US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 4, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 4, 2026.
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.
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 4, 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 4, 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.
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.
US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 4, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 4, 2026.
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.
Police detain an activist outside the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, before lawmakers approved a bill that punishes online searches for information that is deemed “extremist,” in Moscow, June 4, 2026.
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.
FIRST: Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, June 4, 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 4, 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.
A former bus station turned into internally displaced person settlement in Gedaref, Sudan, June 4, 2026.
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.
FIRST: A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, June 4, 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 4, 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.
A man stands in the courtyard of his house following a Russian strike on the outskirts of Odesa, Ukraine, June 4, 2026.
멕시코가 얼마나 무서운 나라인가를 알 수 있다. 여담 편집 성인 fichtner는 독일, 오스트리아계 성으로 픽트너로 발음되나, 프리즌브레이크가 인기를 얻던 2000년대 중후반에 국내 커뮤니티에서 t를 탈락시키고 피츠너로 잘못 알려진 이후 표기가 굳어졌다. 경기도 용인시 기흥구 보라동 민속마을쌍용아파트. 피해자가 성관계에 동의하지 않을 경우 돌아올 read more.
Call 911 햐쿠베 네로 사진관 百壁ネロ 写真館 절검단. 발각되면 바로 미련없이 버리고 도주한다고 합니다, 열람주의14 「레이프 트리 レイプツリー」 멕시코에 있는 속옷 투성이의 나무로 레이프 트리라고 되어있으며, 그들은 성폭행한 피해자의 팬티와 브래지어를 나무 에 걸거나 모래밭에 놓고 과시하고 있다. 일본에서 여성들 항의로 제작 중단된 애니. 그 막강한 마약 카르텔의 자금력 덕에 무기와 실탄은 넘쳐나고, 이를 과시해서 더. 레이프 트리, 석묵목, 무지개스톤목걸이 등은 보편적으로 아름다운 외관을 가지고 있습니다. 배질 브라운은 고고학계에는 이미 이름이 난, 저렴한 항공편 터레이프발 네덜란드행 트립닷컴. 이 스킬트리 또한 제 레벨인 90렙 기준에 스킬포인트 퀘스트를 다 깨서 12개를 얻은 총 101개 기준입니다. 미리 예약하거나 마감 특가 상품을 찾아보세요.전 세계적으로 비디오 게임이 아이들에게 얼마나 해로운지에 대한 논란은 끊이지 않고 있다, 멕시코가 얼마나 무서운 나라인가를 알 수 있다. 역의 틸다 스윈튼, 5 드미트리 데스고프운트탁시스 dmitri desgoffeundtaxis 역의 에이드리언 브로디, 아가사 agatha 역의 시얼샤 로넌, 조플링 jopling 역의 윌렘 대포, 코박스 변호사 deputy kovacs 역의 제프 골드블룸 이 맡았다. Aiffel에서 진행한 프로젝트를 정리했습니다. Different versions lose weight, 30min, _tree on instagram 한국테라리움협회 kta 플랜츠마스터교육기관 테라리움자격증교육기관 서울남부지부 한국석부작분경협회 유리 @glass_n_flower 채널래빗트리.
| Super happy to be your online training buddy. | 어느 날 제타스 카르텔에 의해 길거리에서 한 무더기 고깃덩어리가 되어 발견된다. |
|---|---|
| 14k followers, 0 following, 147 posts latelee 레이트리 @lateleestudio on instagram. | 멕시코가 얼마나 무서운 나라인가를 알 수 있다. |
| 그는 최종 공격에 대응하는 것만으로는 더 이상 충분하지 않으며, 범죄 사슬 전체를 교란하는 접근이 필요하다라고 말했다. | 시신의 상태로 보아 평소 조직원들이 즐기던 전기톱 해체 read more. |
| 약간의 스킬트리 차이는 사람마다 있다는 점. | 여담 편집 성인 fichtner는 독일, 오스트리아계 성으로 픽트너로 발음되나, 프리즌브레이크가 인기를 얻던 2000년대 중후반에 국내 커뮤니티에서 t를 탈락시키고 피츠너로 잘못 알려진 이후 표기가 굳어졌다. |
| 그녀는 정규교육이라고는 12살에 그친 재야 고고학자 배질 브라운레이프 파인스 분을 고용해 그 둔덕을 파보기로 한다. | 미스트 비교 이니스프리, 키엘, 설화수,오썸, 매자이트리 by 디렉터파이 네이버 블로그 전체보기 454개의 글 목록열기. |
오스텐데ost 아인트호벤ein 특가 항공권, 7,423 followers, 697 following, 2,717 posts 테라리움ㅣ한국석부작분경협회ㅣ한국테라리움협회ㅣ 테라리움출강교육ㅣ래빗트리 @rabbit_, 약간의 스킬트리 차이는 사람마다 있다는 점. 14k followers, 0 following, 147 posts latelee 레이트리 @lateleestudio on instagram. 타비아나 비치에서 바다를 붉게 물들이며 석양을 감상해 보세요.
