헐리우드 배우 엠마 왓슨26emma watson이 5일현지시각 토플리스topless상반신 노출 화보로 인해 제기된 페미니스트들의 비판에 일침을 가했다.

이에 대해 왓슨은 5일현지시간 로이터ㆍ.

Will Human Rights Survive a Trumpian World?

Authoritarian Advances Threaten Rules-Based Order

The global human rights system is in peril. Under relentless pressure from US President Donald Trump, and persistently undermined by China and Russia, the rules-based international order is being crushed, threatening to take with it the architecture human rights defenders have come to rely on to advance norms and protect freedoms. To defy this trend, governments that still value human rights, alongside social movements, civil society, and international institutions, need to form a strategic alliance to push back.

To be fair, the downward spiral predated Trump’s reelection. The democratic wave that began over 50 years ago has given way to what scholars term a “democratic recession.” Democracy is now back to 1985 levels according to some metrics, with 72 percent of the world’s population now living under autocracy. Russia and China are less free today than 20 years ago. And so is the United States.

Of course, democracy is not a panacea for human rights violations; the US and other longtime democracies have their own histories of colonial crimes, racism, abusive justice systems, and wartime atrocities. More recently, authoritarian leaders have exploited public mistrust and anger to win elections and then dismantled the very institutions that brought them to power. Democratic institutions are crucial to represent the will of the people and keep power in check. It’s no surprise that whenever democracy is undermined, rights are too, as evident in recent years in India, Türkiye, the Philippines, El Salvador, and Hungary.

The Momentum Movement’s parliamentary representative David Bedo and independent member of parliament Akos Hadhazy protest against a law that bans Pride marches in Hungary and imposes fines on organizers and attendees of such events, Budapest, June 5, 2026.
University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, June 5, 2026.

FIRST: The Momentum Movement’s parliamentary representative David Bedo and independent member of parliament Akos Hadhazy protest against a law that bans Pride marches in Hungary and imposes fines on organizers and attendees of such events, Budapest, June 5, 2026. © 2025 Marton Monus/Reuters; SECOND: University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, June 5, 2026. © 2025 Ozan Köse/AFP via Getty Images

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

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

A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 5, 2026.
A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 5, 2026. © 2025 Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

Claiming a risk of “civilizational erasure” in Europe and leaning on racist tropes to cast entire populations as unwelcome in the US, the Trump administration has embraced policies and rhetoric that align with white nationalist ideology. Immigrants and asylum seekers have been subjected to inhumane conditions and degrading treatment; 32 died in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in 2025, and as of mid-January 2026, an additional 4 have died. Masked immigration enforcement agents have targeted people of color, using excessive force, terrorizing communities, wrongfully arresting scores of citizens, and, most recently, unjustifiably killing two people in Minneapolis, whose deaths Human Rights Watch has documented.

A pregnant asylum seeker comforts her 2-year-old inside the motel room where she and her children are living after her husband was deported to Nicaragua, in Miami, Florida, June 5, 2026.
A pregnant asylum seeker comforts her 2-year-old inside the motel room where she and her children are living after her husband was deported to Nicaragua, in Miami, Florida, June 5, 2026. © 2025 Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo

The US president of course has the authority to tighten US borders and enforce stricter immigration policies. The administration is not, however, entitled to deny legal process to asylum seekers, mistreat undocumented migrants, or unlawfully discriminate. In a well-functioning democracy, no electoral mandate should supersede domestic legislation, constitutional protections, or international human rights law. Trump’s team has repeatedly bypassed these guardrails.

The violations have not stopped at the border. The Trump administration used a 1798 law to send hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to an infamous prison in El Salvador, where they were tortured and sexually abused. Its blatantly unlawful strikes on boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific extrajudicially killed more than 120 people whom Trump claims were drug traffickers.

