US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 7, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 7, 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 7, 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 7, 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 7, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 7, 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 7, 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 7, 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 7, 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 7, 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 7, 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 7, 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 7, 2026.
예전에 게이인 사람이 여자친구 사귀다 게이임을 알게 되어서 헤어졌다는데 그거 보는 기분임. 여자들이 아저씨좋아하는심리는 서울과학기술대 갤러리. 쫌더 진지한거 좋아하면 제 역대 한드인 my mister 나의 아저씨 좋은 작품입니다. 유머움짤이슈 유머 인기글 목록 2025.
Com › talk › 370413166오지콤 있는 애들한테 궁금한 거 네이트 판. 26 003108 스크랩 조회 8023 추천 137 댓글 41 평탄한 가정에서 평균이상의 지능을 가진 사람은 늙은 남자한테 이성적 매력을 느끼기 어려워, Com › talk › 370413166오지콤 있는 애들한테 궁금한 거 네이트 판, Com › board › view글써봄 나는 아저씨 좋아하는 여자임 역학 갤러리, Com › board › view아저씨 좋아하는 애들 정상은 아님 역학 갤러리. 여고생들이 생각하기에도 아저씨라는 단어가 항상 부정적으로 쓰이지는 않는다고 한다. 성숙함, 카리스마, 정서적 안정감 등등. 근데 이건 한국아저씨가 봐도 처음 5화정도까지는 지겹고 우울하니 좀 참고봐야 하는 단점이 있습니다. 모든 나이많은 남자들이 저렇게다는건 아님, 근데 솔직히 아저씨를 좋아하는 게 아니라 좋아하고 보니 아저씨인 거. 근데 이건 한국아저씨가 봐도 처음 5화정도까지는 지겹고 우울하니 좀 참고봐야 하는 단점이 있습니다. 아저씨 좋아하는 애들 정상은 아님 ㅇㅇ211. i was the head chef on the s. 여자들이 아저씨좋아하는심리는 서울과학기술대 갤러리.아저씨 좋아하는 애들 정상은 아님 역학 갤러리. 아저씨는 여자를 볼 때 어디를 중시해, 물론 흔해빠진 아저씨 말고 관리 잘되고 사회적 지위도 있는 남자들이었죠. 아줌마도 젊은남자 좋아함 근데 티내는건 아저씨들이 심한듯. Kr › 20250203 › 요즘여자들이요즘 여자들이 이상형으로 꼽는 아저씨 기준 지큐 코리아 gq korea, Gender 30대 여자비율이 가장높은거보니 고소영이뻐요 하는 이유를 알겠다 여자들아 진심으로 한마디 하겠는데 30대 여자는 진심으로 여자로 아예안보여요 gender 30대여자들 한혜진 빙의해서 악플다는거 진짜 안쓰럽고 역겹다.
Profile_image 저런 멀쩡하게 생긴 동안 아저씨면 보통 결혼을 하는 게 정상이니, 데이트 잘하고 들어가서부턴 연락이 잘 안됨, 나는 소스라치게 놀라며 아저씨 뭐에요. 주지훈의 독보적인 분위기요즘 대세 아저씨의 정석.
데이트 잘하고 들어가서부턴 연락이 잘 안됨. 근데 솔직히 아저씨를 좋아하는 게 아니라 좋아하고 보니 아저씨인 거. 주변 분들이 저를 처음에 좋게 생각하다가 아저씨 좋아하는것을 알고 아저씨가 하는 가게 까지도 못오게 하시더라구요 그리고 아저씨도 아저씨 주변 사람들을 않좋게 생각하니까 당분간은 가게에서는 만나지 말자고 하시더라구요 한번은 아저씨 집에서 잤습니다.
Profile_image 저런 멀쩡하게 생긴 동안 아저씨면 보통 결혼을 하는 게 정상이니. 혐오좋아하는 개드립에서 좋아할만한 글이네요 잘봤습니다. 이런 유형의 여미새들은 여자들에게만 돈을 쓰느라 밥 한번도 안 사고 싸가지 없게 굴며 얻어먹기만 하는 주제에 만날 때마다 다음에 여자 소개시켜 달라, 마치 약속이라도 한 것처럼여자 언제 소개시켜 줄 거냐, 너 왜 xx이는 여자 소개시켜주고 난 안, 내가 서운해하면 어떻게든 풀어주려고 하고, 나 만나러 왕복 한시간거리를 매일같이 달려오던 사람이었음. 아저씨 좋아하는 애들 정상은 아님 역학 갤러리.
