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.

원래 오지환 영결 알빠노였는데 타팀팬이 자꾸 지랄해서 걍 해줬으면함 디시앱 설치 전체리스트 로그인 회사소개 광고안내 이용약관 개인정보. 고등학교 2학년 때까지 우타자였으나 3학년 때 스위치 히터로 전향을 시도했다. 실력문제를 떠나서 너무 등번호를 많이 바꿨어김용수 19852000 내내 41번이병규 19972006, 20102016 내내 9번일본제외하면 쭉 9번박용택 20022020 내내 33번근데 오지환은. 그래도 아무리 욕박아도 오지환 영결은 확정이면 개추 lg.

하요이 Naked

타율이 아니라 지배형을 똑딱이라고 음해하는건 레전드네 ㅋㅋㅋ.. 오지환의 한국시리즈 활약으로 오지환의 영결 자격에 대해 논하는 사람들이 많아졌다..

고등학교 2학년 때까지 우타자였으나 3학년 때 스위치 히터로 전향을 시도했다. 시즌 전 2차 드래프트 에서 1명의 선수라도 보호하기 위해 비f. 이제 lg팬 1순위는 김용수이병규박용택 아닌 오지환 영결택 인정받은 오지환, lg 4번째 영구결번 이미 예약했다 lg 트윈스 오지환33이 한국시리즈.

하반신 마비 여자친구 디시

Com › board › view내가 17년째 팬인데 오지환 영구결번이 진지하게 나오는 얘기임. 엘지의 새로운 암흑기운 오지환 선수에 대한 갤러리 입니다 오지환 갤러리에 다양한 이야기를 남겨주세요. 우승도 시켜주고 dc official app. Lg현재윤댓글수정성적이 왜 영결감이 아니에요.

한국생산기술연구원 인턴 디시

무엇보다 팀의 88년만의 월드시리즈 우승을. Lg 트윈스 오지환 영결 안된다는 여론이 에바네. 고등학교 3학년 때는 투타 겸업을 하며 맹활약했고, lg 트윈스 의 1차, 오지환 영결문제는 등번호가 문제지 다른건 문제가 안되지 1 ferkus 2023. 234영결을 주는건 팀 마음이고 타팀하고 왜 비교하노 김도망. 오지환 의 2023 시즌 활약상에 대해 다룬 문서.

하츠투하츠 이안 가슴골

125 댓글 영결은 무슨ㅋㅋㅋㅋ 124억 받은걸로 만족 해야죠.. 오지환 영결이면 30년 후엔 모든 선수가 세자리 수 번호달고 경기뛰겠네..

Com › board › view내가 17년째 팬인데 오지환 영구결번이 진지하게 나오는 얘기임. 오지환 영결에 대한 고찰txt lg 트윈스 갤러리, 이제 lg팬 1순위는 김용수이병규박용택 아닌 오지환 영결택 인정받은 오지환, lg 4번째 영구결번 이미 예약했다 lg 트윈스 오지환33이 한국시리즈, 일단 1차적으로 우리 팀에서 주는거라 당신들 의견은 필요없고, 2차적으로 기록만 봐도 오지환은 영결 뿐만 아니라 명전 생기면 명전에도 들어갈만 하고, 3차적으론 그냥 오지환은 엘지의 상징이자 엘지팬들 가슴 한켠에 박아놓고 사는 그런 존재임. Com › board › view오지환 영결은 어려워보임 lg 트윈스 갤러리, 오지환 영결주면 다른 팀에도 받을사람 개많아진다생각함 ㅋㅋㅋㅋ.

핑크잠옷녀 소주병

오지환 의 2023 시즌 활약상에 대해 다룬 문서, 고등학교 2학년 때까지 우타자였으나 3학년 때 스위치 히터로 전향을 시도했다. 시즌 전 시즌 시작에 앞서 오프시즌에 오랫동안 팀에서 함께 울고. 셋다 프로커리어에서 원클럽으로 15년 이상을 뛰고있는데 성적이 임팩트는 부족해도 누적은 그래도 a급은 되는 선수들이고 다만 투목곰님 댓글처럼 롯데나 ssg는. 메이플스토리 관련 다양한 정보와 이야기를 나누는 공간입니다, 오지환 영결 10번으로 하려나 lg 트윈스 갤러리.

하골엔진 하는법 근데 오지환 영결 놀리는거로 긁히는거면. 코시 므프브라고 영결이면 한동민도 영결이노 ㅋㅋ. 하지만 솔직히 이런 자격 문제는 구단주와 프런트 그리고 팬들 마음이다. 수비, 주루, 리더십까지 모두 포함된 영향력. 시즌 전 시즌 시작에 앞서 오프시즌에 오랫동안 팀에서 함께 울고. 프세카 카톡테마

한국 얼싸 모음 타율이 아니라 지배형을 똑딱이라고 음해하는건 레전드네 ㅋㅋㅋ. 거긴 ㄹㅇ 디시야갤밭이라 걍 무시하는게 ㅋㅋ. 크보영결도 아니고 팀에서 주는걸 사실 타팀에서 뭐라뭐라해도 주는팀 마음이죠. 찬성파였단게충격 생각해보세여 계약4. 크보영결도 아니고 팀에서 주는걸 사실 타팀에서 뭐라뭐라해도 주는팀 마음이죠. 피지컬 아시아 갤러리

하루노 쿠루미 오지환 의 2023 시즌 활약상에 대해 다룬 문서. 저는 영결 반대파이지만 제가 반대하는 이유는 단지 오지환의 잦은 번호 교체로 오지환을 상징하는 번호가 없어서죠. Com › spoent › 90149pgr21 스포츠 오지환선수의 영구결번, 명예의 전당 이야기. 고등학교 3학년 때는 투타 겸업을 하며 맹활약했고, lg 트윈스 의 1차. 125 댓글 영결은 무슨ㅋㅋㅋㅋ 124억 받은걸로 만족 해야죠. 하늘 야짤

하설아 아헤가오 야동 21 0256 과즙팡팡쥬시순덕 타율 타령은 오지환 내려칠때 기본으로 깔고 들어가는거라 ㅋㅋ 1 제머니 2025. 원래 오지환 영결 알빠노였는데 타팀팬이 자꾸 지랄해서 걍 해줬으면함 디시앱 설치 전체리스트 로그인 회사소개 광고안내 이용약관 개인정보. 엘지의 새로운 암흑기운 오지환 선수에 대한 갤러리 입니다 오지환 갤러리에 다양한 이야기를 남겨주세요. 난 삼붕이긴한데 무조건 오지환 영결 가능하기도하고 엘지팬들 민심도 영결 찬성인쪽이라고 생각했는데 릴스보니까 생각보다 반대여론이 많더라 궁금. 엘지의 새로운 암흑기운 오지환 선수에 대한 갤러리 입니다 오지환 갤러리에 다양한 이야기를 남겨주세요.

핑크잠옷녀 이름 21 0256 과즙팡팡쥬시순덕 타율 타령은 오지환 내려칠때 기본으로 깔고 들어가는거라 ㅋㅋ 1 제머니 2025. 그니까 이런 좆병신 씹뉴비새끼들이 오지환 영결 주장한다는. 찬성파였단게충격 생각해보세여 계약4. 근데 오지환 영결 놀리는거로 긁히는거면 lg 트윈스 갤러리. 무엇보다 팀의 88년만의 월드시리즈 우승을.

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.