US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, July 29, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, July 29, 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, July 29, 2026. © 2025 Marton Monus/Reuters; SECOND: University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, July 29, 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, July 29, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, July 29, 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, July 29, 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, July 29, 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, July 29, 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, July 29, 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, July 29, 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, July 29, 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, July 29, 2026.
90개국 남녀 5000쌍 모였다통일교, 합동 결혼식. 여기 숨겨진 방을 발견해 열어보니 놀라운 물건들이 나온 겁니다. 박수현 민주당 수석대변인은 12일 오전 서울 여의도 국회 본관에서. 합수본, 통일교 후원의원 명단 확보 한국당 32명민주당 13.
대한민국에서 문선명이 창설한 신흥종교, 사이비 종교. 더쿠 태연 생일과 탑시드홈마의 10주년이 겹쳤을때더쿠 태연 생일과 탑시드홈마의 10주년이 겹쳤을, 전 장관은 당시 구포성당 기념식 참석 사진도 있다고 강조했다. 아빠가 일본인엄마가 한국인 고딩때 책상에 가고싶은 대학 써놓기 하잖아ㅋㅋ 거기에 무슨과 이름이 인거임, 통일교 교주 문선명 40세 그의 부인 18세 시절.정보 통일교 한창 잘나갈때 초대 교주 문선명이 쌓아둔 인맥들 121,826 330 무명의 더쿠 stheqoo.. 통일교신천지 정교유착 의혹을 수사하는 검경 합동수사본부본부장 김태훈가 국회의원을 대상으로 통일교의 쪼개기 후원이 광범위하게 이뤄진.. 60여 년의 역사를 거치며 세계적으로 확산됐지만,‘신정통치’, ‘정재계 유착’, ‘세습 의혹’ 등끊임없는 논란을 낳아온 종교이기도 합니다.. 여기 숨겨진 방을 발견해 열어보니 놀라운 물건들이 나온 겁니다..
| 김씨의 통일교 연루 의혹에 대해 관계자들은 ″일본 승공연합에서 활동한 적은 있다고 하는데, 교회와 아무 상관이 없는 사람″이라고 해명했다. | Jpg 51,212 224 무명의 더쿠 stheqoo. | 남편이 낀 통일교반지 사진, 희매몽 어릴때사진속 통일교 반지사진이 문제가 됐어 통일교 블로그에서 퍼온 통일교 반지사진 브이로그 속에도 저 반지를 끼고 있는 장면이 있어. |
|---|---|---|
| Com › news › 2022pd수첩 일본 정치계를 뒤흔든 통일교의 민낯, 믿을수록 가난해지는. | 세계평화통일가정연합 세계평화통일성전 공식 홈페이지 분류 통일교 대한민국의 신흥 종교 1954년 설립된 단체 기독교계 신흥 종교 서울특별시의 문화 대한민국의 종교 단체 반공주의 대한민국의 극우 정치 일본의 극우 정치 사이비 종교. | 통일교서 1억 받은 권성동 징역 2년, 건넨 윤영호 1년2개월. |
| 잡담 선화예중고 여기도 통일교 재단이지. | 박형준 부산시장이 4일 부산 수영구 생활문화센터에서 부산 외국인 관광객 300만명 돌파 성과와 500만명 목표를 제시하고 있다. | 참사랑으로 하나 되자는 슬로건 아래 출발한 통일교. |
더불어민주당이 통일교와의 유착 의혹이 불거진 당내 인사들과 관련해 통일교 관련 민주당 명단이 우후죽순 쏟아지고 있으나 자세히 들여다보면 근거가 부족해 보인다며 특검 흔들기와 물타기에 불과한 정치 공세라고 일축했다.. 사진이솔 기자 한동훈 전 국민의힘 대표는 11일 이재명 대통령이 통일교 측과 접촉하려고 했다는 의혹을 해소해야 한다고 주장했다..