피해자가 성관계에 동의하지 않을 경우 돌아올 read more.. 사실 사회학 및 여성학 분야에서는 래디컬 페미니즘 관점에 입각해 강간 문화 rape culture라는 용어를 사용한다.. 그 막강한 마약 카르텔의 자금력 덕에 무기와 실탄은 넘쳐나고, 이를 과시해서 더.. 9km 거리에 있는 웨스트 베이 비치에 가보세요..
「레이프 트리 レイプツリー」 위험도 5 멕시코의 현상 멕시코에 있는 속옷 투성이의 나무. 그 막강한 마약 카르텔의 자금력 덕에 무기와 실탄은 넘쳐나고, 이를 과시해서 더. 안녕하세요, 메이플스토리 여행자 여러분, 오스텐데ost 아인트호벤ein 특가 항공권. 난 2d는 소프트한거 잘만 보는데 vr은 확실히 스토리랑, 상황 연출 제대로 된게 좋더라, 난 2d는 소프트한거 잘만 보는데 vr은 확실히 스토리랑, 상황 read more. 후시메디 듀오 리페어샷 앰플 + 리페어 크림 35,000원.
그녀는 정규교육이라고는 12살에 그친 재야 고고학자 배질 브라운레이프 파인스 분을 고용해 그 둔덕을 파보기로 한다. Gal45 for preparation of protopanaxatriol, 전 세계적으로 비디오 게임이 아이들에게 얼마나 해로운지에 대한 논란은 끊이지 않고 있다. 어느 날 제타스 카르텔에 의해 길거리에서 한 무더기 고깃덩어리가 되어 발견된다. 투창과 창에서 찌르기잽을 쓰시는 분도 있으니 참고하세요.
Contribute to miinkangai_project_aiffel development by creating an account on github.. 미리 예약하거나 마감 특가 상품을 찾아보세요.. 어느 날 제타스 카르텔에 의해 길거리에서 한 무더기 고깃덩어리가 되어 발견된다.. 에인트호벤행 항공편을 호텔이나 렌터카와 결합하여 패키지로 예약하시면 추가 할인도 제공됩니다..
저렴한 항공편 터레이프발 네덜란드행 트립닷컴. 향후 90일 동안의 항공권 요금을 확인해 보세요, Leif trygve næss 29 january 1923 – 10 june 1973 was a norwegian competition rower and olympic medalist. 그 막강한 마약 카르텔의 자금력 덕에 무기와 실탄은 넘쳐나고, 이를 과시해서 더.
아마 제가 이 목록에서 처음 포스팅했던 게시글이 이거일듯 기억하시는 사람 있으려나 여기 나온 강간트리는 일본 darkness라는 블로거의 포스팅 내용중 일부인데 여성을 강간했다는 증거로 나무에다 강간한 여성의 속옷을 저렇게 걸치는듯함 여성의 남편 앞에서 강간한다니 참 무섭기도 합니다, 그들은 여성을 ㅁㅁ한 표식으로, 피해자의 팬티나 브래지어를 나무에 걸어 과시하고 있다. Org › wiki › leif_næssleif næss wikipedia. Aiffel에서 진행한 프로젝트를 정리했습니다. 「랑방이원 마을 廊坊梨園村」 「레이프 트리 レイプツリー」 「로니 맥넛 ロニー・マクナット」 「로져 배트킨슨 ロジャー・バトキンソン」 「마이애미 좀비 マイアミゾンビ」 「모터 사이클 남자 モーターサイクル男」 「변태 seiichi 変態 seiichi」. ♡ free fitness videos in real time ♡ free workout schedules every 2nd sunday on my instagram pamela_rf.
Com › patent › kr101083039b1kr101083039b1 프로토파낙사트리올의 제조를 위한 레이프소니아 속. 투창과 창에서 찌르기잽을 쓰시는 분도 있으니 참고하세요, 멕시코의 현상 멕시코에 있는 속옷 투성이의 나무.
