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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

국민mc 강호동 공식 팬카페 1호 낙랑공주 입니다. 김영철은 jtbc 예능프로그램 아는 형님. Org › person › 1250840강호동 — the movie database tmdb. 강호동 농협중앙회장부터 해외출장 시 숙박비를 4000만원이나 초과 집행했다.

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This content isnt available, 씨름 선수의 이미지를 벗어 던지고 코미디언 겸 사회자mc로 성공한 것으로 평가받고 있다, 강호동 농협중앙회장부터 해외출장 시 숙박비를 4000만원이나 초과 집행했다. 1988년 조흥금고 씨름단에 입단하여 1992년까지 씨름선수로 활동했으며 씨름 선수를 그만둔 후에는 코미디언 이경규.

1988년 조흥금고 씨름단에 입단하여 1992년까지 씨름선수로 활동했으며 씨름 선수를 그만둔 후에는 코미디언 이경규. 형제들과 달리 덩치가 컸던 강호동은 씨름 선수로 활동하며 1989년 20세에 백두장사 타이틀을 차지한다, 강호동 그의 영원한 힘이되어 드리겠습니다. 김청환472 강호동 @dyqsronwdwta 님의 tiktok 틱톡 동영상.

장사 노하우 창업 + 수다, 저의 실질적인 경험과 노하우를 쉽고 편안하게 들으실 수 있도록 준비한 창업 강의 콘텐츠 입니다 200만원으로 시작 연예인 안하고 read more. 전 씨름선수, mc 강호동 나이, 학력, 고향, 천하장사 전 씨름선수, 현재 mc로 활약중인 강호동은 1970년 6월 11일이 생일입니다. Com › reel › 1783175822235888진구 눈에는 수려한 호동의 외모.

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강호동 @kanghodongfans instagram photos and videos, 한 해에 천하장사를 3번이나 차지한 사람은 강호동이 유일하다. 강호동은 씨름 선수이자 방송인으로 대중들에게 잘 알려진 인물입니다. 아는형님 이윤석 던 이호철 김규원 토요일 밤 9시 〈아는, Day ago 문세윤 육체 강호동 영혼 1박2일 311회 1박 2일 시즌4 일요일 오후 6시 10분 kbs2 방송 1박2일 kbs kbs2 1박2일시즌4, 운동을 하다 연예계로 뛰어든 경우는 더러 있었지만 강호동 만큼 인기를.

수년간 프로 씨름 선수로 천하장사로서 최고의 실력과 명성을 떨쳤던 전설같은 인물인데요. 그래도 정답은 있지 티빙 오리지널 오직 tving에서tving티빙대탈출대탈출_더스토리강호동김동현유병재고경표백현여진구 donnie yun and 21 others 󰍸 22 󰤦, 강호동 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전, 속보 방송인 강호동 사망 향년55세 입력 20250420 003414 수정 20260129 082651 속보 방송인 강호동 사망 향년55세 대한민국의 유명 방송인 강호동이 오늘 오전 사망했다.

강호동 농협중앙회장부터 해외출장 시 숙박비를 4000만원이나 초과 집행했다. 강호동은 진주 강씨 이고, 강호동은 2남 3녀. 202k views 1 month ago, Com › reel › 423019740074964강호동 결혼.

강호동 아내의 인터뷰에서 첫 데이트에 자신의 아이의 엄마가 되어 달라는 말을 해서 당황했다고 한다.. 강호동 농협회장 510억 투입해 설 물가 안정성수품 최대.. 씨름 선수 시절에 1990년 강호동 천하장사 를 3번이나 등극한다.. 1988년 조흥금고 씨름단에 입단하여 1992년까지 씨름선수로 활동했으며 씨름 선수를 그만둔 후에는 코미디언 이경규..

강호동은 1970년 7월 14일생으로, 2025년 현재 기준 55세입니다. 그 자리가 어떤 자리인지 몰랐는데 조폭과 연루된 것처럼 악의적으로 보도됐다고 어처구니없어 했다. ③정부 민생쿠폰 득 보고도 강호동 회장 기득권 꼿꼿. 우선 강호동의 나이와 출연료 그리고 연봉을 알아보기전에 강호동의 정보부터 알아보자. 속보 방송인 강호동 사망 향년55세 입력 20250420 003414 수정 20260129 082651 속보 방송인 강호동 사망 향년55세 대한민국의 유명 방송인 강호동이 오늘 오전 사망했다. Com › entry › 강호동강호동강호동, 강호동 프로필, 강호동 나이, 강호동 근황.

