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.

Shift+enter 키를 동시에 누르면 줄바꿈이 됩니다. 환연2 성해은x박나언, 현전 여친의 조합이라니여기가 할리우드였네 스포츠조선 안소윤 기자 티빙 오리지널 환승연애2 출연자 성해은과 박나언이 사랑스러운 매력을 드러냈다. 20대 후반 직장인임하시2 할 때 직장에서 스몰토크 안했음나랑 내 주변 하시2 안봤고 아직도 내용 잘 모름김현우 오영주 임현주 3명 이름만 들어봄자극적이라서 그런지 환연2 점심시간마다 스몰토크로 계속 나옴내가 5화. 환승연애, 또다른시작 갤러리 가지마거기 갤매가 이상해거긴 답이 없어 보여.

Av배우 레이

연프보면서 이렇게 정 안가는 출연자가 많은게 처음임환연 1 볼때도 모든 출연자 다 어느정도 이해갔었음그래서 몰입이 잘, 티빙 ‘환승연애2’에서 최종 3쌍의 커플이 탄생한 가운데, 현재 연애 상태까지 공개돼 눈길을 모았다, Com › mgallery › board1회부터 복습했는데 정권이가 변한 이유 보인다 환승연애 마이너 갤.

Day ago 좀 뒷북이긴 한데 환연2를 이제봐서ㅠ 환연4때 팀현지 해가지고 민경 뒷담깐다고 욕먹었잖아 근데 환ㅇ연2 지연보니까 그건 뒷담 축에도 못 끼는 거였잖아.. 28일 이나연은 7개월의 아시아리그 대장정 끝에 우승이라니 우승의 순간을 함께 해서 영광입니다 단언컨대 제 인..

01 즌2는 해은나연나언 다 존예였는데 01. 강릉커피축제, 정부 문화관광축제로 재선정국비 등 지원. 01 즌2는 해은나연나언 다 존예였는데 01. 강릉커피축제, 정부 문화관광축제로 재선정국비 등 지원.

Aunchiisalone

환연2 갤에 올려보고싶네 환승연애 시즌4 미니 갤러리, 이성애 폭발 왜 우세요 이거랑 설거지가 너무 많았구나 너무 조아 3개월 전. ㅈㄴ 오래가고 있긴 하긔 2갤러는 갤러리에서 권장하는 비회원 전용 갤닉네임입니다. 2갤도 갤매 바뀌고 방송 끝난 이후로 갤 관리 공홈ㅌㅊ로해서 잘 굴러갔는데 은꽁 패려고 1갤 살리고 여기서 쫓겨나니까 역갤까지 새로 판걸로 그거.

환연2 성해은x박나언, 현전 여친의 조합이라니여기가 할리우드였네 스포츠조선 안소윤 기자 티빙 오리지널 환승연애2 출연자 성해은과 박나언이 사랑스러운 매력을 드러냈다, 무명의 더쿠 1049 조회 수 1269. 조회수139 최미나수 곽정은 닮아보임 조회수214.

강릉연합뉴스 강태현 기자 강원 강릉시는 문화체육관광부가 지정하는 2026∼2027 문화관광축제에 강릉커피축제가 재선정됐다고 25일 밝혔다. 2갤도 갤매 바뀌고 방송 끝난 이후로 갤 관리 공홈ㅌㅊ로해서 잘 굴러갔는데 은꽁 패려고 1갤 살리고 여기서 쫓겨나니까 역갤까지 새로 판걸로 그거. 가맹점의 생애주기를 기준으로 정보공개서 체계를 재편하고, 창업 판단에 핵심적인 정보는 분기별로 제공해 예비 창업자의 합리적 의사결정을 돕겠다는 read more.

Aimyon Leak

Com환연2는 정이 안가는 사람이 많은듯 환승연애 시즌2 마이너 갤러리, 환연2 이나연, ♥남희두 우승에 눈물 포기하고 싶었다 osen오세진 기자 환승연애2 아나운서 이나연이 연인 남희두가 속한 하키팀의 승리를 축하했다. 환승연애, 또다른시작 갤러리 가지마거기 갤매가 이상해거긴 답이 없어 보여. Com › mgallery › board1회부터 복습했는데 정권이가 변한 이유 보인다 환승연애 마이너 갤. 말이 도네 긷갤러는 갤러리에서 권장하는 비회원 전용 갤닉네임입니다, 도널트 트럼프 대통령이 미국 정부가 인텔 지분 10%를 사겠다고 발표하고 수요가 몰릴 것이란 투자자들의 기대가 맞물리면서 곤두박질치던인텔 주가는 read more.

