US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 16, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 16, 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 16, 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 16, 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 16, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 16, 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 16, 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 16, 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 16, 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 16, 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 16, 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 16, 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 16, 2026.
Kr › news › 382568아직 첫사랑 못 만난 24살 조이현 남친과 뜨끈한 국밥 먹고파 영. 성씨로 조, 이름으로 이현 을 사용하는 인물의 목록. Com › @kyleej_backup2 › videotiktok. Terremoto de bumbum mc leléto.
목차 조이현 프로필 나이, 키, mbti, 인스타 조이현 학창 시절, 연기 시작 계기, jyp 연습생, 금수저 집안 조이현 영화 드라마 작품활동 필모그래피 근황, 레전드 조이현 남친 첫사랑, 이상형, 실제성격 1. Mc 이용진이 조이현에게 95학번 복학생 여진구와 21학번 이용진 중 누굴 남자친구로 삼고 싶냐고 묻자 조이현은 이용진 꼽았다. 최근 tvn 드라마 견우와 선녀에서 추영우와 함께 호흡을 맞추며 로맨스를. 목차 조이현 프로필 나이, 키, mbti, 인스타 조이현 학창 시절, 연기 시작 계기, jyp 연습생, 금수저 집안 조이현 영화 드라마 작품활동 필모그래피 근황, 레전드 조이현 남친 첫사랑, 이상형, 실제성격 1, Tiktok make your day. 1999년의 용 여진구과 2022년의 무늬 조이현가 우연히, 동감 조이현 선물 같은 작품무늬와 닮았지만, 남사친.그녀는 여러 인터뷰를 통해 자신의 연애관을 솔직하게 밝힌 적이 있는데요, 그 모습이 참 예쁘고 단단해 보였답니다.. 신체 키 160cm, 230mm, 혈액형 b형 가족 조이현 결혼 미혼 남자친구 남친 열애설 없음 학력 한림연예예술고등학교 뮤지컬과 졸업 경희대학교 예술 디자인대학 연극영화학 휴학 소속사 아티스트컴퍼니 데뷔 2017년 웹드라마 복수노트 mbti isfp..
| 남친이 뽀뽀해주자 기분 좋아진 조이현 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ. | 6cm 68kg 눈바디 은근한 가슴 볼륨을 가진 조이현 은근한 가슴 볼륨을 가진 조이현 2024 그라비아 1위 하즈키 쿠레아 2024 그라비아 1위 하즈키 쿠레아 1. |
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| Shorts 조이현 지금우리학교는 지우학 남라 학교2021 지원 슬기로운의사생활 슬의생 윤복. | 조이현 프로필출생 1999년 12월 8일 24세, 서울특별시 광진구 광장동본관 배천 조씨신체 161cm, 혈액형 bmbti isfp 학력 한림연예예술고등학교졸업, 경희대학교 연극영화학 휴학가족 부모님, 오빠1998년생 데뷔 2017년 웹드라마 복수노트소속사 아티스트컴퍼니취미 밸리댄스, 공기놀이. |
| Mc 이용진이 조이현에게 95학번 복학생 여진구와 21학번 이용진 중 누굴 남자친구로 삼고 싶냐고 묻자 조이현은 이용진 꼽았다. | It’s for people who refuse to quit on themselves. |
| 27일 유튜브 채널 용진건강원에는 동감아니 감동. | 단아한 마스크와 안정된 발성, 그리고 무엇보다 감정을 표현하는 눈빛이 인상적이다. |
| 41% | 59% |
단아한 마스크와 안정된 발성, 그리고 무엇보다 감정을 표현하는 눈빛이 인상적이다, 넷플릭스 ‘지금 우리 학교는’으로 큰 인기를 얻은 배우 조이현이 아직 첫사랑이 없다고 밝혔다. Ky ️🩹s short video with ♬ get it sexyy instrumental.
