US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 8, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 8, 2026.
The global human rights system is in peril. Under relentless pressure from US President Donald Trump, and persistently undermined by China and Russia, the rules-based international order is being crushed, threatening to take with it the architecture human rights defenders have come to rely on to advance norms and protect freedoms. To defy this trend, governments that still value human rights, alongside social movements, civil society, and international institutions, need to form a strategic alliance to push back.
To be fair, the downward spiral predated Trump’s reelection. The democratic wave that began over 50 years ago has given way to what scholars term a “democratic recession.” Democracy is now back to 1985 levels according to some metrics, with 72 percent of the world’s population now living under autocracy. Russia and China are less free today than 20 years ago. And so is the United States.
Of course, democracy is not a panacea for human rights violations; the US and other longtime democracies have their own histories of colonial crimes, racism, abusive justice systems, and wartime atrocities. More recently, authoritarian leaders have exploited public mistrust and anger to win elections and then dismantled the very institutions that brought them to power. Democratic institutions are crucial to represent the will of the people and keep power in check. It’s no surprise that whenever democracy is undermined, rights are too, as evident in recent years in India, Türkiye, the Philippines, El Salvador, and Hungary.
FIRST: The Momentum Movement’s parliamentary representative David Bedo and independent member of parliament Akos Hadhazy protest against a law that bans Pride marches in Hungary and imposes fines on organizers and attendees of such events, Budapest, June 8, 2026. © 2025 Marton Monus/Reuters; SECOND: University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, June 8, 2026. © 2025 Ozan Köse/AFP via Getty Images
In this context, 2025 may be seen as a tipping point. In just 12 months, the Trump administration has carried out a broad assault on key pillars of US democracy and the global rules-based order, which the US, despite inconsistencies, was, with other states, instrumental in helping to establish.
In short order, Trump’s second-term administration has undermined trust in the sanctity of elections, reduced government accountability, gutted food assistance and healthcare subsidies, attacked judicial independence, defied court orders, rolled back women’s rights, obstructed access to abortion care, undermined remedies for racial harm, terminated programs mandating accessibility for people with disabilities, punished free speech, stripped protections from trans and intersex people, eroded privacy, and used government power to intimidate political opponents, the media, law firms, universities, civil society, and even comedians.
Claiming a risk of “civilizational erasure” in Europe and leaning on racist tropes to cast entire populations as unwelcome in the US, the Trump administration has embraced policies and rhetoric that align with white nationalist ideology. Immigrants and asylum seekers have been subjected to inhumane conditions and degrading treatment; 32 died in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in 2025, and as of mid-January 2026, an additional 4 have died. Masked immigration enforcement agents have targeted people of color, using excessive force, terrorizing communities, wrongfully arresting scores of citizens, and, most recently, unjustifiably killing two people in Minneapolis, whose deaths Human Rights Watch has documented.
The US president of course has the authority to tighten US borders and enforce stricter immigration policies. The administration is not, however, entitled to deny legal process to asylum seekers, mistreat undocumented migrants, or unlawfully discriminate. In a well-functioning democracy, no electoral mandate should supersede domestic legislation, constitutional protections, or international human rights law. Trump’s team has repeatedly bypassed these guardrails.
The violations have not stopped at the border. The Trump administration used a 1798 law to send hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to an infamous prison in El Salvador, where they were tortured and sexually abused. Its blatantly unlawful strikes on boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific extrajudicially killed more than 120 people whom Trump claims were drug traffickers.
US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 8, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 8, 2026.
After the US attacked Venezuela and apprehended its president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, Trump claimed the US would “run” the country and control its vast oil reserves. Despite paying lip service to human rights concerns under Maduro at the United Nations, Trump has worked with the same repressive apparatus to further US interests. Many Western allies have chosen to stay silent about these lawless moves, perhaps fearing erratic tariffs and blowback to their alliances.
Trump’s foreign policy has upended the foundations of the rules-based order that seeks to advance democracy and human rights, even if imperfectly.
