US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 6, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 6, 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 6, 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 6, 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 6, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 6, 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 6, 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 6, 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 6, 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 6, 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 6, 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 6, 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 6, 2026.
사건 개요 – sns 라이브에서의 한마디, 논란이 되다2025년 4월 5일, 가수 보아와 방송인 전현무는 sns를 통해 라이브 방송을 함께 진행했습니다. 이날 31기 이정민, 32기 전현무, 33기 엄지인이 모이게 된 가운데, 이정민은 엄지인에게 프리 선언한 것을 후회한다며 근무 시절이 그립다고 밝혔다. 제작진은 프로그램 트위터에 사실 전현무 오면서 울었다네요 라는 드립을 쳤다. 위 사진과 관련해 논란이 불거지자 전현무의 소속사 sm c&c는 촬영 일정까지.
Tv리포트박정수 기자 가수 보아와 취중 라이브 방송으로 논란을 일으킨 방송인 전현무가 100점 사과문을 보여준 가운데 그의 언론고시 3관왕.. 차량 링거 투약 의혹에 대한 내용은 2025년 박나래 연쇄 논란 문서의 전현무 부분을 참고하십시오.. 보아가 전현무 어깨에 기대기도 하고, 얼굴을 만지는 등 스킨십을 하기도 합니다.. 라이브 방송 종료해야 할 것 같다면서 방송을 급히 종료했다..
| 방송인 전현무의 게스트 차별 대우에 코요태 신지가 뿔이 났다. | 이 과정에서 화면에 등장한 대상 채무 불이행이라는 자막이. | 전현무는 대한민국을 대표하는 방송인으로, 뛰어난 진행 능력과 독특한 예능 캐릭터로 많은 사랑을 받고 있습니다. |
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| 방송인 전현무의 프로필, 나이, 학력, 활동, 논란, mbti, tmi 등을 상세히 알아보고, 그의 성공적인 예능 활동과 함께 꾸준히 제기되는 논란들을 살펴봅니다. | 지난 23일 방송된 sbs 예능 강심장 vs에서는 냉철한 브레인 vs 뜨거운 심장 특집으로 방송인 홍진호, 미국 변호사 겸 방송인 서동주, 과학 유튜버 궤도, 코미디언 심진화, 김지민이 출연했다. | 9년 전 차에서 수액을 맞은 장면으로 뒤늦게 논란이 된 방송인 전현무 씨가 다른 연예인들과 달리 의료기록까지 공개하며 불법 행위가 전혀 없었다고 적극 해명에 나섰습니다. |
| 전현무, 게스트 차별 논란 터졌다와 우리랑은 안 찍었으면서 서운함 폭발 osen장우영 기자 방송인 전현무의 게스트 차별 대우에 코요태 신지가 뿔이 났다. | 동료 연예인이 폭로한 전현무 인성대놓고 무식하다며 무시. | 더불어민주당 노무현김대중 합성물 게시 논란 5. |
| 전현무는 대한민국을 대표하는 방송인으로, 뛰어난 진행 능력과 독특한 예능 캐릭터로 많은 사랑을 받고 있습니다. | 29일 방송된 kbs 2tv 예능 ‘옥탑방의 문제아들’에서는 전현무가 출연해 다양한 주제로 이야기를 나눴다. | 방송인 전현무와 가수 보아가 진행한 취중 라이브 방송이 거센 논란에 휩싸였다. |
| 두 사람은 전현무의 자택에서 술을 마시던 도중 라이브 방송을 켜고 팬들과 실시간으로 소통을 시. | 배우 하도권이 전현무와의 친분에 대해 밝힌다. | 15세 차 연인이었던 전현무이혜성 결별이 씁쓸한 이유 연예기자 출신 유튜버 이진호가 방송인 전현무와 이혜성의 결별에 대해 언급했다. |
15세 차 연인이었던 전현무이혜성 결별이 씁쓸한 이유 연예기자 출신 유튜버 이진호가 방송인 전현무와 이혜성의 결별에 대해 언급했다, 이 과정에서 화면에 등장한 대상 채무 불이행이라는 자막이. 지난 23일 방송된 sbs 예능 강심장 vs에서는 냉철한 브레인 vs 뜨거운 심장 특집으로 방송인 홍진호, 미국 변호사 겸 방송인 서동주, 과학 유튜버 궤도, 코미디언 심진화, 김지민이 출연했다. 그렇게 방송을 이어가던 중 매니저의 전화에 전현무는 회사에서 지금 난리가 난 것 같다. 대상 소감 말미에는 제 마음의 고향에 따뜻한 바람이 불기를 바란다라고 남기며, 당시 진행되고 있던 kbs 새노조 파업을 간접적으로 지지하였다는 것,31 또 하나는 read more.
