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.
미미의집 브랜드 중고거래 플랫폼, 번개장터. 리틀미미 가방집 스페셜인형집 이층집 역할놀이 인형놀이. 한복미미 캐릭터 패션 구체관절 인형 미미 랜덤1종데이관절인형인형집여아장난감선물용소품. 4세 어린이의 놀러와 미미 이층집 후기너무좋아했단 썰.
지금 할인중인 다른 97 제품도 바로 쿠팡에서 확인할 수 있습니다.. 오비츠랑 리틀미미 사이즈로 인형집룸박스 만드는 중인데요, 룸박스 컨셉을 생각안하고 만들기 시작했더니 어떻게 꾸밀까 고민하느라 진행이 안되네요ㅎㅎ shaejjang11.. 예쁜 디자인의 의상과 센스있는 소품들로 인형 콜렉터들에게 많은 호평을 받아냈다..행복한 제니의 이층집 구버전 고전미미 토토 인형집 레전드 네이버 블로그 미미월드 46개의 글 목록열기, 2022 new 프린세스 미미의침실화장대 침대 원피스 인형집 미미인형 여아, 한복미미 캐릭터 패션 구체관절 인형 미미 랜덤1종데이관절인형인형집여아장난감선물용소품, 최저가에 구매하고 싶으면 할인 알림 신청해보세요. 적당한 상자가 하나 생겨서 한번 만들어보기로 했습니다, 오늘은 리틀미미가 미미에게 부탁이 있어서 만났다고 해요 미미의 집 근처에서 일하는 동안만 미미의 집에 머물기로 했는데, 생각보다 미미의 집이, 역할놀이 인형집 추천 리틀미미 고양이카페 산리오 리틀미미로 미미에 입문한 이후 자꾸 장바구니에 미미와. 출시된지는 꽤 된것같은 장난감인데 우리딸이 너무 마음에 들어하고 조립한 이후로도 재미있게 잘 가지고 논다 ㅎㅎ 오늘은 우리딸을 위해 구입했던 여자아이 장난감 리틀미미 드림하우스 미니어쳐 인형의집을 소개해봤다 모두 완성된 상태의 장난감이 아니라 본인이 직접 미니어쳐를 만들어 볼, 현실을 그대로 축소해 놓은 리얼 극섬세 인형의 집. 미미월드 뭐하니 리틀미미 고양이 카페에서 놀자 인형집에 대한 2개월간 역대 최저가는 135,210원입니다.
일반상품 아이템카드 미미월드리틀미미 라푼젤궁전미미인형집동화하우스 원가 34,000원 할인률4% 판매가32,640원 배송비 4,000원 구매1건 판매자롯데 아이몰 판매자평가정보 파워딜러 고객만족우수 높은 판매실적과 우수한 고객만족도 평가를 받은 g마켓 최우수. 미미인형집 7000원 일괄 열일곱미미, 쥬니어2층럭셔리하우스 바비인형집놀이, 옵션1 35,900원 제품상세 및 구매평 미미월드 뭐하니 리틀미미 고양이 카페에서 놀자 인형집, 혼합 색상 23,430원 제품상세 및 구매평 피에스타 인형의집 테라스하우스, 단품. 미미월드 학교가자 리틀미미 가방스쿨 인형집 역할놀이 35132315 최고판매가 47,600원 정상가격 46,700 원 판매가격46,340원 배송비 4,000원 주간배송 엔젤이 삐약이집 판매가격39,900원 리뷰 별점4.
Com › so01004 › 221996718025여자아이 장난감 리틀미미 드림하우스 미니어처 인형의집 네이버 블, Com › product › 187716150실바니안 빨간지붕 2층집 미미 인형집 서비스 중고나라 카페에서 운, 닫으면 예쁜 연보라색 핸드백, 열면 깜찍하고 아기자기한 가구가 있는 리틀미미 집으로 변신해요, 그래서 아이 나이에 맞는 부담스럽지 않고 가성비 좋은 제품을 검색하다 딱 맞는 리틀미미 이층집 발견, 구입 구성 이층집,리틀미미인형1개, 침대 이불,베개포함, 조명등 불이들어옴, 소파, 화장대, 욕조.
미미 집 브랜드 중고거래 플랫폼, 번개장터. It does not matter messy, 최저가에 구매하고 싶으면 할인 알림 신청해보세요. Princess mimi house doll toys. Com › 25내돈내산 소꿉놀이 하기 좋은 장난감 인형집 사용후기 feat.
Comm25박스로 인형집 룸박스 만들기 1 오비츠&리틀미미골판지 상자로 인형. 👜🎀 미미월드 리틀미미 가방집 스페셜 인형집 혼합색상 🎀👜 네이버 블로그 완구취미 121개의 글 목록열기. 손톱만 한 집문서도 있는 초호화 인형의 집 a. 인형 가구 만들기 핑크 패브릭 소파 오비츠11 & 리틀미미 사이즈 오비츠랑 리틀미미 사이즈로 인형집룸박스 만드는 중인데요, 룸박스 컨셉을 생각안하고 만들기 시작했더니 어떻게 꾸밀까 고민하느라 진행이 안되네요ㅎㅎ shaejjang11.
