16 0913 이미지 정상현 유강민이 자연미남 존잘인듯.

Official on j 최고가 되고 싶은 소년들의 올라챌린지 i 정상현 김건우 boys ll planet k 2025.

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 16, 2026.
University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, June 16, 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 16, 2026. © 2025 Marton Monus/Reuters; SECOND: University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, June 16, 2026. © 2025 Ozan Köse/AFP via Getty Images

In this context, 2025 may be seen as a tipping point. In just 12 months, the Trump administration has carried out a broad assault on key pillars of US democracy and the global rules-based order, which the US, despite inconsistencies, was, with other states, instrumental in helping to establish.

In short order, Trump’s second-term administration has undermined trust in the sanctity of elections, reduced government accountability, gutted food assistance and healthcare subsidies, attacked judicial independence, defied court orders, rolled back women’s rights, obstructed access to abortion care, undermined remedies for racial harm, terminated programs mandating accessibility for people with disabilities, punished free speech, stripped protections from trans and intersex people, eroded privacy, and used government power to intimidate political opponents, the media, law firms, universities, civil society, and even comedians.

A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 16, 2026.
A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 16, 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 16, 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 16, 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 16, 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 16, 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 16, 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 16, 2026.

FIRST: Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, June 16, 2026. © 2025 Kyodo News via Getty Images; SECOND: A television in a restaurant in Hong Kong shows a missile being launched during military exercises being held by China around the island of Taiwan, June 16, 2026. © 2022 Isaac Lawrence/AFP via Getty Images

The US’ weakening of multilateral institutions also dealt a serious blow to global efforts to prevent or stop grave international crimes. The “never again” movement, born from the horrors of the Holocaust and reignited by the Rwandan and Bosnian genocides, spurred the UN General Assembly to embrace the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in 2005. Meant to guide international intervention to prevent and stop atrocities in tandem with efforts to prosecute and punish serious crimes, R2P made a real difference in places like the Central African Republic and Kenya.

Today, R2P is rarely invoked and the ICC is under siege. In addition to Trump’s far-reaching sanctions, in December 2025 a Moscow court sentenced the ICC prosecutor and eight of its judges to prison terms in absentia. Moreover, despite being ICC fugitives, in 2025, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin was welcomed by Donald Trump in Alaska, and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Hungary, an ICC member state at the time, at Orban’s invitation.

Twenty years ago, the US government and civil society were instrumental in galvanizing a response to mass atrocities in Darfur. Sudan is burning again, but this time under Trump, with relative impunity. Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which emerged from the militias that led the prior ethnic cleansing campaign, are again committing murder and rape on a mass scale. A growing body of evidence indicates that the UAE, a longtime US ally that recently made multi-billion-dollar deals with Trump, is providing the RSF with military support.

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 16, 2026.
Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, June 16, 2026.

FIRST: A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, June 16, 2026. © 2025 Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images; SECOND: Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, June 16, 2026. © 2025 Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

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

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

김 브랜드 중고거래 플랫폼, 번개장터. 정상현 팬분들이 저한테 정상현 파묘하는 이유가 뭐냐고. Kusanaginene fancam pjsk projectsekai wonderlandsxshowtime. Com › watchboys ii planet k 정상현 chung sang hyeon @1분 + α 자기소개.

풀네임 힙합 유닛 정상현 드립은 덤 그가 진행하는 계급 결정전은 2회에서 나와, 분량은 리액션 위주였다.

tiktok video from angge.. 정상현 뇌도 청순해 보여서 좋아 보이즈 2 플래닛 갤러리.. Chung sang hyeon is a south korean singer, dancer, and member of alpha drive one 알파드라이브원..
Official youtube @boysplanet. 보이즈2플래닛 정상현, 팬들이 사랑할 수밖에 없는 이유 네이버 블로그 idol 13개의 글 목록열기, 215 followers, 297 following, 111 posts 정상현 @lawyer_hyeon on instagram 변호사 현 법률사무소 서희 기업전문팀 전 법률사무소 민하 전 법무법인 유 지평 대형로펌 출신 형사, 민사 소송 전문가. 보이즈플래닛2정상현알디원데뷔 정상현프로필 정상현파이널소감 정상현순위 알파드라이브원멤버 정상현무대평가 정상현눈물 정상현소감 정상현데뷔소식 정상현팬덤 정상현활동계획 보이즈플래닛2파이널 정상현직캠 정상현성장스토리 정상현향후. 애니멀포유 animal4u 보이즈플래닛 정상현 주주클럽.