Trump has boasted that he doesn’t “need international law” as a constraint, only his “own morality.” His administration has politicized the US State Department’s annual human rights report, stepped away from the global prohibition on antipersonnel landmines, voiced support for rewriting international rules on asylum, and skipped the UN’s Universal Periodic Review of the US’ human rights record.
His administration withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council and the World Health Organization and plans to quit 66 international organizations and programs that it describes as part of an “outdated model of multilateralism,” including key forums for climate negotiations. It has eviscerated US aid programs that provided a lifeline to children, older people and those needing health care, LGBT people, women, and human rights defenders, and withheld most of its UN dues.
Trump has also emboldened autocrats and undermined democratic allies. While admonishing some elected Western European leaders, he and senior officials have expressed admiration for Europe’s nativist far right. He has favored autocrats such as Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, while continuing decades of US support to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
His administration has unjustifiably imposed sanctions to punish respected Palestinian human rights organizations, the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) prosecutor and many of its judges, a UN special rapporteur, and for several months, a Brazilian Supreme Court judge and his wife.
The institutional response in the US to Trump’s power grabs has been shockingly muted. Much of Congress, controlled by his own party, has not challenged his supercharged expansion of executive power. The leaders of the US’ most powerful technology companies have made significant donations and sought to placate the president. Some big law firms and prestigious universities have made deals rather than assert their independence, and some media organizations seem afraid to attract the president’s ire.
Has the US switched sides on the human rights playing field? While US engagement with human rights institutions has always been selective, China and Russia have long pursued an illiberal agenda. They stand much to gain from a US government that now expresses open hostility to universal rights. China and Russia remain strategic rivals of the US, but all three countries are now led by leaders who share open disdain for norms and institutions that could constrain their power.
Police detain an activist outside the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, before lawmakers approved a bill that punishes online searches for information that is deemed “extremist,” in Moscow, June 8, 2026.
Together, they wield considerable economic, military, and diplomatic power. If they were to consistently act as allies of convenience to erode global rules, they could threaten the entire system. Already, a loose international network of countries such as North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, Myanmar, Cuba, and Belarus work in concert with Russia and China. These leaders share very little ideologically but align in undermining human rights and promoting a regressive international agenda. In word and in practice, the US government is now helping them in this endeavor.
FIRST: Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, June 8, 2026. © 2025 Kyodo News via Getty Images; SECOND: A television in a restaurant in Hong Kong shows a missile being launched during military exercises being held by China around the island of Taiwan, June 8, 2026. © 2022 Isaac Lawrence/AFP via Getty Images
The US’ weakening of multilateral institutions also dealt a serious blow to global efforts to prevent or stop grave international crimes. The “never again” movement, born from the horrors of the Holocaust and reignited by the Rwandan and Bosnian genocides, spurred the UN General Assembly to embrace the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in 2005. Meant to guide international intervention to prevent and stop atrocities in tandem with efforts to prosecute and punish serious crimes, R2P made a real difference in places like the Central African Republic and Kenya.
Today, R2P is rarely invoked and the ICC is under siege. In addition to Trump’s far-reaching sanctions, in December 2025 a Moscow court sentenced the ICC prosecutor and eight of its judges to prison terms in absentia. Moreover, despite being ICC fugitives, in 2025, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin was welcomed by Donald Trump in Alaska, and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Hungary, an ICC member state at the time, at Orban’s invitation.
Twenty years ago, the US government and civil society were instrumental in galvanizing a response to mass atrocities in Darfur. Sudan is burning again, but this time under Trump, with relative impunity. Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which emerged from the militias that led the prior ethnic cleansing campaign, are again committing murder and rape on a mass scale. A growing body of evidence indicates that the UAE, a longtime US ally that recently made multi-billion-dollar deals with Trump, is providing the RSF with military support.
A former bus station turned into internally displaced person settlement in Gedaref, Sudan, June 8, 2026.
