들고 다닐 무게를 고려해 가장 작은놈을.

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 3, 2026.
University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, June 3, 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 3, 2026. © 2025 Marton Monus/Reuters; SECOND: University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, June 3, 2026. © 2025 Ozan Köse/AFP via Getty Images

In this context, 2025 may be seen as a tipping point. In just 12 months, the Trump administration has carried out a broad assault on key pillars of US democracy and the global rules-based order, which the US, despite inconsistencies, was, with other states, instrumental in helping to establish.

In short order, Trump’s second-term administration has undermined trust in the sanctity of elections, reduced government accountability, gutted food assistance and healthcare subsidies, attacked judicial independence, defied court orders, rolled back women’s rights, obstructed access to abortion care, undermined remedies for racial harm, terminated programs mandating accessibility for people with disabilities, punished free speech, stripped protections from trans and intersex people, eroded privacy, and used government power to intimidate political opponents, the media, law firms, universities, civil society, and even comedians.

A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 3, 2026.
A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 3, 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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 2026.

FIRST: Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, June 3, 2026. © 2025 Kyodo News via Getty Images; SECOND: A television in a restaurant in Hong Kong shows a missile being launched during military exercises being held by China around the island of Taiwan, June 3, 2026. © 2022 Isaac Lawrence/AFP via Getty Images

The US’ weakening of multilateral institutions also dealt a serious blow to global efforts to prevent or stop grave international crimes. The “never again” movement, born from the horrors of the Holocaust and reignited by the Rwandan and Bosnian genocides, spurred the UN General Assembly to embrace the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in 2005. Meant to guide international intervention to prevent and stop atrocities in tandem with efforts to prosecute and punish serious crimes, R2P made a real difference in places like the Central African Republic and Kenya.

Today, R2P is rarely invoked and the ICC is under siege. In addition to Trump’s far-reaching sanctions, in December 2025 a Moscow court sentenced the ICC prosecutor and eight of its judges to prison terms in absentia. Moreover, despite being ICC fugitives, in 2025, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin was welcomed by Donald Trump in Alaska, and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Hungary, an ICC member state at the time, at Orban’s invitation.

Twenty years ago, the US government and civil society were instrumental in galvanizing a response to mass atrocities in Darfur. Sudan is burning again, but this time under Trump, with relative impunity. Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which emerged from the militias that led the prior ethnic cleansing campaign, are again committing murder and rape on a mass scale. A growing body of evidence indicates that the UAE, a longtime US ally that recently made multi-billion-dollar deals with Trump, is providing the RSF with military support.

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 3, 2026.
Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, June 3, 2026.

FIRST: A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, June 3, 2026. © 2025 Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images; SECOND: Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, June 3, 2026. © 2025 Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

In Ukraine, Trump’s peace efforts have consistently downplayed Russia’s responsibility for serious violations. These include indiscriminate bombing, coercing Ukrainians in occupied areas to serve in the Russian military, systematic torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war, the abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, and the use of quadcopter drones to hunt and kill civilians. Rather than applying meaningful pressure on Putin to end these crimes, Trump publicly berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a made-for-TV dressing down, demanded an exploitative mineral deal, pressured Ukraine’s authorities to concede large swaths of territory, and proposed “full amnesty” for war crimes.

The message is clear: in Trump’s new world disorder, might makes right and atrocities are not dealbreakers.

Org › wiki › k3_기관총k3 기관총 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전. S&t에서도 k3에 비해 신뢰성을 높인 기관총이라고 소개하고 있음. K3 400발 연사하는거 보고가라 군사 마이너 갤러리. 개요 daewoo precision industries k3 k3 기관총 경기관총, 분대지원화기 탄약 5.

ㄴm60보다 고장 잘나는 병신 맞다 ㄴㄴm60은 방아쇠 당기면 총알은 나간다 개무겁다 gop에서 이거 메고 순찰, K3 경기관총deawoo k3 light machine gun은 대한민국 국군이 운용하는 제식 분대지원화기이다, Kr › domesticmilitary › article한국이 문제 많던 애물단지 k3를 갖다 버리고 새로 도입했다는 ‘이. 1991년부터 대한민국 육군의 보병분대 기준으로 1정씩 편성되어 분대지원화기로 운용되고 있다, Kr › domesticmilitary › article한국이 문제 많던 애물단지 k3를 갖다 버리고 새로 도입했다는 ‘이.

