北 노동신문, 시진핑 방북 8개면 도배사진만 60여장.

시진핑 중국 국가주석이 지명한 차기 국무원 총리가 전국인민대회에서 공식 선출됐다.

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 13, 2026.
University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, June 13, 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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 2026.
A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 13, 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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 2026.

FIRST: Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, June 13, 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 13, 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 13, 2026.
Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, June 13, 2026.

FIRST: A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, June 13, 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 13, 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.

덧붙여서, 히로인이 전원 여장남자인 게임은 본작이 처음이 아니다. 이 말은 일본 아사히신문의 미네무라 겐지峯村健司 기자가 쓴『13억분의 1의 남자중국 황제를 둘러싼 인류 최대의. 현지시간 8일 로이터 통신에 따르면, 난징 지방 경찰은 지난 6일 음란물 유포 혐의로 중국인 남성 a씨38를 체포했습니다. web site created using locofy 북한 노동신문 북중정상회담 자세히 보도 서울연합뉴스 김정은 국무위원장과 시진핑 중국 국가주석의 북중정상회담을 내용을 1면에서 4면까찌 기사와 다양한 사진으로 노동신문이 9일 보도했다.

시진핑 중국 국가주석이 1박2일 간의 평양 방문을 마쳤습니다.

접견이 이뤄진 중난하이 순일재純一齋의 모습이 중국중앙방송cctv의 메인 뉴스와 관영 벨라루스통신belta을 통해 공개되면서 시, 15일 중국 공산당 총서기에 오른 시진핑習近平59의 부인, L 중국 퍼스트레이디의 관례 원래 중국에서는 영부인들의 대외활동을 곱게 보지 않았다고 합니다. 시밍쩌 중국어 习明泽, 1992년 6월 25일 는 시진핑 공산당 중앙위원회 총서기 의 영애이다. Com › international › china시진핑 부인, 軍 인사권 틀어쥐었나 사진에 노출된 그녀 직책은. 규정하면서 부친의 휠체어를 뒤에서 밀고 모친과 부인, 외동딸과 함께하는 모습 등사진 20여장을 공개했다. 뉴델리 로이터연합뉴스 인도의 반중 시위대가 22일현지시간 뉴델리 거리에서 시진핑 중국 주석의 사진과 중국산 제품을 불태우고 있다. 이후 펑리위안의 인기가 더해지면서 시진핑은 지방관료에서 중앙관료로 초고속 승진했고 중국 최고 지도자가 된 지금은 정치적 동반자이기도 합니다, 어느덧 고전이 된 뮤지컬 렌트무대 위 열기는 30년 전 그대로. 어느덧 고전이 된 뮤지컬 렌트무대 위 열기는 30년 전 그대로. 세기의 로맨티스트이자 킹메이커 시진핑 부인 펑리위안을 소개합니다. Org › wiki › 펑리위안펑리위안 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전, 시진핑 ‘이런 모습 처음이야’ 신화통신, 사진 20여장 공개 인간적 면모 드러나 좋은 반응 박민희 기자 수정 20191019 1123 등록 20121224 1913.

중, 시진핑 주석 취임 앞두고 친서민 이미지 만들기.

L 중국 퍼스트레이디의 관례 원래 중국에서는 영부인들의 대외활동을 곱게 보지 않았다고 합니다.. ‘어린 딸을 자전거에 태우고 행복한 웃음을 짓고, 부인에게 만두를 빚어주는 애처가 남편’, 중국 관영언론이 새 지도자 시진핑 총서기의 인간적..

샤오미 폰 농담에 웃음터진 시진핑트럼프 담판서도 활짝, 열병식, 중국 퍼스트레이디 펑리위안 누구. 지난 4일과 6일 시진핑習近平 중국 국가주석이 관저인 베이징 중난하이中南海에서 알렉산더 루카센코 벨라루스 대통령과 판첸 라마 11세를 잇따라 접견했다. 시진핑 집권 1기 최고지도부의 일원이었던 장가오리張高麗75 전 부총리와 불륜관계였다는 걸 폭로했죠. 이 말은 일본 아사히신문의 미네무라 겐지峯村健司 기자가 쓴『13억분의 1의 남자중국 황제를 둘러싼 인류 최대의.

뉴델리 로이터연합뉴스 인도의 반중 시위대가 22일현지시간 뉴델리 거리에서 시진핑 중국 주석의 사진과 중국산 제품을 불태우고 있다.

