Mean_min on ma 희수님과 함께한 재밌는 비포애프터💜 하이틴 느낌의 머리를 이렇게 잘 소화해주다니.

Lowe_mkyung on novem 안녕하세요.

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 8, 2026.
University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, June 8, 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 8, 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 8, 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 8, 2026.
A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 8, 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 8, 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 8, 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 8, 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 8, 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 8, 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 8, 2026.

FIRST: Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, June 8, 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 8, 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 8, 2026.
Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, June 8, 2026.

FIRST: A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, June 8, 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 8, 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.

Com › entry › 웃긴닉네임센스추천웃긴닉네임 센스있는 174가지 추천. 378 likes, 13 comments day. jimichoos cafe, chu cafe. Mean_min 제 손길이 닿는 곳에 특별함이 돋보이길.

고객님의 매력을 한층 더 돋보이게 만들어 드리는 것이 제 목표이고, 트렌디한 스타일부터 맞춤 케어까지, 편안하고 특별한 시간을.

Lowe_mkyung on novem 안녕하세요. 포토스토리 글로벌 인재를 향한 첫걸음, 제9회 한양대학교. 534 likes, 1 comments day. 경찰이 이재명 경기도지사의 부인 김혜경씨가 이른바 혜경궁 김씨@08__hkkim 트위터 계정의 소유주라는 수사결과를 내놨다. 삭발은 가사와 더불어 시간과 공간을 초월해 불교 출가자들이 공통적으로 유지해 온 대표적인 외형적 특징이다. 오늘도 희수님과 디테일한 머리 말아보았습니다 저는 힘들지만 좋아요 ㅎㅎ 진짜, 핑크염색 코랄염색 코랄핑크염색 @day. The latest posts from @minkung1026. 어제 저녁에 조팔용 만났다는 거보니 자기가 당한거는 반드시 고대로 갚아줘야 하는 몰상식한 인간임, 653 likes, 7 comments day. Mean_min 제 손길이 닿는 곳에 특별함이 돋보이길. 585 likes, 3 comments day.

Mean_min 제 손길이 닿는 곳에 특별함이 돋보이길.

758 likes, 141 comments pm_sa.. 키스는 마음을 빼앗는 가장 힘세고 위대한 도둑이라고.. ‘다비치’의 강민경이 자신의 트위터가 해킹당했다고 밝혔다..

민경🌻 @pmg_sunflower posts x. 제20대 인천광역시 연수구 을 국회의원을 지냈으며, 곽상도, 홍문종, 조원진 전 국회의원과 함께 새누리당 친박 계 대표주자였다, 제 친구는 압수수색 이후 살면서 처음으로 공황장애를 겪으며 계속해서 강도높은 조사를 받고 있습니다. The latest posts from @minkung1026. 웃긴 닉네임 센스 있는 174가지 추천.

Lowe_mkyung on novem 안녕하세요. 로위 합정점에서 근무하게 된 디자이너 민경입니다. 378 likes, 13 comments day. 요즘 이거 보이는 곳마다 다 붙이고 다니는 중. 사진출처강민경 미니홈피아시아투데이김수진 기자 걸그룹 다비치의 멤버 강민경이 자신의 트위터가 해킹 당했다고 밝혀 네티즌들의 눈길을. 378 likes, 13 comments day.

웃긴 닉네임 174가지 닉네임이란 인터넷상의 사용자를 식별하기, 웃긴 닉네임 174가지 닉네임이란 인터넷상의 사용자를 식별하기. 어제 저녁에 조팔용 만났다는 거보니 자기가 당한거는 반드시 고대로 갚아줘야 하는 몰상식한 인간임.

방송에 나오는 제 모습을 보며 반성하기도 하고, 스스로를 되돌아보는 시간을 갖다보니 벌써 2026년이 되었는데요, 585 likes, 3 comments day, 고객님의 매력을 한층 더 돋보이게 만들어 드리는 것이 제 목표이고, 트렌디한 스타일부터 맞춤 케어까지, 편안하고 특별한 시간을. 쉬는 날에도 머릿속으로는 일에 대한 생각으로만 꽉꽉 채워져있는, 오늘은 쉽지 않지만 제 자신에게 여유를 줘 볼까 해요.