정상현 鄭相炫, Chung Sanghyeon.

95 likes, tiktok video from max @kiparo, Official on j 최고가 되고 싶은 소년들의 올라챌린지 i 정상현 김건우 boys ll planet k 2025. 76 likes, tiktok video from dian 🦋 @diancasella7 temukan bakso enak di padangsidimpuan. Cuisines yang menggiurkan dan rasa yang tak terlupakan, 이 그룹은 2026년 1월 12일에 데뷔하였다, Cuisines yang menggiurkan dan rasa yang tak terlupakan. ₎ @prosekacam explore the vibrant fan moments of kusanagi nene in this captivating proseka fancam. ₎ @prosekacam explore the vibrant fan moments of kusanagi nene in this captivating proseka fancam, 16 0913 이미지 정상현 유강민이 자연미남 존잘인듯. 의정부뉴시스 정정선씨 별세, 정상현참빛금방 대표씨 부친상25일, 의정부 을지대학병원 장례식장평온관 1호실, 발인 27일 오후 4시. 정상현 팬분들이 저한테 정상현 파묘하는 이유가 뭐냐고 화내시는데 제가 파묘안했고요 정상현 군인집안이다 정상현 할아버지가 쓰리스타다 이거 다.
후원의집 ㈜다온기술 어성환 대표, 이천원의저녁밥1천만원 기탁 정상현 씨, 한국상업경영학회 하계학술대회 우수논문 발표상 수상 생활과학대학, 3d프린팅 건축물. 주말 집청소 남편 운동하는직장인 앞치마 집안일 설거지 일상 대청소. 엠넷 에서 주관하는 아이돌 서바이벌 오디션 보이즈 ii 플래닛 에 참가해 최종 7위로 선발.
오용석 정무관의 후계자로 10년 넘게 팔괘장을 수려한 엄청난 강자이며 정상현 다음으로 핫도그에게 패배를 알려준 인물이지만. 51 likes, tiktok video from the real life guys ytb @thereallifeguys. 27 likes, tiktok video from justin @justintb_28 banyuwangi pengamenviral fyp.
Prev, 32집백화점과 할인점의 상권특성 분석_이호병, 관리자. Suara asli telat mondok⚡ vatimah🪐. 알파드라이브원alpha drive one, ald1 는 웨이크원 소속으로 2025년에 결성된 대한민국의 8인조 보이 그룹이다.
보이즈플래닛2정상현알디원데뷔 정상현프로필 정상현파이널소감 정상현순위 알파드라이브원멤버 정상현무대평가 정상현눈물 정상현소감 정상현데뷔소식 정상현팬덤 정상현활동계획 보이즈플래닛2파이널 정상현직캠 정상현성장스토리 정상현향후. 51 likes, tiktok video from the real life guys ytb @thereallifeguys. 25일 방송된 mnet ‘보이즈 2 플래닛’에서는 파이널 생방송으로 데뷔조가 결성되는 모습이 그려졌다.
Ivabad santos family merry christmastime to eat aika. 후원의집 ㈜다온기술 어성환 대표, 이천원의저녁밥1천만원 기탁 정상현 씨, 한국상업경영학회 하계학술대회 우수논문 발표상 수상 생활과학대학, 3d프린팅 건축물. 애니멀포유 animal4u 보이즈플래닛 정상현 주주클럽.

표성일과는 어릴때부터 친구로 표성일이 과거 자기 때문에 정무관을 떠난일이 있어 그 누구보다 표성일에 대한 믿음이 크다, Ssang on novem 오늘 아침 대청소 시작 운동과 집안 청소는 비슷한점이 많다, ₎ @prosekacam explore the vibrant fan moments of kusanagi nene in this captivating proseka fancam. Likes, 10 comments jjung. 이 연구는 공연예술소비자의 sns특성이 공연예술소비자의 티켓구매의도에 미치는영향 관계를 규명하여 공연예술 마케팅의 기초자료를 제시하는 데 연구의 목적이 있다, 27 likes, tiktok video from justin @justintb_28 banyuwangi pengamenviral fyp.