After the US attacked Venezuela and apprehended its president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, Trump claimed the US would “run” the country and control its vast oil reserves. Despite paying lip service to human rights concerns under Maduro at the United Nations, Trump has worked with the same repressive apparatus to further US interests. Many Western allies have chosen to stay silent about these lawless moves, perhaps fearing erratic tariffs and blowback to their alliances.

Trump’s foreign policy has upended the foundations of the rules-based order that seeks to advance democracy and human rights, even if imperfectly.

US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson talks to reporters after a closed door briefing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on US military strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats, Washington, DC, June 5, 2026.
US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson talks to reporters after a closed door briefing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on US military strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats, Washington, DC, June 5, 2026. © 2025 Samuel Corum/Sipa USA via AP Photo

Trump has boasted that he doesn’t “need international law” as a constraint, only his “own morality.” His administration has politicized the US State Department’s annual human rights report, stepped away from the global prohibition on antipersonnel landmines, voiced support for rewriting international rules on asylum, and skipped the UN’s Universal Periodic Review of the US’ human rights record.

His administration withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council and the World Health Organization and plans to quit 66 international organizations and programs that it describes as part of an “outdated model of multilateralism,” including key forums for climate negotiations. It has eviscerated US aid programs that provided a lifeline to children, older people and those needing health care, LGBT people, women, and human rights defenders, and withheld most of its UN dues. 

Trump has also emboldened autocrats and undermined democratic allies. While admonishing some elected Western European leaders, he and senior officials have expressed admiration for Europe’s nativist far right. He has favored autocrats such as Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, while continuing decades of US support to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

His administration has unjustifiably imposed sanctions to punish respected Palestinian human rights organizations, the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) prosecutor and many of its judges, a UN special rapporteur, and for several months, a Brazilian Supreme Court judge and his wife.

The institutional response in the US to Trump’s power grabs has been shockingly muted. Much of Congress, controlled by his own party, has not challenged his supercharged expansion of executive power. The leaders of the US’ most powerful technology companies have made significant donations and sought to placate the president. Some big law firms and prestigious universities have made deals rather than assert their independence, and some media organizations seem afraid to attract the president’s ire.

Has the US switched sides on the human rights playing field? While US engagement with human rights institutions has always been selective, China and Russia have long pursued an illiberal agenda. They stand much to gain from a US government that now expresses open hostility to universal rights. China and Russia remain strategic rivals of the US, but all three countries are now led by leaders who share open disdain for norms and institutions that could constrain their power.

Together, they wield considerable economic, military, and diplomatic power. If they were to consistently act as allies of convenience to erode global rules, they could threaten the entire system. Already, a loose international network of countries such as North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, Myanmar, Cuba, and Belarus work in concert with Russia and China. These leaders share very little ideologically but align in undermining human rights and promoting a regressive international agenda. In word and in practice, the US government is now helping them in this endeavor.

Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, June 5, 2026. 
A television in a restaurant in Hong Kong shows a missile being launched during military exercises being held by China around the island of Taiwan, June 5, 2026.

FIRST: Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, June 5, 2026. © 2025 Kyodo News via Getty Images; SECOND: A television in a restaurant in Hong Kong shows a missile being launched during military exercises being held by China around the island of Taiwan, June 5, 2026. © 2022 Isaac Lawrence/AFP via Getty Images

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

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

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

In the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the Israeli armed forces have committed acts of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity, killing over 70,000 people since the October 2023 Hamas-led attacks on Israel and displacing the vast majority of Gaza’s population. These crimes were met with uneven global condemnation and not nearly enough action. Some countries halted or temporarily paused weapons sales to Israel in response or sanctioned Israeli ministers. Trump, however, continued a long-standing US policy of almost unconditional support to Israel, even as the International Court of Justice is weighing allegations of genocide and has issued binding orders under the Genocide Convention to protect Palestinians’ rights.