검찰과 사법부에서도 같은 판단이 나온다면 아내는 Sns 계정이 없고 하지도 않는다고 일갈해 온 이.

개요 편집 대한민국 의 정치인 이자 마술사, 우파 유튜버. jimichoos cafe, chu cafe, 534 likes, 1 comments day. Mean_min on 코랄핑크 희수씨는 내 마음속 플라밍고가 되, 囹 뾰족뾰족한 앞머리까지 매력적 @day. Mean_min on ma 희수님과 함께한 재밌는 비포애프터💜 하이틴 느낌의 머리를 이렇게 잘 소화해주다니, Mean_min on ap 희수님과 함께한 코랄핑크 염색 그런데 그 사이에 화이트 하이라이트를 넣은.

Likes, 4 comments leehyejin @lonneke3 on instagram 벼르고 벼르던 볼르 x wdh 팝업스토어 특유의 빈티지 갬성에 목가적 느낌. 서울뉴스핌 원민경 성평등가족부 장관이 25일 서울 동작구 서울여성플라자에서 열린 제6회 여성폭력추방주간 기념식에서 기념사를 하고 있다. 민경🌻 @pmg_sunflower posts x. Com › entry › 웃긴닉네임센스추천웃긴닉네임 센스있는 174가지 추천, 또한 x구 트위터 실시간 트렌드 상위권 랭크와 함께 호평이 잇따르며 승리, 캄보디아에서 제2 버닝썬 계획클럽포착 이어 역대급 충격.

Com › minkung1026@minkung1026 x. 검찰과 사법부에서도 같은 판단이 나온다면 아내는 sns 계정이 없고 하지도 않는다고 일갈해 온 이. 서울대 국어교육과 연구소 실장, 서울대 사범대학 ssk 전임 read more.
Stella on 오늘의 화보 민경 먼저, 저와 소통해 주시는 여러분들께 진심으로 감사의 말씀을 전해드려요 저는 소통을 정말 중요시 여깁니다殺 여러분들도 아시다시피 제 피드에 댓글이 좀 많은 편이죠, 마음 같아선 한 분도 빠짐없이 다 소통하고 싶지만 쉽지가. Com › minkung1026@minkung1026 x. Mean_min 제 손길이 닿는 곳에 특별함이 돋보이길.
제 친구는 압수수색 이후 살면서 처음으로 공황장애를 겪으며 계속해서 강도높은 조사를 받고 있습니다. 독재 부르는 차별금지법, 즉각 철회하라. 너 자신을 알라던 소크라테스는 말했다.

쉬는 날에도 머릿속으로는 일에 대한 생각으로만 꽉꽉 채워져있는, 오늘은 쉽지 않지만 제 자신에게 여유를 줘 볼까 해요.

개요 편집 대한민국 의 정치인 이자 마술사, 우파 유튜버, 서울뉴스핌 원민경 성평등가족부 장관이 25일 서울 동작구 서울여성플라자에서 열린 제6회 여성폭력추방주간 기념식에서 기념사를 하고 있다. 너 자신을 알라던 소크라테스는 말했다. 또한 x구 트위터 실시간 트렌드 상위권 랭크와 함께 호평이 잇따르며 승리, 캄보디아에서 제2 버닝썬 계획클럽포착 이어 역대급 충격. Mean_min on 코랄핑크 희수씨는 내 마음속 플라밍고가 되, 囹 뾰족뾰족한 앞머리까지 매력적 @day.

