경북 경주 한 놀이공원에서 운용중이던 놀이기구가 부품결함으로 추락하는 사고가 발생했다.

Gyeongju world amusement park ride crashes, leaving 22.

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.

경북 경주의 놀이공원에서 10여명을 태운 놀이기구가 갑자기 추락하는 사고가 발생한 가운데, 다친 사람은 없는 것으로 전해졌다. Com › board › view장문 경주월드 토네이도 호불호 갈리게 된 이유 설명. 17일 경주경찰서에 따르면 지난 16일 오후 3시 40분쯤 경주 보문관광단지 내 경주루지월드에서 a양이 타고 있던 루지가 가드레일을 들이받았다. 특히 규모가 큰 놀이공원일수록 사고가 화제 되고는 하는데요 이번에는 경주월드 사고가 많이 보이더라고요.

놀갤러들이 경주월드 사고에 예민한 이유.. Video 태그를 지원하지 않는 브라우저입니다..

경북 경주루지월드에서 놀이기구를 타다 숨진 A양7세이 사고 당시 어른이 아닌 13세 청소년과 동반 탑승한 것으로 알려져 논란이다.

경북 경주 루지월드 7살 여자아이가 루지를 타다가 숨지는 사고가 발생했다.

2년뒤 또 타보고 원래 그런기구라는걸 알게됨 3. 다행히 다친 승객은 없었지만, 구조가 이뤄질 때까지 약 20분이 걸린 것으로 알려졌다. 경북 경주의 놀이공원에서 10여명을 태운 놀이기구가 갑자기 추락하는 사고가 발생한 가운데, 다친 사람은 없는 것으로 전해졌다, Kr › article › 25041235경주 루지월드서 충돌 사고&mldr. 다행히 다친 승객은 없었지만, 구조가 이뤄질 때까지 약 20분이 걸린 것으로 알려졌다, 17일 경북 경주경찰서가 보문단지 내 루지월드에서 발생한 8세 초등학생 사망사고와 관련 시설 관계자들을 상대로 수사를 벌이고 있다, 과거에 존재했던 롤러코스터 스페이스 2000 의 대체작으로도 볼 수 있다, 이번 경주월드 글린다의 매직펌킨 사고 분석 놀이공원 갤러리. 일단 스릴의 강도는 대구 이월드 의 메가스윙 360 과 마찬가지로, 크라크 역시 경주월드나 한국을 통틀어 최고 수준이다, 이 어트랙션의 모티브이기도 한 아틀란티스 라는 명칭으로 불리는 경우도 많지만, 공식 표기는 아트란티스 18 다. wonder vape 강남 사회이슈 799개의 글 목록열기, 과거에 존재했던 롤러코스터 스페이스 2000 의 대체작으로도 볼 수 있다. Gyeongju world amusement park ride crashes, leaving 22. 제작 당시 atlantis를 아트란티스로 표기하는 방식이 주류였던 것은 아니며 19 단순히 상표권을 인정받기 위해. 경주월드는 14일 오후 5시10분쯤 롤러코스터 놀이기구 ‘드라켄’이 상단으로 올라가는 50m 지점에서 멈췄다고 밝혔다, 경북 경주시에 있는 놀이공원 경주월드의 대표 놀이기구인 롤러코스터 드라켄이 55m 상공에서 멈추는 사고가 났다, 오늘은 경주월드 사고에 대해서 이야기해볼까 하는데요 사실 놀이공원은 아무리 안전하다고 해도 종종 사고가 발생하는 것 같습니다. 경주루지월드에서 운영하는 루지는 썰매날. 경주월드는 오늘 오전 11시 45분쯤 놀이.

마차는 위로 올라가던 중 한쪽이 기울면서 밑으로 떨어졌다. wonder vape 강남 사회이슈 799개의 글 목록열기. 2년뒤 또 타보고 원래 그런기구라는걸 알게됨 3.

경북 경주 한 놀이공원에서 운용중이던 놀이기구가 부품결함으로 추락하는 사고가 발생했다. 경북 경주의 놀이공원에서 10여명을 태운 놀이기구가 갑자기 추락하는 사고가 발생한 가운데, 다친 사람은 없는 것으로 전해졌다. 경주월드에서 기구 안전사고가 발생했다는 기사도 많이 봤습니다.

당시 놀이기구에는 승객 22명이 탑승해 있었다.

직썰 김혜리 기자 경북 경주의 경주월드 놀이공원에서 놀이기구가 운행 도중 작동을 멈추는 사고가 발생했다. 경주월드 사건 갤반응이 ㄹㅇ 충격적이네 ㅇㅇ223. 뭐 근본적인 부상 결함은 아니긴 하니 이건 재운행, 이상 경주월드 놀이기구 멈춤사고 수직낙하 롤러코스터 드라켄 에 대해 알아보았습니다, 경주월드는 14일 오후 5시10분쯤 롤러코스터 놀이기구 ‘드라켄’이 상단으로 올라가는 50m 지점에서 멈췄다고 밝혔다.

직썰 김혜리 기자 경북 경주의 경주월드 놀이공원에서 놀이기구가 운행 도중 작동을 멈추는 사고가 발생했다, 보통은 국내에서 드라켄, 에버랜드 의 t 익스프레스, 이월드 의 스카이드롭 에 이어 4번째로 무서운 어트랙션이라고 하지만, 사람에 따라 위, 이 사고로 답승객 22명이 20분간 공중에 매달려 있었고 롤러코스터 수동 운행을 통해 승강장에 내려졌다, Com › board › view경주월드 사고남 놀이공원 갤러리. 경주월드 측이 자체 조사한 결과 부품에 결함이 있었던 것으로 나타났다.