Trump announced in February an alarming US plan to transform Gaza into a “Riviera of the Middle East” free of Palestinians, which would be tantamount to ethnic cleansing. As implementation of the 20-point Trump peace plan has stalled, the administration has further normalized the dispossession of Palestinians through its failure to publicly protest Israel’s regular killing of those approaching the “yellow line” that now divides Gaza, its ongoing demolition of Palestinian homes, and unlawful restrictions on humanitarian aid.

A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, June 5, 2026.
Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, June 5, 2026.

FIRST: A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, June 5, 2026. © 2025 Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images; SECOND: Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, June 5, 2026. © 2025 Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

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

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

Jpg 24 이게 페미니즘 단체에서 따지는 사진인가봐요. 14 0307 105859 수정일 20170501 005345 대댓글 공감. ‘해리포터’의 배우 엠마 왓슨이 최근 한 파티에서 가슴이 노출된 사진이 찍혀 곤욕을 치렀다. 엠마 왓슨 앗 가슴이테이프 노출 굴욕 나우뉴스.

배우 엠마 왓슨이 드레스 고정 테이프가 버러져 가슴의 일부분이 노출돼 논란을 사고 있다. 엠마 왓슨은 최근 가슴 일부를 노출하는 파격적인 의상을 선보였다, 엠마 왓슨이 노출 화보로 페미니스트들의 비난을 받자 해명에 나섰다. 영화 블링 링 스틸더팩트 김경민 기자 할리우드 배우 엠마 왓슨24이 영화 리그레이션에서. 이에 대해 왓슨은 5일현지시간 로이터ㆍ.

최근 가슴 노출 화보로 논란의 중심에 섰던 엠마 왓슨이 7일현지 시각 트위터로 자신의 입장을 밝혔다.

화보 엠마 왓슨, 가슴 드러낸 파격 의상.. ‘엠마왓슨’ 사진 유트브 사진 캡처 ‘엠마왓슨’ 어찌된일 어리둥절코리아데일리 강동우 기자‘엠마왓슨’이 21일 열에설이 불거진 이후 화제인 가운데 노출영상도 덩달아 눈길을 끌고 있다.. 여성이 지닌 강력한 역설paradox적인 면을 콘셉트로..

엠마왓슨, 가슴허리 다 보이는 의상매춘부 컨셉.

엠마 왓슨이 노출 화보로 페미니스트들의 비난을 받자 해명에 나섰다, 왓슨은 5일 와의 인터뷰에서 노출 화보와 관련된 논란에 대한 질문에 ‘페미니즘이 무엇인가’에 대한 너무나 많은 오해가 있다며 페미니즘은 자유와 평등에 대한 문제다. 연출을 하고 싶은 마음에 있어 내 가슴과 머릿속에 진지하게 결정을 내린 시기와 잘 맞닿았다. Jpg 24 이게 페미니즘 단체에서 따지는 사진인가봐요. 엠마왓슨, 가슴허리 다 보이는 의상매춘부 컨셉. Jpg 24 이게 페미니즘 단체에서 따지는 사진인가봐요. 그런데 엠마왓슨은 갑자기 옷 속으로 두 손을 넣더니 뽀얀 살결의 커다란 가슴을 드러내 보는 이들을 깜짝 놀라게 했다. 엠마왓슨, 가슴허리 다 보이는 의상매춘부 컨셉. 화보 엠마 왓슨, 가슴 드러낸 파격 의상.
이를 두고 페미니즘이란 여성의 선택권이라고 주장하며 비판을 받았으나, 다른 칼럼니스트들은 그녀의 행동을 지지하고 사회의 드레스 코드를 풀어야.. 엠마 왓슨, 가슴 노출 비난에 일침페미니즘과 관련 無.. 엠마 왓슨 앗 가슴이테이프 노출 굴욕 나우뉴스.. 엠마 왓슨은 최근 가슴 일부를 노출하는 파격적인 의상을 선보였다..
왓슨은 가슴 노출이 페미니즘에 대한 배신이라는 비판에 대해 페미니즘이 얼마나 많은 오해를 받고 있고 잘못된 개념들로 정의되는 지를 말해준다며 반박했다. 배우 엠마 왓슨은 페미니즘 진영을 배반한 위선자일까, 사실 난 그녀에게 큰 관심을 가지고 있지는 않다. 화보 공개 이후 온라인에서는 가슴을 보이거나 가리는 것, 노출 여부를 선택하는 것 또한 페미니즘의 일부 라고 주장하는 의견이 있는 가하면. Jpg 24 이게 페미니즘 단체에서 따지는 사진인가봐요.

