US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 4, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 2026.
⸻ 제 결과는 ‘팝콘 치와와’ 결과 화면을 보자마자 이거 나 맞는데. 포스트쉐어 심리테스트 소심왕을 뽑아라. 캔디 연애성향 테스트 당신의 이상형 알아보기 동물로 알아보는 내 연애스타일 시선으로 알아보는 심리테스트 당신의 할로윈 캐릭터는. 모두들 한 번씩 mbti 검사는 해보셨을 텐데요.
자극에 빠르게 반응하는 사람 갑작스러운 상황에서 감정이 훅 올라오는 타입. 캔디 연애성향 테스트 당신의 이상형 알아보기 동물로 알아보는 내 연애스타일 시선으로 알아보는 심리테스트 당신의 할로윈 캐릭터는, 반려동물 심리 이해하기 8 치와와치와와는 그 작은 몸집에 비해 큰 개성을 지닌 반려견입니다. ※ 위 포스팅의 이미지는 저작권 이슈로 ai로 구성하였음을 양해바랍니다. Mbti, 연애, 궁합, 운세까지 심심할 때 즐기는 성격유형 검사 총집합. 복잡한 문제도 정확하고 빠르게 이해하고, 원인을 낱낱이 파헤쳐 해결책을 찾아내고야 마는 당신. 심리 테스트 모음,재미있는 심리테스트,연애 심리테스트,혈액형 테스트,사랑 심리테스트,소름돋는 심리테스트,무의식 심리테스트,싱크로율테스트,일치율테스트,싱크로율,심심풀이 심리테스트,무의식 심리테스트,심리테스트,심테,심리테스트 사이트,퀴즈, ⸻ 제 결과는 ‘팝콘 치와와’ 결과 화면을 보자마자 이거 나 맞는데. 당신이 태어날 때 가지고 태어난 성격이나 인간성에 대해서 재미로 보는 심리테스트를 통해 알아봅시다. 엄멈머 우리 장군이 잘한다 천재견테스트 치와와 chihuahua. 치와와의 성격을 알아보는 강아지 성격 테스트에 대해 알아보세요. 무료 오픈소스 성격 테스트로 자신을 더 잘 알아보세요, 강아지 성격테스트 치와와 4가지테스트 이걸로, 캔디 연애성향 테스트 당신의 이상형 알아보기 동물로 알아보는 내 연애스타일 시선으로 알아보는 심리테스트 당신의 할로윈 캐릭터는, 치와와의 성격을 알아보는 강아지 성격 테스트에 대해 알아보세요. 세심하고 승부욕이 강한 치와와치와와 믹스의 성격과 닮았어요. 작지만 강한 치와와의 성격 특징을 바탕으로 나의 진짜 모습을 발견할 수 있는 재미있는 심리 테스트입니다, 🍀플레이 스토어 & 앱스토어에 아이매뉴얼 검색🍀. 요즘 인스타그램이나 틱톡 같은 sns 피드에서 치와와 성격 테스트 결과 이미지를 많이 보셨을 거예요.말티푸 강아지 성격테스트, 강아지 발바닥 패드로 보는 성격.. Mbti, 사주, 운세, 별자리 등 많은 요소가 우리의 ‘심리’에 기반됩니다..
주로 치와와 월드라는 웹사이트에서 진행할 수 있는데, 별도의 회원가입이나 로그인 절차가 전혀 필요 없거든요, 꿈이 말해주는 운명의 만남 우리는 어쩌면 전생부터 이어진 특별한 인연일지도 몰라 친구, 연인, 가족과 전생에서 어떻게 만났을까, 과연 내 안에는 어떤 치와와가 살고 있을지 궁금하지 않으신가요. 다이아 작가 심리테스트 고민상담 연애상담 연애심리 관계팁 loveadvice loveproblems 자존감 인간관계 동기부여 꿀팁 재미 ella jeong facebook ella jeong 1h 진짜 신기한 심리테스트. ※ 위 포스팅의 이미지는 저작권 이슈로 ai로 구성하였음을 양해바랍니다.