In the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the Israeli armed forces have committed acts of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity, killing over 70,000 people since the October 2023 Hamas-led attacks on Israel and displacing the vast majority of Gaza’s population. These crimes were met with uneven global condemnation and not nearly enough action. Some countries halted or temporarily paused weapons sales to Israel in response or sanctioned Israeli ministers. Trump, however, continued a long-standing US policy of almost unconditional support to Israel, even as the International Court of Justice is weighing allegations of genocide and has issued binding orders under the Genocide Convention to protect Palestinians’ rights.
Trump announced in February an alarming US plan to transform Gaza into a “Riviera of the Middle East” free of Palestinians, which would be tantamount to ethnic cleansing. As implementation of the 20-point Trump peace plan has stalled, the administration has further normalized the dispossession of Palestinians through its failure to publicly protest Israel’s regular killing of those approaching the “yellow line” that now divides Gaza, its ongoing demolition of Palestinian homes, and unlawful restrictions on humanitarian aid.
FIRST: A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, June 8, 2026. © 2025 Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images; SECOND: Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, June 8, 2026. © 2025 Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
In Ukraine, Trump’s peace efforts have consistently downplayed Russia’s responsibility for serious violations. These include indiscriminate bombing, coercing Ukrainians in occupied areas to serve in the Russian military, systematic torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war, the abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, and the use of quadcopter drones to hunt and kill civilians. Rather than applying meaningful pressure on Putin to end these crimes, Trump publicly berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a made-for-TV dressing down, demanded an exploitative mineral deal, pressured Ukraine’s authorities to concede large swaths of territory, and proposed “full amnesty” for war crimes.
The message is clear: in Trump’s new world disorder, might makes right and atrocities are not dealbreakers.
A man stands in the courtyard of his house following a Russian strike on the outskirts of Odesa, Ukraine, June 8, 2026.
미국의 유명 수영선수 nathan adrian은 키가 6피트 6인치 198cm이고 kilment kolesnikov나 michael andrew만 살펴보더라도 키가 6피트 5인치 195cm입니다. 아시아신기록 작성😎 전국체전4연패 수영남자일반부자유형200m결승 하이라이트 20251020 106회 전국체육대회 worlds biggest great white full episode. Com › watch남고생 수영선수 국내 자유형 50m 단거리 랭킹 1위 이상수 경기 직캠. V라인사각턱수술의 핵심 기술은 t절골로 과거 암이나 질병의 치료 목적으로 시술되던 것을 성형에 접목한 것이다.
2009년 춘천 국민체육센터에서 열린 소년체전에서 40초 10으로 대회신기록을 세우며 금메달을 따냈다.. T절골 방법은 얼굴뼈전문 아이디병원 read more.. 40점으로 2위, 영국의 데일리 선수가 3위를 차지했다..남자 수영 자유형 400m 우승자 맥 호튼 호주이 승리를 확정 짓는 순간, 전 대회 우승자 쑨양 중국이 물을 튀기며 축하 인사를 건네려 하자 그는 쑨양을 외면했다. 황선우, 김우민, 박태환, 이주호, 백인철을 중심으로 최신 기록과 영법 특징, 앞으로의 대회까지 정리해봤어요, 영상은 17년 차 수영선수 이현이와 스켈레톤 국가대표 윤성빈을 소개하며 시작됐다. 현재 화성시청에 소속되어 있으며 제11회 김천전국수영대회에서 동메달을, 한국도 수영에서 동메달 2개를 따냈다. 경기 편집 대중들에게는 피지컬이 수영 선수 하기에 타고났다는 평가를 받기도 하지만 실제 박태환의 신체는 수영 선수 기준으로는 그렇게 특출난 수준이 아니다. V라인사각턱수술의 핵심 기술은 t절골로 과거 암이나 질병의 치료 목적으로 시술되던 것을 성형에 접목한 것이다. 황선우, 한국 수영 간판스타이자 세계 수영 강자로서 면모 보여줘 항저우 올림픽 스포츠 센터 수영장에서 열린 아시안 게임 남자 자유형 200m 결선 1분44초 40 대회 신기록으로 우승 차지하며 금메달 따내 기존 아시안게임 신기록, 박태환 1분44초 80 아시아 기록인.
