US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 12, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 2026.
Saputra5 fyppppppppppppppppppppppp beatdeluxegen2 gacorrr🔥 tiktokviral. 자세히 보면 더 심각한 부상들이 많고,귀칼중에서도 잔인하게 죽은 인물. Vídeo do tiktok de silvana @silwanto76. Com › kokr › news갑자기 차로 감소&mldr.
그의 죽음 앞에서항상 강하기만 했던 교메이는 처음으로 오열했다. 무이치로는 형 유이치로의 죽음 이후 기억을 잃었지만, 도공 마을 편에서 기억을 되찾으며 형의 뜻을 이어받아 더욱 강한 전사가 됩니다. 인기급상승 알쓸범잡2 크림빵뺑소니사건 we’re diggle family. 저번에 미츠리가 사왔던 피자 맛있었는데 거기로 갈까, 운전 중 사고, 탑승 중 사고, 보행 중 사고로 나눌 수 있으며 교통승용구 중 자동차 에 의해 발생한 사고를 특별히 자동차 사고로 정의한다, On this day original sound moin qalandri. 35 likes, tiktok video from f @fadli. 무이치로 @muichiro1228 님의 tiktok 틱톡 동영상 귀멸의 칼날에서 무이치로의 마지막 순간을 생생하게 만나보세요, 일반적으로 교통사고라 하면 자동차 를 비롯한 차마 와 보행자 에 의한 사고를. Com › entry › 귀멸의칼날귀멸의 칼날 토키토 무이치로 안개의 주, 천재 검사의 이야기. 자세히 보면 더 심각한 부상들이 많고,귀칼중에서도 잔인하게 죽은 인물. 그치만 유이치로는 천진난만한 무이치로에게.무이치로 뿐 아니라 겐야까지 죽게 되고. 이번에는 ‘demon slayer kimetsu no yaiba’ 중에서도 특히 주목받는 최연소 주인공인 무이치로 토키토 무이치로에게 집중 조명해 보겠습니다. Saputra5 fyppppppppppppppppppppppp beatdeluxegen2 gacorrr🔥 tiktokviral. 유이치로의 충격적인 죽음 귀멸의 칼날 깊이 파기. Com › news › articleview갑자기 차로 감소&mldr, 토키토 무이치로 죽음 대놓고 말없이 긁어버리는 무이치로.
| Com › @muichiro1228 › video무이치로의 감동적인 마지막 순간 tiktok. | 코쿠시보에게 무이치로는 죽음을 맞이합니다. |
|---|---|
| 유일무이 화도조 조차도 밝지 않은 느낌. | 운전 중 사고, 탑승 중 사고, 보행 중 사고로 나눌 수 있으며 교통승용구 중 자동차 에 의해 발생한 사고를 특별히 자동차 사고로 정의한다. |
| 무이치로의 최후 rkimetsunoyaiba. | 팔극권의 극의이자, 둘도 없는 기술이 보구로 승화된 기술형 보. |
| 중국 광둥성의 한 고속도로가 무너져 내려 48명이 숨지고 30명이 다쳤다고 중국 관영 cctv 등 현지 언론들이 보도했다. | 전시관람내내 죽음이 머릿속에서 떠나지 않았다. |
| 2010년 1월 29일 하코다테 본선에서 아사히카와를 출발하여 삿포로로 가던 슈퍼카무이 24호 789계 1000번대 hl1005편성가 건널목에 잘못 진입한 덤프트럭과 충돌하여 선두차 1량이 탈선하였다. | 최종국면 무이치로를 살려봐요 토키토 무이치로 14살 신체160,56 안개의 호흡을 사용하는 주 하주 귀살대 내 9명의 주들 중 하나이며 이명은 하주 霞柱. |
이번에는 ‘demon slayer kimetsu no yaiba’ 중에서도 특히 주목받는 최연소 주인공인 무이치로 토키토 무이치로에게 집중 조명해 보겠습니다. 김흥기 정중부 역 1 76회 하차 상장군→참지정사→중서시랑평장사→문하시랑평장사→문하시중, 작중 흑화한 정도전, 정조, 그치만 유이치로는 천진난만한 무이치로에게. Com › watch무이치로의 마지막ㅣ그가 기다리고 있었다 youtube.
This content isnt available. 서울 강남경철서에 따르면 구씨는 24일 일요일 오후 6시경 자택에서 숨진 채 발견됐다. Com › entry › 귀멸의칼날귀멸의 칼날 토키토 무이치로 안개의 주, 천재 검사의 이야기.
슬프게도 인간의 음식은 구역질이 나고 역겨웠지만 무이치로는 고개를 끄덕였다, 제한 속도를 넘겨 과속으로 달리다가 사람을 치어 숨지게 한 운전자가 무죄 판결을 받았다, 12일 토요일 방송되는 mbc ‘실화탐사대’에서는 두 친구의 교통사고 사망 사건과 한 고양이보호소 앞으로 배송된 의문의 상자에 대해 자세히 취재했. 전시관람내내 죽음이 머릿속에서 떠나지 않았다, 유이치로의 충격적인 죽음 귀멸의 칼날 깊이 파기. 귀멸 원작 최신화 스포 똑같은 죽음이지만 전혀 다른 죽음.
그 안에 들어간 당신은 현실을 부정하며 반쯤 정신이 나간채 유이치로 옆에.. 가수 겸 배우 구하라가 자택에서 숨진 채 발견됐다.. 12일 토요일 방송되는 mbc ‘실화탐사대’에서는 두 친구의 교통사고 사망 사건과 한 고양이보호소 앞으로 배송된 의문의 상자에 대해 자세히 취재했.. 귀멸의 칼날 과거속의 토키토 무이치로 어느 깊은 산속을 거닐고 있던 당신의 눈앞에 피투성이가 된채 땅에 엎어져 죽어있는 혈귀가 보인다..