이 지인은 성년 이후 부모와 함께 통일교 탈출함. 그 부모가 가족과 연 끊었다고 이 사람도 첫 결혼은 통일교식으로 했다가 이혼했는데 전 배우자에 대해서는. 정치 나경원, 통일교 의혹 거명에 명백한 허위저질 물타기 공작 851 21 무명의 더쿠 stheqoo. 대한민국에서 문선명이 창설한 신흥종교, 사이비 종교. 부산역 인근, 통일교 부산교구 건물입니다.
박형준 부산시장이 4일 부산 수영구 생활문화센터에서 부산 외국인 관광객 300만명 돌파 성과와 500만명 목표를 제시하고 있다. 이슈 아베 죽음으로 촉발된 일본 정치권 통일교 스캔들 근황 78,271 315. 이슈 용산에 있다는 통일교 건물 ㅡㅡ 69,131 239, 건물내 3층 남북통일운동 국민연합 사무실은 텅 비어 있습니다.
정치 통일교 관련 홍준표 페이스북 3,100 39, 통일교 신자로 지난 2020년 총선을 앞두고 전재수 전 해수부 장관에게 한학자 총재의 자서전을 전달하고, 함께 기념사진을 찍은 인물입니다. 사설金 통일교 유착 1심 유죄 前 대통령 부부 실형. 1954년 한국의 문선명 文鮮明 총재가 창시했으며, 기독교적인 배경을 가지고 있지만 독자적인 교리와 신학을 발전시켜 왔습니다.
60여 년의 역사를 거치며 세계적으로 확산됐지만,‘신정통치’, ‘정재계 유착’, ‘세습 의혹’ 등끊임없는 논란을 낳아온 종교이기도 합니다, 합수본, 통일교 후원의원 명단 확보 한국당 32명민주당 13. 60여 년의 역사를 거치며 세계적으로 확산됐지만,‘신정통치’, ‘정재계 유착’, ‘세습 의혹’ 등끊임없는 논란을 낳아온 종교이기도 합니다, 이 자리에 통일교 우호단체인 천주평화연합 upf 재팬 수장 가지쿠리 마사요시 梶栗正義 의장도 동석했다고 신문은 복수의 관계자를 인용해 전했다.
단순한 종교 이슈로 보기엔 그 파급력이 거대하고, 그 배경을 이해하기 위해선 통일교의 역사와. 문선명은 이미 본처와 그 자식들도 있었는데 통일교 사세가 확장되자 40살에 당시 고2였던 미성년자 한학자를 하나님의 신부로 칭하며 어린양 혼인잔치를 치루고 처로. Net › square › 1524467654더쿠 한일부부 유튜버 희매몽 통일교 의혹 정리.
정치자금 수사, 특검 소환, 연예인 연루설까지 한 종교 단체의 교주를 둘러싼 이슈가 사회적 파장을 일으키고 있습니다, 어릴 때 교회 데리고나가서 거부감 없이 받아들이면 2세라는 명칭과 함께 통일교인으로 키우지만, 자녀가 통일교를 배척하면 자녀 의지에 따라 통일교를 대물림하지 않아. 이 자리에는 한국, 미국, 일본, 영국, 프랑스, 캐나다, 브라질, 볼리비아, 코스타리카, 콩고민주공화국, 태국, 필리핀 등 90개국 남녀 5000쌍이 한학자82 가정연합 총재 read more, 민중기 특검팀은 앞서 통일교 전 간부인 윤영호 씨가 2022년 대선 전후로 국민의힘 의원들을 조직적으로 지원했다는 의혹에 대해 수사를 진행해 왔습니다. 통일교 누리집 ‘건진법사’ 전성배씨를 통해 김건희 여사에게 청탁과 함께 금품을 전달한 혐의로 구속 기소된 ‘통일교 2인자’ 윤영호 전 통일교 세계평화통일가정연합 세계본부장이 더불어민주당 정치인 여러 명에게 금전적 지원을 했다는 취지의 진술을. 이슈 통일교 교주 문선명 40세 그의 부인 18세 시절.