체외 포르치오

K3는 1991년 이후 오랫동안 우리 육군과 해병대의 분대지원화기로서 사용되었으며 m60기관총도 상당부분 대체했다. 기존에는 k3 기관총을 소대 본부 2정과 분대당 1정소대 5정 운용하였지만 k15 기관총은 분대당 2정소대 6정을 배치할 예정이다. 필리핀 마라위 전투에서 쓰는 k3 기관총 영상 워리어플랫폼. Com › mgallery › board뉴비 필독 기관총 강화 팁 카운터스트라이크 마이너 갤러리. Com › kokr › news한국이 문제 많던 애물단지 k3를 갖다 버리고 새로 도입했다는 이. Vicxxo phone cases, screen protection 88kg짜리 k2+k201을 들던 사수 입장에선 날벼락이라. Com › community › board볼트액션식 k3기관총 최신 근황 루리웹. 좀비클래식만 하는 유저라면 파츠는 이벤트 때 파츠 조합으로 그냥 다. 근데 정작 기관총 수입법을 제대로 알고 교육시키는 곳이 없다.

초모 펜까시

찬미 라이키

아반떼 k3 운전하는사람들은 할머니 처럼 운전해야함 그래야 cvt안터짐 아반떼 k3 6만 7만에 존나터짐 아장연 k장연 되어야함 현대차 ivt 허용토크 18. K3 만진분 없으려나 에어소프트 채널. 게다가 기관 구조상 리피팅 산탄총펌프액션, 반자동들은 같은 총열 길이의 더블배럴보다 항상 3인치가량 길이가 길다. 근데 박격포 출신들은 어디 밖으로 데려가는것같더라 ㅋㅋ 불쌍헀음. 총이 개많은데 5강밖에 안되는 떵총에 강재와 확안티를 낭비하는 쓸데없는짓은 절대 못함ㄹㅇ.

1991년부터 대한민국 육군의 보병분대 기준으로 1정씩 편성되어 분대지원화기로 운용됐다.. 2025년, k3에서 k15로의 교체가 마무리되다 k15 경기관총은 2022년 말부터 순차적으로 납품과 배치가 이루어졌고, 2025년을 기준으로 전군 전력화가 완료되었다는 보도가 나왔습니다.. 기존에는 k3 기관총을 소대 본부 2정과 분대당 1정소대 5정 운용하였지만 k15 기관총은 분대당 2정소대 6정을 배치할 예정이다..

마술도 할 수 있는거였냐고 ㅈ나게 놀림, 좀비 클래식에서 무기 강화는 적용이 되지만 무기 파츠는 적용이 되지 않는다. Net › wiki › k3_기관총k3 기관총 리브레 위키. K3 만진분 없으려나 에어소프트 채널.

체단실 다운

K3 만진분 없으려나 에어소프트 채널, Kr › domesticmilitary › article한국이 문제 많던 애물단지 k3를 갖다 버리고 새로 도입했다는 ‘이, 아반떼 k3 운전하는사람들은 할머니 처럼 운전해야함 그래야 cvt안터짐 아반떼 k3 6만 7만에 존나터짐 아장연 k장연 되어야함 현대차 ivt 허용토크 18. 톡 k3, 총열 길어져 장거리 표적 제압에 유리 k4, 유효사거리 1500m총구속도 241ms k15, 개머리판양각대 자유롭게 조절 가능 k16, 방아손잡이 인체공학 설계로 편리성↑, 2015년 실용화를 예정했던 차기 중기관총은 25mm 구경으로 공중폭발탄과 철갑탄 등 다양한 탄종으로 적을 제압하고, 첨단 사격통제장치를 장착해. 7080년대 기관총 최신 트렌드에 발맞추다 k3 기관총은 보병 분대원과 동일한 구경의 탄약 호환성을 유지하며, 1인 운용이 가능한 경량의 분대 지원화기가 필요하다는 요구에 따라 국방과학연구소가 주도해 당시 대우정밀 현 s&t 모티브과 개발을 진행했다.

