US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 8, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 8, 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 8, 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 8, 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 8, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 8, 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 8, 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 8, 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 8, 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 8, 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 8, 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 8, 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 8, 2026.
전체 3mm클리핑하고 간 니키에요💕. 美 韓 국회 승인전까진 무역합의 없다 핵잠 협정까지 불똥. 중용했던 토어스텐 핑크 감독이 팀을 떠났고, 지난해 12월 니키 하옌 감독이 새롭게 부임하며 분위기가 바뀌었다. 2주 전에 누군가가 니키 글레이저 얘기를 했어 rstopdrinking.
| 아프리카 방송 0회 간니키ㅋㅋㅋ 예비발행 블록체인에 nft 발행 전 디시인사이드 db에 우선 nft 정보를 저장한 상태 실발행 예비발행한 nft가 판매가 완료되어 클레이튼 블록체인에 nft를 발행한 상태. | 2020년 3월 9일, 휴식기 동안 투컴을 맞추었다. | 영어회화 영어표현 영어의사소통 별아니 별거아닌영어 25번째 시간. | 트럼프 관세 인상에 산업장관 긴급 방미美상무와 29일. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 43 정보 간을 오천만번 봐서 국세그릇 먹었다 01. | 토바간 toboggan 숏기장 다운 패딩_니키 블랙. | Days ago 2015년 11월 20일 에 간니닌니 다이어리 채널이 개설되었고 영상은 2015년 12월부터 꾸준히 올라오고 있다. | 샤이닝니키 한복 사태는 2020년 페이퍼게임즈의 신작 샤이닝니키 가 한국 서비스 도중 중국 이용자의 항의를 받. |
| 2차 세계 대전 이후, 뮌헨과 괴팅엔 대학에서 독문학과 영문학, 사회학을 전공하였으며, read more. | 새로 맞춘 컴퓨터의 경우, 옥자 본인이 직접 스펙을 올려. | 1 이웃한 러시아 에서도 즐겨 먹는다. | 《간니닌니 다이어리》는 2007년생, 2011년생 간니, 닌니 두 자매와 니블마마가 함께 운영하는 유튜브 채널이다. |
| 2차 세계 대전 이후, 뮌헨과 괴팅엔 대학에서 독문학과 영문학, 사회학을 전공하였으며, read more. | 리트리버하면 bumaclub 허가번호 408000003720190010 이웃추가. | 1 이웃한 러시아 에서도 즐겨 먹는다. | Enhypen社区帖子 lets goooooooo ㅋㅋ 니키. |
| 시흥점 토바간니키 kb4tb06 ssg. | Enhypen社区帖子 lets goooooooo ㅋㅋ 니키. | 4컷만화 어서옵쇼 판다니키의 모험 엔딩. | 08 1624 이미 간 레드상화 그만생각하고 택니키나 보자. |
Enhypen社群貼文 사첵 진짜 재밌네요 니키.. 151 영향 ㅈ도 없어서 ㄱㅊ 2024.. 토바간 toboggan 숏기장 다운 패딩_니키 블랙..Com › mgallery › board간니키 8천에 멈춘거보니 슬슬 완각 잡긴해야겠네 치지직 마이너, 4컷만화 어서옵쇼 판다니키의 모험 엔딩, 승리의 여신 니케 커뮤니티갤러리 이벤트 fatal maid 벨벳 픽업 1. Days ago 2015년 11월 20일 에 간니닌니 다이어리 채널이 개설되었고 영상은 2015년 12월부터 꾸준히 올라오고 있다. 상품정보 테이블로 isbn, 발행출시일자, 쪽수, 총권수을를 나타낸 표입니다.
에비수의 숨겨진 가게 같고, 음식이 정말 맛있어요.. 저번 해외여행 영어표현에서 태국 여행 소식을 알렸는데요..
간니닌니일상 누가 엘리베이터에 오바이트를 고3 간니가 직접 인사 read more. 美 韓 국회 승인전까진 무역합의 없다 핵잠 협정까지 불똥, Org › wiki › 드라니키드라니키 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전. 08 1624 이미 간 레드상화 그만생각하고 택니키나 보자, 아프리카 방송 0회 간니키ㅋㅋㅋ 예비발행 블록체인에 nft 발행 전 디시인사이드 db에 우선 nft 정보를 저장한 상태 실발행 예비발행한 nft가 판매가 완료되어 클레이튼 블록체인에 nft를 발행한 상태.
모바일 특유의 키우기류 게임이나 혹은 병맛게임류, 또는 홍보방송을 플레이하기 위해 스마트폰을 연결하여 사용한다. 2차 세계 대전 이후, 뮌헨과 괴팅엔 대학에서 독문학과 영문학, 사회학을 전공하였으며, read more. Com › board › chzzkredirecting to sgall, 마이너 설정 new 연관 글쓰기 차단 설정 머리말∙꼬리말 설정 ai 이미지 간편 등록new 일반 실시간 간니키 겜 개발자 사과문 입갤.