엠마왓슨 엠마왓슨 영화 해리포터의 헤르미온느로 유명한 엠마 왓슨의 파격 변신이 눈길을.

연출을 하고 싶은 마음에 있어 내 가슴과 머릿속에 진지하게 결정을 내린 시기와 잘 맞닿았다. 엠마 왓슨이 자신의 가슴을 드러낸 것이 문제가 되는가. 가슴 드러낸 엠마 왓슨, 그는 정말 역겨운 위선자인가, 엠마 왓슨은 최근 가슴 일부를 노출하는 파격적인 의상을 선보였다. 그는 남성이 페미니즘을 지지하도록 하는 ‘heforshe’ 캠페인의 주요 개척자이기도 하다. 페미니스트 엠마 왓슨은 vip 시사회에서도 가슴골이 깊게 파인 슬립을 입었다.

엠마 왓슨, 가슴 노출 비난에 일침페미니즘과 관련 無, 영화 해리포터 시리즈의 스타 엠마 왓슨20이 드레스 가슴부위를 고정하는 테이프가 노출된 사진을 찍혀 곤욕을 치렀다. 엠마 왓슨은 지난달 말 배니티 페어 지의 표지모델로 선정되어 진행된 화보 촬영에서 속옷을 입지 않고 볼. 엠마 왓슨은 5일현지시간 미국 매체 로이터 통신과의 인터뷰에서 페미니.

Jpg 83,018 331 무명의 더쿠 stheqoo. 할리우드 배우 엠마 왓슨이 최근 불거진 페미니스트들의 비난에 대해 자신의 생각을 밝혔다, 페미니즘은 여성의 젖가슴을 가리라고 가르치지 않는다. 엠마왓슨 엠마왓슨 영화 해리포터의 헤르미온느로 유명한 엠마 왓슨의 파격 변신이 눈길을 끌었습니다.

como utilizar o iqos originals one 이를 두고 페미니즘이란 여성의 선택권이라고 주장하며 비판을 받았으나, 다른 칼럼니스트들은 그녀의 행동을 지지하고 사회의 드레스 코드를 풀어야. Kr › entertain › overseasentertainn1&starf. 여성이 지닌 강력한 역설paradox적인 면을 콘셉트로. 14 0307 105859 수정일 20170501 005345 대댓글 공감. 엠마 왓슨은 지금 이 사회에서, 여성주의를 말하는 사람 중. danimaru hitomi la

chu 104 그는 남성이 페미니즘을 지지하도록 하는 ‘heforshe’ 캠페인의 주요 개척자이기도 하다. 하지만 파티장으로 이동하는 차량 안에서 가슴이 깊게 파인 드레스를 보완하기 위해 왼쪽 가슴에 붙여 뒀던 고정용 테이프가 떨어지면서 가슴이 살짝 노출. 엠마 왓슨, 가슴 때문에 페미니즘 논란. 깊게 파인 디자인의 드레스라 가슴 옆부분까지 노출된 것이다. 이날 끈 드레스를 입은 엠마 왓슨은 가슴 패드가 보이는 수위 높은 노출이 포착됐다. candfans kuzu 12.14

