US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 4, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 2026.
Kr › news › society유명 연예인 신체도 찍혔다&mldr. 진료실 내부 카메라 촬영 전산망 뚫리며 유출 추정, 여성 체형 성형을 전문으로 하는 서울 강남의 한 유명 성형외과 진료실에서 촬영된 인터넷. 이런 가운데 진료실뿐만 아니라 탈의실 영상도 유출. 서울 강남 한 성형외과 진료실에서 촬영된 인터넷 프로토콜ip 카메라 영상이 온라인에 유출되면서 수술실마다 설치되는 cctv에도 이목이 집중되고 있다.
| 서울경찰청 사이버범죄수사2대는 성형외과에서 여성 환자들이 탈. | 서울 강남의 한 유명 성형외과 진료실에서 촬영된 인터넷 프로토콜ip카메라 영상이 유출돼 경찰이 수사에 나섰다. |
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| 서울 강남의 한 유명 성형외과에서 환자들의 치료 모습이 촬영된 ip카메라 영상이 무단 유출됐습니다. | 얼마 전 서울 강남의 한 성형외과 진료실에서 촬영된 영상이 유출돼 경찰이 조사에 나섰습니다. |
| 15 수 0853 글쓴이 dnqlslqkqh 가입일 2010. | 서울 강남의 한 유명 성형외과에서 환자의 신체가 노출된 모습이 고스란히 담긴 내부 영상이 유출됐습니다. |
| 강남 성형외과 진료실 영상 유출 확인된 피해자 30여 명, 연예인도 포함 해당 영상, cctv 아닌 ip캠으로 촬영 서울 강남의 유명 성형외과. | Kr › news › pc단독 성형외과 치료실 ip캠 영상 유출&mldr. |
| 이에 오는 9월에 시행되는 수술실 cctv 설치 의무화법에도 우려의 시선이 짙습니다. | Kr › news › myh20230308017200641성형외과 영상 유출 파문&mldr. |
진료실 영상 유출된 성형외과, 탈의실 영상도 유출됐다 sbs, 서울 강남의 한 성형외과 진료실에서 촬영된 영상이 온라인에 유출돼 경찰이 수사에 착수했다, Com › entry › 제시김정은병원cctv제시 김정은 병원 cctv 유출 문제 이슈. 이후 지난 2016년 9월 서울 강남의 한 성형외과에서 안면윤곽 수술을 받던 도중 과다출혈로 사망한 고 故 권대희씨 사건으로 인해 입법이 촉발됐다.
서울 강남의 한 성형외과 진료실에서 촬영된 인터넷 프로토콜ip 카메라 영상이 유출돼 경찰이 수사에 나설 예정이다, 성형외과 진료실 안의 ip인터넷 프로토콜카메라. 강남 성형외과는 상담만 그 의사가 직접 수술하는척하고, 중국의사나 일당뛰는 싸구려 의사들 데려다가 무조건 대리수술 수술만 하거든. 성형외과 진료실 안의 ip인터넷 프로토콜카메라. 성형외과 영상 유출 파문수술실 cctv 양날의 검 연합.
서울 강남의 한 성형외과 진료실에서 촬영된 인터넷 프로토콜ip 카메라 영상이 유출돼 경찰이 수사에 나설 예정이다. Com › entry › 제시김정은병원cctv제시 김정은 병원 cctv 유출 문제 이슈. 서울 강남구 소재의 한 성형외과 진료실에서 촬영된 영상이 유출되면서 수술실 cctv 설치 의무가 다시 논란의 도마 위에 올랐다. 우짠데요 가수 제시도 성형외과 cctv 유출돼서 가슴이 다 노출됐네여 17 조회 69,944 추천 2 2023. 성형외과 진료실 cctv 영상 유출, 왜 jtbc. 어제 우연히 언프 다시보기하다가 제시가슴이 눈에 딱 들어왓는데크기는큰데 예뻐보이지는 않앗어요 뭔가 디게 인위적인 느낌이랄까 가슴에 관심이 많아서ㅋㅋ 가슴을.
Kr › news › myh20230308017200641성형외과 영상 유출 파문&mldr. 성형외과 영상 유출 파문수술실 cctv 양날의 검. Com › johnlee_polmil › statusx. 여성 체형 성형을 전문으로 하는 서울 강남의 한 유명 성형외과 진료실에서 촬영된 인터넷 프로토콜 ip 카메라 ip 영상이 유출돼 경찰이 수사에 나섰다는 뉴스 때문입니다. Com › entry › 제시김정은병원cctv제시 김정은 병원 cctv 유출 문제 이슈.
성형외과 명유진 교수 연구팀이 이 상을 수상했다. 유명 연예인을 비롯해 서울 강남의 한 성형외과를 찾은 여성들의 진료탈의 장면이 담긴 영상이 한 온라인 커뮤니티 사이트에 올라와 경찰이 내사에 착수했다. 담배 끊은 지 1년, 이제 냄새도 못 맡아, 성형외과 진료실 cctv 영상 유출, 왜 jtbc.
유명 연예인을 비롯해 서울 강남의 한 성형외과를 찾은 여성들의 진료탈의 장면이 담긴 영상이 한 온라인 커뮤니티 사이트에 올라와 경찰이 내사에 착수했다.. @알겠냐1발년아 김정은이 미국에 거래 제시를 했노.. 강남 성형외과는 상담만 그 의사가 직접 수술하는척하고, 중국의사나 일당뛰는 싸구려 의사들 데려다가 무조건 대리수술 수술만 하거든..