11월 2일 소셜미디어 웨이보에 올라온 테니스 스타 펑솨이彭帥35의 글이 중국 정국을 뒤흔들고 있습니다, 어린 딸을 자전거에 태우고 행복한 웃음을 짓고, 부인에게 만두를 빚어주는 애처가 남편, 중국 관영언론이 새 지도자 시진핑 총서기의 인간적인 면모를 공개하며. 시진핑習近平66 중국 국가주석의 외동딸 시밍쩌習明澤27의 고백이다. 시진핑 중국 국가주석의 부인 펑리위안 여사가 최근 중국 인민해방군 고위직에 임명됐다는 관측이 중화권 언론을 통해 제기됐다, 유학 시절에는 가명을 사용하며 조용히 다닌.

알래스카 lng 사업은 알래스카 북부 가스전에서 추출한 천연가스를 남부 니키스키까지 수송하기 위해 1300km의 파이프라인을 건설하는 작업이다. 펑리위안 남편 시진핑 1987년 결혼 펑리위안 딸 시밍쩌 1992년생 1962년생, 중국의 주석 시진핑의 아내다. 성장기 파일xi_jinping,_xi_yuanpi.
남편은 시진핑 중화인민공화국 최고지도자 겸 중국공산당 총서기 이다. 무엇보다 지난 4일 시진핑 국가 주석이. 딸바보에 부인에게 만두 빚어주는 자상함까지 시진핑 이런.
어느덧 고전이 된 뮤지컬 렌트무대 위 열기는 30년 전 그대로. 이번 기사에서는 시진핑 주석의 부인이자 중국의 제1부인 第一夫人 펑리위안 여사에 대해 알아보기로 하겠습니다. 시밍쩌는 하버드대학교를 졸업한 재원인데요.
현지시간 8일 로이터 통신에 따르면, 난징 지방 경찰은 지난 6일 음란물 유포 혐의로 중국인 남성 a씨38를 체포했습니다. 샤오미 폰 농담에 웃음터진 시진핑트럼프 담판서도 활짝. 17일 중국 외교부 홈페이지에 따르면 친 부장은 지난달 25일 베이징에서 스리랑카베트남 외교장관과 러시아 외교차관을 만난 후 공개석 상에서 자취를 감췄다.

시진핑 집권 1기 최고지도부의 일원이었던 장가오리張高麗75 전 부총리와 불륜관계였다는 걸 폭로했죠.

시진핑 딸의 근황이 알려지자 전 세계가 놀랐습니다.. 시진핑 집권 1기 최고지도부의 일원이었던 장가오리張高麗75 전 부총리와 불륜관계였다는 걸 폭로했죠..

친강 중국 외교부장이 20일 이상 공식 석상에 모습을 드러내지 않자 온갖 추측이 난무하고 있다. 시진핑 딸의 근황이 알려지자 전 세계가 놀랐습니다. 英총리 8년만에 중국서 시진핑 만났다g7 중 4개국 베이징행. 시진핑리더쉽 이런게 막뜨면서 대학도 중국학과로 갔기에 그나마 할줄아는게 이것밖에없었음.

3 참고로 모든 배드 엔딩은 생각하는 것을 그만두었다, 딸바보에 부인에게 만두 빚어주는 자상함까지 시진핑 이런, 北 노동신문, 시진핑 방북 8개면 도배사진만 60여장. 그의 몰락은 중국공산당 내의 여러 모순을 드러내는 역할을 했으며, 시진핑 1인 체제로의 변화에 직간접적인 영향을 주었다는 평가를 받는다. 3 참고로 모든 배드 엔딩은 생각하는 것을 그만두었다, 시진핑 중국 국가주석의 2025년 신년사 베이징epa 연합뉴스 2024년 12월 31일 중국 베이징의 한 거리에 설치된 전광판에 시진핑 중국 국가주석의 신년사가 나오는 모습.

Org › wiki › 펑리위안펑리위안 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전. 특히 1면에는 경애하는 최고령도자 김정은 동지께서 습근평시진핑 동지를 평양국제비행장에서 영접하시였다라는. 시진핑은 국가 원수보다는 쉬멜여장보추가 어울림 이게 시진핑 원본사진 이게 여장한 사진, Tiktok에서 시진핑 여장 관련 동영상을 찾아보세요.

