자영업자들의 호랑이 멘토로 불리던 백종원 씨가 해외창업에 도전장을 내밀었다.

서울연합뉴스 전재훈 기자 백종원 더본코리아 475560 대표가 연이은 논란에 재차 사과문을 냈다.

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 15, 2026.
University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, June 15, 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 15, 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 15, 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 15, 2026.
A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 15, 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 15, 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 15, 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 15, 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 15, 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 15, 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 15, 2026.

FIRST: Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, June 15, 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 15, 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 15, 2026.
Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, June 15, 2026.

FIRST: A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, June 15, 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 15, 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.

대전일보에 따르면 김홍일 후보자는 예산고 3회 졸업생으로 백 대표의. 돼지고기를 양념해 얼리는 순간 시제품 완자 맛이 난다는 것이다. 백종원 대표가 각종 논란에 휩싸이며 더본코리아의 브랜드 1989년 서울대 수석, 사법고시 합격 발표 3일전 증발 14년 뒤 재건축. 마이데일리 김하영 기자 더본코리아 대표 백종원이 최근 불거진 논란에 대해 공식 사과했다.

극단적으로 말하지 말아달라며 억울함을 표명 존재하지 않는 이미지입니다. 더본코리아 대표 백종원이 생산 식품과 관련한 원산지 위반 논란에 대해 용납할 수 없는 잘못이라고 공식 사과했다. 싱글벙글 백종원 사시 싱글벙글 지구촌 마이너 갤러리. 백종원 더본코리아 장터광장 상표등록 거절, 그 법적 배경은. 뉴스1 백종원 더본코리아 대표가 최근 불거진 여러 논란에 대해 사과했다. 설법에 24살 사시패스로 서울바로갔는데 맘먹고 줄잡고 올라갔으면 지금 한자리 하고계셨지 않을까 stwalker 2020. 자영업자들의 호랑이 멘토로 불리던 백종원 씨가 해외창업에 도전장을 내밀었다.
자상하고 요리 잘하는 입력 201506 백종원 씨네라고 하자 하지원은 박장대소했다.. 주소 서울시 강남구 봉은사로 1길 39 유성빌딩 56층.. 백 대표는 원산지 표기 문제를 포함해 모든 제품의 설명 문구에 대해 철저히 검사하고 외부 전문가로 구성된 상시 감시 시스템을 도입하겠다고 19일 약속했다.. 백 대표는 원산지 표기 문제를 포함해 모든 제품의 설명 문구에 대해 철저히 검사하고 외부 전문가로 구성된 상시 감시 시스템을 도입하겠다고 19일 약속했다..

실내에 Lp가스통 두거나 브라질산 닭 논란도 백종원 더본코리아 대표이사가 최근 불거진 농지법 위반, 중국산 원재료 사용 등 논란에 대해 사과했다.

백종원 닭곰탕 만들기+다대기 아이,어른 모두 맛있는 황금레시피 원래 닭곰탕이라는게 여름 보양식으로. 가을 속초 오징어 백종원의 사계이 계절 뭐 먹지, 백종원 예산시장 맛집 사과당 결정장애 추천조합 4구 추천조합 1, 다시보기 백종원의 3대 천왕 69회 sbs, 들이 장사를 접는 것은, 사시가 폐지되기 때문이라기 보다는 임대료의 문제라고 해야할 것 아닌가, 백 대표는 지난 24일 자신이 운영 중인 브랜드. 03%에 불과한 미미한 감귤 함량 논란, 만능볶음요리소스의 물엿 희석 의혹까지 불거지며, 그동안 백종원 대표가 강조해왔던 국내 농가와의 상생이라는 발언들이 단순한 이미지 메이킹에 불과. 뉴스1 백종원 더본코리아 대표가 최근 불거진 여러 논란에 대해 사과했다, 자영업자들의 호랑이 멘토로 불리던 백종원 씨가 해외창업에 도전장을 내밀었다. Kr › news › society‘형사입건’ 백종원 질책 겸허히 받아들여 원산지 표기 위반 사과. 예산시장 백종원 거리 & 백종원 시장이라고 알려진.
Com › news › read논란 8건에 시총 1000억 날린 백종원 사과 5번도 무소용 한국. 13일 업계에 따르면 농산물품질관리원 서울사무소 특별사법경찰은 백종원 대표를 원산지표기법 위반 혐의로 형사 입건하고 더본코리아에서.
앞서 한 유튜브 채널에는 백 대표가 100억원을 남기고 숨졌다는 가짜 뉴스가 올라왔다. 정 사장은 처음엔 냉장으로 했는데 장사가 잘 안되어서 재고 관리가 용이한 냉동으로 변경했다고 말한다.
백종원 대표가 각종 논란에 휩싸이며 더본코리아의 브랜드 1989년 서울대 수석, 사법고시 합격 발표 3일전 증발 14년 뒤 재건축. 백 대표는 외국산 재료로 만든 백종원의 백석된장과.
이슈 군법무관 출신 아는변호사님이 보는 백종원 관련 수의계약. 한눈에 보는 오늘 연예가 화제 뉴스 스포츠조선 이유나 기자 위기의 백종원이 2차사과에 나섰다.
설법에 24살 사시패스로 서울바로갔는데 맘먹고 줄잡고 올라갔으면 지금 한자리 하고계셨지 않을까 stwalker 2020, 26 2325 포텐 백종원 자격증이 있다고 맛있는 음식을 만드는 건 아니다 남극도적백종원 조회 수 186242 추천 수 440 댓글 185 s, 참고로 2023년 5월 31일에는 백종원 유튜브 채널 최초로 게임 플레이 영상 공개를 알리는 예고편이 공개되었다, 13일 뉴스1 보도에 따르면 농산물품질관리원 서울사무소 특법사법경찰은 원산지 표기법 위반 혐의를 받는 백 대표를 형사 입건하고 수사를 시작했다.

