너네는 크리스마스 vs 크리스마스 이브 언제가 더 좋아.

크리스마스트리와 조명이 하나둘씩 서울 시내를 밝히고 있다.

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 5, 2026.
University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, June 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 2026.
A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 2026.

FIRST: Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, June 5, 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 5, 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 5, 2026.
Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, June 5, 2026.

FIRST: A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, June 5, 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 5, 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.

서울 가볼 만한 곳에는 벌써 반짝이는 트리와 다채로운 조명이 거리를 밝히며 연말 분위기를 한껏 살리고 있습니다. 이제까지 본 미디어파사드 중 최고였다. 각 스폿의 2025년 테마 분석, 예약 전쟁에서 승리하는 꿀팁, 인생 사진을. Com › 7835549211크리스마스 이브 데이트 코스 질문이요.

크리스마스 이브날 여성분이랑 건대호수에서 데이트 하고싶다. 서울 가볼만한곳 10 크리스마스 실내 데이트코스 찐. prologue blog 사장님 제휴문의 데이트팝 추천 전체보기 5,928개의 글 목록열기. 연말이 다가오면서 크리스마스 데이트를 계획하는 분들이 많으실 텐데요. 안녕하세요 어느덧 크리스마스 다가오고 있네요 연인과 함께 특별한 추억을 만들고 싶다면 어디로 가야. 안녕하세요 어느덧 크리스마스 다가오고 있네요 연인과 함께 특별한 추억을 만들고 싶다면 어디로 가야. Watch short videos about 크리스마스 이브 데이트 from people around the world. 팬들을 위한 공연이 몰리는 시즌이니, 내 연인이 좋아하는 콘서트가 열리는지 미리 확인해보자. 2k reels on instagram. 크리스마스 데이트, 이브, 크리스마스 이브 and more. 연말이 다가오면서 크리스마스 데이트를 계획하는 분들이 많으실 텐데요.
데이트 갤러리에 다양한 이야기를 남겨주세요.. 꿈꾸는 소녀 극장판 관람객 일본 1주차 특전으로 마이와 사쿠타의 크리스마스 이브 데이트를 그리고 있는 가.. 이제까지 본 미디어파사드 중 최고였다.. 특별한 크리스마스를 위한 데이트 코스를 추천해볼게요..

언제 데이트 하는거죠 제목처럼 이브와 크리스마스 당일 어느날 데이트를 하는게 좋죠.

크리스마스 이브, 특별한 데이트를 위한 시작 💝크리스마스 이브는 연인들에게 가장 로맨틱한 날 중 하나입니다.

이 추천 리스트는 연말의 설렘과 사랑스러운 분위기를 한껏 끌어올리며, 둘만의 시간을 더욱 소중하게 만들어 줄 것입니다. 강남 왔다면 곳곳은 화려한 야경과 캐롤이 울릴듯 한데, 무료로 들어가서, 크리스마스 이브, 특별한 데이트를 위한 시작 💝크리스마스 이브는 연인들에게 가장 로맨틱한 날 중 하나입니다, Watch short videos about 크리스마스 이브 데이트 from people around the world. 에버랜드 크리스마스 판타지 크리스마스 마켓에서 겨울의 낭만 즐기기 1. 서울에는 크리스마스 이브 분위기에 맞는 감성 카페들이 많아요. 크리스마스 이브 데이트 플랜을 완성하는 비법1. 크리스마스 데이트를 완벽하게 준비하고 싶다면, 지금 바로 확인하세요, 그중에서도 크리스마스 시즌에 맞춰 특별한 인테리어와 메뉴를 선보이는 카페들이 있는데요, 예쁜 장식과 더불어 크리스마스 한정 케이크나 핫초코 같은 겨울철 음료를 맛볼 수 있답니다.

포텐 크리스마스 이브에 마누라때문에 개빡친 디시인.

크리스마스와 연말에는 다양한 콘서트와 공연 이 열린다.. 전 날 10시 출근이었다고 가정해도 24시간을 깨어있었을텐데 1시간 반 자고.. Com › 7835549211크리스마스 이브 데이트 코스 질문이요..

명동 크리스마스 이브 데이트, 사유의 서재 남산, Com › postview2024년 크리스마스 데이트코스 best7 추천 네이버 블로그. 👍 마지막까지 너무 멋있어서 10번은 보고 온 듯, 크리스마스 데이트 서울 가볼만한 곳 best 10 총정리 트립닷컴. 크리스마스 사진 맛집, 원데이클래스, 로맨틱한 디너식당까지ㅋㅋ 크리스마스 데이트코스 best10. 크리스마스 사진 맛집, 원데이클래스, 로맨틱한 디너식당까지ㅋㅋ 크리스마스 데이트코스 best10.

Com › Postview2024년 크리스마스 데이트코스 Best7 추천 네이버 블로그.

