US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 20, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 20, 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 20, 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 20, 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 20, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 20, 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 20, 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 20, 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 20, 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 20, 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 20, 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 20, 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 20, 2026.
1m subscribers subscribe. 승리는 가수로 활동하기보다는 과거의 명성을 가지고 사업적인 확장을 위해 노력. 12일 서울지방경찰청 사이버안전과는 정준영 불법 촬영물에 대한 허위 사실을 유포한 1020대. 경찰이 이른바 ‘정준영 몰카’에 유명 여배우와 여자 아이돌 가수가 등장한다는 허위사실을 작성해 유포한 대학생 등 6명을 검찰에 넘길 예정이다.
정준영은 19일 오전 5시 5분께 전남 목포교도소에서 형기를 마치고 출소, 사회로 나왔다.. Shift+enter 키를 동시에 누르면 줄바꿈이 됩니다..관련게시물 속보 대흥민 절친 정준영 근황. 20 170001 조회 65215 추천 432 댓글 645. 같이 외국여행도 다니고 디시앱 설치 전체리스트 로그인 회사소개 광고안내 이용약관 개인정보. 집단 성폭행 혐의로 징역 5년을 선고받은 가수 정준영35이 만기 출소했다. 정준영 어릴때부터 유투버 영국남자 찐친임. 최종훈 음주운전 사건과 경찰의 덮어주기 논란 4. 12일 서울지방경찰청 사이버안전과는 정준영 불법 촬영물에 대한 허위 사실을 유포한 1020대. 실시간 베스트 갤러리 설정 연관 갤러리 039 갤주소 복사 이용안내 단독 정준영, 클럽서 여성 끌어안은 영상 입수. 정준영 몰카 루머 수사했더니디시일베서 첫 유포. 당시 씨엔블루 이종현은 정준영 단톡방 멤버로 지목돼 자숙 중이었던 상황이었기에 여성 유튜버에게 사적 호감을 드러냈다는 사실이 드러나 비난받기도, 정준영 몰카 루머 퍼뜨린 일베디시 유포자들 검거, 정준영 밴드는 보컬 정준영이 프론트맨으로서 지나치게 부각되기 때문에 밴드 전체의 색깔이 드러나지 않는다는 취지이다. 근데 여시n번방은 이 악물고 모르는 척 하면서 정준영은 지구 끝까지 쫓아가는 것도 웃기노 시발ㅋㅋㅋ.
| 서울경찰청은 12일 정보통신망법상 허위사실에 의한 명예훼손 혐의로 무직자 a씨32 등 6명을 기소의견으로 검찰에 송. | 당시 씨엔블루 이종현은 정준영 단톡방 멤버로 지목돼 자숙 중이었던 상황이었기에 여성 유튜버에게 사적 호감을 드러냈다는 사실이 드러나 비난받기도. | 정준영 몰카에 여자 연예인 등장 허위사실 유포 디시. |
|---|---|---|
| 19일 오전 정준영은 전남 목포교도소에서. | 정준영 현재 프랑스 파리 김수현 갤러리. | 서울지방경찰청 사이버안전과는 허위로 작성된 불법 촬영 피해자 명단인 일명 ‘정준영 지라시’를 작성ㆍ유포한 피의자 7명 중 6명을 기소의견으로 검찰에. |
| 216 좋다고 섹스했지만 피해자 2024. | Com › board › view싱글벙글 좋은 음악으로 보답각 재는 정준영 실시간 베스트 갤러리. | 이날 정준영은 마스크를 쓰고 모자를 눌러쓴 채 밖으로 나왔다. |
| 12일 서울지방경찰청 사이버안전과는 정준영 불법 촬영물에 대한 허위 사실을 유포한 1020대. | 정준영 몰카에 여자 연예인 등장 허위사실 유포 디시. | 정준영 불법 촬영물 이들은 일간 베스트 일베 디시인사이드. |
의사인력 양성 토론회32개 의대 증원 1천930∼4천200명 논의 증원상한율 10%30% 등 고려지역별대학별 배분, 의무복무지역 등 쟁점 서울연합뉴스 고유선 기자 현재 운영중인 비 非 서울권 의대 32곳의 5년간 증원 규모가 1천930∼4천200명 선에서 논의된다.. 정준영과 그 패거리의 범죄는 성관계 무단 촬영과 불법 마약 복용, 여자들 물뽕 맥이게 하고 강간, 국내외 성매매와 성매매 알선.. Shift+enter 키를 동시에 누르면 줄바꿈이 됩니다..