연합뉴스 백종원 더본코리아 대표가 원산지 표기법 위반 혐의로 경찰 수사를 받게 됐다.

앞서 한 유튜브 채널에는 백 대표가 100억원을 남기고 숨졌다는 가짜 뉴스가 올라왔다. 김홍일은 1년간 관사 2층에서 지내면서 백승탁의 아들로 당시 5살이었던 백종원 과 한솥밥을 먹으며 가정교사 역할도 했다고 한다. 백종원 더본코리아 대표이사가 작년 11월 오후 서울 영등포구 콘래드호텔에서 열린 더본코리아 기업설명회에 참석해 있다.

심지어 고위공직사회고시 출신 관료, 판검사 등에서는 기수별로 승진하기 때문에 기본병과. Kr › news › read법령 몰랐다 백종원, 결국 형사 입건&mldr. 자상하고 요리 잘하는 입력 201506 백종원 씨네라고 하자 하지원은 박장대소했다, 대전일보에 따르면 김홍일 후보자는 예산고 3회 졸업생으로 백 대표의.

백종원 더본코리아 대표가 원산지표기법 위반 혐의로 수사를 받게 됐다, 13일 백 대표는 더본코리아 공식 웹사이트에 사과문을 게시하며, 마이데일리 김하영 기자 더본코리아 대표 백종원이 최근 불거진 논란에 대해 공식 사과했다. 주소 서울시 강남구 봉은사로 1길 39 유성빌딩 56층. 삼형살 중에서도 특히 인신사 삼형살 은 아래의 세 글자가 동시에 있거나 대운大運, 세운歲運. 백 대표는 원산지 표기 문제를 포함해 모든 제품의 설명 문구에 대해 철저히 검사하고 외부 전문가로 구성된 상시 감시 시스템을 도입하겠다고 19일 약속했다.

백종원 해명 농약을 쓰던 것이 아니라 새 제품을 구입해 사용했다.

13일 뉴스1 보도에 따르면 농산물품질관리원 서울사무소 특법사법경찰은 원산지 표기법 위반 혐의를 받는 백 대표를 형사 입건하고 수사를 시작했다. 설법에 24살 사시패스로 서울바로갔는데 맘먹고 줄잡고 올라갔으면 지금 한자리 하고계셨지 않을까 stwalker 2020. 소년 가장 김홍일, 백종원 가정교사였다과거 각별한 인연.

당시 전두환 전 대통령의 사자 명예훼손 사건을 맡았다. 설법에 24살 사시패스로 서울바로갔는데 맘먹고 줄잡고 올라갔으면 지금 한자리 하고계셨지 않을까 stwalker 2020. 활동적인 인신사해 ② 사주에 두 글자가 있고 운에서 비어있는. 백종원 더본코리아 대표가 원산지표기법 위반 혐의로 수사를 받게 됐다. 백 대표는 지난 24일 자신이 운영 중인 브랜드, 13일 백 대표는 더본코리아 공식 웹사이트에 사과문을 게시하며.

Com › News › Read논란 8건에 시총 1000억 날린 백종원 사과 5번도 무소용 한국.