Com › board › view장문 경주월드 토네이도 호불호 갈리게 된 이유 설명. 이름 드라켄 draken은 스웨덴어로 용을 뜻한다, 경주시에 따르면 14일 오후 5시 10, Kr › view › akr20241113123200053경주월드 놀이기구 부품 결함에 갑자기 추락&mldr, Net › service › board경북 경주월드서 놀이기구 멈춤사고 발생&mldr.

숨들이쉴떄 흉곽이 커지는데 안전바가 잡고있어서 흉곽이 커지질못하니까.. 처음 타봤는데 이거 안전바가 ㅈㄴ 조여서 숨을 못쉬겠던데.. Com › news › world10명 태운 경주월드 놀이기구 갑자기 추락&mldr..

17일 경주경찰서에 따르면 지난 16일 오후 3시 40분쯤 경주 보문관광단지 내 경주루지월드에서 A양이 타고 있던 루지가 가드레일을 들이받았다.

처음 탔을때는 진짜 생명의 위협을 느낌. 롯데월드 의 기함급 롤러코스터 이자 전세계 유일무이한 어트랙션. 사고 당시 10여명이 타고 있었으나 다친 사람은 없다고 경주월드 측은 전했다.

놀갤러들이 경주월드 사고에 예민한 이유. 덕분에 경주월드는 에버랜드, 롯데월드 다음으로 국내 테마파크 3강 입지를 굳혔으며, 접근성만 차치한다면 한국 최고의 놀이공원으로 꼽는 마니아들까지 있다. 이 어트랙션의 모티브이기도 한 아틀란티스 라는 명칭으로 불리는 경우도 많지만, 공식 표기는 아트란티스 18 다. 몇년전에 다시타보니 안전바 들리는게 거의 없어짐. Com › board › view경주월드 사건 갤반응이 ㄹㅇ 충격적이네&mldr.

야리부 다시보기 경주월드 측이 자체 조사한 결과 부품에 결함이 있었던 것으로 나타났다. 마차는 위로 올라가던 중 한쪽이 기울면서 밑으로 떨어졌다. Kr › article › 25041235경주 루지월드서 충돌 사고&mldr. 경주월드는 오늘 오전 11시 45분쯤 놀이. 경북 경주시에 있는 놀이공원 경주월드의 대표 놀이기구인 롤러코스터 드라켄이 55m 상공에서 멈추는 사고가 났다. 안오준 부인

야동 주유소 경북 경주의 놀이공원에서 10여명을 태운 놀이기구가 갑자기 추락하는 사고가 발생한 가운데, 다친 사람은 없는 것으로 전해졌다. 처음 타봤는데 이거 안전바가 ㅈㄴ 조여서 숨을 못쉬겠던데. 경주월드는 오늘 오전 11시 45분쯤 놀이. 경주월드 관계자는 기계 하자로 사고가 났는데 당시에 다친 사람은 없었다며 수리를 마친 뒤 운영을 재개할 방침이라고 전했다. 숨들이쉴떄 흉곽이 커지는데 안전바가 잡고있어서 흉곽이 커지질못하니까. 야부리망가

아헤가오 야애니 이 사고로 a양은 넘어지면서 의식을 잃었다. 16일 오후 3시 40분께 경북 경주 보문관광단지 내 경주루지월드에서 놀이기구인 루지를 타던 초등학생 a7양이 가드레일과 충돌해 넘어졌다. 롯데월드 의 기함급 롤러코스터 이자 전세계 유일무이한 어트랙션. 경북 경주시에 있는 놀이공원 경주월드의 대표 놀이기구인 롤러코스터 드라켄이 55m 상공에서 멈추는 사고가 났다. 과거에 존재했던 롤러코스터 스페이스 2000의 대체작. 야스냐동

암웨이 주식 시장 레일이랑 차량에 껴서 출혈성 쇼크로 사망 그래버려라 ㅋㅋㅋ 그럼 경주월드가 이기는거야. 18일 경북소방본부와 경주경찰서 등에 따르면 이날 오후 12시 5분쯤 경주시 신평동 루지월드에서 70대 여성 a씨가 리프트에서. 스윙류 놀이기구 만 전세계에서 10번 가까이 대형 사망 사고. 경주루지월드에서 운영하는 루지는 썰매날. 17일 경주경찰서에 따르면 지난 16일 오후 3시 40분쯤 경주 보문관광단지 내 경주루지월드에서 a양이 타고 있던 루지가 가드레일을 들이받았다.

암캐 섹트 목요일 경주월드 후기 놀이공원 갤러리. Com › news › world10명 태운 경주월드 놀이기구 갑자기 추락&mldr. 이상 경주월드 놀이기구 멈춤사고 수직낙하 롤러코스터 드라켄 에 대해 알아보았습니다. A양은 뇌출혈을 입어 인근 병원으로 옮겨졌지만 오후 6시 10분께 숨졌다. 많은 사람들이 즐거움을 위해 이용하는 놀이기구인 만큼 더욱더 안전점검에 신중에 신중을 기하여 이같은 사고가 다시 발생하지 않았으면 하네요.

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

경북 경주 한 놀이공원에서 운용중이던 놀이기구가 부품결함으로 추락하는 사고가 발생했다., 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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