강주은, 가비 노출 의상에 충격가슴 다 보일라 안절부절.

발롱도르 가비, 2022 코파 트로피 수상자.

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 4, 2026.
University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, June 4, 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 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.

A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 4, 2026.
A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 2026.

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.

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 4, 2026.
Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, June 4, 2026.

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.

큰 가슴 불편해 여자도 반한 글래머 댄서가 털어놓은 고충은. 둘은 꾸미지 않은 평범한 스타일을 좋아한다고 입을 모았다. Kr › entertainment › 20230615가비 큰 가슴 탓&mldr. 곽튜브 가비 가슴노출 의상에 상상 자극 논란.

지난 14일 방송된 Mbc 예능프로그램 라디오스타는 지구마불 세계무대 특집으로 꾸며진 가운데 타블로, 이장원, 가비, 우기가 게스트로 출연했다.

이날 가비는 가슴을 쓸어내린 아찔한 무대가 있었다며 에피소드를 공개했다. Com › entertainment › enter_general가비, 한국에서 측정 힘든 가슴사이즈라더니&mldr. 생애 첫 시구에 나서게 된 가비를 위해 강주은은 운전부터 직접 싼 도시락 등 아낌없는 서포트에 나섰다. 25일 가비가 자신의 sns에 원래도 예쁜데.
강주은은 정성껏 만든 도시락에 담요, 음료수 등 가비 케어를 위한 여러가지 아이템들을 준비했다. 옆에서 듣던 래퍼도 욕설 날렸다 곽튜브, 가비 노출 의상. 지난 12일 공개된 웹 예능 바퀴달린 입에서 곽. 6월 14일 방송된 mbc 예능 라디오스타이하 라스 821회에는 지구마불 세계무대 특집을 맞아 에픽하이 타블로, 페퍼톤스 이장원, 가비.
똑바로 볼 수 있다는 게라고 말하며 괴성을 지르며 가비의 가슴을 똑바로 응시하는 모습으로 웃음을 안겼다. 대세임을 증명하는 프로 야구 시구를 맡은 가비는 난생처음이다. 엑스포츠뉴스 하지원 기자 갓파더 강주은이 가비의 파격 시구 의상에 눈을 질끈 감았다. Com › entertainments › entertain_photo가비 탱크톱 입고 춤 추다가 가슴 노출ft.
문가비, 파격 밑가슴 노출 눈을 어디에 둬야. 댄스 크루 라치카 리더 가비가 파격 의상으로 s라인을 드러냈다. 이날 김소연은 가슴 부분의 셔링 디테일과 보디라인이 드러난 디자인이 조화를 이룬. 댄서 가비는 그의 트레이드 마크인 헤이를 외치며 등장, 카메라를.
14% 21% 14% 51%

가비 가슴 커 스우파 촬영 중 브라톱 옆으로 아찔 사고라스.

가비, 가슴골 훤히 드러낸 노출母 강주은 단추 잠가라 갓, 강주은은 내 연예인 딸이 지금 시구자로 가는 게 처음이다, 강주은, 가비 노출 의상에 충격가슴 다 보일라 안절부절. 똑바로 볼 수 있다는 게라고 말하며 괴성을 지르며 가비의 가슴을 똑바로 응시하는 모습으로 웃음을 안겼다. 생애 첫 시구에 나서게 된 가비를 위해 강주은은 운전부터 직접 싼 도시락 등 아낌없는 서포트에 나섰다. 대세임을 증명하는 프로 야구 시구를 맡은 가비는 난생처음이다. 댄스 크루 라치카 리더 가비가 파격 의상으로 s라인을 드러냈다. 댄서 가비가 mnet 스트릿 우먼 파이터 촬영 당시 아찔한 의상 사고를 겪었다고 밝혔다. 강주은은 내 연예인 딸이 지금 시구자로 가는 게 처음이다, 스우파 때 브라톱 돌아가 의상사고 아찔. 지난 9일 첫 방송된 mnet 예능 프로그램 tmi show에는 댄서 노제와 가비가 출연해 각자의 tmitoo much information, 꼭 알지 않아도 되는 정보를 뜻하는 말를, 댄서 가비는 그의 트레이드 마크인 헤이를 외치며 등장, 카메라를, 대세임을 증명하는 프로 야구 시구를 맡은 가비는 난생처음이다, 문가비, 파격 밑가슴 노출 눈을 어디에 둬야. 지난 21일 방송된 kbs 2tv 新 가족관계증명서 갓파더, 한편, 가비는 댄서팀 ‘라치카’의 리더이자 멤버로 댄서와 방송활동을 활발히 이어가고.

가비 탱크톱 입고 춤 추다가 가슴 노출ft.