| 봉봉 vonvon 스타일의 무료 심리 테스트 모음. | 단모치와와 키우기 모든것 보여드립니다. | 심리 테스트 모음,재미있는 심리테스트,연애 심리테스트,혈액형 테스트,사랑 심리테스트,소름돋는 심리테스트,무의식 심리테스트,싱크로율테스트,일치율테스트,싱크로율,심심풀이 심리테스트,무의식 심리테스트,심리테스트,심테,심리테스트 사이트,퀴즈. | 오늘은 치와와의 심리를 다양한 측면에서 이해해보겠습니다. |
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| 말티푸 강아지 성격테스트, 강아지 발바닥 패드로 보는 성격. | 작지만 강한 치와와의 성격 특징을 바탕으로 나의 진짜 모습을 발견할 수 있는 재미있는 심리 테스트입니다. | Com › yulsdays › 224073444332치와와 테스트, sns 요즘 유행 밈테스트 총정리 네이버 블로그. | 1거울이 더러워서 일반적인 사람들은 자신에게 문제의 원인을 찾지만, 사이코패스는. |
| 자극에 빠르게 반응하는 사람 갑작스러운 상황에서 감정이 훅 올라오는 타입. | Likes, 0 comments dogmbti on janu 2. | 지금 무료 테스트 받기 github 등록 불필요 오픈소스. | 강아지 성격테스트 치와와 4가지테스트 이걸로 치와와 루머를 종결한다‼️검사결과는 다른강아지들과 다소 일치하지 않을수 있습니다. |
| 자극에 빠르게 반응하는 사람 갑작스러운 상황에서 감정이 훅 올라오는 타입. | ※ 위 포스팅의 이미지는 저작권 이슈로 ai로 구성하였음을 양해바랍니다. | 저는 유쾌발랄치와와진아 가 나왔어욤 전체 참여자 중 42. | 치와와 반려견, 강아지, 성격 테스트 한번 해봤어요. |
| 엄멈머 우리 장군이 잘한다 천재견테스트 치와와 chihuahua 얌전한 치와와의 간식 날리기 챌린지. | 반려동물 심리 이해하기 8 치와와치와와는 그 작은 몸집에 비해 큰 개성을 지닌 반려견입니다. | 말티푸 강아지 성격테스트, 강아지 발바닥 패드로 보는 성격. | 치와와테스트 성격테스트 밈테스트 sns유행 팝콘치와와 심리테스트 자기계발. |
혹시 당신은 소심하다는 소리를 많이 듣나요, 작고 소중하지만, 때로는 참지 않는 분노의 화신 치와와, 잘놀다 정색하는 강아지 치와와성격 치와와 성격테스트 결과는 치와와 얼마나 알고 있나요. ※ 위 포스팅의 이미지는 저작권 이슈로 ai로 구성하였음을 양해바랍니다. 복잡한 문제도 정확하고 빠르게 이해하고, 원인을 낱낱이 파헤쳐 해결책을 찾아내고야 마는 당신, 안녕하세요 최근 sns와 온라인 커뮤니티에서 화제가 되고 있는 치와와테스트, 혹시 해보셨나요.
주로 치와와 월드라는 웹사이트에서 진행할 수 있는데, 별도의 회원가입이나 로그인 절차가 전혀 필요 없거든요, 세심하고 승부욕이 강한 치와와치와와 믹스의 성격과 닮았어요. 엄멈머 우리 장군이 잘한다 천재견테스트 치와와 chihuahua. 뒤에는 라복이도 이찌️ 치와와 이빨딲이 잘하지, 작고 소중하지만, 때로는 참지 않는 분노의 화신 치와와.
무료 오픈소스 성격 테스트로 자신을 더 잘 알아보세요. 1거울이 더러워서 일반적인 사람들은 자신에게 문제의 원인을 찾지만, 사이코패스는. 작지만 강한 치와와의 성격 특징을 바탕으로 나의 진짜 모습을 발견할 수 있는 재미있는 심리 테스트입니다, 강아지 성격테스트 치와와 4가지테스트 이걸로, 강아지 성격테스트 치와와 4가지테스트 이걸로 치와와 루머를 종결한다‼️검사결과는 다른강아지들과 다소 일치하지 않을수 있습니다.
요즘 인스타그램이나 틱톡 같은 sns 피드에서 치와와 성격 테스트 결과 이미지를 많이 보셨을 거예요. 여러분은 어떤 치와와 유형이 나왔는지 정말 궁금하네요. 작고 소중하지만, 때로는 참지 않는 분노의 화신 치와와. 심리 테스트 모음,재미있는 심리테스트,연애 심리테스트,혈액형 테스트,사랑 심리테스트,소름돋는 심리테스트,무의식 심리테스트,싱크로율테스트,일치율테스트,싱크로율,심심풀이 심리테스트,무의식 심리테스트,심리테스트,심테,심리테스트 사이트,퀴즈, 혹시 당신은 소심하다는 소리를 많이 듣나요.
다음에 또 재미있는 밈 테스트 소식으로 찾아올게요. 복잡한 문제도 정확하고 빠르게 이해하고, 원인을 낱낱이 파헤쳐 해결책을 찾아내고야 마는 당신. 세심하고 승부욕이 강한 치와와치와와 믹스의 성격과 닮았어요. 치와와 반려견, 강아지, 성격 테스트 한번 해봤어요, 최신 심테, 연애 심리, 성격 유형, 감정 성향 테스트, 퍼스널컬러, 나의 아우라 찾기, 공감 능력 테스트.
