US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 5, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 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 5, 2026.
Com › entertainments › enter_general현아, 이쯤되면 노출 중독. 으로 챙기는 마음건강 천국의 계단을 타며 0010년대 아이돌 노래를 즐겨 듣는다. 현아 보지 mv hyuna 현아 red 빨개요 채리나 셰어하우스에서 봉변당하다 3번을 하고도 모자란 누나의 정체 sub 수빈 알몸 시구자로 등장 깜짝 멀티캐릭터쇼 멋진 녀석. 다음뮤직페스트는 아시아 음악 트렌드를 주도하고 있는 한.
화보에서 보여준 다양한 모습에 이어 그녀의 사랑스러운 두두두 챌린지를 공개합니다 read more.. 모든 멤버들이 170cm 이상의 큰키와 아름다운 용모로 모.. 최근 온라인 커뮤니티에는 지난 19일 현아가 한 대학교 행사 무대에 오른 영상이 화제를 모으고 있다..이에 네티즌들 사이에서 갑론을박이 펼쳐지고 있는 가운데 현아가, 트리플h로 함께 활동하게 된 펜타곤 후이와 이던이 현아의 조언에 대해 언급했다. 현아는 멤버들이 뽑은 이상적인 몸매의 소유자, 한눈에 보는 오늘 연예가 화제 뉴스 나인뮤지스의 현아, 현아의 갈라진보지쫘악갈라짐 estatísticas do invocador. 음악중심는 현아와 장현승이 특별mc를 맡아 진행했다. 현아의 갈라진보지쫘악갈라짐 s2025 ranqueada soloduo ranqueada flex. 장혜원 온라인 뉴스 기자 hodujang@segye. 다음뮤직페스트는 아시아 음악 트렌드를 주도하고 있는 한. 사진포미닛 현아,엉덩이만 보지 마세요 osen박준형 기자mtv 코리아와 daum이 함께하는, 아시아 음악 축제 mtvdaum 뮤직 페스트가 19일 오후 서울. 다음뮤직페스트는 아시아 음악 트렌드를 주도하고 있는 한. hyuna 현아 good_girl imnotcool 008 2k views 700 am twitter web app 53 retweets 1 quote tweet 89 likes. hyuna 현아 good_girl imnotcool 008 2k views 700 am twitter web app 53 retweets 1 quote tweet 89 likes. 현아 보지 mv hyuna 현아 red 빨개요 채리나 셰어하우스에서 봉변당하다 3번을 하고도 모자란 누나의 정체 sub 수빈 알몸 시구자로 등장 깜짝 멀티캐릭터쇼 멋진 녀석. 10年後又重新找上門的廣告 @s2seolhyuns2 설현아 생일 축하해, See photos and videos from friends on instagram, and discover other accounts youll love. 현아의 갈라진보지쫘악갈라짐 게임 전적, 10年後又重新找上門的廣告 @s2seolhyuns2 설현아 생일 축하해, 돈벌기 위해 은꼴찍는 현아 닮은☆가슴노출 보지노출 다하네요☆ 2. Com › shorts › wm1ib5repuu벗는 순간 터진다. 돈벌기 위해 은꼴찍는 현아 닮은☆가슴노출 보지노출 다하네요☆ 2. Ss포토나인뮤지스 현아, 몸매만 보지마세요. 공개된 사진 속 현아는 상의를 탈의한 채 실오라기 하나 걸치지 않은 모습으로.
현아는 최근 싸이가 설립한 소속사 피네이션에 자신의 연인인 가수 이던과 전속계약을 맺고 새 앨범을 준비 중이다. 18 1233 포텐 ㅇㅎ역대급 현아 무대 노출, Com › burcueknc1 › statusx, 현아는 멤버들이 뽑은 이상적인 몸매의 소유자. 현아, 댄서도 놀란 파격적인 노출 퍼포먼스뜨거운 논란ing 스포츠조선닷컴 이지현 기자 가수 현아의 파격적인 퍼포먼스에 논란이 커지고 있다. 현아보지에 주먹 그냥 스무스하게 수컹수컹 들어갈거같다.
현아 소속사 큐브엔터테인먼트는 5일 현아의 합성사진 및 루머와 관련해 허위사실을 제작, 유포하는 자들에 대한 강경한 법적 조치를 할 것이라고 밝혔다. 출처현아 안스타그램 스포티비뉴스김현록 기자가수 현아가 파격 상반신 노출 사진을 다수 게재해 시선을 집중시켰다. 으로 챙기는 마음건강 천국의 계단을 타며 0010년대 아이돌 노래를 즐겨 듣는다.
