US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 16, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 16, 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 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.
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 16, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 16, 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 16, 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 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.
A former bus station turned into internally displaced person settlement in Gedaref, Sudan, June 16, 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 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.
A man stands in the courtyard of his house following a Russian strike on the outskirts of Odesa, Ukraine, June 16, 2026.
안경매냐횽들 요즘 성시경이쓰는 안경 뭐야. 스크랩 이미지 안경 사이즈는 어떻게 보는거임. 성시경정도면 얼굴이 존나 잘생긴건 아니지않나 안경 갤러리. 게시물의 저작권과 책임갤러리에 올리시는 게시물댓글 포함의 저작권은 게시자 본인에게 있으며, 타인의 권리를 침해해서는 안 됩.
’ 섹드립 화제∼ 성시경 안경 성시경 안경’이 화제를 불러일으키고 있다, 한눈에 보는 오늘 연예가 화제 뉴스 엑스포츠뉴스 우선미 기자 가수 성시경이 고가의 안경을 착용했다. Jpg screenshot_20209_youtube. 내가 맨날 닮았단 말 소리듣는게 성시경이거든 그리고 남들이 넌 안경벗지 말라고함 얼굴 어디에 문제가 심한거냐. Wordð 성시경 협찬 안경 리스트인데.스크랩 이미지 안경 사이즈는 어떻게 보는거임.. Kv34처럼 가벼운 하금테 보고있다가 이번 성시경이 쓰고나온것도 일단은 외관상 얇은 프레임이라 모델 찾아서 무게나 스펙좀 확인해보고 싶은데.. 이날 성시경은 안경을 보기 위해 안경점으로 향했다.. Com › board › view안경을 벗어야하는 이유..Jpg screenshot_20202_youtube. 엑스포츠뉴스 우선미 기자 가수 성시경이 고가의 안경을 착용했다. Jpg dd 싱글벙글 여자 적정 수면시간은 810시간 ㅇㅇ hiroshima 한강 한일, 해군 수색구조훈련 9년 만에 재개키로 국방장관회담 개최 수능디 차라리 주작이었으면 한 신혼집 셀프리모델링 절망편 ㅇㅇ 그분들 급한거보소 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 다썰남 공포의 말미잘의 클론, 14일 유튜브 채널 성시경 sung si kyung에는 오늘은 안경 쇼핑했어요라는 제목의 영상이 업로드됐다, 무슨 안경테 써야 잘 어울릴까 안경 갤러리, 안경 갤러리에 다양한 이야기를 남겨 디시앱 설치 전체리스트 로그인 회사소개 광고안내 이용약관 개인정보. 그 이후엔 다들 알다시피 성시경 본인에게 안경은 필수다, 나는 안경 벗으면 뽀로로다라고 예능에 나와서 자학 개그를 할 정도로 공식석상이나 방송 출연할때 안경 착용을 더욱 더 중요하게 여기게 되었다. 게시물의 저작권과 책임갤러리에 올리시는 게시물댓글 포함의 저작권은 게시자 본인에게 있으며, 타인의 권리를 침해해서는 안 됩. 성시경처럼 안경낀게 더 어울리는 사람은 왜그럼. 호정 13대 5번대 대장이며 안경을 낀 남성으로 온화해 보이는 인상이 특징. Wordð 성시경 협찬 안경 리스트인데. 카테고리로 분류된 안경 갤러리 입니다.
안경매냐횽들 요즘 성시경이쓰는 안경 뭐야, 성시경 갤러리에서는 성시경과 관련된 게시물을 올려주세요, Com › board › view안경이 외모 봉인구였던 연예인들, 성시경정도면 얼굴이 존나 잘생긴건 아니지않나 안경 갤러리. 29 1209 인쇄 북마크 댓글 페북 트위터 공유, Com › board › viewfact 안경은 외모를 다운그레이드 시키는 요소가 아님.
Kv34처럼 가벼운 하금테 보고있다가 이번 성시경이 쓰고나온것도 일단은 외관상 얇은 프레임이라 모델 찾아서 무게나 스펙좀 확인해보고 싶은데, 안경 벗으면 야구선수 클레이튼 커쇼와 눈이 비슷하기도. 25 안녕하세요 이웃님들 저는 요새 성시경님 유튜브 보는 재미에 푹 빠졌는데요. 너무나 애정하는 성시경 안경 마스카 총집합으로 모아보기, 성시경처럼 안경낀게 더 어울리는 사람은 왜그럼, 77 디시앱 설치 전체리스트 로그인 회사소개 광고안내 이용약관 개인정보.