Net › 545782657오늘 자 출소한 가수 정준영 근황 ㄷㄷ dogdrip. 정준영 밴드는 보컬 정준영이 프론트맨으로서 지나치게 부각되기 때문에 밴드 전체의 색깔이 드러나지 않는다는 취지이다. 2010년대 이후의 주류 보컬 스타일은 두성에 가까운 높고 가벼운 소리를 기반에 둔 소리이나, 로이킴은 중성에 가까운 비교적 낮고 무거운 소리에 기반을 둔 소리를 사용한다.
실시간 베스트 갤러리 설정 연관 갤러리 039 갤주소 복사 이용안내 단독 정준영, 클럽서 여성 끌어안은 영상 입수. 이들은 상대방 동의 없이 성관계 동영상을 촬영유포한 혐의로 구속된 가수 정준영30씨의 불법촬영물에 유명 여배우 10여 명과 여자 아이돌이 등장, 정준영 어릴때부터 유투버 영국남자 찐친임, 그는 2심 재판에서 최종 징역 5년, 80시간 성폭력 치료 프로그램 이수 및 아동청소년 관련기관 등과 장애인복지시설에 5년 취업제한을 선고받았다. 정준영 어릴때부터 유투버 영국남자 찐친임.
정준영 jung joon young teenager mv stone music entertainment 11. 정준영 갤러리 커뮤니티 포털 디시인사이드, 승리는 가수로 활동하기보다는 과거의 명성을 가지고 사업적인 확장을 위해 노력.
Redirecting to sgall. Mobon2 해당 영상을 본 외국 네티즌은 이들의 형량을 듣고 깜짝 놀랐다, 그들이 강간, 성매매, 불법 약물 복용, 동의 없이 여성을 촬영한 혐의를 받는데 불과 몇 개월의 징역형을 선고받았다는 사실을 도저히 이해할 수 없다, 이미 출소했다는 댓글을 달았다. 이날 정준영은 마스크를 쓰고 모자를 눌러쓴 채 밖으로 나왔다. 12일 경찰 측은 이른바 정준영 몰카에 특정 여자 연예인들이 등장, 전곡이 밴드 멤버들의 자작곡으로 이루어진 앨범으로 밴드의 색깔과 개성이 잘드러난 명반으로 평가받고 있다.
또 이른바 정준영 단톡방으로 불린 단체 대화방에서 불법 촬영 영상을 11차례에 걸쳐 유포한 혐의도 추가됐다, 의사인력 양성 토론회32개 의대 증원 1천930∼4천200명 논의 증원상한율 10%30% 등 고려지역별대학별 배분, 의무복무지역 등 쟁점 서울연합뉴스 고유선 기자 현재 운영중인 비 非 서울권 의대 32곳의 5년간 증원 규모가 1천930∼4천200명 선에서 논의된다. 서울지방경찰청 사이버안전과는 허위로 작성된 불법 촬영 피해자 명단인 일명 ‘정준영 지라시’를 작성ㆍ유포한 피의자 7명 중 6명을 기소의견으로 검찰에, 20 170001 조회 65215 추천 432 댓글 645. 정준영이 피해자와 성관계를 했다고 자랑하자 김모씨가 영상이 없는지 물어봤고, 정준영은 3초 분량의 불법촬영 영상을 전송함.
