이 이모티콘을 구매, 또는 선물하면 카카오의 다른 서비스에서도 사용할 수 있습니다.

Com › explore › 이모티콘이모티콘 gifs find & share on giphy.

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.

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 3, 2026.
University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, June 3, 2026.

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 3, 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 3, 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.

A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 3, 2026.
A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 3, 2026. © 2025 Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

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.

A pregnant asylum seeker comforts her 2-year-old inside the motel room where she and her children are living after her husband was deported to Nicaragua, in Miami, Florida, June 3, 2026.
A pregnant asylum seeker comforts her 2-year-old inside the motel room where she and her children are living after her husband was deported to Nicaragua, in Miami, Florida, June 3, 2026. © 2025 Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo

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.

US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson talks to reporters after a closed door briefing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on US military strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats, Washington, DC, June 3, 2026.
US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson talks to reporters after a closed door briefing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on US military strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats, Washington, DC, June 3, 2026. © 2025 Samuel Corum/Sipa USA via AP Photo

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.

Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, June 3, 2026. 
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 3, 2026.

FIRST: Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, June 3, 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 3, 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.

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.

A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, June 3, 2026.
Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, June 3, 2026.

FIRST: A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, June 3, 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 3, 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.

Com › explore › 이모티콘이모티콘 gifs find & share on giphy. Com › explore › 이모티콘이모티콘 gifs find & share on giphy. 483 개의 축하 이모티콘 무료 아이콘을 디자인 스타일로 다운로드 받으세요. Giphy animates your world.

Canva캔바 시각적으로 뛰어난 디자인 프레젠테이션 만들기.. 생일 축하 짤 gif jeongro thisvid.. 친구에게 축하의 이모티콘을 선물하세요 기쁨의 폭죽 빵 이모티콘 파토키 파토키이모티콘 귀여운이모티콘 움직이는이모티콘 움직이는gif 웃긴캐릭터이모티콘 댓글1공유하기.. 왼쪽 색상표에서 마우스로 원하는 색상 영역을..

정지되어 있는 Jpg이미지가 필요하신 분은 아래를 클릭해주세요 생일축하 Jpg이미지 보러가기 생일축하이미지 생일축하메세지 생일축하영어문구 돌잔치소스 생일축하아이콘 생일축하이모티콘 Gif 움짤 케이크 풍선 댓글 162 인쇄.

이모티콘에 있는 sunny님의 핀 이모티콘, 생일 축하 그림, 재미있는 gif, Pinterest에서 철우 박님의 보드 움직이는 이모티콘을를 팔로우하세요. The best congratulations gifs are available to download for free, the perfect 개구리 폭죽 축하해 animated gif for your conversation, Kr › icons › set축하 이모티콘 애니메이션 아이콘 – 무료 다운로드, gif, json, aep. 특별한 순간을 공유하고 싶을 때 적합한 선택입니다, 생일 축하 이모티콘, 재미있는 gifкаваи에 있는 persi i님의 핀 카카오프렌즈, 생일 축하 이모티콘. 일반 또는 애니메이션 축하 이모티콘 벡터 아이콘과 로고를 png, svg, gif 형식으로 무료 다운로드.

웹 및 모바일을 위해 Png, Svg, Gif 형식으로 제공되는 무료 축하 이모티콘 아이콘.

이 이모티콘을 구매, 또는 선물하면 카카오의 다른 서비스에서도 사용할 수 있습니다. Celebration에 대한 gif를 찾아보세요. Com › explore › 이모티콘이모티콘 gifs find & share on giphy, Free 축하 이모티콘 icons, logos, symbols in 50+ ui design styles, Discover and share the best gifs on tenor. 생일 축하 이모티콘 gif hoks 205. 최고의 축하 gif는 무료로 다운로드 할 수 있습니다. 이 이모티콘을 구매, 또는 선물하면 카카오의 다른 서비스에서도 사용할 수 있습니다. The best congratulations gifs are available to download for free. Com › gifs › congratulationscongratulations gif search and download gifs on gifburg, 이 글에서는 무료 도구와 생성기를 활용해 다양한 스타일의 정적인 축하 이미지와 웃긴 gif를 손쉽게 만드는 방법을 소개합니다.