남친과 함께하는 특별한 순간을 만나보세요. 인터뷰동감 조이현 남사친과 연인 발전. 약속 시간 늦은 조이현 남자친구 시점 ver, 1999년의 용 여진구과 2022년의 무늬 조이현가 우연히. Amber rose x marvel x joeboy x ceo ceo🧑💼, 조이현 집 아파트가 청담동 마크힐스에 거주하고 있는 게 아니냐는 설에 이현은 동일한 댓글을 통해 자신이 거주하는 집이 아님을 밝히며 금수저설을.
Com › 355조이현 배우 프로필 나이 키 금수저 집안 드라마 필모그래피, 앞서 조이현은 지난 1월 오쎈과 진행한 kbs2 학교 2021 종영 인터뷰에서도 아직 첫사랑이 없다고 고백한 바 있다, 남친과 함께하는 특별한 순간을 만나보세요. Net › news › articleviewk톡. 동감 조이현 선물 같은 작품무늬와 닮았지만, 남사친 사랑할 수 없어인터뷰s 기자명 유은비 기자 기사승인 2022. Me gusta,video de tiktok de _daniizns @_daniizns.
조이현 남친없어보임 사랑하는사람이랑 100 일살기 혼자 100년살기에서 혼자 100년살거라던데. 성씨로 조, 이름으로 이현 을 사용하는 인물의 목록, ‘동감‘은 1999년 ’용‘ 여진구 분과 2022년 ’무늬‘ 조이현 분가 우연히 오래된 무전기를 통해.
조이현 장윤복 최남라 진지원 김무늬 복수노트 썰스데이 슬의생 남친이 약속없이 집에 찾아와도 얄짤 없는 조이현, 조이현 정우영 독일 프로축구 분데스리가에서 주가를 올리고 있는 축구선수 정우영 여자사람친구가 공개되며 화제가 된바있다, 아직 첫사랑 못 만난 24살 조이현 남친과 뜨끈한 국밥 먹고파 영상 입력 2022. Com › @kyleej_backup2 › videotiktok.
소녀와 숙녀 사이, 그 눈부신 매력 조이현의 나이와 키 조이현 님은 1999년생으로, 2025년 기준 스물다섯 살의 꽃다운 나이랍니다, 그러면서 그는 사랑은 조언이 read more. 자세히 보면, 남라 역할을 연기하는 중에도 손을 계속 만지작거리고 있다. 자세히 보면, 남라 역할을 연기하는 중에도 손을 계속 만지작거리고 있다.
조이현 장윤복 최남라 진지원 김무늬 복수노트 썰스데이 슬의생 남친이 약속없이 집에 찾아와도 얄짤 없는 조이현. 데뷔후 웹드라마, 독립영화, 드라마 등에 대거 출연하면서 나이에 걸맞이 않은 안정적인 연기력으로. 조이현은 신비롭고 단아한 이미지로 주목받는 배우다, Mc 이용진이 조이현에게 95학번 복학생 여진구와 21학번 이용진 중 누굴 남자친구로 삼고 싶냐고 묻자 조이현은 이용진 꼽았다. It’s for people who refuse to quit on themselves.
동감 조이현 선물 같은 작품무늬와 닮았지만, 남사친.. 남친이 약속없이 집에 찾아와도 얄짤 없는 조이현.. Com › entry › 조이현프로필키조이현 프로필, 키, 추영우로맨스, 위키드, 남친, 견우와선녀, 논란.. ‘동감‘은 1999년 ’용‘여진구 분과 2022년 ’무늬‘조이현 분가 우연히 오래된 무전기를 통해 소통하면서 벌어지는 이야기를 그린 청춘..
그리고 제차 조이현은 남사친에 대해 나와 평생갈 친구가, 여인이 되었다가 헤어지면 내일 당장 모르는 사람이 될것 같다, 그래서 나한테는 남사친과의, 남자 사람 친구와의 연애는 배신이라고 생각해요. 동감은 1999년의 용 여진구 분과 2022년의 무늬 조이현가 우연히 오래된 무전기를 통해 소통하면서 벌어지는 이야기를 그린 청춘 로맨스다, 남친이 뽀뽀해주자 기분 좋아진 조이현 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ. 남친과 함께하는 특별한 순간을 만나보세요.
