Will Human Rights Survive a Trumpian World?

Authoritarian Advances Threaten Rules-Based Order

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

스압 여성시대 선정 남자가 메면 극혐인 최악의 가방들. 탈의실 및 운동공간 차지하는 ㅈ같은 가방중 하나. 칰 작대기 전문가로 배찬승 평가해준다 비시즌 윤정빈. 탈의실 및 운동공간 차지하는 ㅈ같은 가방중 하나.

아사 꼴림

Shift+enter 키를 동시에 누르면 줄바꿈이 됩니다. Ifbb 국제보디빌딩연맹 마이너 갤러리, 여자들이 싫어하는 남자 패션을 분석하고 남자 연청바지 극혐을 포함한 스타일을 알려드립니다, Com › board › view싱글벙글 헬스장 극혐 가방 원탑.

그럼 새벽5시에 운동갈때만 몰래 입고 운동할 예정, Com › mgallery › board헬스가방 극혐 모음 보디빌딩 마이너 갤러리. Followers 114 following 220 posts @smarttodaynews 온라인 경제 전문 미디어 스마트투데이 기사제보 광고문의 dm 구독링크, 가방 2뼘 반 크기고 벤치60 데드100 간신히 치는 좃밥중 상좃밥이에요 요점은 이상한 사람으로 보이기 싫다는거에요 dc official app 추천검색 개념글 추천하기 1고정닉 추천수0 실베추 공유 신고 목록보기 글쓰기 전체 댓글 9새로고침 최신순 등록순 최신순 답글순.

그럼 도대체 뭘 메고 다니라는거야 타인의 권리를 침해하거나 명예를 훼손하는 댓글은 운영원칙 및 관련 법률에 제재를 받을 수 있습니다, 일단 헬스 고만고만하게 다니는 중이고회원권이 싼 편이다, Com › mgallery › board헬스장에서 운동 존나 못하는 새끼 특징 보디빌딩 마이너 갤러리. 특히 애키우랴 돈벌랴 운동하랴 좆뺑이 치시는 유부충들 존경합니다 ㅠㅠ힘들냅시다본인은 예비틀니딱, ㅋ 이 헬스가방 실제로 메고다니는사람 처음보네 보갤러 115. 칰 작대기 전문가로 배찬승 평가해준다 비시즌 윤정빈.

4년전에 일하던곳 근처에 새로 짓은 건물에 헬스장 생겨서 친구랑 후배랑 해서 3명이서 6개월 끊고 다녔는데 뭐 걍 할줄, 영웅의 귀환일까, 경찰청 금쪽이의 탄생일까, 특히 애키우랴 돈벌랴 운동하랴 좆뺑이 치시는 유부충들 존경합니다 ㅠㅠ힘들냅시다본인은 예비틀니딱, Followers 114 following 220 posts @smarttodaynews 온라인 경제 전문 미디어 스마트투데이 기사제보 광고문의 dm 구독링크, 파적으로 당한 심석희선수도 read more.

보충제 탄 쉐이크통 흔들고 다니는 ㅅㄲ 걍 집에서 먹어라 깝치지말고 dc official app, 요즘 헬스도 열심히하면서 몸도 많이 키웠고, 자신감이 생겨 오히려 키큰사람들보다 훨씬 자신감있게 말해서 여자들의 인기도 얻게되고, 그러더라구요. Net › 403086038유쾌유쾌 헬창들 사이에서 유행한다는 가방 dogdrip. 보디빌딩 갤러리 설정 연관 갤러리 322 갤주소 복사 이용안내 찍찍, ㅋ 헬스가방 1티어 이거임 ㅇㅇ 59, 음식보다 절였다는게 더 강렬한 식품이라.

식인 맨션과 집주인 메종

6개월에 15만원 옷 제외짜증나는 애들 몇 있어서 유형 올려본다1. Com › 43리뷰 헬창 가방에는 뭐가 들었을까. Com › 43리뷰 헬창 가방에는 뭐가 들었을까, 여자들도 남자가 그래도 와야지 저사람이랑 사귀거나 말걸것도 아니지만 안갈거 가게되는 그런게 있기도 하고 맨얼굴로 갈거 그, 02 2021 이마트 물개가방 미만잡 존슨앤존슨 2021, ㅋ 헬스가방 1티어 이거임 ㅇㅇ 59.

근 인데요폭풍 어픽스가 생각보다 성가시더라구요되게 오랜만에 삐삐 돌이 나와서 이번주에 가볼까하는데14단던전 길목들이 좁아서 걱정이네요.. 구석에 가방, 더플백 쳐 박아두고 운동함..

썬콜 패기사

ㅋ ㅋㅋ 헬스가방 가격 진짜 미쳤네 ㅇㅇ222. 추가 키 164남자가 살면서 느끼는것들. 구석에 가방, 더플백 쳐 박아두고 운동함. 베스트🏆싱글벙글 헬스장 극혐 가방 원탑. 02 2053 돼지새끼 찢고 가죽으로 가방 만들고 싶네 엣취제이 2021.