일단 정황상 그리고 모두가 느꼈듯이 갤매가 유동으로 활발히 활동하고 자신이 원하는 방향으로만 그렇게 갤질했던거 다들 알거고. Com › mgallery › board환연 스핀오프 기사 환승연애 시즌2 마이너 갤러리. 조회수139 최미나수 곽정은 닮아보임 조회수214, 28일 이나연은 7개월의 아시아리그 대장정 끝에 우승이라니 우승의 순간을 함께 해서 영광입니다 단언컨대 제 인, 복습 다시 해본 결과유출됐다는 녹음 내용처럼 입주 전에 혜선에 대해 말을 들어서 마음이 바뀐 상태였다는 건 아닌것 같다.

avdbs 나무 삭제 시 닉네임 등록 가능 타인의 권리를 침해하거나 명예를 훼손하는 댓글은 운영원칙 및 관련 법률에 제재를 받을 수 있습니다. 강릉연합뉴스 강태현 기자 강원 강릉시는 문화체육관광부가 지정하는 2026∼2027 문화관광축제에 강릉커피축제가 재선정됐다고 25일 밝혔다. 환갤러는 갤러리에서 권장하는 비회원 전용 갤닉네임입니다. 환승연애4 윤녕이 강쥐 계정 인스스에 윤녕이 소식. 무명의 더쿠 1049 조회 수 1269. av 자브걸

asmr 국내 ㅈㄴ 오래가고 있긴 하긔 2갤러는 갤러리에서 권장하는 비회원 전용 갤닉네임입니다. 조회수139 최미나수 곽정은 닮아보임 조회수214. 도널트 트럼프 대통령이 미국 정부가 인텔 지분 10%를 사겠다고 발표하고 수요가 몰릴 것이란 투자자들의 기대가 맞물리면서 곤두박질치던인텔 주가는 read more. Day ago 좀 뒷북이긴 한데 환연2를 이제봐서ㅠ 환연4때 팀현지 해가지고 민경 뒷담깐다고 욕먹었잖아 근데 환ㅇ연2 지연보니까 그건 뒷담 축에도 못 끼는 거였잖아. Com환연2는 정이 안가는 사람이 많은듯 환승연애 시즌2 마이너 갤러리. allday project deepfake porn

avloom 내가 모를거 같냐딱대 환갤러는 갤러리에서 권장하는 비회원 전용 갤닉네임입니다. 연프보면서 이렇게 정 안가는 출연자가 많은게 처음임환연 1 볼때도 모든 출연자 다 어느정도 이해갔었음그래서 몰입이 잘. 무명의 더쿠 1049 조회 수 1269. 20대 후반 직장인임하시2 할 때 직장에서 스몰토크 안했음나랑 내 주변 하시2 안봤고 아직도 내용 잘 모름김현우 오영주 임현주 3명 이름만 들어봄자극적이라서 그런지 환연2 점심시간마다 스몰토크로 계속 나옴내가 5화. Com › mgallery › board1회부터 복습했는데 정권이가 변한 이유 보인다 환승연애 마이너 갤. arooo 발기

asian angel 7415 환연2 성해은x박나언, 현전 여친의 조합이라니여기가 할리우드였네 스포츠조선 안소윤 기자 티빙 오리지널 환승연애2 출연자 성해은과 박나언이 사랑스러운 매력을 드러냈다. Day ago 좀 뒷북이긴 한데 환연2를 이제봐서ㅠ 환연4때 팀현지 해가지고 민경 뒷담깐다고 욕먹었잖아 근데 환ㅇ연2 지연보니까 그건 뒷담 축에도 못 끼는 거였잖아. 환연2 갤에 올려보고싶네 환승연애 시즌4 미니 갤러리. 민재가 진심 눈에 콩깍지 제대로 씌었었거든당장 사귀자고 할 태세였는데서울가서 콩깍지 벗겨진거같더라둘이찍은. 가맹점의 생애주기를 기준으로 정보공개서 체계를 재편하고, 창업 판단에 핵심적인 정보는 분기별로 제공해 예비 창업자의 합리적 의사결정을 돕겠다는 read more.

aion2 갤 환승연애4 윤녕이 강쥐 계정 인스스에 윤녕이 소식. 이성애 폭발 왜 우세요 이거랑 설거지가 너무 많았구나 너무 조아 3개월 전. Com › board › lists환승연애 시즌2 마이너 갤러리 커뮤니티 포털 디시인사이드. 연프보면서 이렇게 정 안가는 출연자가 많은게 처음임환연 1 볼때도 모든 출연자 다 어느정도 이해갔었음그래서 몰입이 잘. Day ago 좀 뒷북이긴 한데 환연2를 이제봐서ㅠ 환연4때 팀현지 해가지고 민경 뒷담깐다고 욕먹었잖아 근데 환ㅇ연2 지연보니까 그건 뒷담 축에도 못 끼는 거였잖아.

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.