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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

In Ukraine, Trump’s peace efforts have consistently downplayed Russia’s responsibility for serious violations. These include indiscriminate bombing, coercing Ukrainians in occupied areas to serve in the Russian military, systematic torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war, the abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, and the use of quadcopter drones to hunt and kill civilians. Rather than applying meaningful pressure on Putin to end these crimes, Trump publicly berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a made-for-TV dressing down, demanded an exploitative mineral deal, pressured Ukraine’s authorities to concede large swaths of territory, and proposed “full amnesty” for war crimes.

The message is clear: in Trump’s new world disorder, might makes right and atrocities are not dealbreakers.

Com › rurusadan루루사단 @rurusadan instagram photos and videos. 100명이어도 괜찮아요 다 컷 해드리고 갑니다. 국군히어로 아프리카에 희망 전한 한빛부대 파병 현장 아프리카 남수단에 평화를 전하러 1만km를 날아간 한빛부대 그 생생한 현장을 소개합니다. ㅅㅂ 20250806 134400 1분 전 read 69.

Yako Pro

국방전문미용봉사팀 루루사단️22년차미용인루루원장과 현직미용사&이용사들의 차곡차곡 성장스토리 머리와 마음, 동시에 다듬는 사람들.. Mz판 군대×미용×예능 루루사단 막내들끼리 뭐야 이 케미ㅋㅋㅋ ⠀ 미용실도 아니고, 교장실도 아닌데 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 근데 웃기기만 해요.. 20250806 133125 24분 전 read 148.. Com › reel › dsu4pkpexpginstagram..

X다운랭킹

Ycanan

루루사단군대컷트작전 나라지켜주셔서감사합니다 미용사 이용사용사머리카락길이절대사수 용사들폭주컷트는기술 위로는사명 스타일작전중, 41 likes, 2 comments rurusadan on j 조용한데 묘하게 시선 강탈하는 유니쌤 栗‍♀️ 바리깡 소리보다 더 조용한 움직임, 근데 보면 볼수록 자꾸 눈길이 가는 나긋나긋・사근사근・말투마저 힐링되는 유니쌤 과하게 나서지 않아도 손끝에서 전해지는 진심과 세심함에 군장병들 자동 릴렉스, 20250806 133125 24분 전 read 148, 1,382 followers, 2,161 following, 70 posts.

104 likes, 5 comments yororo_hmj on septem 겸손히 쌓아올린 하루들이 언젠가 반드시 눈부신결과로 돌아온다 매일 매일 성실하게 군부대찾아가는서비스 군부대봉사떠오르는가위손 연습과노력이자신의위치를만든다황금같은시간소중히 할까말까할때는무조건해라갈까말까할때는. 20250806 132609 19분 전 read 64. Mz판 군대×미용×예능 루루사단 막내들끼리 뭐야 이 케미ㅋㅋㅋ ⠀ 미용실도 아니고, 교장실도 아닌데 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 근데 웃기기만 해요, 장병들의 땀방울이 국민의 하루를 지켜냈습니다 기록적인. 1,341 followers, 2,181 following, 72 posts, 어제 오전고정시간가져간다 뭐다하든데 11시쯤으로.

비건메뉴 온라인 예약주문만 가능 유기농통밀쿠키,유기농그래놀라,현미비스코티,글루텐프리 휘낭시에 등 인스타 참고 영업일 eat in 1600 take out 1630 휴무 read more.. Likes, 2 comments rurusadan on septem q.. 919 followers, 1,803 following, 59 posts..

Xnxx.net

비건메뉴 온라인 예약주문만 가능 유기농통밀쿠키,유기농그래놀라,현미비스코티,글루텐프리 휘낭시에 등 인스타 참고 영업일 eat in 1600 take out 1630 휴무 read more, 1,242 followers, 2,181 following, 72 posts 루루사단 @rurusadan on instagram 국방전문미용봉사팀 루루사단 ️22년차미용인루루원장과 현직미용사&이용사들의 차곡차곡 성장스토리 머리와 마음, 동시에 다듬는 사람들. 일반사단법인 나카츠 야바케이 관광협회공식 홈페이지. Com › reel › dsu4pkpexpginstagram, Likes, 2 comments rurusadan on septem q.

뉴갑숙도 많관부 soop숲 와이고수. 41 likes, 2 comments rurusadan on j 조용한데 묘하게 시선 강탈하는 유니쌤 栗‍♀️ 바리깡 소리보다 더 조용한 움직임, 근데 보면 볼수록 자꾸 눈길이 가는 나긋나긋・사근사근・말투마저 힐링되는 유니쌤 과하게 나서지 않아도 손끝에서 전해지는 진심과 세심함에 군장병들 자동 릴렉스. 우사시 안심원초와 기츠키시 야마카마치에 걸치는 일지 댐을 둘러싸는 정도의 광대한 부지가 펼쳐지는 「오이타 농업 문화 공원」, Com › reel › dsu4pkpexpginstagram.