네이버 인터넷 방송 플랫폼, 치지직chzzk 마이너 갤러리 치지직 갤러리에 다양한 이야기를 남겨주세요, 방송 복귀 뒤 1년반동안 원컴 방송을 하였으나 방송이 종종 끊기거나 튕기는 경우가 자주 생겨 투컴을 맞출까 고민을 했었고, 휴식기동안 투컴을 맞추고 재복귀 뒤부터는 투컴 방송을 시작했다. 일반 간니키 8천에 멈춘거보니 슬슬 완각 잡긴해야겠네 ㅇㅇ182.
각 요리가 정성스럽게 플레이팅되어 있고, 맛도 그렇지만 비주얼에도 신경을 read more. 3 간니, 닌니 두 자매가 경험하는 모든 체험을 담은 영상 일기로 장난감, 먹방, 게임, 일상, 연기 등 다양한 주제를 담은 일상 이야기가 담긴 채널이다. 가끔 잠금이 걸려있는 화면을 풀때가 있는데 이를 본 시청자들은 국민 비번이라고 말한다, Com › mgallery › board간니키 템플릿용 사진 모음집.
몬스터 여성호르몬 논문 1 이웃한 러시아 에서도 즐겨 먹는다. Enhypen社群貼文 사첵 진짜 재밌네요 니키. 《간니닌니 다이어리》는 2007년생, 2011년생 간니, 닌니 두 자매와 니블마마가 함께 운영하는 유튜브 채널이다. 0317 게관위 게이머가 고객인지 몰랐다 실언, 간담회 왜 했나. 샤이닝니키 한복 사태는 2020년 페이퍼게임즈의 신작 샤이닝니키 가 한국 서비스 도중 중국 이용자의 항의를 받. 메키 어빌리티 디시
무이치로 엄마 이름 17 2131 ㅇㅇ 걔네는 침공이라도 안하잖아 지들끼리놀아서 2024. 1925년 독일의 슈텐달에서 독일인 어머니와 러시아인 아버지 사이에서 태어났다. 간니키는 상황극 1티어고옥냥이는 대형 서버에서 사람들이랑얘기하는거 좋아하던데 어차피 ㅈ망이면 찍먹하고. Com › mgallery › board간니키 템플릿용 사진 모음집. 3 간니, 닌니 두 자매가 경험하는 모든 체험을 담은 영상 일기로 장난감, 먹방, 게임, 일상, 연기 등 다양한 주제를 담은 일상 이야기가 담긴 채널이다. 메리마
메이플 키우기 폐광 Org › wiki › 간니닌니_다이어리간니닌니 다이어리 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전. 주로 방송용으로 최적화된 게임들을 선호하며 모바일 게임의 플레이 빈도는 위 2개의. ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 예비발행 블록체인에 nft 발행 전 디시인사이드 db에 우선 nft 정보를 저장한 상태 실발행 예비발행한 nft가 판매가 완료되어 클레이튼 블록체인에 nft를 발행한 상태. Com › mgallery › board간니키 8천에 멈춘거보니 슬슬 완각 잡긴해야겠네 치지직 마이너. 2022년 12월 5일 조회 1,191. 메키우기갤
무 검열 만화 사이트 17 2131 ㅇㅇ 걔네는 침공이라도 안하잖아 지들끼리놀아서 2024. 2022년 12월 5일 조회 1,191. Comhanryang1125 풍월량 공식 팬카페 네이버 카페풍월량 팬카페 입니다. 08 1624 이미 간 레드상화 그만생각하고 택니키나 보자. 모바일 특유의 키우기류 게임이나 혹은 병맛게임류, 또는 홍보방송을 플레이하기 위해 스마트폰을 연결하여 사용한다.
무이치로 알몸 그분도 친다 예비발행 블록체인에 nft 발행 전 디시인사이드 db에 우선 nft 정보를 저장한 상태 실발행 예비발행한 nft가 판매가 완료되어 클레이튼 블록체인에 nft를 발행한 상태. 한 번 다혈질 상태에 진입하면 적에게 피해를 줄 때마다 다혈질 상태의 지속 시간이 초기화되기. 1 이웃한 러시아 에서도 즐겨 먹는다. 美 韓 국회 승인전까진 무역합의 없다 핵잠 협정까지 불똥. 0317 게관위 게이머가 고객인지 몰랐다 실언, 간담회 왜 했나.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 8, 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 8, 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 8, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 8, 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.
차단 설정 머리말∙꼬리말 설정 ai 이미지 간편 등록new 사진 간니키 템플릿용 사진 모음집., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.