요즘 눈팅하다가 무조건 안경 안쓰는게 낫다, 이런 뉘앙스의 글이 보여서 쓴다유재석, 성시경 같은 케이스 제외하고안경이 외모를 업그레이드 시켜줄 수 있는 악세사리로 작용한다는 얘기임. 카테고리로 분류된 안경 갤러리 입니다. Com › board › view성시경정도면 얼굴이 존나 잘생긴건 아니지않나 안경 갤러리. 내가 맨날 닮았단 말 소리듣는게 성시경이거든 그리고 남들이 넌 안경벗지 말라고함 얼굴 어디에 문제가 심한거냐. Com › board › viewfact 안경은 외모를 다운그레이드 시키는 요소가 아님.
누런 빛이 노는 투명이 주는 답답함보다는 깨끗한 이미지로서, 가수 성시경은 최근 진행된 jtbc ‘마녀사냥’ 녹화에 참여해 화려한 입담을 과시했다, 다음 타자는 따로 2017년에는 〈택시운전사〉에 별 3개를 준 거 가지고 디시인사이드, 25 안녕하세요 이웃님들 저는 요새 성시경님 유튜브 보는 재미에 푹 빠졌는데요. 스크랩 이미지 안경 사이즈는 어떻게 보는거임.
그 이후엔 다들 알다시피 성시경 본인에게 안경은 필수다, 나는 안경 벗으면 뽀로로다라고 예능에 나와서 자학 개그를 할 정도로 공식석상이나 방송 출연할때 안경 착용을 더욱 더 중요하게 여기게 되었다.. 무슨 안경테 써야 잘 어울릴까 안경 갤러리.. 먹을텐데 성시경 유튜브에 자주 쓰고 나오는데..
77 디시앱 설치 전체리스트 로그인 회사소개 광고안내 이용약관 개인정보, 한눈에 보는 오늘 연예가 화제 뉴스 엑스포츠뉴스 우선미 기자 가수 성시경이 고가의 안경을 착용했다. 이안경 알려주셈뭔지 성시경안경 안경 갤러리. 이날 성시경은 안경을 보기 위해 안경점으로 향했다. 게임만 하던 찐따가 알고보니 미소년음침해보이던 애가 알고보니 미소년공부잘하는 범생녀가 알고보니 미소녀길거리 흔한.
| Com › board › view안경을 벗어야하는 이유. | 보기엔 무거워 보이지만 엄청나게 가벼운 무게라 고객님들께서 실착하시면 가벼워서 놀라는 까르뱅 호크 안경테 가공 포스팅 해보겠습니다. |
|---|---|
| 게임만 하던 찐따가 알고보니 미소년음침해보이던 애가 알고보니 미소년공부잘하는 범생녀가 알고보니 미소녀길거리 흔한. | 하나 궁금한게 있는데 성시경이 쓰고나오는 건 전부 협찬인가요. |
| 성시경 같은 경우는 안경 도수를 맞춰야하는데 협찬하면서 해준. | 14일 유튜브 채널 성시경 sung si kyung에는 오늘은 안경 쇼핑했어요라는 제목의 영상이 업로드됐다. |
| 이안경 알려주셈뭔지 성시경안경 안경 갤러리. | 먹을텐데 성시경 유튜브에 자주 쓰고 나오는데. |
| 방송연예 안경벗은 성시경아무도 못 알아봤다 tv리뷰 영리하게 나영석pd 잡은 까칠한 버터왕자 성시경의 예능 도전기 권진경 jikyo85 11. | 성시경정도면 얼굴이 존나 잘생긴건 아니지않나 안경 갤러리. |
휘청이기 시작하는 버스버스는 결국도로우측의 전광판 지지대로 돌진해버린다실시간 촬영화면이 사고로 승객 2명이 숨지고 11명이 중상을 입었다그런데 공항버스 운전사들은 이번 사고가 예견된 것이었다고 말했는데실제로 당시 mbc 카메라출동. 방송연예 안경벗은 성시경아무도 못 알아봤다 tv리뷰 영리하게 나영석pd 잡은 까칠한 버터왕자 성시경의 예능 도전기 권진경 jikyo85 11. Com › board › view안경이 외모 봉인구였던 연예인들. 호정 13대 5번대 대장이며 안경을 낀 남성으로 온화해 보이는 인상이 특징.
누런 빛이 노는 투명이 주는 답답함보다는 깨끗한 이미지로서. 재밌는 건 그의 직속선배 발라더로 취급받는 신승훈도 쳐진, Com › octo_eye › 222572856722성시경 안경 까르뱅 호크 투명하금테 추천 네이버 블로그.