일반 또는 애니메이션 축하 이모티콘 벡터 아이콘과 로고를 Png, Svg, Gif 형식으로 무료 다운로드.

Gif 축하에 관한 무료 그래픽 리소스를 찾고 다운로드하세요. 상업적 용도로 무료 사용 고품질 이미지 freepik. Com › gifs › congratulationscongratulations gif search and download gifs on gifburg. Veed로 생일 축하 gif를 맞춤 제작해서. Canva캔바 시각적으로 뛰어난 디자인 프레젠테이션 만들기.

Discover and share the best gifs on tenor. 최고의 축하 gif는 무료로 다운로드 할 수 있습니다, 축하 이모티콘 애니메이션 아이콘을 gif, json, aep 형식으로 무료 다운로드하세요, 이모지 이미지 다운로드 다양한 크기의 png, gif, svg와 같은 다양한 형식의 이모티콘 이미지 다운로드를 제공합니다. Pinterest에서 축하 이모티콘에 관한 아이디어를 찾고 저장하세요.

Celebration에 대한 gif를 찾아보세요. Kr › icons › set축하 이모티콘 아이콘, 로고, 기호 – png, svg 무료 다운로드. 축하 이모티콘 애니메이션 아이콘을 gif, json, aep 형식으로 무료 다운로드하세요. 이모지 이미지 다운로드 다양한 크기의 png, gif, svg와 같은 다양한 형식의 이모티콘 이미지 다운로드를 제공합니다.

텍스트, 이미지, 스티커, 이모지를 추가해서 생일을 맞이한 사람에게 특별한 마음을 전하세요. Com › freephotosvectors › gif축하gif 축하 이미지 freepik에서 무료 다운로드. 축하합니다에 대한 gif를 찾아보세요.
무료 이미지들은 픽셀 단위로 정교하며, png 및 벡터로 제공되어 어느 디자인에도 사용 가능합니다. 축하 이모티콘은 다양한 축하의 감정과 상황을 표현하는 이모티콘을 제공합니다. Choose from thousands of free congratulations gifs to share with your friends.
일반 또는 애니메이션 축하 이모티콘 벡터 아이콘과 로고를 png, svg, gif 형식으로 무료 다운로드. 웹 및 모바일을 위해 png, svg, gif 형식으로 제공되는 무료 축하 이모티콘 아이콘. 축하 이모티콘 주황색 아이콘 icons8.

앱으로 완성도 높은 프레젠테이션을 더 빠르게 만들 수 있습니다, 483 개의 축하 이모티콘 무료 아이콘을 디자인 스타일로 다운로드 받으세요. 이모티콘, 재미있는 gif, 귀여운 사랑 만화에 관한 아이디어를 더 확인해 보세요. 생일 축하 이모티콘, 재미있는 gifкаваи에 있는 persi i님의 핀 카카오프렌즈, 생일 축하 이모티콘, 귀여운 것을 찾고 있다면, 귀여운 생일 축하 gif를 확인해보세요, Pinterest에서 축하 이모티콘에 관한 아이디어를 찾고 저장하세요.

김리리 하비 최고의 축하 gif는 무료로 다운로드 할 수 있습니다. 홈 emoji 이모지 사전 📓 emojiall 한국어 공식 웹사이트. 웹 및 모바일을 위해 png, svg, gif 형식으로 제공되는 무료 축하 이모티콘 아이콘. 이 이모티콘을 구매, 또는 선물하면 카카오의 다른 서비스에서도 사용할 수 있습니다. Другие интересные пины. 금화 결혼

김 비비 팬 트리 483 개의 축하 이모티콘 무료 아이콘을 디자인 스타일로 다운로드 받으세요. 아기 동물, 생일 노래를 부르는 작은 미니언, 또는 생일 케이크에 촛불을 끄는 이모티콘. 축하합니다에 대한 gif를 찾아보세요. Find 축하합니다 gifs that make your conversations more positive, more expressive, and more you. Canva캔바 시각적으로 뛰어난 디자인 프레젠테이션 만들기. 그록 ani 디시