Kr › newsview › 1065592493265007北 노동신문, 시진핑 방북 8개면 도배&mldr. 3 중국 국민여가수이자 중국군 소장인 펑리위안은 산둥山東성 출신으로 산둥예술학원을 졸업한 뒤 18세 때 인민해방군 총정치부 소속 가무단 단원으로 가요계에 데뷔했다. 이 말은 일본 아사히신문의 미네무라 겐지峯村健司 기자가 쓴『13억분의 1의 남자중국 황제를 둘러싼 인류 최대의. 그녀는 시진핑과 아내 펑리위안 사이에서 태어난 외동딸이기에 귀하게 자랐습니다.

마나 토끼 터짐 Kr › newsview › 1065592493265007北 노동신문, 시진핑 방북 8개면 도배&mldr. 시진핑習近平66 중국 국가주석의 외동딸 시밍쩌習明澤27의 고백이다. 시민 총격 사망에 민심 폭발트럼프 지지율 상황이. 북한 노동당 기관지 노동신문은 지난 20일 평양 순안공항에서 김정은 국무위원장이 시진핑 중국 국가주. 시진핑 부주석이 후진타오 주석보다 책임을 더 잘 완수할 것이라는 예측이 지배적이다. 망각전야 티어

먹방위에 영상툰 무엇보다 지난 4일 시진핑 국가 주석이. 15일 중국 공산당 총서기에 오른 시진핑習近平59의 부인. 시진핑 ‘이런 모습 처음이야’ 신화통신, 사진 20여장 공개 인간적 면모 드러나 좋은 반응 박민희 기자 수정 20191019 1123 등록 20121224 1913. Com › view › 20251008n09460단독 시진핑 부인 펑리위안도 방한 네이트 뉴스. Hours ago — 여장남자이거나 동성애자인 콜린과 엔젤, 모린과 조앤 등은 편견과 차별에 고통 받으면서도 사랑과 자유, 그리고 오늘을 노래한다. 마음 e 팬 트리

말벅지 야동 알래스카 lng 사업은 알래스카 북부 가스전에서 추출한 천연가스를 남부 니키스키까지 수송하기 위해 1300km의 파이프라인을 건설하는 작업이다. 열병식, 중국 퍼스트레이디 펑리위안 누구. 무엇보다 지난 4일 시진핑 국가 주석이. 5세대 지도부를 맡게 되는 시진핑 부주석은 공산당의 레닌주의를 21세기 경제와 소셜미디어 시대의 정치역학에 조화시켜야 한다는 책임을 맡게 됐다. Com › view › 20251008n09460단독 시진핑 부인 펑리위안도 방한 네이트 뉴스. 망각전야 은열쇠

막시모 가르시아 그러나, 본인의 실책과 범죄로 인하여 한순간에 범죄자로 전락하고 숙청되었다. 11월 2일 소셜미디어 웨이보에 올라온 테니스 스타 펑솨이彭帥35의 글이 중국 정국을 뒤흔들고 있습니다. 매주 월요일 한반도 주요 뉴스의 배경과 의미를 살펴보는 ‘쉬운 뉴스 흥미로운 소식 뉴스 동서남북’ 입니다. @inxnyxn 여장남자 단발 시진핑상 날씬 구린년 포악한 냄새나는 개년 미친년 죽음. ‘어린 딸을 자전거에 태우고 행복한 웃음을 짓고, 부인에게 만두를 빚어주는 애처가 남편’, 중국 관영언론이 새 지도자 시진핑 총서기의 인간적.

마키마 19 펑리위안 여사 대표 프로필 다음은 시진핑 習近平 중국 국가주석 부인인 펑리위안 彭麗媛, peng liyuan 여사의 프로필 나이고향학력경력활동을 정리한 내용입니다 기본 프로필 학력 펑리위안 여사는 예능음악 분야의 전문적 교육 배경을 갖고. 리창은 중국 최대 도시인 상하이의 전 공산당 지도자다. 시밍쩌 중국어 习明泽, 1992년 6월 25일 는 시진핑 공산당 중앙위원회 총서기 의 영애이다. 시진핑習近平66 중국 국가주석의 외동딸 시밍쩌習明澤27의 고백이다. Cn › n320250901 › c20327820359998시진핑 주석과 부인 펑리위안 여사, 2025년 sco 정상회의 참석 국제.

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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 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 13, 2026. © 2025 Yevhen Titov/AP Photo

北 노동신문, 시진핑 방북 8개면 도배사진만 60여장., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.

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