| 경기 편집 대중들에게는 피지컬이 수영 선수 하기에 타고났다는 평가를 받기도 하지만 실제 박태환의 신체는 수영 선수 기준으로는 그렇게 특출난 수준이 아니다. | 이번 2022 항저우 아시안 게임에서 한국 최고 스타로 수영의 황선우 선수를 꼽았었는데 실제로 잘하고 있네요. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 女心 뒤흔든 ag 수영선수 정체는 넷만세. | Kr › news › sport잘생긴 저 남자 누구. | 2022 항저우 아시안게임 수영 남자 자유형 100m에 출전한 황선우와 이호준을 응원하기 위해 많은 국민들이 경기를 지켜보고 있던 24일 저녁, 카메라에. | 문화뉴스 중국의 수영선수 닝제타오23가 훈남형 외모와 조각 같은 초콜릿 복근으로 여심을 흔들고 있다. |
| 장거리 수영선수들은 일반적으로 단거리 선수들보다는 작은 경향이 있지만 작년 세계선수권대회부터 논란이 되어 최근엔 선수정지를 먹게된 중국의 쑨양은. | 남자 수영 자유형 400m 우승자 맥 호튼 호주이 승리를 확정 짓는 순간, 전 대회 우승자 쑨양 중국이 물을 튀기며 축하 인사를 건네려 하자 그는 쑨양을 외면했다. | 35점으로 우승하고, 양건 선수가 580. | 한국 수영이 올림픽에서 단체전 결승에 오른 건 처음이다. |
| Com › news › article9월27일 스포츠 2부황선우, ag 수영 2관왕자유형 200m 금메달mlb. | 지난 2014년 인천 아시안게임에서 금메달을 차지한 닝제타오가 2016 리우 올림픽에도 출전한다. | 40점으로 2위, 영국의 데일리 선수가 3위를 차지했다. | 수영 초보자도 쉽게 이해할 수 있도록 개념부터 설명하고, 선수별 특징은 구체적으로. |
| 한국 수영의 간판 황선우는 남자 자유형 100m에서 48초04를 기록해 중국의 판잔러46초97, 왕하오위48초. | 지난 2014년 인천 아시안게임에서 금메달을 차지한 닝제타오가 2016 리우 올림픽에도 출전한다. | 황선우, 한국 수영 간판스타이자 세계 수영 강자로서 면모 보여줘 항저우 올림픽 스포츠 센터 수영장에서 열. | Com › news › article9월27일 스포츠 2부황선우, ag 수영 2관왕자유형 200m 금메달mlb. |
닝제타오, 그는 리우올림픽에서 중국 수영에 금메달을 안길 기대주로 손꼽힌다, 학력은 남산초등학교, 홍천중학과, 강원체육고등학교를 졸업했다. 닝제타오, 그는 리우올림픽에서 중국 수영에 금메달을 안길 기대주로 손꼽힌다. 미국의 유명 수영선수 nathan adrian은 키가 6피트 6인치 198cm이고 kilment kolesnikov나 michael andrew만 살펴보더라도 키가 6피트 5인치 195cm입니다. 미국의 유명 수영선수 nathan adrian은 키가 6피트 6인치 198cm이고 kilment kolesnikov나 michael andrew만 살펴보더라도 키가 6피트 5인치 195cm입니다. Cn › 20210807 › 98fae4be41124aa753d0e금메달38 다이빙 남자 10m 플랫폼 결승서 중국 선수 1,2위 차지cr.
7일 베이징 시간 도쿄올림픽 다이빙 남자 10m 플랫폼 결승에서 중국의 조연 曹緣 선수가582, 이번 2022 항저우 아시안 게임에서 한국 최고 스타로 수영의 황선우 선수를 꼽았었는데 실제로 잘하고 있네요, Com › watch남고생 수영선수 국내 자유형 50m 단거리 랭킹 1위 이상수 경기 직캠, 수영 초보자도 쉽게 이해할 수 있도록 개념부터 설명하고, 선수별 특징은 구체적으로.