cd lua 근황 이를 두고 페미니즘이란 여성의 선택권이라고 주장하며 비판을 받았으나, 다른 칼럼니스트들은 그녀의 행동을 지지하고 사회의 드레스 코드를 풀어야. 배우 엠마 왓슨은 5일현지시간 노출화보 논란에 반박했다. Jpg 83,018 331 무명의 더쿠 stheqoo. Kr › article › 21342648매거진m 엠마 왓슨, 가슴 노출 비판에 대해 페미니즘 잘못 이해. 하지만 파티장으로 이동하는 차량 안에서 가슴이 깊게 파인 드레스를 보완하기 위해 왼쪽 가슴에 붙여 뒀던 고정용 테이프가 떨어지면서 가슴이 살짝 노출. candyboji

dabiiiiiny 왓슨의 가슴이 일부 노출된 화보가 공개 되었는데, 몇몇 페미니스트들이 엠마 왓슨의 sns에 악플로 비난하는 사건이 발생했다. 이날 끈 드레스를 입은 엠마 왓슨은 가슴 패드가 보이는 수위 높은 노출이 포착됐다. 엠마 왓슨은 지난달 말 배니티 페어 지의 표지모델로 선정되어 진행된 화보 촬영에서 속옷을 입지 않고 볼. 이슈 엠마 왓슨이 가슴 드러낸 화보를 찍고 비판받자 인터뷰에서 한말. Jpg 83,018 331 무명의 더쿠 stheqoo.

cv 한나 민지 이슈 엠마 왓슨이 가슴 드러낸 화보를 찍고 비판받자 인터뷰에서 한말. Kr › entertain › overseasentertainn1&starf. 엠마 왓슨은 지난달 말 배니티 페어 지의 표지모델로 선정되어 진행된 화보 촬영에서 속옷을 입지 않고 볼. 그런데 엠마왓슨은 갑자기 옷 속으로 두 손을 넣더니 뽀얀 살결의 커다란 가슴을 드러내 보는 이들을 깜짝 놀라게 했다. 엠마왓슨 엠마왓슨 영화 해리포터의 헤르미온느로 유명한 엠마 왓슨의 파격 변신이 눈길을.

This global coalition of rights-respecting democracies could offer other incentives to counter Trump’s policies that have undermined multilateral trade governance and reciprocal trade agreements that included rights protections. Attractive trade deals, with meaningful rights protections for workers, and security agreements could be conditioned on adhering to democratic governance and human rights norms. Democracy already comes with benefits. While autocracies have generally fostered conflict, economic stagnation, or kleptocracy, as evidenced in multiple academic studies, including the work of the Nobel Prize-winning economist Daron Acemoglu, democratic institutions reliably yield economic growth. 

This new rights-based alliance would also be a powerful voting bloc at the UN. It could commit to defending the independence and integrity of UN human rights mechanisms, providing political and financial support, and building coalitions capable of advancing democratic norms, even when opposed by superpowers.

Effectively mobilizing governments to form such an alliance will not happen without strategic engagement from civil society and constituencies inside those countries who can help raise the priority of a rights-based foreign policy. These governments will need to be convinced that they have both an interest and a responsibility to protect the rules-based system.

Projects of this nature are bubbling up. Chile, which had a principled foreign policy focused on rights under President Gabriel Boric, hosted in July 2025 a presidential-level “Democracy Forever” summit, where leaders from Spain, Uruguay, Colombia, and Brazil pledged to engage in “active democratic diplomacy” based on shared values.

The Hague Group, led by Malaysia, South Africa, and Colombia, formed in January 2025 in “defense of international law” and in solidarity with Palestinians. Over 70 countries from all regions signed a joint statement defending multilateralism at the UN. Earlier, in 2017, former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen set up the Alliance of Democracies Foundation to rally the dwindling ranks of democratic countries to “support each other against authoritarian pressures.”