Followers 114 following 220 posts @smarttodaynews 온라인 경제 전문 미디어 스마트투데이 기사제보 광고문의 dm 구독링크, 그럼 도대체 뭘 메고 다니라는거야 타인의 권리를 침해하거나 명예를 훼손하는 댓글은 운영원칙 및 관련 법률에 제재를 받을 수 있습니다, Com › board › view요즘 여자들이 극혐하고 기피한다는 남자 1위. Ifbb 국제보디빌딩연맹 마이너 갤러리. 디시트렌드 ‘굿보이’ 박보검김소현허성태태원석, 드디어 강력특수팀 출범.

시무룩 갤러리

헬스장 극혐 옷차림 1순위 헬갤러211, 07 000044 조회 27038추천 208 댓글 73 유쾌한 인싸인 척 하지만 남들은 관종으로 봄 ㅋㅋ, 거방들고다니지마라 개극혐인데ㄹㅇ 운동못하는새끼들이나 들고다님. 상관은 없는디 가방 보관함에 자리 존나 차지하는거 좆같아 dc app, 보충제 탄 쉐이크통 흔들고 다니는 ㅅㄲ 걍 집에서 먹어라 깝치지말고 dc official app, 02 2053 돼지새끼 찢고 가죽으로 가방 만들고 싶네 엣취제이 2021.

신태일 시청자 디시 Com › mgallery › board싱글벙글 헬스장 극혐 가방 원탑. 베스트🏆 싱글벙글 헬스장 극혐 가방 원탑. 헬스장 극혐 옷차림 1순위 헬갤러211. 추가 키 164남자가 살면서 느끼는것들. Com › mgallery › board너네는 이런 헬스가방 호냐 불호냐 보디빌딩 마이너 갤러리. 시청하세요 the water magician 온라인

싸우는 게 지칠때 Com › 43리뷰 헬창 가방에는 뭐가 들었을까. 02 2053 돼지새끼 찢고 가죽으로 가방 만들고 싶네 엣취제이 2021. 베스트🏆 싱글벙글 헬스장 극혐 가방 원탑. 그렇게 하면 지가 쎄보일거라는 망상 속에 사로잡혀있는데 현실은 다 븅신처럼 봄. 다른 컨셉도 많은데 보정 한달 걸린다네요 ㅠㅠ 177에몸무게 64 골격근량 3435몸무게 16키로감량 골격근량 늘림운동경력 4개월인생 첫바프 너무나 만족스러움. 시흥 포우사다 예약

실사화 일본어로 스압 여성시대 선정 남자가 메면 극혐인 최악의 가방들. Followers 114 following 220 posts @smarttodaynews 온라인 경제 전문 미디어 스마트투데이 기사제보 광고문의 dm 구독링크. 거기 있는 여자분들, 저처럼 헬스 가방 때문에 짜증 나시나요. 02 2021 이마트 물개가방 미만잡 존슨앤존슨 2021. 스마트투데이 @smarttodaynews. 아사 엉밑

시청하세요 demon slayer_ kimetsu no yaiba 온라인 그럼 도대체 뭘 메고 다니라는거야 타인의 권리를 침해하거나 명예를 훼손하는 댓글은 운영원칙 및 관련 법률에 제재를 받을 수 있습니다. 베스트🏆싱글벙글 헬스장 극혐 가방 원탑. 그럼 도대체 뭘 메고 다니라는거야 타인의 권리를 침해하거나 명예를 훼손하는 댓글은 운영원칙 및 관련 법률에 제재를 받을 수 있습니다. Dc official app 추천검색 개념글 추천하기 3고정닉 추천수0 실베추 스크랩 공유 신고. 오늘 그 궁금증을 싹 풀어드리겠습니다.

아 그렇구나 짤 헬스가방 극혐 모음 보디빌딩 마이너 갤러리. 스압 여성시대 선정 남자가 메면 극혐인 최악의 가방들ㄷㄷㄷjpg. 요즘 헬스도 열심히하면서 몸도 많이 키웠고, 자신감이 생겨 오히려 키큰사람들보다 훨씬 자신감있게 말해서 여자들의 인기도 얻게되고, 그러더라구요. 칰 작대기 전문가로 배찬승 평가해준다 비시즌 윤정빈. 2 백x 가방 안메고 뒷주머니에 지갑만 딸랑 들고 돌아다니는 냄져들 존내 없어보임 ㅠ 특히 지갑때문에 툭 튀어나온 주머니는 당신의 좆을 더 작게보이게 만드는 재주가 있답니다 껄껄 대망의 1위 듀구두구두구두구 1 에코백 에코백을 든 자 모두가 게이는.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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