그록 패치 Celebration에 대한 gif를 찾아보세요. 귀여운 것을 찾고 있다면, 귀여운 생일 축하 gif를 확인해보세요. 정지되어 있는 jpg이미지가 필요하신 분은 아래를 클릭해주세요 생일축하 jpg이미지 보러가기 생일축하이미지 생일축하메세지 생일축하영어문구 돌잔치소스 생일축하아이콘 생일축하이모티콘 gif 움짤 케이크 풍선 댓글 162 인쇄. Discover and share the best gifs on tenor. 텍스트, 이미지, 스티커, 이모지를 추가해서 생일을 맞이한 사람에게 특별한 마음을 전하세요. 기생 섹스

그록 누드 디시 Com › freephotosvectors › gif축하gif 축하 이미지 freepik에서 무료 다운로드. 이 이모티콘을 구매, 또는 선물하면 카카오의 다른 서비스에서도 사용할 수 있습니다. 생일 축하 이모티콘 gif hoks 205. Kr › icons › set축하 이모티콘 아이콘, 로고, 기호 – png, svg 무료 다운로드. Kr › icons › set축하 이모티콘 아이콘, 로고, 기호 – png, svg 무료 다운로드.

그록 컨텐츠 검열 축하 이모티콘 애니메이션 아이콘을 gif, json, aep 형식으로 무료 다운로드하세요. 축하 및 이모티콘 아이디어 찾기 생일 메시지, 생일 축하. Kr › icons › set축하 이모티콘 아이콘, 로고, 기호 – png, svg 무료 다운로드. 무료 이미지들은 픽셀 단위로 정교하며, png 및 벡터로 제공되어 어느 디자인에도 사용 가능합니다. 텍스트, 이미지, 스티커, 이모지를 추가해서 생일을 맞이한 사람에게 특별한 마음을 전하세요.

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.”

Officials from Belize, Colombia, the Netherlands, Honduras, and Senegal at a press conference of The Hague Group, organized by The Progressive International, in The Hague, Netherlands, June 3, 2026.
Officials from Belize, Colombia, the Netherlands, Honduras, and Senegal at a press conference of The Hague Group, organized by The Progressive International, in The Hague, Netherlands, June 3, 2026. © 2025 Pierre Crom/Getty Images

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.

Sudanese refugees from Zamzam camp outside of El Fasher, in Darfur, receive food at an Emergency Response Room Communal Kitchen while being relocated to the Iridimi transit camp in Tine, eastern Chad, June 3, 2026. 
Sudanese refugees from Zamzam camp outside of El Fasher, in Darfur, receive food at an Emergency Response Room Communal Kitchen while being relocated to the Iridimi transit camp in Tine, eastern Chad, June 3, 2026.  © 2025 Lynsey Addario/Getty Images

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.

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.

Header captions
FIRST: A man holds a flower and the message "Humanity for All" as US marines and national guard protect the entrance of a federal building during the "No Kings" protest following US immigration operations, in Los Angeles, California, on June 3, 2026.
© 2025 Etienne Laurent/AFP via Getty Images; SECOND: A doctor and a midwife assist a pregnant patient at a provincial hospital's maternity department after others closed due to US funding cuts in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, June 3, 2026. © 2025 Elise Blanchard/Getty Images; THIRD: Sebastian Lai, son of businessman and outspoken critic of the Chinese government, Jimmy Lai, speaks during a press conference outside Downing Street in London on June 3, 2026. © 2025 Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images; FOURTH: Residents pass by the site of a Russian air strike that destroyed a residential house in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, June 3, 2026. © 2025 Yevhen Titov/AP Photo

이 이모티콘을 구매, 또는 선물하면 카카오의 다른 서비스에서도 사용할 수 있습니다., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.

Download