댄서 가비가 18일 오후 서울 동대문디자인플라자 ddp에서 열린 31주년 한터뮤직어워즈 2023 레드카펫 행사에 참석해 포토타임을 갖고 있다, 3년 전 분데스리가는 미디어 노출이 없어. 인사이트 권길여 기자 mnet 스트릿 우먼 파이터가 종영 후에도 큰 화제를 모으면서 댄서들의 과거 영상도 재조명되고 있다. 7월 5일 방송된 kbs 2tv 新가족관계증명서갓파더에서는 강주은이 신가비를 응원하기 위해 나섰다.
강주은은 가비의 노출 의상을 보자마자 경악했다.. 25일 가비가 자신의 sns에 원래도 예쁜데.. 댄서 가비가 18일 오후 서울 동대문디자인플라자 ddp에서 열린 31주년 한터뮤직어워즈 2023 레드카펫 행사에 참석해 포토타임을 갖고 있다..
가비는 4일 자신의 인스타그램에 예측 불가, 상상 이상의 글래스 어니언, 가비 가슴 커 스우파 촬영 중 브라톱 옆으로 아찔 사고라스, 한눈에 보는 오늘 방송가요 뉴스 뉴스엔 서유나 기자 댄서 가비가 가슴 사이즈 탓에 겪은 아찔한 의상 사고 경험담을 공개했다. 6월 14일 방송된 mbc 예능 라디오스타이하 라스 821회에는 지구마불 세계무대 특집을 맞아 에픽하이 타블로, 페퍼톤스 이장원, 가비.

지난 9일 첫 방송된 Mnet Tmi Show에서는 가비, 노제가 출연해 Tmi를 아낌없이 대방출했.

Tmi show’ 가비가 탱크톱 가슴 노출 사고에 대해 언급했다, 한눈에 보는 오늘 연예가 화제 뉴스 kbs2 갓파더 방송화면 캡쳐헤럴드pop원해선 기자 강주은과 가비가 150억 상당의 바이올린 가격에 충격에 빠졌다. 댄서 가비가 무대 위에서 겪은 아찔한 에피소드를 공개했다.

가슴이 너무 커서 촬영중 브라톱이 벌어지. 댄서 가비가 18일 오후 서울 동대문디자인플라자 ddp에서 열린 31주년 한터뮤직어워즈 2023 레드카펫 행사에 참석해 포토타임을 갖고 있다. 한눈에 보는 오늘 연예가 화제 뉴스 kbs2 갓파더 방송화면 캡쳐헤럴드pop원해선 기자 강주은과 가비가 150억 상당의 바이올린 가격에 충격에 빠졌다. 스우파 때 브라톱 돌아가 의상사고 아찔. 스우파 스트릿우먼파이터 가비 허니제이 모니카 가비춤. 지난 12일 공개된 웹 예능 바퀴달린 입에서 곽.

doemrkem 3일 방송된 kbs2 예능 프로그램 ‘갓파더’에서는 파티를 준비하는 강주은과 신가비의 모습이 그려졌다. 지난 9일 첫 방송된 mnet tmi show에서는 가비, 노제가 출연해 tmi를 아낌없이 대방출했. Mc 재재는 모니카 씨도 쟤 가비랑은 붙기 싫다고 했었다라며 서바이벌에서 몸을 사리지 않는 가비를 치켜세웠다. 지난 9일 첫 방송된 mnet tmi show에서는 가비, 노제가 출연해 tmi를 아낌없이 대방출했. 가비는 지난 14일 방송된 mbc &x2. ehentai galleries bisexual female

dihua marsh viewpoint 대세임을 증명하는 프로 야구 시구를 맡은 가비는 난생처음이다. 한눈에 보는 오늘 연예가 화제 뉴스 kbs2 갓파더 방송화면 캡쳐헤럴드pop원해선 기자 강주은과 가비가 150억 상당의 바이올린 가격에 충격에 빠졌다. 가슴 부근과 함께 어깨 부분이 노출되고, 몸에 딱 달라붙는 크롭티였기 때문. 가비는 어떻게 내 가슴 사이즈를 물어볼 생각을 하지. 가비, 가슴 사이즈 최초 공개19금 토크에. eoag 디시

dldss-439 서울와이어정은란 기자 모델 문가비의 노출 셀카가 주목받고 있다. 가비는 지난 14일 방송된 mbc &x2. 큰 가슴 불편해 여자도 반한 글래머 댄서가 털어놓은 고충은. 강주은은 가비의 노출 의상을 보자마자 경악했다. 스우파 때 브라톱 돌아가 의상사고 아찔. erome youngseo

echih likey 너랑 배틀 안 할래라며 과감한 가비의 춤 사위에 눈을 떼지 못했다. 단추는 장식 가비, 가슴골 노출한 파격 시구 의상강주은. 지난 14일 방송된 mbc 예능 프로그램 라디오 스타의 지구마불 세계무대에는 가비. 한편, 가비는 댄서팀 ‘라치카’의 리더이자 멤버로 댄서와 방송활동을 활발히 이어가고. 가비는 4일 자신의 인스타그램에 예측 불가, 상상 이상의 글래스 어니언.

dramabox_ads 옆에서 듣던 래퍼도 욕설 날렸다 곽튜브, 가비 노출 의상. 큰 가슴 불편해 여자도 반한 글래머 댄서가 털어놓은 고충은. 한눈에 보는 오늘 연예가 화제 뉴스 kbs2 갓파더 방송화면 캡쳐헤럴드pop원해선 기자 강주은과 가비가 150억 상당의 바이올린 가격에 충격에 빠졌다. Com › view › 20220330n40052가비 춤출 때 노출해야 예뻐 강주은 가슴 흘러넘칠 듯 충돌 갓파. 너랑 배틀 안 할래라며 과감한 가비의 춤 사위에 눈을 떼지 못했다.

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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 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 4, 2026. © 2025 Yevhen Titov/AP Photo

강주은, 가비 노출 의상에 충격가슴 다 보일라 안절부절., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.

Download