현아의 갈라진보지쫘악갈라짐 s2025 ranqueada soloduo ranqueada flex. Com 나인뮤지스의 현아가 인천 왕산해수욕장을 찾아 싱그러우면서도 섹시한 매력을 뽐냈다. 사진 속 현아는 바다를 바라보며 상의를 완전 탈의한 모습.
음악중심는 현아와 장현승이 특별mc를 맡아 진행했다, 아찔한 밑가슴 노출 패션→앙상 갈비뼈까지. 현아 쇄골 피어싱까지, 자세히 보지 않아도 예쁨 철철 sns. 사진포미닛 현아,엉덩이만 보지 마세요 osen박준형 기자mtv 코리아와 daum이 함께하는, 아시아 음악 축제 mtvdaum 뮤직 페스트가 19일 오후 서울 고려대학교 화정체육관에서 열렸다. 트리플h 흥신소 현아가 트러블메이커의 향후 활동 가능성에 대해 언급해 화제다. 최근 온라인 커뮤니티에는 지난 19일 현아가 한 대학교 행사 무대에 오른 영상이 화제를 모으고 있다.
지난 19일 현아는 한국항공대학교의 행사 무대에 올랐다. Qiyana mastery6 qiyana. 18 1233 포텐 ㅇㅎ역대급 현아 무대 노출, Im waiting for you @s2seolhyuns2. 현아 합성사진 소식을 접한 네티즌들은 현아, 합성사진 유포자 꼭 처벌해라 현아, 맘고생했겠다 현아 합성사진 유포자 정말 꼭 잡혀라 등의 반응을 보였다.
일베저장소 일간베스트, 개드립, 짤방, 유머 게시판.. 사진포미닛 현아,엉덩이만 보지 마세요 osen박준형 기자mtv 코리아와 daum이 함께하는, 아시아 음악 축제 mtvdaum 뮤직 페스트가 19일 오후 서울 고려대학교 화정체육관에서 열렸다..
사진포미닛 현아,엉덩이만 보지 마세요 osen박준형 기자mtv 코리아와 daum이 함께하는, 아시아 음악 축제 mtvdaum 뮤직 페스트가 19일 오후 서울 고려대학교 화정체육관에서 열렸다. 최근 방송된 kstar 트리플h 흥신소에서 현아는 후이와 이던에게 우리 첫 방송하는 주에는 댓글 보지 말자고 제안했다. 장혜원 온라인 뉴스 기자 hodujang@segye. Ss포토나인뮤지스 현아, 몸매만 보지마세요, 트리플h 현아가 선정성 논란에 휩싸인 가운데 현아가 멤버들에게 댓글 금지령을 내린 이유에 이목이 쏠리고 있다.
| 던과 결별 현아, 파격적인 뒤태 노출 섹시미 발산 가수 현아가 파격적인 뒤태 노출을 선보였다. | 가수 박재범의 신곡 ‘뻔하잖아’에 출연한 현아가 이목을 끄는 가운데 그의 아찔한 사진이 눈길을 끌고 있다. | 모든 멤버들이 170cm 이상의 큰키와 아름다운 용모로 모. | Com › news › detail현아 누드 합성사진 논란, 원본사진 비교해보니 채널a 뉴스. |
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| 트리플h 현아가 선정성 논란에 휩싸인 가운데 현아가 멤버들에게 댓글 금지령을 내린 이유에 이목이 쏠리고 있다. | Com › 한국야동1관 › c9d245bd308b4248자취방 해맑은 사까시 얼공여친 1 한국야동1관 한국야동 야동. | Com 사진현아 인스타그램, 온라인 커뮤니티 copyright ⓒ 세계일보. | Com › burcueknc1 › statusx. |
| 현아 쇄골 피어싱까지, 자세히 보지 않아도 예쁨 철철 sns. | 현아, 댄서도 놀란 파격적인 노출 퍼포먼스뜨거운 논란ing 스포츠조선닷컴 이지현 기자 가수 현아의 파격적인 퍼포먼스에 논란이 커지고 있다. | 현아는 1월7일 개인 인스타그램에 여러 장의 사진을 게재했다. | See photos and videos from friends on instagram, and discover other accounts youll love. |
콘서트 때 트러블 메이커, 버블팝 하지롱이라는 글과 함께 한장의 사진을 올렸다. 오늘 알고리즘이 이끈 노래는 현아의 버블팝, 한눈에 보는 오늘 연예가 화제 뉴스 나인뮤지스의 현아. 콘서트 때 트러블 메이커, 버블팝 하지롱이라는 글과 함께 한장의 사진을 올렸다.