Mz판 군대×미용×예능 루루사단 막내들끼리 뭐야 이 케미ㅋㅋㅋ ⠀ 미용실도 아니고, 교장실도 아닌데 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 근데 웃기기만 해요. 새벽에 본거같은데 뭉크햄이 루루사단 감동받고 풀충한거 22. 104 likes, 5 comments yororo_hmj on septem 겸손히 쌓아올린 하루들이 언젠가 반드시 눈부신결과로 돌아온다 매일 매일 성실하게 군부대찾아가는서비스 군부대봉사떠오르는가위손 연습과노력이자신의위치를만든다황금같은시간소중히 할까말까할때는무조건해라갈까말까할때는.

yiiyoonha 새벽에 본거같은데 뭉크햄이 루루사단 감동받고 풀충한거 22. 더루루클리닉은 귀하의 개인정보를 취급함에 있어 개인정보가 분실, 도난, 누출, 변조 또는 훼손되지 않도록 안전성 확보를 위하여 다음과 같은 기술적 대책을 강구하고. Likes, 3 comments rurusadan on septem 루벤져스 선후배의 힙한 클래스 영역이 다른 이용사 바버쌤에게 배우는 시간. ㅡ 9시반부터 5시반까지 진행되었던 봉사 컨디션이 안좋아 걱정했는데 이게 먼일이래 오전부터 끝날때까지 커트선도. 선대 선임선배님들이 다 잡아서 없습니다 선대 선임께서는 답해주시지 말입니다. xhamster live

www.xnxx3 새벽에 본거같은데 뭉크햄이 루루사단 감동받고 풀충한거 22 니르에 minerals 504,680 level 중위 20250806 133858 1일 전 read 571. Likes, 3 comments rurusadan on septem 루벤져스 선후배의 힙한 클래스 영역이 다른 이용사 바버쌤에게 배우는 시간. Com › rurusadan루루사단 @rurusadan instagram photos and videos. 그 손으로 지금 머리하시는 중입니다ㅋㅋㅋㅋ 바리깡 한 방이면 된다. 41 likes, 2 comments rurusadan on j 조용한데 묘하게 시선 강탈하는 유니쌤 栗‍♀️ 바리깡 소리보다 더 조용한 움직임, 근데 보면 볼수록 자꾸 눈길이 가는 나긋나긋・사근사근・말투마저 힐링되는 유니쌤 과하게 나서지 않아도 손끝에서 전해지는 진심과 세심함에 군장병들 자동 릴렉스. yasyadin

xhamster.d 96 likes, 5 comments yororo_hmj on septem 겸손히 쌓아올린 하루들이 언젠가 반드시 눈부신결과로 돌아온다 매일 매일 성실하게 군부대찾아가는서비스 군부대봉사떠오르는가위손 연습과노력이자신의위치를만든다황금같은시간소중히 할까말까할때는무조건해라갈까말까할때는무조건가라. Likes, 6 comments yororo_hmj on septem 군부대봉사 요즘 잠을 잘못자서인지 눈은 항상 충혈되어있고 꽹하다ㅜ 오늘도 2시간자고 바로 군부대로 고고씽 아 컨디션 메롱인데ㅡ. 1,242 followers, 2,181 following, 72 posts 루루사단 @rurusadan on instagram 국방전문미용봉사팀 루루사단 ️22년차미용인루루원장과 현직미용사&이용사들의 차곡차곡 성장스토리 머리와 마음, 동시에 다듬는 사람들. 20250806 133125 24분 전 read 148. 머하냐 ㅅㅂ럼들아 윤이솔 컸다 ㄹㅇ. x hamster korea gay

yako07 919 followers, 1,803 following, 59 posts. 올해에도 통일딸기를 통해 남북의 평화와 통일. 댕댕댕먕먕먕 minerals 80,224,379 level 대장 20250806 135704 1분 전 read 22 추천인 상세 보기 비추천인 상세 보기. 우사시 안심원초와 기츠키시 야마카마치에 걸치는 일지 댐을 둘러싸는 정도의 광대한 부지가 펼쳐지는 「오이타 농업 문화 공원」. 계절마다 체험 이벤트도 수시로 개최 read more.

ycancan jvip 081025 루루사단군대컷트작전 나라지켜주셔서감사합니다. Mz판 군대×미용×예능 루루사단 막내들끼리 뭐야 이 케미ㅋㅋㅋ ⠀ 미용실도 아니고, 교장실도 아닌데 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 근데 웃기기만 해요. 뉴갑숙도 많관부 soop숲 와이고수. 연락처 050714291037 비건메뉴 비건디저트랜덤두유초코칩쿠키,라즈베리땅콩쿠키,쌀오란다 등 영업일 화토 11001800매장오픈 912시 변동 휴무 일월read more. 제23회 외국인 한글 글씨쓰기 대회 입상자 명단.

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.

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.