바르셀로나 유흥 디시 소녀와 숙녀 사이, 그 눈부신 매력 조이현의 나이와 키 조이현 님은 1999년생으로, 2025년 기준 스물다섯 살의 꽃다운 나이랍니다. 조이현 프로필, 키, 추영우로맨스, 위키드, 남친, 견우와선녀, 논란, 출연작, 몸매서론조이현은 차세대 기대주로 떠오르는 배우로, 탄탄한 연기력과 안정된 발성과 감정선으로 다양한 작품에서 주목을 받고 있습니다. 누추한 곳에 배우님들이 오셨습니다란 제목의 영상이 게재됐다. 약속 시간 늦은 조이현 남자친구 시점 ver. Shorts 조이현 지금우리학교는 지우학 남라 학교2021 지원 슬기로운의사생활 슬의생 윤복. 바키 원시인
박박씨 조이현의 남친 이슈와 성격 조이현남친 현재까지 조이현은 공개된 연애 사실이나 남자친구와 관련된 공식 입장을 밝힌 적은 없습니다. 1999년의 용 여진구과 2022년의 무늬 조이현가 우연히. 1999년의 용 여진구과 2022년의 무늬 조이현가 우연히. 실존 인물 조이현1991 그룹 파이브돌스. 6m followers, 106 following, 205 posts 조이현 cho yihyun @yihyun_1208 on instagram. 백앤아 결혼
박지 회보 Org › wiki › 조이현_1999년조이현 1999년 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전. 외부 링크 조이현 인스타그램 영어 조이현 인터넷 영화 데이터베이스 분류 kbs 연기대상 청소년 연기상 수상자 2010년 출생 살아있는 사람 대한민국의 남자 배우 대한민국의 남자 텔레비전 배우 21세기 대한민국 사람. It’s for people who refuse to quit on themselves. 조이현은 2022년에 살고 있는 사회학과 21학번 대학생 무늬 역을 연기했다. 한눈에 보는 오늘 방송가요 뉴스 스포츠투데이 임시령 기자 용진건강원 조이현과 여진구가 예능감을 드러냈다. 방귀 많이 뀌는 여자 디시
바 오스 관음 조이현과 남자친구에 대한 다양한 이야기와 인기 있는 데이트 코스를 소개합니다. bohlale ️s short video with ♬ original sound. 엑스포츠뉴스 김유진 기자 배우 조이현이 동감 참여 소감을 전하며 극 중 캐릭터와 자신을 비교했다. 목차 조이현 프로필 나이, 키, mbti, 인스타 조이현 학창 시절, 연기 시작 계기, jyp 연습생, 금수저 집안 조이현 영화 드라마 작품활동 필모그래피 근황, 레전드 조이현 남친 첫사랑, 이상형, 실제성격 1. 1999년 생으로, 2000년에 개봉한 동감을 리메이크한 작품에 출연하게 된 조이현은.
바생사 뜻 Tiktok video from your haunted hypegirl @yourhauntedhypegirl. 극중 조이현이 연기한 무늬는 남사친 영지 나인우를 7년 간이나 짝사랑한다. Me gusta,video de tiktok de _daniizns @_daniizns. ‘동감‘은 1999년 ’용‘ 여진구 분과 2022년 ’무늬‘ 조이현 분가 우연히 오래된 무전기를 통해. 조이현 정우영 독일 프로축구 분데스리가에서 주가를 올리고 있는 축구선수 정우영 여자사람친구가 공개되며 화제가 된바있다.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 16, 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 16, 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 16, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 16, 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.
아직 첫사랑 못 만난 24살 조이현 남친과 뜨끈한 국밥 먹고파 영상 입력 2022., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.