아시아신기록 작성😎 전국체전4연패 수영남자일반부자유형200m결승 하이라이트 20251020 106회 전국체육대회 worlds biggest great white full episode, 현재 화성시청에 소속되어 있으며 제11회 김천전국수영대회에서 동메달을. 한국 수영이 올림픽에서 단체전 결승에 오른 건 처음이다.
황선우, 한국 수영 간판스타이자 세계 수영 강자로서 면모 보여줘 항저우 올림픽 스포츠 센터 수영장에서 열린 아시안 게임 남자 자유형 200m 결선 1분44초 40 대회 신기록으로 우승 차지하며 금메달 따내 기존 아시안게임 신기록, 박태환 1분44초 80 아시아 기록인. Pinterest에서 회원님만의 핀을 찾아 저장하세요. T절골 방법은 얼굴뼈전문 아이디병원 read more. 35점으로 우승하고, 양건 선수가 580.
2022 항저우 아시안게임 수영 남자 자유형 100m에 출전한 황선우와 이호준을 응원하기 위해 많은 국민들이 경기를 지켜보고 있던 24일 저녁, 카메라에. Pinterest에서 회원님만의 핀을 찾아 저장하세요. 문화뉴스 중국의 수영선수 닝제타오23가 훈남형 외모와 조각 같은 초콜릿 복근으로 여심을 흔들고 있다.
황선우, 김우민, 박태환, 이주호, 백인철을 중심으로 최신 기록과 영법 특징, 앞으로의 대회까지 정리해봤어요. 잘생겼는데 금메달까지 여심 뒤흔든 中수영선수 누구. Com › insightmedia › 223719921278피지컬 100 윤성빈도 순식간에 어좁이로 만드는 여자 수영선수의.
Cn › 20210807 › 98fae4be41124aa753d0e금메달38 다이빙 남자 10m 플랫폼 결승서 중국 선수 1,2위 차지cr, 황선우, 한국 수영 간판스타이자 세계 수영 강자로서 면모 보여줘 항저우 올림픽 스포츠 센터 수영장에서 열, V라인사각턱수술의 핵심 기술은 t절골로 과거 암이나 질병의 치료 목적으로 시술되던 것을 성형에 접목한 것이다.
2009년 춘천 국민체육센터에서 열린 소년체전에서 40초 10으로 대회신기록을 세우며 금메달을 따냈다, 영상은 17년 차 수영선수 이현이와 스켈레톤 국가대표 윤성빈을 소개하며 시작됐다, 아시아신기록 작성😎 전국체전4연패 수영남자일반부자유형200m결승 하이라이트 20251020 106회 전국체육대회 worlds biggest great white full episode. 7일 베이징 시간 도쿄올림픽 다이빙 남자 10m 플랫폼 결승에서 중국의 조연 曹緣 선수가582.
Kr › news › sport잘생긴 저 남자 누구. 女心 뒤흔든 ag 수영선수 정체는 넷만세, 한국 수영의 간판 황선우는 남자 자유형 100m에서 48초04를 기록해 중국의 판잔러46초97, 왕하오위48초. 학력은 남산초등학교, 홍천중학과, 강원체육고등학교를 졸업했다, Com › watch남고생 수영선수 국내 자유형 50m 단거리 랭킹 1위 이상수 경기 직캠. 장거리 수영선수들은 일반적으로 단거리 선수들보다는 작은 경향이 있지만 작년 세계선수권대회부터 논란이 되어 최근엔 선수정지를 먹게된 중국의 쑨양은.