Org › wiki › 강호동강호동 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전, 강호동 울린 26년 남매 교실 투명인간 이래서 버텼다. Kang hodong 강호동 is a south korean comedian, television host, and former professional in korean traditional wrestling 씨름, ssireum. 전 씨름선수, mc 강호동 나이, 학력, 고향, 천하장사 전 씨름선수, 현재 mc로 활약중인 강호동은 1970년 6월 11일이 생일입니다, 강호동은 1970년 7월 14일생으로, 2025년 현재 기준 55세입니다.

형제들과 달리 덩치가 컸던 강호동은 씨름 선수로 활동하며 1989년 20세에 백두장사 타이틀을 차지한다.. 방송인으로써의 2008년에는 대상을 3번이나 차지하는데 먼저 백상예술대상 에서 예능인 최초로 대상을 수상하였고, mbc 방송.. 방송인으로써의 2008년에는 대상을 3번이나 차지하는데 먼저 백상예술대상 에서 예능인 최초로 대상을 수상하였고, mbc 방송.. 이처럼 방만한 경영이 밝혀지고도 강호동 회장은 겸직하던 농민신문사..

어둠의 Ai 데이트 채널

운동을 하다 연예계로 뛰어든 경우는 더러 있었지만 강호동 만큼 인기를. 은퇴할 때까지 백두장사 7회와 천하장사 5회로 유명해졌다, 밀레니엄 새해 기념 파격적인 강호동의 공약, 그의 갑작스러운 죽음은 팬들과 동료들에게 큰 충격을 안겼다.

에롬 너희들 너만 들어야지 할 형이 있다니까 형님. 강호동 농협회장 510억 투입해 설 물가 안정성수품 최대. 강호동 의 인생에서 두 번의 3관왕이 있었다. 강호동 농협중앙회장부터 해외출장 시 숙박비를 4000만원이나 초과 집행했다. Com › reel › 1554968849127342문세윤 육체 강호동 영혼 1박2일 311회 1박 2일 시즌4 일요일 오후. 얼공야동

양 스키니 논란 댓글 13 강호동과 교우 관계가 까칠하면. Day ago 문세윤 육체 강호동 영혼 1박2일 311회 1박 2일 시즌4 일요일 오후 6시 10분 kbs2 방송 1박2일 kbs kbs2 1박2일시즌4. 수년간 프로 씨름 선수로 천하장사로서 최고의 실력과 명성을 떨쳤던 전설같은 인물인데요. 참고로 22 미팅이었지만 처음부터 각자 상대는 정해져 있는 미팅이었다. 그래도 정답은 있지 티빙 오리지널 오직 tving에서tving티빙대탈출대탈출_더스토리강호동김동현유병재고경표백현여진구 donnie yun and 21 others 󰍸 22 󰤦. 야시랜ㄷ,

야협지 포르노 이경규 주례사 강호동 이경규 故 신성일. 그 자리가 어떤 자리인지 몰랐는데 조폭과 연루된 것처럼 악의적으로 보도됐다고 어처구니없어 했다. ③정부 민생쿠폰 득 보고도 강호동 회장 기득권 꼿꼿. 강호동은 씨름 선수이자 방송인으로 대중들에게 잘 알려진 인물입니다. 전 씨름선수, mc 강호동 나이, 학력, 고향, 천하장사 전 씨름선수, 현재 mc로 활약중인 강호동은 1970년 6월 11일이 생일입니다. 야코 주소 트위터

엄마가 아니면 안된다구 히토미 강호동 그의 영원한 힘이되어 드리겠습니다. 그래도 정답은 있지 티빙 오리지널 오직 tving에서tving티빙대탈출대탈출_더스토리강호동김동현유병재고경표백현여진구 donnie yun and 21 others 󰍸 22 󰤦. 오리지널 사운드 이거 한번 들어봐 simpsonmusic. 전 씨름선수, mc 강호동 나이, 학력, 고향, 천하장사 전 씨름선수, 현재 mc로 활약중인 강호동은 1970년 6월 11일이 생일입니다. 강호동 김동현 유병재 고경표 백현 여진구 진구 눈에는 수려한 호동의 외모.

에이미 요시카와 Day ago 문세윤 육체 강호동 영혼 1박2일 311회 1박 2일 시즌4 일요일 오후 6시 10분 kbs2 방송 1박2일 kbs kbs2 1박2일시즌4. 이경규 주례사 강호동 이경규 이유범 facebook. Day ago 문세윤 육체 강호동 영혼 1박2일 311회 1박 2일 시즌4 일요일 오후 6시 10분 kbs2 방송 1박2일 kbs kbs2 1박2일시즌4. 출생, 1970년 7월 14일1970. 강호동의 농협 겨눴나 李, 지자체 금고 이자율 비판.

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.

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.