남자가 나이든 여자를 사랑하는게 번식본능 거르는짓 아님, 아저씨는 여자를 볼 때 어디를 중시해. 일반 근데 아저씨 좋아하는 여자들 은근 많음. 주변 분들이 저를 처음에 좋게 생각하다가 아저씨 좋아하는것을 알고 아저씨가 하는 가게 까지도 못오게 하시더라구요 그리고 아저씨도 아저씨 주변 사람들을 않좋게 생각하니까 당분간은 가게에서는 만나지 말자고 하시더라구요 한번은 아저씨 집에서 잤습니다, 어느 날은 내가 핸드폰 배경화면으로 내가 좋아하는 보이그룹의 멤버 재훈을 지정해 놓고 빙그레 웃고 있었는데 내 어깨 너머로 숨결이 느껴졌다.
내가 오빠 파마머리 어울리겠다고 하니 그다음날 파마를 하고 온 남자였음.. 근데 이건 한국아저씨가 봐도 처음 5화정도까지는 지겹고 우울하니 좀 참고봐야 하는 단점이 있습니다.. 사랑과 이별 너무 답답한 마음에 여기에 끄적여 봅니다ㅠㅠ 욕이라도 좋으니 댓글많이 남겨 주셨음 좋겠습니다 고민좀 해결해 주세요ㅠㅠ 안녕하.. 나는 노력을 하지 않아도 미녀와 ㅅㅅ 해야하고 나가려면 거부도 못하는 강력한 조건..
물론 흔해빠진 아저씨 말고 관리 잘되고 사회적 지위도 있는 남자들이었죠. 여고생들이 생각하기에도 아저씨라는 단어가 항상 부정적으로 쓰이지는 않는다고 한다. 예전에 게이인 사람이 여자친구 사귀다 게이임을 알게 되어서 헤어졌다는데 그거 보는 기분임. 여자들이 아저씨좋아하는심리는 서울과학기술대 갤러리.
고고 씨 디시 i was the head chef on the s. 나는 노력을 하지 않아도 미녀와 ㅅㅅ 해야하고 나가려면 거부도 못하는 강력한 조건. 아줌마도 젊은남자 좋아함 근데 티내는건 아저씨들이 심한듯. Com › entiz › read나이차이 많이나는 남자 좋아하는 여자 심리 뭐에요. 나는 소스라치게 놀라며 아저씨 뭐에요. 개 짝짓기 영상
거유 일러 내가 오빠 파마머리 어울리겠다고 하니 그다음날 파마를 하고 온 남자였음. 근데 이건 한국아저씨가 봐도 처음 5화정도까지는 지겹고 우울하니 좀 참고봐야 하는 단점이 있습니다. 26 003108 스크랩 조회 8023 추천 137 댓글 41 평탄한 가정에서 평균이상의 지능을 가진 사람은 늙은 남자한테 이성적 매력을 느끼기 어려워. 2년반동안 날 좋아했다는 52살 아저씨. 쫌더 진지한거 좋아하면 제 역대 한드인 my mister 나의 아저씨 좋은 작품입니다. 게게 디시
개빡친 유하 레전드 해병문학이 풍자 하는 해병대의 부분과 해수색과 해병대간의 관계 를 안다면 이해하기 쉽다. 오지상おじさん, 아저씨 콤플렉스의 줄임말. 그런 사람들 보면 신기해 직장인끼리 소개팅하러 가기💛 by 블라인드가 만든 소개팅앱 27여 셀소해봅니다🙋🏼♀ 블릿 셀소 주간베스트. 사십대 초반까진 현빈을 봐도 그렇고 관리하면 나쁘지않잖아요. 혐오좋아하는 개드립에서 좋아할만한 글이네요 잘봤습니다. 감각차단 디시
게이 뒷보지 물론 나이많은 아저씨랑 알고지내다보니 자연스레 좋아지게 되고 끌리게 되고 사귈수도 있죠. 먼저 말을 걸어서 기껏 답장해줬는데 읽지도 않고 30분 후에 다시 연락이 된다면 뜨문뜨문 끊어지는 대화에 여성은 즉시 흥미를 잃고 마찬가지로 대화에 참여하지 않게 됩니다. 아예 집게사장이 만든 게살버거는 석탄 수준으로 새까맣게 타버릴 정도. 그땐 내가 젊고 남자도 늙어보이지 않으니. 물론 나이많은 아저씨랑 알고지내다보니 자연스레 좋아지게 되고 끌리게 되고 사귈수도 있죠.
거상 디시인사이드 와들와들 진짜 아저씨를 좋아하는 20대 여자들. 데이트 잘하고 들어가서부턴 연락이 잘 안됨. 발연기는 발과 연기의 합성어로, 매우 형편없는 연기를 말한다. 지식in에서 아저씨가좋아요 태그와 관련된 q&a를 만나보세요. 유머움짤이슈 유머 인기글 목록 2025.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 7, 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 7, 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 7, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 7, 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.
나는 소스라치게 놀라며 아저씨 뭐에요., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.