관련게시물 속보 대흥민 절친 정준영 근황, Ai 이미지 간편 등록 정준영 근황 ㄷㄷ, 집단 성폭행 후 살면서 가장 재미있는 밤이었다던 정준영 ㅇㅇ37. 보양식인 줄 알았지만 췌장에는 독만큼 안 좋다는 음식 1위는 이것. Com › board › view단독 정준영, 클럽서 여성 끌어안은 영상 입수. 승리는 가수 활동은 하지 않고 사업에 전념하고 있다.
kyoshii twitter 당시 씨엔블루 이종현은 정준영 단톡방 멤버로 지목돼 자숙 중이었던 상황이었기에 여성 유튜버에게 사적 호감을 드러냈다는 사실이 드러나 비난받기도. 정준영 갤러리 커뮤니티 포털 디시인사이드. 최종훈 음주운전 사건과 경찰의 덮어주기 논란 4. 실시간 베스트 갤러리 설정 연관 갤러리 039 갤주소 복사 이용안내 단독 정준영, 클럽서 여성 끌어안은 영상 입수. 정준영 갤러리 커뮤니티 포털 디시인사이드. kuzu 모음
laliberte gest 2010년대 이후의 주류 보컬 스타일은 두성에 가까운 높고 가벼운 소리를 기반에 둔 소리이나, 로이킴은 중성에 가까운 비교적 낮고 무거운 소리에 기반을 둔 소리를 사용한다. 경찰이 이른바 정준영 몰카에 유명 여배우와 여자 아이돌 가수가 등장한다는 허위사실을 작성해 유포한 대학생 등 6명을 검찰에 넘길 예정이다. Com › board › view싱글벙글 좋은 음악으로 보답각 재는 정준영 실시간 베스트 갤러리. 데일리한국 신영선 기자 가수 정준영이 불법촬영한 동영상에 여배우와 아이돌 가수가 나온다는 허위사실을 유포한 대학생 등이 경찰에 붙잡혔다. 실시간 베스트 갤러리 설정 연관 갤러리 039 갤주소 복사 이용안내 단독 정준영, 클럽서 여성 끌어안은 영상 입수. lee_eel1004
krysten alyce ritter sex 용준형탈퇴해 용사건 타임라인 정리 +정준영 인스타 용댓. 정준영과 대화한 제보자가 촬영한 영상을 보여드리겠습니다. 같이 외국여행도 다니고 디시앱 설치 전체리스트 로그인 회사소개 광고안내 이용약관 개인정보. 누리꾼들은 정준영 아버지의 직업에 대해 여러 추측을 하기도 했다. Com › board › view단독 정준영, 클럽서 여성 끌어안은 영상 입수. korbolt swang
kuzu_v0 초승달 한10년은 늙었노 타인의 권리를 침해하거나 명예를 훼손하는 댓글은 운영원칙 및 관련 법률에 제재를 받을 수 있습니다. 정준영 현재 프랑스 파리 김수현 갤러리. 서울지방경찰청 사이버안전과는 허위로 작성된 불법 촬영 피해자 명단인 일명 ‘정준영 지라시’를 작성ㆍ유포한 피의자 7명 중 6명을 기소의견으로 검찰에. 정준영과 대화한 제보자가 촬영한 영상을 보여드리겠습니다. 2010년대 이후의 주류 보컬 스타일은 두성에 가까운 높고 가벼운 소리를 기반에 둔 소리이나, 로이킴은 중성에 가까운 비교적 낮고 무거운 소리에 기반을 둔 소리를 사용한다.
larry 밈 뜻 정준영은 19일 오전 5시 5분께 전남 목포교도소에서 형기를 마치고 출소, 사회로 나왔다. 정준영 몰카 루머 퍼뜨린 일베디시 유포자들 검거. 12일 경찰 측은 이른바 정준영 몰카에 특정 여자 연예인들이 등장. Mobon2 해당 영상을 본 외국 네티즌은 이들의 형량을 듣고 깜짝 놀랐다, 그들이 강간, 성매매, 불법 약물 복용, 동의 없이 여성을 촬영한 혐의를 받는데 불과 몇 개월의 징역형을 선고받았다는 사실을 도저히 이해할 수 없다, 이미 출소했다는 댓글을 달았다. 정준영 불법 촬영물 이들은 일간 베스트 일베 디시인사이드.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 20, 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 20, 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 20, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 20, 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.
정준영 몰카에 등장 여배우아이돌 유포자 적발했더니., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.