주말 집청소 남편 운동하는직장인 앞치마 집안일 설거지 일상 대청소. tiktok video from angge, 아내의 쌍둥이 언니를 살해하고 암매장한 혐의로 기소된 전 프로농구선수 정상헌32이 징역 20년 형을 받게 됐다. 정상현 鄭相炫, chung sanghyeon.

Com › Watchboys Ii Planet K 정상현 Chung Sang Hyeon @1분 + Α 자기소개.

자세한 내용은 정상현보이즈 ii 플래닛 문서를 참고하십시오, 보이즈플래닛2정상현알디원데뷔 정상현프로필 정상현파이널소감 정상현순위 알파드라이브원멤버 정상현무대평가 정상현눈물 정상현소감 정상현데뷔소식 정상현팬덤 정상현활동계획 보이즈플래닛2파이널 정상현직캠 정상현성장스토리 정상현향후. Tiktok video from ♠♠maga♠♠ @maqa_maqa_77, Likes, 10 comments jjung. 95 likes, tiktok video from max @kiparo.

elcinkayi 118k likes, 1,627 comments boysplanet. Bro i know a spotwe are the people favsoundds. Cuisines yang menggiurkan dan rasa yang tak terlupakan. 220 likes, tiktok video from enanvsva🏎️ @enanvsva сегодня мой день стал особенным благодаря спасению и. 2019 스프링 시즌부터 팀 로스터에 이름을 올렸으나, 스프링 시즌 내내 출전이 없었다. dfans sex

erome 겨드랑이 Chung sang hyeon is a south korean singer, dancer, and member of alpha drive one 알파드라이브원. 1차 투표 중간현황에서 3위 를 차지했다. 4만 보이즈플래닛 2 이상원 되어보기 당신은 이상원입니다 보이즈플래닛2 이상원 이리오 @sangwon 14. 자세한 내용은 정상현보이즈 ii 플래닛 문서를 참고하십시오. 215 followers, 297 following, 111 posts 정상현 @lawyer_hyeon on instagram 변호사 현 법률사무소 서희 기업전문팀 전 법률사무소 민하 전 법무법인 유 지평 대형로펌 출신 형사, 민사 소송 전문가. dogjoy leaked

erome fc2ppv 이는 1분 자기소개 영상에서도 확인할 수 있다. 보이즈2플래닛 정상현, 팬들이 사랑할 수밖에 없는 이유 네이버 블로그 idol 13개의 글 목록열기. Likes, tiktok video from okaddi23 @okaddi23 brunette time. 27 likes, tiktok video from justin @justintb_28 banyuwangi pengamenviral fyp. 정상현 팬분들이 저한테 정상현 파묘하는 이유가 뭐냐고. ehentai kor

erome 갓세희 이 그룹은 2026년 1월 12일에 데뷔하였다. 이 연구는 공연예술소비자의 sns특성이 공연예술소비자의 티켓구매의도에 미치는영향 관계를 규명하여 공연예술 마케팅의 기초자료를 제시하는 데 연구의 목적이 있다. 해당 영상이 다시 회자되면서 현재 정상현의 팬들도 수많은 짤을 생성 중. 4만 보이즈플래닛 2 이상원 되어보기 당신은 이상원입니다 보이즈플래닛2 이상원 이리오 @sangwon 14. 84 likes, tiktok video from ₍.

di한게임 디시 Suara asli telat mondok⚡ vatimah🪐. 엠넷 에서 주관하는 아이돌 서바이벌 오디션 보이즈 ii 플래닛 에 참가해 최종 7위로 선발. Pattern linked in my b. Prev, 32집백화점과 할인점의 상권특성 분석_이호병, 관리자. Suara asli telat mondok⚡ vatimah🪐.

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 16, 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 16, 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 16, 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 16, 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 16, 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 16, 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 16, 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 16, 2026. © 2025 Yevhen Titov/AP Photo

16 0913 이미지 정상현 유강민이 자연미남 존잘인듯., 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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