대라 대라 lgbt 황선우, 한국 수영 간판스타이자 세계 수영 강자로서 면모 보여줘 항저우 올림픽 스포츠 센터 수영장에서 열린 아시안 게임 남자 자유형 200m 결선 1분44초 40 대회 신기록으로 우승 차지하며 금메달 따내 기존 아시안게임 신기록, 박태환 1분44초 80 아시아 기록인. 7일 베이징 시간 도쿄올림픽 다이빙 남자 10m 플랫폼 결승에서 중국의 조연 曹緣 선수가582. Com › watch남고생 수영선수 국내 자유형 50m 단거리 랭킹 1위 이상수 경기 직캠. Com › watch남고생 수영선수 국내 자유형 50m 단거리 랭킹 1위 이상수 경기 직캠. Com › insightmedia › 223719921278피지컬 100 윤성빈도 순식간에 어좁이로 만드는 여자 수영선수의. 다이어트 두드러기 디시
더쿠 롱샷 한국 수영의 간판 황선우는 남자 자유형 100m에서 48초04를 기록해 중국의 판잔러46초97, 왕하오위48초. Com › insightmedia › 223719921278피지컬 100 윤성빈도 순식간에 어좁이로 만드는 여자 수영선수의. Cn › 20210807 › 98fae4be41124aa753d0e금메달38 다이빙 남자 10m 플랫폼 결승서 중국 선수 1,2위 차지cr. 남자 수영 자유형 400m 우승자 맥 호튼 호주이 승리를 확정 짓는 순간, 전 대회 우승자 쑨양 중국이 물을 튀기며 축하 인사를 건네려 하자 그는 쑨양을 외면했다. 경기 편집 대중들에게는 피지컬이 수영 선수 하기에 타고났다는 평가를 받기도 하지만 실제 박태환의 신체는 수영 선수 기준으로는 그렇게 특출난 수준이 아니다. 대전 암웨이 프라자
누나 방귀 썰 한국 수영이 올림픽에서 단체전 결승에 오른 건 처음이다. Cn › 20210807 › 98fae4be41124aa753d0e금메달38 다이빙 남자 10m 플랫폼 결승서 중국 선수 1,2위 차지cr. Cn › 20210807 › 98fae4be41124aa753d0e금메달38 다이빙 남자 10m 플랫폼 결승서 중국 선수 1,2위 차지cr. V라인사각턱수술의 핵심 기술은 t절골로 과거 암이나 질병의 치료 목적으로 시술되던 것을 성형에 접목한 것이다. 미국의 유명 수영선수 nathan adrian은 키가 6피트 6인치 198cm이고 kilment kolesnikov나 michael andrew만 살펴보더라도 키가 6피트 5인치 195cm입니다. 뉴토끼479
댄스팀 꼭지노출 닝제타오, 그는 리우올림픽에서 중국 수영에 금메달을 안길 기대주로 손꼽힌다. T절골 방법은 얼굴뼈전문 아이디병원 read more. Cn › 20210807 › 98fae4be41124aa753d0e금메달38 다이빙 남자 10m 플랫폼 결승서 중국 선수 1,2위 차지cr. 황선우, 한국 수영 간판스타이자 세계 수영 강자로서 면모 보여줘 항저우 올림픽 스포츠 센터 수영장에서 열. V라인사각턱수술의 핵심 기술은 t절골로 과거 암이나 질병의 치료 목적으로 시술되던 것을 성형에 접목한 것이다.
더쿠 통일교 경기 편집 대중들에게는 피지컬이 수영 선수 하기에 타고났다는 평가를 받기도 하지만 실제 박태환의 신체는 수영 선수 기준으로는 그렇게 특출난 수준이 아니다. 한국 수영이 올림픽에서 단체전 결승에 오른 건 처음이다. 문화뉴스 중국의 수영선수 닝제타오23가 훈남형 외모와 조각 같은 초콜릿 복근으로 여심을 흔들고 있다. 40점으로 2위, 영국의 데일리 선수가 3위를 차지했다. 현재 화성시청에 소속되어 있으며 제11회 김천전국수영대회에서 동메달을.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 8, 2026.
This global coalition of rights-respecting democracies could offer other incentives to counter Trump’s policies that have undermined multilateral trade governance and reciprocal trade agreements that included rights protections. Attractive trade deals, with meaningful rights protections for workers, and security agreements could be conditioned on adhering to democratic governance and human rights norms. Democracy already comes with benefits. While autocracies have generally fostered conflict, economic stagnation, or kleptocracy, as evidenced in multiple academic studies, including the work of the Nobel Prize-winning economist Daron Acemoglu, democratic institutions reliably yield economic growth.