Jpg screenshot_20209_youtube. 너무나 애정하는 성시경 안경 마스카 총집합으로 모아보기. 성시경씨 이 하금테 안경 혹시 아시는분.
휘청이기 시작하는 버스버스는 결국도로우측의 전광판 지지대로 돌진해버린다실시간 촬영화면이 사고로 승객 2명이 숨지고 11명이 중상을 입었다그런데 공항버스 운전사들은 이번 사고가 예견된 것이었다고 말했는데실제로 당시 mbc 카메라출동, 보기엔 무거워 보이지만 엄청나게 가벼운 무게라 고객님들께서 실착하시면 가벼워서 놀라는 까르뱅 호크 안경테 가공 포스팅 해보겠습니다. 성시경 갤러리에서는 성시경과 관련된 게시물을 올려주세요, Jpg dd 싱글벙글 여자 적정 수면시간은 810시간 ㅇㅇ hiroshima 한강 한일, 해군 수색구조훈련 9년 만에 재개키로 국방장관회담 개최 수능디 차라리 주작이었으면 한 신혼집 셀프리모델링 절망편 ㅇㅇ 그분들 급한거보소 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 다썰남 공포의 말미잘의 클론. 게시물의 저작권과 책임갤러리에 올리시는 게시물댓글 포함의 저작권은 게시자 본인에게 있으며, 타인의 권리를 침해해서는 안 됩.
sa-102 mib 성시경씨 이 하금테 안경 혹시 아시는분. 내가 맨날 닮았단 말 소리듣는게 성시경이거든 그리고 남들이 넌 안경벗지 말라고함 얼굴 어디에 문제가 심한거냐. 누런 빛이 노는 투명이 주는 답답함보다는 깨끗한 이미지로서. 다양한 안경테 착용에 나선 성시경은 140만원짜리 고가의 브랜드 제품을 착용해 봐 눈길을 끌었다. 15일 성시경의 유튜브 채널에는 오늘은 안경 쇼핑했어요라는 제목의 영상이 올라왔다. rj230638
sgki071 148만 원짜리 명품 브랜드의 안경을 구경한 성시경은 이렇게 비싸구나. Com › octo_eye › 222572856722성시경 안경 까르뱅 호크 투명하금테 추천 네이버 블로그. 성시경 같은 경우는 안경 도수를 맞춰야하는데 협찬하면서 해준. Wordð 성시경 협찬 안경 리스트인데. 그 이후엔 다들 알다시피 성시경 본인에게 안경은 필수다, 나는 안경 벗으면 뽀로로다라고 예능에 나와서 자학 개그를 할 정도로 공식석상이나 방송 출연할때 안경 착용을 더욱 더 중요하게 여기게 되었다. shinsei lolishota nhentai
shinzanmono108 kemono 그 이후엔 다들 알다시피 성시경 본인에게 안경은 필수다, 나는 안경 벗으면 뽀로로다라고 예능에 나와서 자학 개그를 할 정도로 공식석상이나 방송 출연할때 안경 착용을 더욱 더 중요하게 여기게 되었다. 방송연예 안경벗은 성시경아무도 못 알아봤다 tv리뷰 영리하게 나영석pd 잡은 까칠한 버터왕자 성시경의 예능 도전기 권진경 jikyo85 11. Jpg screenshot_20202_youtube. Com › board › view안경이 외모 봉인구였던 연예인들. Jpg screenshot_20248_youtube. sjsk 102 av
sektoon ’ 섹드립 화제∼ 성시경 안경 성시경 안경’이 화제를 불러일으키고 있다. Jpg dd 싱글벙글 여자 적정 수면시간은 810시간 ㅇㅇ hiroshima 한강 한일, 해군 수색구조훈련 9년 만에 재개키로 국방장관회담 개최 수능디 차라리 주작이었으면 한 신혼집 셀프리모델링 절망편 ㅇㅇ 그분들 급한거보소 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 다썰남 공포의 말미잘의 클론. Jpg screenshot_20209_youtube. 성시경정도면 얼굴이 존나 잘생긴건 아니지않나 안경 갤러리. Jpg screenshot_20202_youtube.
rplay minzee 가수 성시경은 최근 진행된 jtbc ‘마녀사냥’ 녹화에 참여해 화려한 입담을 과시했다. Jpg screenshot_20202_youtube. Com › board › view안경이 외모 봉인구였던 연예인들. 성시경 같은 경우는 안경 도수를 맞춰야하는데 협찬하면서 해준. Com › octo_eye › 222572856722성시경 안경 까르뱅 호크 투명하금테 추천 네이버 블로그.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 16, 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 16, 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 16, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 16, 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.
안경매냐횽들 요즘 성시경이쓰는 안경 뭐야., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.