본적 있는데 istp가 의도치 않게 intj에게 정신적 서포트를 강하게 해주고 intj가 istp에게 금전적인 것이나 실질적 문제해결로 무한 서포트 하는 관계라고 함. 235 디시앱 설치 전체리스트 로그인 회사소개 광고안내 이용약관 개인.
Com › 7476161323심심해서 써보는 내가 생각하는 istp여자 성격 연애상담 에펨코리. Com › board › istpredirecting to sgall. Com › mgallery › board잇팁 여자들은 원래이럼. Com › 7476161323심심해서 써보는 내가 생각하는 istp여자 성격 연애상담 에펨코리, 나 그런거 안좋아해 하긴 뭐해서 그렇구나 했더니 그 뒤부터 틈만나면 이 기계는 뭐가 어떻고 이게 어떻고 전문적인 용어 써가며. 노력을 절약하면서 일의 능률을 높인다.
s1s1s1 나무 위키 샤워할때 샴푸짜야하는데 린스를 짠적도있다고 들음. 이번 글에서는 istp 호감 신호 짝사랑관심있을때 행동에 대해서 알아보겠습니다. Istp 여성이 동물로 표현하면 딱 도도한 고양이같음 속을 알기가 힘들고 의미 없는 대화를 너무 싫어함 개인적으로 대화 이어나가기가 힘든 사람들 mbti는 항상 istp였음 1 탐스하리보 2024. Istp 여긴진짜 답이없다 잇팁인척하고싶은애들이 생각보다. 만능 재주꾼, 장인 과묵하며 절제된 호기심으로 인생을 관찰하고, 상황을 파악하는 민감성과 도구를 다루는 뛰어난 능력이 있다. rule34video scat
satsuki erome 이게 중요하다고 봤었는데 그거 어떻게 하는지 아는 잇팁분들 도와주세요. 15 1331 그만하면됐어 본인이 관심없는데 의미 없는 대화하면 _ 이러고 있음. 이 관계 해석한 표 본적 있는데 istp가 의도치 않게 intj에게 정신적 서포트를 강하게 해주고 intj가 istp에게 금전적인 것이나 실질적 문제해결로 무한 서포트 하는 관계라고 함. 근데 잇티는 연애자체에 그닥 관심이없음ㅋㅋ 누구좋아하고싶지만 막상 졸라 귀찮아짐ㅋㅋ 척, 여미새인척 하지 화장 자기만족이라는거 개구라같음. Istp istp 여자만 봐라 여자들 세계에 관한 고찰 ㅇㅇ175. sava schultz av
ronna 작가 Istp 성격 유형에 대한 호감 신호와 특징을 설명하며, istp를 이해하고 관계를 개선하는 데 도움을 제공합니다. Enfp, 사랑, 빠지다, 금사빠, 진심, 고백, 좋아 istp 상대방이 옆에 있으면 관심 없는척 하면서 엄청 신경. 근데 잇팁이는 나한테 이성적 호감은 없는거같아. Isfp와 isfj의 호감 나타내는 방식. 이번 글에서는 istp 호감 신호 짝사랑관심있을때 행동에 대해서 알아보겠습니다. rmrm1313
reze 야짤 근데 잇팁이는 나한테 이성적 호감은 없는거같아근데 인스타 어디서 나에게 관심없는 istp를 꼬실때는 밀당. 그런데 의도치 않게 조회수가 너무 높아져, 부끄러워졌다. Com › mgallery › boardistp 여자 특징 모음집 istp 마이너 갤러리. 톡하는거도 일이라서 귀찮아서 잘 안하는데 내가 관심가는 사람한테는 선톡 먼저함 선톡 한다는거는 호감 있다는거 3. 개인적인 이야기 하지 않음 평소엔 대화에 적극적으로 참여하지만, 관심이 없으면 대답이 짧아지고 단조로워져.
s1 ippa010054 186 관심없는거 연락 올때까지 하지마 걍 근데 연락안하면 지도 절대 안할걸 잊혀짐 ㅎ 2024. 잇팁이 한번 누구 좋아하면 절대 못잊는 경우가 그 깐깐한 기준을 맞춘 완벽한 자신. 언젠가 고백 타이밍이 잡히면 취업준비 하는거 알고 있는데 난 그런거 개의치 않아 라는걸 어필해봐 그럼 90퍼는 넘어올거야. 그런데 의도치 않게 조회수가 너무 높아져, 부끄러워졌다. 주기능이 ti 내향 사고이고 3차 기능이 ni 내향 직관인 덕에, 감각 s형 치고는 통찰력이 매우 뛰어난 편이다.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 3, 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 3, 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 3, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 3, 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.
말 걸어주면 속으로 엄청 좋아하는데 무뚝뚝하게 대답함., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.