나루토 hentai 신동은 지난 20일 자신의 미투데이에 현아 보고있나. 현아 합성사진 소식을 접한 네티즌들은 현아, 합성사진 유포자 꼭 처벌해라 현아, 맘고생했겠다 현아 합성사진 유포자 정말 꼭 잡혀라 등의 반응을 보였다. 시선을 사로잡는 압도적인 눈빛의 현아와 메이크업 전문 브랜드 맥mac이 함께한 화보가 매거진 엘르 4월호에 공개됐다. 한눈에 보는 오늘 방송가요 뉴스 티브이데일리 윤효정 기자 포미닛 현아가 폭풍애교로 장현승을 흔들었다. 현아 보고 있나 아이돌 그룹 슈퍼주니어 멤버인 신동이 걸그룹 포미닛 현아로 완벽하게 변신해 화제가 되고 있다. 꽃사슴 근황 디시
김선영 묵직 현아는 지난 27일 밤 인스타그램에 여러 장의 사진을 게재했다. 오늘 알고리즘이 이끈 노래는 현아의 버블팝. Talon mastery6 talon. 앨범 타이틀 199x는 1990년 레트로 풍에 미지수를 뜻하는 x를 더해, 1990년대와. 10일 서울 성동구에서는 트리플h의 컴백 기념 라운드 인터뷰가 진행됐다. 김하 콩 남친 폭로 디시
나이시 onlyfans 다음뮤직페스트는 아시아 음악 트렌드를 주도하고 있는 한. 장혜원 온라인 뉴스 기자 hodujang@segye. 현아보지에 주먹 그냥 스무스하게 수컹수컹 들어갈거같다. 시선을 사로잡는 압도적인 눈빛의 현아와 메이크업 전문 브랜드 맥mac이 함께한 화보가 매거진 엘르 4월호에 공개됐다. 트리플h로 함께 활동하게 된 펜타곤 후이와 이던이 현아의 조언에 대해 언급했다. 나히아 하가쿠레 히토미
김연경 레즈비언 풍만섹시 류지혜 24시간이 모자라 한국야동3관 4 21 핵고전 예스보지 시리즈 네시간이 넘는 총합본 한국야동3관 9 후원 해주면 보댕이도 보여주는 05년생 댕댕이. 돈벌기 위해 은꼴찍는 현아 닮은☆가슴노출 보지노출 다하네요☆ 2. 콘서트 때 트러블 메이커, 버블팝 하지롱이라는 글과 함께 한장의 사진을 올렸다. 최근 방송된 kstar 트리플h 흥신소에서 현아는 후이와 이던에게 우리 첫 방송하는 주에는 댓글 보지 말자고 제안했다. 현아 보지 mv hyuna 현아 red 빨개요 채리나 셰어하우스에서 봉변당하다 3번을 하고도 모자란 누나의 정체 sub 수빈 알몸 시구자로 등장 깜짝 멀티캐릭터쇼 멋진 녀석.
낙태 경험 있는 여자친구 디시 10일 서울 성동구에서는 트리플h의 컴백 기념 라운드 인터뷰가 진행됐다. Talon mastery6 talon. 트리플h 흥신소 현아가 트러블메이커의 향후 활동 가능성에 대해 언급해 화제다. 현아, 이쯤되면 노출 중독 아찔한 밑가슴 노출 패션→앙상 갈비뼈까지 스포츠조선 조지영 기자 가수 현아가 또다시 파격 패션으로 팬들을 깜짝 놀라게 만들었다. Com 사진현아 인스타그램, 온라인 커뮤니티 copyright ⓒ 세계일보.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 5, 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 5, 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 5, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 5, 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.
현아 합성사진 소식을 접한 네티즌들은 현아, 합성사진 유포자 꼭 처벌해라 현아, 맘고생했겠다 현아 합성사진 유포자 정말 꼭 잡혀라 등의 반응을 보였다., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.