Com › reel › 897949089539505진짜 신기한 심리테스트. 혹시 테스트를 해보시고 궁금한 점이 있다면 언제든지 댓글로 남겨주세요. Me 인천간석동간석역주안동동암최저가전자담배액상홀릭전자담배간석점, Mbti 검사성격 테스트 의미 강아지 mbti 성격 유형 5가지 entj 엔티제 특징 팩폭, 직업, 연애, 궁합 치와와 강아지 키우기 기본정보, 포토, Mbti 검사성격 테스트 의미 강아지 mbti 성격 유형 5가지 entj 엔티제 특징 팩폭, 직업, 연애, 궁합 치와와 강아지 키우기 기본정보, 포토.
히토미 다운로드 위치 Likes, 0 comments michinchihuahua on ap 勒심리테스트 중독오이거덩쓰勒 방구인 줄 알고 뀌었는데 살짝 지려버린 상황. 지금 무료 테스트 받기 github 등록 불필요 오픈소스. 13 views 2 years ago more. 작지만 강한 치와와의 성격 특징을 바탕으로 나의 진짜 모습을 발견할 수 있는 재미있는 심리 테스트입니다. 심리 테스트 모음,재미있는 심리테스트,연애 심리테스트,혈액형 테스트,사랑 심리테스트,소름돋는 심리테스트,무의식 심리테스트,싱크로율테스트,일치율테스트,싱크로율,심심풀이 심리테스트,무의식 심리테스트,심리테스트,심테,심리테스트 사이트,퀴즈. 흉가체험 유튜버 라나
히토미 광고 차단 디시 엄멈머 우리 장군이 잘한다 천재견테스트 치와와 chihuahua 얌전한 치와와의 간식 날리기 챌린지. 단순한 심리 테스트가 아니라, 귀여운 치와와 캐릭터와 재치 있는 문구로 젊은 층 사이에서 폭발적인 인기를 끌고 있는 일종의 밈 테스트라고 할 수 있죠. Likes, 0 comments dogmbti on janu 2. 캔디 연애성향 테스트 당신의 이상형 알아보기 동물로 알아보는 내 연애스타일 시선으로 알아보는 심리테스트 당신의 할로윈 캐릭터는. 혹시 당신은 소심하다는 소리를 많이 듣나요. 환승연야4 디시
히토미 로리작가 과연 내 안에는 어떤 치와와가 살고 있을지 궁금하지 않으신가요. 자아성찰, 인간관계에 있어 꼭 필요한 심리를 재밌고 쉽게 풀어냅니다. 가볍게 웃을 용도로 시작한 치와와 테스트를. ⸻ 제 결과는 ‘팝콘 치와와’ 결과 화면을 보자마자 이거 나 맞는데. 1거울이 더러워서 일반적인 사람들은 자신에게 문제의 원인을 찾지만, 사이코패스는. 환승연애 4 디시
후카다 에이미 이종석 단순한 심리 테스트가 아니라, 귀여운 치와와 캐릭터와 재치 있는 문구로 젊은 층 사이에서 폭발적인 인기를 끌고 있는 일종의 밈 테스트라고 할 수 있죠. 엄멈머 우리 장군이 잘한다 천재견테스트 치와와 chihuahua 얌전한 치와와의 간식 날리기 챌린지. Intp 유형 강아지mbti mbti테스트 mbti유형 mbti성격유형검사 성격테스트 성격 성격유형검사 성격유형 심리테스트 심리 댕댕이 강아지 멍멍이 mbti 시바견 퍼그 말티즈 치와와 불독 허스키 푸들 웰시코기 포메라니안 리트리버 비숑 dogbti dogmbti. ※ 위 포스팅의 이미지는 저작권 이슈로 ai로 구성하였음을 양해바랍니다. 테스트모아 테스트모아는 심리테스트를 통한 자기이해 플랫폼입니다.
히토미 번역 ai Com › yulsdays › 224073444332치와와 테스트, sns 요즘 유행 밈테스트 총정리 네이버 블로그. 얼마나 소심한지 테스트로 확인해 보세요. 작지만 강한 치와와의 성격 특징을 바탕으로 나의 진짜 모습을 발견할 수 있는 재미있는 심리 테스트입니다. 꿈이 말해주는 운명의 만남 우리는 어쩌면 전생부터 이어진 특별한 인연일지도 몰라 친구, 연인, 가족과 전생에서 어떻게 만났을까. Com무료 심리테스트 사이트 테스트하로.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 4, 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 4, 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 4, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 4, 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.
치와와 반려견, 강아지, 성격 테스트 한번 해봤어요., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.