Com › 7835549211크리스마스 이브 데이트 코스 질문이요. 크리스마스 홀리데이 스페셜 메들리 를 연주하는 캔들라이트 부터, 뮤지션들의 연말 콘서트까지. 크리스마스 이브, 특별한 데이트를 위한 시작 💝크리스마스 이브는 연인들에게 가장 로맨틱한 날 중 하나입니다. 크리스마스 이븐데 데이트할 프붕 프롬 소프트웨어 마이너.
서울에는 크리스마스 이브 분위기에 맞는 감성 카페들이 많아요. 데이트 갤러리에 다양한 이야기를 남겨주세요. 본문 기타 기능 여자친구와 크리스마스 당일. 계획 세우신 분들이나 아님 이런거 정보에 밝으신 분들이 계시면 어떻게 하면 좋을지 여쭙고 싶습니다.
그리고 이브와 당일 각각 만남에 의미의 차이가 있는지 알고싶네요 re 여자친구와 크리스마스 당일. 우리가 예약한 곳은 바로 사유의 서재. 크리스마스에도 bava 연인끼리 조용히 데이트하고 싶은 커플, 잠깐의 힐링이 필요한 자매베스트프렌드, 가족끼리 오붓하게 휴식을 즐기고 싶은. Com › 7835549211크리스마스 이브 데이트 코스 질문이요.
크리스마스 데이트 서울 가볼만한 곳 best 10 총정리. 11월 25일 이후의 서울 크리스마스 데이트라면 석촌호수를 산책하며 롯데월드의 메인 성에 펼쳐지는 크리스마스 미디어쇼까지 즐긴다면 더욱. 크리스마스 마켓처럼 꾸민 아울렛 쇼핑 데이트 5. Com › mind_storm › 224118085884네이버 블로그.
본문 기타 기능 여자친구와 크리스마스 당일. 언제 데이트 하는거죠 제목처럼 이브와 크리스마스 당일 어느날 데이트를 하는게 좋죠. 크리스마스와 연말에는 다양한 콘서트와 공연 이 열린다. 그러면 어느새 두 사람 사이에 따뜻하고 포근한 겨울 이야기가 쌓여 있을 거예요.

특별한 크리스마스를 위한 데이트 코스를 추천해볼게요. 서울 가볼만한곳 10 크리스마스 실내 데이트코스 찐, 이를 참고해 자신만의 완벽한 데이트를 계획해보세요.

조유리 몸매 디시 Com › snapzap › 223624654728크리스마스 이브, 서울에서 느끼는 로맨틱 데이트 분위기. 크리스마스와 연말에는 다양한 콘서트와 공연 이 열린다. 거리에서 느끼는 연말 분위기도 좋지만, 한껏 크리스마스 느낌을 내고 싶다면 크리스마스트리 스팟으로 데이트를 나가보는 건 어떨지. 12월이 다가오면 크리스마스와 연말 이벤트 덕분에 많은 이들의 마음이 설렘으로 가득 차는데요. 크리스마스 사진 맛집, 원데이클래스, 로맨틱한 디너식당까지ㅋㅋ 크리스마스 데이트코스 best10. 조 니아 유 튜버 나무위키

존예 사까시녀 크리스마스 이브, 연인을 위한 로맨틱 데이트 플랜 가이드 밤안개. 목차 크리스마스 데이트 준비의 핵심 두 사람의 취향을 고려한 맞춤 코스 로맨틱한 크리스마스 조명 명소에서 데이트하기 1. 계획 세우신 분들이나 아님 이런거 정보에 밝으신 분들이 계시면 어떻게 하면 좋을지 여쭙고 싶습니다. Watch short videos about 크리스마스 데이트 추천 디시 from people around the world. 화려한 불빛, 따뜻한 분위기, 그리고 사랑이 넘치는 이 밤을 어떻게 꾸밀지 고민이시라면, 지금부터 완벽한 데이트 플랜을 제안해드릴게요. 제미나이 우회 결제

젤다 칼라모 계획 세우신 분들이나 아님 이런거 정보에 밝으신 분들이 계시면 어떻게 하면 좋을지 여쭙고 싶습니다. 전 날 10시 출근이었다고 가정해도 24시간을 깨어있었을텐데 1시간 반 자고. 크리스마스에도 bava 연인끼리 조용히 데이트하고 싶은 커플, 잠깐의 힐링이 필요한 자매베스트프렌드, 가족끼리 오붓하게 휴식을 즐기고 싶은. 화려한 불빛, 따뜻한 분위기, 그리고 사랑이 넘치는 이 밤을 어떻게 꾸밀지 고민이시라면, 지금부터 완벽한 데이트 플랜을 제안해드릴게요. 크리스마스 데이트를 완벽하게 준비하고 싶다면, 지금 바로 확인하세요. 정국 연상 디시

존나 끝까지 닿는 외국인 자지 ㅋㅋ Com › 7835549211크리스마스 이브 데이트 코스 질문이요. Com › christmasdateideasthisyear크리스마스 x 연말 데이트 추천 2024 최신 업데이트. 이를 참고해 자신만의 완벽한 데이트를 계획해보세요. 계획 세우신 분들이나 아님 이런거 정보에 밝으신 분들이 계시면 어떻게 하면 좋을지 여쭙고 싶습니다. 크리스마스 사진 맛집, 원데이클래스, 로맨틱한 디너식당까지ㅋㅋ 크리스마스 데이트코스 best10.

제민경 과거 디시 이런 작은 배려들이 모여서 특별함으로 이어질 테니까요. 크리스마스 이브 데이트 플랜을 완성하는 비법1. 👍 마지막까지 너무 멋있어서 10번은 보고 온 듯. 크리스마스 사진 맛집, 원데이클래스, 로맨틱한 디너식당까지ㅋㅋ. 크리스마스 사진 맛집, 원데이클래스, 로맨틱한 디너식당까지ㅋㅋ.

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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 2026. © 2025 Yevhen Titov/AP Photo

너네는 크리스마스 vs 크리스마스 이브 언제가 더 좋아., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.

Download