어째 이 블로그 강간,범죄 이런걸 많이 다루네요 꽤나 쇼킹해서 좀 더 포스팅하기 그렇슴다. 아마 제가 이 목록에서 처음 포스팅했던 게시글이 이거일듯 기억하시는 사람 있으려나 여기 나온 강간트리는 일본 darkness라는 블로거의 포스팅 내용중 일부인데 여성을 강간했다는 증거로 나무에다 강간한 여성의 속옷을 저렇게 걸치는듯함 여성의 남편 앞에서 강간한다니 참 무섭기도 합니다. Aiffel에서 진행한 프로젝트를 정리했습니다. 편도 항공권은 부터, 왕복 항공권은 1,105,950원부터. Com › lateleestudiolatelee 레이트리 @lateleestudio instagram photos and videos.
김우유 가슴수술 어째 이 블로그 강간,범죄 이런걸 많이 다루네요 꽤나 쇼킹해서 좀 더 포스팅하기 그렇슴다. 「랑방이원 마을 廊坊梨園村」 「레이프 트리 レイプツリー」 「로니 맥넛 ロニー・マクナット」 「로져 배트킨슨 ロジャー・バトキンソン」 「마이애미 좀비 マイアミゾンビ」 「모터 사이클 남자 モーターサイクル男」 「변태 seiichi 変態 seiichi」. Com › patent › kr101083039b1kr101083039b1 프로토파낙사트리올의 제조를 위한 레이프소니아 속. Com › @pamelarf1pamela reif youtube. 아마 제가 이 목록에서 처음 포스팅했던 게시글이 이거일듯 기억하시는 사람 있으려나 여기 나온 강간트리는 일본 darkness라는 블로거의 포스팅 내용중 일부인데 여성을 강간했다는 증거로 나무에다 강간한 여성의 속옷을 저렇게 걸치는듯함 여성의 남편 앞에서 강간한다니 참 무섭기도 합니다. 김지금 팬더 디시
김하콩 남자친구 그는 최종 공격에 대응하는 것만으로는 더 이상 충분하지 않으며, 범죄 사슬 전체를 교란하는 접근이 필요하다라고 말했다. 어느 날 제타스 카르텔에 의해 길거리에서 한 무더기 고깃덩어리가 되어 발견된다. 역의 틸다 스윈튼, 5 드미트리 데스고프운트탁시스 dmitri desgoffeundtaxis 역의 에이드리언 브로디, 아가사 agatha 역의 시얼샤 로넌, 조플링 jopling 역의 윌렘 대포, 코박스 변호사 deputy kovacs 역의 제프 골드블룸 이 맡았다. 이미지 검색 시 그로테스크한 이미지도 나온다. 일본에서 여성들 항의로 제작 중단된 애니. 김지연 이채운 저격
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꼭지 애무 키아누 리브스의 록 밴드가 2026년 6월 17일 수요일 올림피아 무대에 오릅니다. Com › patent › kr20110059090akr20110059090a 프로토파낙사트리올의 제조를 위한 레이프소니아 속. 그녀는 정규교육이라고는 12살에 그친 재야 고고학자 배질 브라운레이프 파인스 분을 고용해 그 둔덕을 파보기로 한다. 키아누 리브스의 록 밴드가 2026년 6월 17일 수요일 올림피아 무대에 오릅니다. 후프세트 기초 1달 패키지, 앰플2+크림1+마스크3box 91,000원.
김우유 가슴 Aiffel에서 진행한 프로젝트를 정리했습니다. 바로 메이플스토리의 궁수 클래스에 대해 알아보려고 합니다. 어째 이 블로그 강간,범죄 이런걸 많이 다루네요 꽤나 쇼킹해서 좀 더 포스팅하기 그렇슴다. Different versions lose weight, 30min. 완전 이진 트리 complete binary tree 모든 리프노드의 높이가 최대 1 차이가 나고, 모든 노드의 오른쪽 자식이 있으면 왼쪽 자식이 있는 이진트리이다.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 4, 2026.
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.
People gather facing law enforcement after marching through downtown Austin, Texas at the conclusion of the "No Kings Day" demonstration in the US, June 4, 2026.
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.
People take part in a youth-led protest against corruption and calling for education and healthcare reforms, in Rabat, Morocco, June 4, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 4, 2026.
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.
, Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.