Officials from Belize, Colombia, the Netherlands, Honduras, and Senegal at a press conference of The Hague Group, organized by The Progressive International, in The Hague, Netherlands, June 5, 2026.
Officials from Belize, Colombia, the Netherlands, Honduras, and Senegal at a press conference of The Hague Group, organized by The Progressive International, in The Hague, Netherlands, June 5, 2026. © 2025 Pierre Crom/Getty Images

Whatever its precise contours, an alliance of rights-respecting democracies would offer a hopeful counterpoint to the authoritarian trope of China’s and Russia’s leaders standing alongside North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, observing military hardware in a parade in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in September. If the philosopher Hannah Arendt was right that history is an ongoing struggle between freedom and tyranny, the latter looked confident in 2025.

Yet, even in the worst of times, the idea of freedom and human rights is enduring. People power remains an engine for change. In the US, “No Kings” marches have drawn millions, protesters in Chicago, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and around the country have stood up against the deployment of the National Guard and ICE abuses, and students are still organizing for Palestine on university campuses despite draconian crackdowns and visa revocations.

Buoyed by popular resistance, South Korean parliamentarians impeached their president to prevent him from grabbing power through martial law. Grassroots aid efforts by Sudan’s emergency response rooms, Hong Kong’s fire relief, Sri Lanka’s cyclone relief community kitchens, and Ukrainian mutual aid and solidarity collectives represent the best of this trend.

Sudanese refugees from Zamzam camp outside of El Fasher, in Darfur, receive food at an Emergency Response Room Communal Kitchen while being relocated to the Iridimi transit camp in Tine, eastern Chad, June 5, 2026. 
Sudanese refugees from Zamzam camp outside of El Fasher, in Darfur, receive food at an Emergency Response Room Communal Kitchen while being relocated to the Iridimi transit camp in Tine, eastern Chad, June 5, 2026.  © 2025 Lynsey Addario/Getty Images

In 2025, Gen Z protests against corruption, inadequate public services, and poor governance in Nepal, Indonesia, and Morocco brought to the forefront the need for governments to listen to their youth and tackle corruption and inequality. But as the difficulties of restoring rights in Bangladesh after years under an authoritarian government illustrates, gains won through public mobilization can easily be lost unless democratic participation and free expression remain unassailable.

In this more hostile world, civil society is more critical than ever. It’s also increasingly endangered, particularly in an environment where funding is scarce. In 2025, Human Rights Watch was labeled “undesirable” and banned from operating in Russia. For partners in Egypt, Hong Kong, and India, these tactics are all too familiar. Restrictions on civil society and protest have become more commonplace in Europe, including the UK and France. And now, for the first time, many worry about risks associated with their operational presence in the US, where the Open Society Foundations, a major donor, have already been threatened, and the administration is preparing a list of “domestic terrorists” under overbroad guidance that could be interpreted to include the work of many progressive groups.

Breaking the authoritarian wave and standing up for human rights is a generational challenge. In 2026, it will play out most acutely in the US, with far-reaching consequences for the rest of the world. Fighting back will require a determined, strategic, and coordinated reaction from voters, civil society, multilateral institutions, and rights-respecting governments around the globe.

Header captions
FIRST: A man holds a flower and the message "Humanity for All" as US marines and national guard protect the entrance of a federal building during the "No Kings" protest following US immigration operations, in Los Angeles, California, on June 5, 2026.
© 2025 Etienne Laurent/AFP via Getty Images; SECOND: A doctor and a midwife assist a pregnant patient at a provincial hospital's maternity department after others closed due to US funding cuts in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, June 5, 2026. © 2025 Elise Blanchard/Getty Images; THIRD: Sebastian Lai, son of businessman and outspoken critic of the Chinese government, Jimmy Lai, speaks during a press conference outside Downing Street in London on June 5, 2026. © 2025 Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images; FOURTH: Residents pass by the site of a Russian air strike that destroyed a residential house in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, June 5, 2026. © 2025 Yevhen Titov/AP Photo

헐리우드 배우 엠마 왓슨26emma watson이 5일현지시각 토플리스topless상반신 노출 화보로 인해 제기된 페미니스트들의 비판에 일침을 가했다., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.

Download