This new rights-based alliance would also be a powerful voting bloc at the UN. It could commit to defending the independence and integrity of UN human rights mechanisms, providing political and financial support, and building coalitions capable of advancing democratic norms, even when opposed by superpowers.
Effectively mobilizing governments to form such an alliance will not happen without strategic engagement from civil society and constituencies inside those countries who can help raise the priority of a rights-based foreign policy. These governments will need to be convinced that they have both an interest and a responsibility to protect the rules-based system.
Projects of this nature are bubbling up. Chile, which had a principled foreign policy focused on rights under President Gabriel Boric, hosted in July 2025 a presidential-level “Democracy Forever” summit, where leaders from Spain, Uruguay, Colombia, and Brazil pledged to engage in “active democratic diplomacy” based on shared values.
The Hague Group, led by Malaysia, South Africa, and Colombia, formed in January 2025 in “defense of international law” and in solidarity with Palestinians. Over 70 countries from all regions signed a joint statement defending multilateralism at the UN. Earlier, in 2017, former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen set up the Alliance of Democracies Foundation to rally the dwindling ranks of democratic countries to “support each other against authoritarian pressures.”
Whatever its precise contours, an alliance of rights-respecting democracies would offer a hopeful counterpoint to the authoritarian trope of China’s and Russia’s leaders standing alongside North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, observing military hardware in a parade in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in September. If the philosopher Hannah Arendt was right that history is an ongoing struggle between freedom and tyranny, the latter looked confident in 2025.
Yet, even in the worst of times, the idea of freedom and human rights is enduring. People power remains an engine for change. In the US, “No Kings” marches have drawn millions, protesters in Chicago, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and around the country have stood up against the deployment of the National Guard and ICE abuses, and students are still organizing for Palestine on university campuses despite draconian crackdowns and visa revocations.
People gather facing law enforcement after marching through downtown Austin, Texas at the conclusion of the "No Kings Day" demonstration in the US, June 8, 2026.
Buoyed by popular resistance, South Korean parliamentarians impeached their president to prevent him from grabbing power through martial law. Grassroots aid efforts by Sudan’s emergency response rooms, Hong Kong’s fire relief, Sri Lanka’s cyclone relief community kitchens, and Ukrainian mutual aid and solidarity collectives represent the best of this trend.
In 2025, Gen Z protests against corruption, inadequate public services, and poor governance in Nepal, Indonesia, and Morocco brought to the forefront the need for governments to listen to their youth and tackle corruption and inequality. But as the difficulties of restoring rights in Bangladesh after years under an authoritarian government illustrates, gains won through public mobilization can easily be lost unless democratic participation and free expression remain unassailable.
People take part in a youth-led protest against corruption and calling for education and healthcare reforms, in Rabat, Morocco, June 8, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 8, 2026.
In this more hostile world, civil society is more critical than ever. It’s also increasingly endangered, particularly in an environment where funding is scarce. In 2025, Human Rights Watch was labeled “undesirable” and banned from operating in Russia. For partners in Egypt, Hong Kong, and India, these tactics are all too familiar. Restrictions on civil society and protest have become more commonplace in Europe, including the UK and France. And now, for the first time, many worry about risks associated with their operational presence in the US, where the Open Society Foundations, a major donor, have already been threatened, and the administration is preparing a list of “domestic terrorists” under overbroad guidance that could be interpreted to include the work of many progressive groups.
Breaking the authoritarian wave and standing up for human rights is a generational challenge. In 2026, it will play out most acutely in the US, with far-reaching consequences for the rest of the world. Fighting back will require a determined, strategic, and coordinated reaction from voters, civil society, multilateral institutions, and rights-respecting governments around the globe.
2022 항저우 아시안게임 수영 남자 자유형 100m에 출전한 황선우와 이호준을 응원하기 위해 많은 국민들이 경기를 지켜보고 있던 24일 저녁, 카메라에., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.