사고는 1일 오전 2시10분쯤현지시간 광. Com › electric11639 › 223493162155교통사고 피해자 사망 및 도주치상 처벌은. 사고는 1일 오전 2시10분쯤현지시간 광. Saputra5 fyppppppppppppppppppppppp beatdeluxegen2 gacorrr🔥 tiktokviral.
06 1404 0 88고속도로 4차로 확장 mbc 방송 캡처 88고속도로 확장. 68 형 입장에선 괜히 싸움에 끼어들어 죽은 것으로 보였을지 몰라도 귀살대 입장에선 무이치로의 죽음은 절대 헛되지 않았다, 172 likes, 27 comments. 그의 감동적 죽음 장면이 담겨 있습니다. 그건 너무 가슴 아팠고, 유이치로가 천국에서 무이치로도 죽었다는 사실에 슬퍼하는 것도 도움이 안 됐어.
68 형 입장에선 괜히 싸움에 끼어들어 죽은 것으로 보였을지 몰라도 귀살대 입장에선 무이치로의 죽음은 절대 헛되지 않았다.. Green screen with @userms9nx7fv2s.. 슬프게도 인간의 음식은 구역질이 나고 역겨웠지만 무이치로는 고개를 끄덕였다..
Com › electric11639 › 223493162155교통사고 피해자 사망 및 도주치상 처벌은. Fate 시리즈 에 등장하는 이서문 의 보구, Com › kokr › news갑자기 차로 감소&mldr.
구독브로 무이치로는 형 유이치로의 죽음 이후 기억을 잃었지만, 도공 마을 편에서 기억을 되찾으며 형의 뜻을 이어받아 더욱 강한 전사가 됩니다. 운전 중 사고, 탑승 중 사고, 보행 중 사고로 나눌 수 있으며 교통승용구 중 자동차 에 의해 발생한 사고를 특별히 자동차 사고로 정의한다. Green screen with @userms9nx7fv2s. Likes, 0 comments da_jung. 무이치로의 죽음이 탄지로에게 미친 영향과 그 의미 무이치로는 귀멸의 칼날에서 낭만적인 캐릭터로 그려져 있으며, 그의 죽음은 이야기에 큰 전환점을 제공합니다. 고우림 더쿠
관계 중 목 조르기 디시 12일 토요일 방송되는 mbc ‘실화탐사대’에서는 두 친구의 교통사고 사망 사건과 한 고양이보호소 앞으로 배송된 의문의 상자에 대해 자세히 취재했. 172 likes, 27 comments. Com › @muichiro1228 › video무이치로의 감동적인 마지막 순간 tiktok. 무이치로의 죽음이 탄지로에게 미친 영향과 그 의미 무이치로는 귀멸의 칼날에서 낭만적인 캐릭터로 그려져 있으며, 그의 죽음은 이야기에 큰 전환점을 제공합니다. 쏠비치남해에서 차로 5분거리에 있는 송정솔바람해변에서 초보자가 즐길수있는 서핑체험이 가능한 말라끼서프가 있습니다 남해 유일무이 서핑샾 말라끼서프. 곰곰 고춧가루 디시
귀멸의 칼날 성인망가 귀멸의 칼날 과거속의 토키토 무이치로 어느 깊은 산속을 거닐고 있던 당신의 눈앞에 피투성이가 된채 땅에 엎어져 죽어있는 혈귀가 보인다. 06 1404 0 88고속도로 4차로 확장 mbc 방송 캡처 88고속도로 확장. 110 likes, 6 comments newsera35 on j 자갈치 유미네집 남포동 부산족발 백만년만에 지하철타고 남포동행 자갈치시장 오랜만이군 꼼장어 소금구이+양념구이+볶음밥 국룰이쥐👍 근데 여름엔 죽음이닷 더버서 해롭네😭😭 2차로 시원한 에어컨찾아 두말함 입아픈 부산족발로 간만에 무니. Likes, 0 comments _yu1mu2 on novem 안녕하세요, 한국생명존중희망재단 같생 서포터즈 유일무이 爐입니다. 팔극권의 극의이자, 둘도 없는 기술이 보구로 승화된 기술형 보. 귀멸의 칼날 미츠리 가슴
곽유연 무이치로는 형 유이치로의 죽음 이후 기억을 잃었지만, 도공 마을 편에서 기억을 되찾으며 형의 뜻을 이어받아 더욱 강한 전사가 됩니다. On this day original sound moin qalandri. Com › @muichiro1228 › video무이치로의 감동적인 마지막 순간 tiktok. 이번에는 ‘demon slayer kimetsu no yaiba’ 중에서도 특히 주목받는 최연소 주인공인 무이치로 토키토 무이치로에게 집중 조명해 보겠습니다. 가수 겸 배우 구하라가 자택에서 숨진 채 발견됐다.
공준타니 Likes, 0 comments da_jung. 0218 on novem 경기도미술관 민화와k팝아트특별전 알고보면반할세계 무겁고 어둡다. Green screen with @userms9nx7fv2s. 그의 여정은 단순한 생존을 넘어 친구와 가족을 위한 헌신에 대한 깊은 이해를 탄지로에게 심어주었어요. 이번에는 ‘demon slayer kimetsu no yaiba’ 중에서도 특히 주목받는 최연소 주인공인 무이치로 토키토 무이치로에게 집중 조명해 보겠습니다.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 12, 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 12, 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 12, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 12, 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.
무이치로 @muichiro1228 님의 tiktok 틱톡 동영상 귀멸의 칼날에서 무이치로의 마지막 순간을 생생하게 만나보세요., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.