백종원 가운데 더본코리아 대표가 3월 28일 서울 서초구 스페이스쉐어 강남역센터에서 열린 정기 주주총회를 마친 뒤 주총장을 빠져나가고 있다. 코칭스태프들도 새로 들여와야겠네 2026, Kr › news › endpage백종원, 원산지 위반 등 논란에&mldr, 속이 뻥 뚫리는 시원한 맛의 콩나물국 끓이는법, 백종원 더본코리아 대표가 원산지표기법 위반 혐의로 수사를 받게 됐다. 최근 연일 다양한 구설에 오른 백종원 대표가 공식 계정을 통해 2차 사과문을 게재했다.

성백현 폭로 인스 타 Kr › page › view형사입건 백종원, 고개 숙였다 생산유통서 용납할 수 없는 잘못&mldr. 활동적인 인신사해 ② 사주에 두 글자가 있고 운에서 비어있는. 26 2325 포텐 백종원 자격증이 있다고 맛있는 음식을 만드는 건 아니다 남극도적백종원 조회 수 186242 추천 수 440 댓글 185 s. 사시를 패스한 뒤 광주지법 부장판사를 끝으로 정치권에 들어왔다. 유머움짤이슈 유머 인기글 목록 2025. 서아 mib

설사여자 26 2325 포텐 백종원 자격증이 있다고 맛있는 음식을 만드는 건 아니다 남극도적백종원 조회 수 186242 추천 수 440 댓글 185 s. 서울연합뉴스 전재훈 기자 백종원 더본코리아 475560 대표가 연이은 논란에 재차 사과문을 냈다. 사시 斜 視, strabismus, squint는 두 눈의 시선이 서로 다른 경우를 말한다. 요리연구가이자 사업가인 백종원 더본코리아 대표가 잘 있다고 직접 근황을 공개했다. 참고로 2023년 5월 31일에는 백종원 유튜브 채널 최초로 게임 플레이 영상 공개를 알리는 예고편이 공개되었다. 성인망가 밤가드

서유하 그룹 농산물품질관리원 서울사무소 특법사법경찰은 13일 백 대표에 대해 원산지표기법 위반 혐의로 형사 입건하고 수사를 개시한 것으로 알려졌다. 아이뉴스24 전다윗 기자 백종원 더본코리아 대표가 원산지 표기법 위반 혐의로 결국 경찰 수사를 받게 됐다. Com › news › read논란 8건에 시총 1000억 날린 백종원 사과 5번도 무소용 한국. 돼지고기를 양념해 얼리는 순간 시제품 완자 맛이 난다는 것이다. 5작은술을 추가하면 포장마차에서 먹던 그 국물맛을 단박에 표현할 수 있으니 참고하시기 바랍니다. 섭외녀 현미 야동

상식개변 프로그램 40화 단독백종원 대표, 국민의힘 장동혁 사무총장 13일 저녁. 단독백종원 대표, 국민의힘 장동혁 사무총장 13일 저녁. 백종원 더본코리아 대표이사가 원산지표기법 위반 혐의로 수사 대상에 올랐다. 최근 외식업계의 큰손, 백종원 대표가 이끄는 주더본코리아의 장터광장 관련 상표 출원이 특허청으로부터 등록 거절 결정을 받았습니다. 27 1521 지금 거물 국회의원들도 n수해서 30세 전후로 합격한 사람이 수두룩한데 24세면 초엘리트 맞음 우병우는 걍 사람이 아닌거고 서간지 2020.

선 코밍 라이 키 Com › view › 1823082원산지 논란 백종원, 결국 형사 입건. 들이 장사를 접는 것은, 사시가 폐지되기 때문이라기 보다는 임대료의 문제라고 해야할 것 아닌가. 유머움짤이슈 유머 인기글 목록 2025. 13일 뉴스1 보도에 따르면 농산물품질관리원 서울사무소 특법사법경찰은 원산지 표기법 위반 혐의를 받는 백 대표를 형사 입건하고 수사를 시작했다. 신임 방송통신위원장 후보자로 지명된 김홍일67 국민권익위원장이 고등학생 시절 백종원 더본코리아 대표의 가정교사를 지냈던 사연이 알려졌다.

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 15, 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 15, 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 15, 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 15, 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 15, 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 15, 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 15, 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 15, 2026. © 2025 Yevhen Titov/AP Photo

자영업자들의 호랑이 멘토로 불리던 백종원 씨가 해외창업에 도전장을 내밀었다., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.

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