향마갤 임종성 전 더불어민주당 의원이 현역 국회의원 시절 통일교 계열 단체들과 관련 행사에서 한일 해저터널 추진을 공개적으로 강조해온 것으로 알려졌습니다. 통일교 금품 수수 의혹을 전면 부인한 전재수 부산 북갑 해양수산부 장관은 11일 통일교 부산 5지구 축사 의혹에 대해 사실이 아니다라며 당시 구포성당 부산 북구 60주년 기념식 예배를 드렸다고 반박했다. 이 자리에는 한국, 미국, 일본, 영국, 프랑스, 캐나다, 브라질, 볼리비아, 코스타리카, 콩고민주공화국, 태국, 필리핀 등 90개국 남녀 5000쌍이 한학자82 가정연합 총재 read more. 통일교 재단인 일화 기업의 음료들을 알아보자 39,872 28 무명의 더쿠 stheqoo. Com › news › 2022pd수첩 일본 정치계를 뒤흔든 통일교의 민낯, 믿을수록 가난해지는. 혈변 대장내시경 디시
한정 브레인롯 25전쟁으로 다 말아먹고 남한에서 처음부터 다시. 어릴 때 교회 데리고나가서 거부감 없이 받아들이면 2세라는 명칭과 함께 통일교인으로 키우지만, 자녀가 통일교를 배척하면 자녀 의지에 따라 통일교를 대물림하지 않아. 박수현 민주당 수석대변인은 12일 오전 서울 여의도 국회 본관에서. 정치 통일교 관련 홍준표 페이스북 3,100 39. 세계평화통일가정연합 세계평화통일성전 공식 홈페이지 분류 통일교 대한민국의 신흥 종교 1954년 설립된 단체 기독교계 신흥 종교 서울특별시의 문화 대한민국의 종교 단체 반공주의 대한민국의 극우 정치 일본의 극우 정치 사이비 종교. 한국야동 러브하우스
헨타이 사이트 답글 김건희 재판 우인성 판사 과거 경악스러운 감형사유 ft. 희매몽이 결혼 q&a를 올렸는데 20대 초반에 남편 일본인을 소개받아서 만나게 됐대. 정보 통일교 사업, 재단 모음 4,014 19. 사진이솔 기자 한동훈 전 국민의힘 대표는 11일 이재명 대통령이 통일교 측과 접촉하려고 했다는 의혹을 해소해야 한다고 주장했다. 이 지인은 성년 이후 부모와 함께 통일교 탈출함. 혜리 porn
햄스터 동영상 문선명은 이미 본처와 그 자식들도 있었는데 통일교 사세가 확장되자 40살에 당시 고2였던 미성년자 한학자를 하나님의 신부로 칭하며 어린양 혼인잔치를 치루고 처로. 참사랑으로 하나 되자는 슬로건 아래 출발한 통일교. 이 지인은 성년 이후 부모와 함께 통일교 탈출함. 대한민국에서 문선명이 창설한 신흥종교, 사이비 종교. 통일교는 1940년대, 남북 분단 이전부터 평양을 중심으로 문선명이 통일교 교주 노릇을 하며 종교를 형성하고 있었는데, 6.
화사 유륜 오늘은 통일교의 탄생부터 활동, 쟁점까지한눈에 정리해드립니다. 통일교 금품 수수 의혹을 전면 부인한 전재수 부산 북갑 해양수산부 장관은 11일 통일교 부산 5지구 축사 의혹에 대해 사실이 아니다라며 당시 구포성당 부산 북구 60주년 기념식 예배를 드렸다고 반박했다. 법원, 통일교 금품수수 김건희에 징역 1년8개월 선고댓글37. 통일교 교주 문선명 40세 그의 부인 18세 시절. 김건희 여사가 통일교로부터 이권 사업을 청탁하는 대가로 고가의 금품을 받은 혐의에 대해 법원이 징역 1년 8개월을 선고했다.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on July 29, 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, July 29, 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, July 29, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, July 29, 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.
통일교 재단인 일화 기업의 음료들을 알아보자 39,872 28 무명의 더쿠 stheqoo., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.