Com › johnlee_polmil › statusx. 서울 강남의 한 유명 성형외과 진료실에서 촬영된 인터넷 프로토콜ip카메라 영상이 유출돼 경찰이 수사에 나섰다. 당시 라디오스타 측은 제시에 자발적 가슴 성형 커밍아웃 1호라고 말했고, 제시는 가슴 성형 수술이 나쁘다고 생각 안 한다며 소신을 밝혔다, 6일 서울경찰청 사이버수사2대는 성형외과에서 유명 연예인 등 여성 환. 지난 6일 경찰에 따르면 전날 일부 온라인 커뮤니티에는 유명 연예인 등 약 30여명의 진료 장면이 담긴 내부 인터넷 프로토콜ip 카메라 영상이 유포됐다.
이번 피해 병원은 cctv 공사를 다시 할 예정이라고 밝혔다. 의료계에선 이번 유출 사고를 두고 우려했던 결과라는 반응이 나온다, Kr › news › endpage제시 가슴 성형 고백은 실수&mldr.
서울 강남의 한 유명 성형외과에서 환자의 신체가 노출된 모습이 고스란히 담긴 내부 영상이 유출됐습니다.. 성형외과 진료실 해킹유출 jtbc뉴스룸 이상엽기자 본방 후 유튜브에서 앵커들과 더 가까이..
더퍼블릭 김영일 기자 서울 강남에 위치한 위드성형외과에서 환자를 진료하는 모습이 담긴 영상이 유출돼 경찰이 수사에 나섰다, @알겠냐1발년아 김정은이 미국에 거래 제시를 했노, 가수 제시도 성형외과 cctv 유출돼서 가슴이 다 노출됐네여 등록순 최신순 추천순. Kr › site › data강남 성형외과 탈의실 영상 유출 파문&mldr.
진진자라 쉬멜 성형외과 진료실 해킹유출 jtbc뉴스룸 이상엽기자 본방 후 유튜브에서 앵커들과 더 가까이. 더퍼블릭 김영일 기자 서울 강남에 위치한 위드성형외과에서 환자를 진료하는 모습이 담긴 영상이 유출돼 경찰이 수사에 나섰다. Kr › article › 25145489연예인 영상도 유출된 강남 병원&mldr. 지난 27일 유튜브 채널 원더케이 오리지널에는 제시의 본인 등판 인터뷰. 성형외과 진료실 안의 ip인터넷 프로토콜카메라. 주여닝야동
주의 평화 다시보기 미리보기 가수 제시도 성형외과 cctv 유출돼서 가슴이 다 노출됐네여. 성형외과 명유진 교수 연구팀이 이 상을 수상했다. 서울 강남의 한 유명 성형외과 진료실에서 촬영된 인터넷 프로토콜ip카메라 영상이 유출돼 경찰이 수사에 나섰다. 이런 가운데 진료실뿐만 아니라 탈의실 영상도 유출. Kr › news › myh20230308017200641성형외과 영상 유출 파문수술실 cctv 양날의 검. 차체치 브레인롯
즛 토마 요 아카네 허벅지 이번 피해 병원은 cctv 공사를 다시 할 예정이라고 밝혔다. 더퍼블릭 김영일 기자 서울 강남에 위치한 위드성형외과에서 환자를 진료하는 모습이 담긴 영상이 유출돼 경찰이 수사에 나섰다. 지난 27일 유튜브 채널 원더케이 오리지널에는 제시의 본인 등판 인터뷰. 논문은 투명 초음파 트랜스 제시했다는 평가를 받았다며 연구실 수준의 기술 제안에 그치지 않고, 실제. 07 191846 안경진 기자 facebook 공유 twitter kakao email 복사 뉴스듣기. 중국 시안 마사지 디시
진실게임 하지원 지난 6일 경찰에 따르면 전날 일부 온라인 커뮤니티에는 유명 연예인 등 약 30여명의 진료 장면이 담긴 내부 인터넷 프로토콜ip 카메라 영상이 유포됐다. 오는 9월 25일 수술실 cctv 설치를 의무화하는 의료법이 시행될 예정인 가운데, 서울 강남구 소재 모 성형외과의 진료실 영상이 유출되어 인터넷에서 유포되고 있었던 사실이 지난 5일 뒤늦게 알려졌다. 서울 강남의 한 유명 성형외과에서 환자들의 치료 모습이 촬영된 ip카메라 영상이 무단 유출됐습니다. 23년 3월 6일 서울경찰청 사이버수사 2대는2 성형외과에서 유명 연예인 등 여성 환자. 서울 강남의 한 성형외과 진료실에서 촬영된 인터넷 프로토콜ip 카메라 영상이 유출돼 경찰이 수사에 나설 예정이다.
쥬 놀쟈 우짠데요 가수 제시도 성형외과 cctv 유출돼서 가슴이 다 노출됐네여 17 조회 69,944 추천 2 2023. 강남 성형외과 ip캠 유출 논란에의협 수술실 cctv 전면 재검토해야 입력 20230307 191846 수정 2023. 당시 라디오스타 측은 제시에 자발적 가슴 성형 커밍아웃 1호라고 말했고, 제시는 가슴 성형 수술이 나쁘다고 생각 안 한다며 소신을 밝혔다. Comments 3 description 뉴스큐 수술실에 탈의실까지성형외과 ip 카메라 영상 유출 ytn 5likes 1,652views 2023mar 9. 우짠데요 가수 제시도 성형외과 cctv 유출돼서 가슴이 다 노출됐네여 17 조회 69,944 추천 2 2023.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 4, 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 4, 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 4, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 4, 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.
성형외과 영상 유출 파문수술실 cctv 양날의 검., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.