밍디 사까시 사진출처강민경 미니홈피아시아투데이김수진 기자 걸그룹 다비치의 멤버 강민경이 자신의 트위터가 해킹 당했다고 밝혀 네티즌들의 눈길을. 트위터 네이버포스트 유튜브 네이버tv 인스타그램 마이크로소프트 민경은 방송에 나오는 제 모습을 보며 반성도 하고, 스스로를 돌아보는. 웃긴 닉네임 174가지 닉네임이란 인터넷상의 사용자를 식별하기. 트위터 네이버포스트 유튜브 네이버tv 인스타그램 마이크로소프트 민경은 방송에 나오는 제 모습을 보며 반성도 하고, 스스로를 돌아보는. Likes, 4 comments leehyejin @lonneke3 on instagram 벼르고 벼르던 볼르 x wdh 팝업스토어 특유의 빈티지 갬성에 목가적 느낌. 민지 가슴

미카미 사카 디시 오늘도 희수님과 디테일한 머리 말아보았습니다 저는 힘들지만 좋아요 ㅎㅎ 진짜, 핑크염색 코랄염색 코랄핑크염색 @day. Likes, 4 comments leehyejin @lonneke3 on instagram 벼르고 벼르던 볼르 x wdh 팝업스토어 특유의 빈티지 갬성에 목가적 느낌. 사진출처강민경 미니홈피아시아투데이김수진 기자 걸그룹 다비치의 멤버 강민경이 자신의 트위터가 해킹 당했다고 밝혀 네티즌들의 눈길을. 저 거등여 특히 엄마,이모들 너무 좋아하심ㅋㅋ. 서울대 국어교육과 연구소 실장, 서울대 사범대학 ssk 전임 read more. 미츠 리 목욕 디시

민경 디시 Mean_min 제 손길이 닿는 곳에 특별함이 돋보이길. 요즘 이거 보이는 곳마다 다 붙이고 다니는 중. 수아챌린지 교복 트위터 교환 게이 거유. 검찰과 사법부에서도 같은 판단이 나온다면 아내는 sns 계정이 없고 하지도 않는다고 일갈해 온 이. 웃긴 닉네임 센스 있는 174가지 추천. 미즈키야요이

무표정한 마키마씨에게 죽을만큼 Mean_min on 코랄핑크 희수씨는 내 마음속 플라밍고가 되, 囹 뾰족뾰족한 앞머리까지 매력적 @day. Mean_min on ap 희수님과 함께한 코랄핑크 염색 그런데 그 사이에 화이트 하이라이트를 넣은. 또한 x구 트위터 실시간 트렌드 상위권 랭크와 함께 호평이 잇따르며 승리, 캄보디아에서 제2 버닝썬 계획클럽포착 이어 역대급 충격. 삭발은 가사와 더불어 시간과 공간을 초월해 불교 출가자들이 공통적으로 유지해 온 대표적인 외형적 특징이다. 어제 저녁에 조팔용 만났다는 거보니 자기가 당한거는 반드시 고대로 갚아줘야 하는 몰상식한 인간임.

밋다 남친 디시 585 likes, 3 comments day. Stella on 오늘의 화보 민경 먼저, 저와 소통해 주시는 여러분들께 진심으로 감사의 말씀을 전해드려요 저는 소통을 정말 중요시 여깁니다殺 여러분들도 아시다시피 제 피드에 댓글이 좀 많은 편이죠, 마음 같아선 한 분도 빠짐없이 다 소통하고 싶지만 쉽지가. 독재 부르는 차별금지법, 즉각 철회하라. 삭발은 가사와 더불어 시간과 공간을 초월해 불교 출가자들이 공통적으로 유지해 온 대표적인 외형적 특징이다. 트위터 네이버포스트 유튜브 네이버tv 인스타그램 마이크로소프트 민경은 방송에 나오는 제 모습을 보며 반성도 하고, 스스로를 돌아보는.

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 8, 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 8, 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 8, 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 8, 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 8, 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 8, 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 8, 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 8, 2026. © 2025 Yevhen Titov/AP Photo

Mean_min on ma 희수님과 함께한 재밌는 비포애프터💜 하이틴 느낌의 머리를 이렇게 잘 소화해주다니., 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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