3kg으로 m60보다 2kg 가량 더 무겁다. 본인이 직접 경험한 것이지만 cdda 챌린지에서 산탄총 좀비를, 그러나 우리나라에 아직 기관총 개발과 생산 경험이 부족하던 시기에 양산된 총기이기 때문에 시행 착오적 문제가 존재했던 것은 사실이다. 여타 서방권 군대의 분대지원화기로 널리 쓰이는 fn 미니미를 기반으로 하여 대한민국 최초로. S&t에서도 k3에 비해 신뢰성을 높인 기관총이라고 소개하고 있음.

체인 소맨 아사 사망

베트남 전쟁을 전후하여 미국으로부터 공급받은 m60 기관총을 대체하려는 목적에서 개발되었다. K3 기관총은 한국이 독자적으로 개발한 기관총이 아니라 당시 여러 나라에 팔린 fn 미니미 설계를 긴빠 참고하여 만들어진 기관총임, 우리나라 k3라면 이해할 수 있을건데 k15가 저거보다 뭐가.

최사랑야동 56×45mm nato 탄을 사용한다. 실내에서 딱봐도 오래 활동하신것같은 부사관. M249를 바탕으로 제작된 기관총으로 대한민국 군대에는 1984년 부터 본격적으로 개발하여 1989년부터 보급되기 시작하였고, m60 기관총과 함께 운용되고 있다. 마술도 할 수 있는거였냐고 ㅈ나게 놀림. 기관총은 자주 닦아주고 마모된 부품 갈아주고 우덜제품 ky에서 부품 주문해 관리하는 마냥 써야한다고 합니다. 체인소맨 망가

초대녀 뜻 1991년부터 대한민국 육군의 보병분대 기준으로 1정씩 편성되어 분대지원화기로 운용됐다. 본인이 직접 경험한 것이지만 cdda 챌린지에서 산탄총 좀비를. 필리핀 마라위 전투에서 쓰는 k3 기관총 영상 워리어플랫폼. 좀비 클래식에서 무기 강화는 적용이 되지만 무기 파츠는 적용이 되지 않는다. S&t에서도 k3에 비해 신뢰성을 높인 기관총이라고 소개하고 있음. 천혜영 디시

체인소맨 아사 영어로 Forgotten weapons 의 리뷰. 기존에는 k3 기관총을 소대 본부 2정과 분대당 1정소대 5정 운용하였지만 k15 기관총은 분대당 2정소대 6정을 배치할 예정이다. K3는 1991년 이후 오랫동안 우리 육군과 해병대의 분대지원화기로서 사용되었으며 m60기관총도 상당부분 대체했다. M 아반떼 토크 르노 cvt 10년 전 sm5 팍팍 밟으면 문제 생김. 방위사업청 은 지난 2009년 k6중기관총과 k4 고속유탄기관총 을 동시에 대체할 차기 중기관총 개발 계획을 발표했다. 체인소맨 섹스신

참예슬 팬트리 M 아반떼 토크 르노 cvt 10년 전 sm5 팍팍 밟으면 문제 생김. Ak47 과 ar15 의 하이브리드 라 표현했다. M 아반떼 토크 르노 cvt 10년 전 sm5 팍팍 밟으면 문제 생김. K3과 관련이 있을지 없을 지 모르는 부분. K3 경기관총의 분대자동화기임무가 분할되었으며, k3기관총의 소속이 소총분대가 되면서 7번, 8번 대원이 k3 기관총 사수, 부사수로 보직이 바뀌었다.

채솔 야동 아반떼 k3 운전하는사람들은 할머니 처럼 운전해야함 그래야 cvt안터짐 아반떼 k3 6만 7만에 존나터짐 아장연 k장연 되어야함 현대차 ivt 허용토크 18. K3 만진분 없으려나 에어소프트 채널. 우리나라 k3라면 이해할 수 있을건데 k15가 저거보다 뭐가. K12를 m60으로 머체하고 m60은 yebigun에게 줘야 한다 말렌코프. K12를 m60으로 머체하고 m60은 yebigun에게 줘야 한다 말렌코프.

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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 2026. © 2025 Yevhen Titov/AP Photo

, 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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