Ai › news › trend디시트렌드 전현무, sns에 보아 신곡 설정&mldr. 최근 연예계에 각종 논란이 한창인 가운데, 방송인 전현무가 곽윤기에게 경고를 보내 이목이 쏠린다. 배우 하도권이 전현무와의 친분에 대해 밝힌다.
동료 연예인이 폭로한 전현무 인성대놓고 무식하다며 무시. 그렇게 방송을 이어가던 중 매니저의 전화에 전현무는 회사에서 지금 난리가 난 것 같다, 박나래는 11일 방송된 mbc 예능 프로그램 나 혼자 산다에서 함께 출연한 전현무에게 오늘. 지난 18일 인천 파라다이스시티에서 열린 제4회 청룡시리즈어워즈에서는 글로벌 팬 투표로 선정된 인기스타상 수상자는 이준혁 대신.
취중 라이브를 진행한 방송인 전현무와 가수 보아 사진온라인 커뮤니티 캡처 가수 보아가 방송인 전현무와 술에 취해 진행한 라이브 방송에서의. 전현무, 게스트 차별 논란 터졌다와 우리랑은 안 찍었으면서 서운함 폭발 방송인 전현무의 게스트 차별 대우에 코요태 신지가 뿔이 났다. Ai › news › trend디시트렌드 전현무, sns에 보아 신곡 설정&mldr. 방송인 전현무의 게스트 차별 대우에 코요태 신지가 뿔이 났다.
Tv조선 대학가요제 전현무가 연대 후배들을 향한 끈끈한 애정을 드러냈다, 오는 26일월 방송되는 jtbc 톡파원 25시, Osen박하영 기자 ‘옥탑방의 문제아들’ 전현무가 고정 프로그램만 11개로, 바쁜 일상을 전했다. 지난 23일 방송된 sbs 예능 강심장 vs에서는 냉철한 브레인 vs 뜨거운 심장 특집으로 방송인 홍진호, 미국 변호사 겸 방송인 서동주, 과학 유튜버 궤도, 코미디언 심진화, 김지민이 출연했다. 차량 링거 전현무, 해명에도 의사 동승 안했네의료폐기물 처리는.
보아가 전현무 어깨에 기대기도 하고, 얼굴을 만지는 등 스킨십을 하기도 합니다. 08 오전 0901 전현무와 보아 sns 갈무리. 08 오전 0901 전현무와 보아 sns 갈무리. 한밤중, 술기운에 얼굴이 벌개진 채 sns 라이브 방송을 진행한 전현무와 보아. 이날 31기 이정민, 32기 전현무, 33기 엄지인이 모이게 된 가운데, 이정민은 엄지인에게 프리 선언한 것을 후회한다며 근무 시절이 그립다고 밝혔다, 이날 31기 이정민, 32기 전현무, 33기 엄지인이 모이게 된 가운데, 이정민은 엄지인에게 프리 선언한 것을 후회한다며 근무 시절이 그립다고 밝혔다.
workupload 完.txt 보아가 전현무 어깨에 기대기도 하고, 얼굴을 만지는 등 스킨십을 하기도 합니다. 이날 31기 이정민, 32기 전현무, 33기 엄지인이 모이게 된 가운데, 이정민은 엄지인에게 프리 선언한 것을 후회한다며 근무 시절이 그립다고 밝혔다. 22일 이진호는 자신이 운영중인 유튜브 채널 연예 뒤통령 이진호에 15세 차 연인. ㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷ 보아, 라방에서 전현무 박나래 사귀면 전현무가 아까워. Mbc 노무현 전 대통령 합성 이미지 사건 5. twi どうが
twitter100ランキング 오는 26일월 방송되는 jtbc 톡파원 25시. 9일 새벽 전현무는 자신의 인스타그램을 통해 지난 토요일 인스타 라이브 방송과 관련한 제 공식 사과가 늦었다며 사과문을 게재했다. 전현무는 대한민국을 대표하는 방송인으로, 뛰어난 진행 능력과 독특한 예능 캐릭터로 많은 사랑을 받고 있습니다. 방송인 전현무의 게스트 차별 대우에 코요태 신지가 뿔이 났다. Ai › news › trend디시트렌드 전현무, sns에 보아 신곡 설정&mldr. www.sotwe.com
twittervideotools. 키, 입짧은햇님 등 최근 ‘주사이모’ 파문이 방송가를 휩쓸고 있는 가운데, 방송인 전현무 가 차량 안에서 링거를 맞는 사진이 온라인상에서 확산하며 논란 이 불거졌다. 이날 31기 이정민, 32기 전현무, 33기 엄지인이 모이게 된 가운데, 이정민은 엄지인에게 프리 선언한 것을 후회한다며 근무 시절이 그립다고 밝혔다. 지난 18일 인천 파라다이스시티에서 열린 제4회 청룡시리즈어워즈에서는 글로벌 팬 투표로 선정된 인기스타상 수상자는 이준혁 대신. 다만 강아지는 보아의 반려견이 아닌 것으로 알려졌다. 지난 5일, 전현무와 보아의 취중 라이브 방송이 공개된 후, 온라인은 뜨겁게 달아올랐습니다. wintermilk korean
wintermilk ai 톡파원 25시 전현무가 연예대상 수상 이후 미뤄진 회식 약속과 관련해 폭로를 당했다. 키, 입짧은햇님 등 최근 ‘주사이모’ 파문이 방송가를 휩쓸고 있는 가운데, 방송인 전현무 가 차량 안에서 링거를 맞는 사진이 온라인상에서 확산하며 논란 이 불거졌다. Kbs 아나운서 시절부터 지금까지 본인 특유의 입방정 때문에 많은 구설수를 일으켰다. 전현무를 향한 폭로가 또 나와 눈길을 끌고 있다. 그 전 밤 제6회 아이돌스타 육상양궁풋살선수권대회 녹화가 원인이라고 한다.
uncensored hentai succubus 차량 링거 투약 의혹에 대한 내용은 2025년 박나래 연쇄 논란 문서의 전현무 부분을 참고하십시오. 제작진은 프로그램 트위터에 사실 전현무 오면서 울었다네요 라는 드립을 쳤다. 박나래는 11일 방송된 mbc 예능 프로그램 나 혼자 산다에서 함께 출연한 전현무에게 오늘. 방송인 전현무의 게스트 차별 대우에 코요태 신지가 뿔이 났다. 전현무논란 전현무조롱논란 이준영호명 이준영팬분노 시상식논란 전현무발음 전현무사과요구 방송태도논란 전현무고의의혹 연예계논란 국민mc구설수 팬심상처 시상식태도 논란확산 sns논란 온라인여론 연예뉴스 방송인태도 예능논란 시상식.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 6, 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 6, 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 6, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 6, 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.
이날 31기 이정민, 32기 전현무, 33기 엄지인이 모이게 된 가운데, 이정민은 엄지인에게 프리 선언한 것을 후회한다며 근무 시절이 그립다고 밝혔다., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.