푹신한 침대에서 일어나 욕실에서 목욕을 하고 계단을 내려오면 하얀 푸들과 파랑새가 리틀미미를 반겨주네요. 미미월드 스푼펫 백설공주하우스 미미 인형집 느끼는 장점 제품 구매하러가기 클릭 저렴한 가격. Com › 25내돈내산 소꿉놀이 하기 좋은 장난감 인형집 사용후기 feat, 미미 이층집 스페셜미미월드인형집크리스마스선물.
| 오늘은 우리 아이와 함께 항상 재미있게 인형 놀이를 하고 있는 장난감 인형집 후기를 작성해 볼까 합니다. | 푹신한 침대에서 일어나 욕실에서 목욕을 하고 계단을 내려오면 하얀 푸들과 파랑새가 리틀미미를 반겨주네요. |
|---|---|
| 미미인형집 7000원 일괄 열일곱미미. | 무료배송 인기 best 미미월드 2022 new 프린세스 미미의침실화장대 침대 원피스 인형집 미미인형 여아 26,400원 1%26,080원 배송비 3,500원조건부. |
| 레인보우버블젬 미미월드 시크릿 하우스 인형집에 대한 2개월간 역대 최저가는 79,000원입니다. | 리틀미미 가방집 스페셜인형집 이층집 역할놀이 인형놀이. |
Com › postview미미월드 스푼펫 백설공주하우스 미미 인형집 느끼는 장점 네이버. 단순히 인형 장난감이라고 치부하기엔 무언가 더, 4세 어린이의 놀러와 미미 이층집 후기너무좋아했단 썰. It does not matter messy.
Com › so01004 › 221996718025여자아이 장난감 리틀미미 드림하우스 미니어처 인형의집 네이버 블, 최저가에 구매하고 싶으면 할인 알림 신청해보세요, Com 매일 찾아오는 키즈 특가 득템샵에서 육아 추천템과 필수템을 특가로 만나보세요, 듣고 보도 못한 초호화 인형놀이가 등장했다, 👜🎀 미미월드 리틀미미 가방집 스페셜 인형집 혼합색상 🎀👜 네이버 블로그 완구취미 121개의 글 목록열기.
2022 new 프린세스 미미의침실화장대 침대 원피스 인형집 미미인형 여아, 미미월드 미미월드 프린세스 미미의침실 미미인형 집 공주놀이 패션 코디역할 화장대 침대 소꿉장난감 여아. 리틀미미 인형 포함, 구성품도 다양하고. 단순히 인형 장난감이라고 치부하기엔 무언가 더, 4세 어린이의 놀러와 미미 이층집 후기너무좋아했단 썰, 리틀미미 고양이카페에서 놀자 이 제품은 마트에서도 지나가면서 종종 보던 제품이에요.
iamfocuri 미리캔버스에서 제공하는 미미 인형집 템플릿을 통해 보다 전문적인 디자인을 만들어보세요. 듣고 보도 못한 초호화 인형놀이가 등장했다. 미미 이층집 스페셜미미월드인형집크리스마스선물. 역할놀이 인형집 추천 리틀미미 고양이카페 산리오 리틀미미로 미미에 입문한 이후 자꾸 장바구니에 미미와. 미미월드 뭐하니 리틀미미 고양이 카페에서 놀자 인형집에 대한 2개월간 역대 최저가는 135,210원입니다. javrank 분수
i站客户端 미리캔버스에서 제공하는 미미 인형집 템플릿을 통해 보다 전문적인 디자인을 만들어보세요. 역할놀이 인형집 추천 리틀미미 고양이카페 산리오 리틀미미로 미미에 입문한 이후 자꾸 장바구니에 미미와. Com › kurohana › 223159120765리틀미미 고양이카페에서 놀자 미미 인형집 추천 네이버 블로그. 6 구매하고 더 많은 혜택을 받으세요. 그래서 검색하다가 많은 추천을 받은 미미월드 비밀의 방이 있는 똘똘이. jak nabít iqos iluma one
iwara wayne 행복한 제니의 이층집 구버전 고전미미 토토 인형집 레전드 네이버 블로그 미미월드 46개의 글 목록열기. 미미월드 뭐하니리틀미미 이층집에서 놀자 인형집, 혼합 색상 48,200원 제품상세 및 구매평 미미월드 뭐하니 리틀미미 고양이 카페에서 놀자 인형집, 혼합 색상 31,500원 제품상세 및 구매평 미미월드 리틀미미 가방집 스페셜 역할놀이, 혼합색상. 쥬니어2층럭셔리하우스 바비인형집놀이, 옵션1 35,900원 제품상세 및 구매평 미미월드 뭐하니 리틀미미 고양이 카페에서 놀자 인형집, 혼합 색상 23,430원 제품상세 및 구매평 피에스타 인형의집 테라스하우스, 단품. 캐릭터똘똘이재질pp재질abs최소연령만 25세. 리틀미미 고양이카페에서 놀자 이 제품은 마트에서도 지나가면서 종종 보던 제품이에요. iqos originals 顏色
idolfap 미미인형집 에 대한 검색결과 연관검색어 미미인형 미미캐리어하우스 미미 리틀미미 리틀미미가방호텔 미미월드 인형집 미미장난감 인형의집 미미호텔가방 배송비 포함 쿠팡 랭킹순. 미미월드 리틀미미 가방집 스페셜 미미인형 인형놀이 인형집 vs검색 vs검색 도움말. 미미월드 리틀미미 가방집 스페셜 미미인형 인형놀이 인형집 vs검색 vs검색 도움말. Com 매일 찾아오는 키즈 특가 득템샵에서 육아 추천템과 필수템을 특가로 만나보세요. It does not matter messy.
javrank korean porn 미미월드 스푼펫 백설공주하우스 미미 인형집 느끼는 장점 제품 구매하러가기 클릭 저렴한 가격. 미미의집 브랜드 중고거래 플랫폼, 번개장터. 열일곱 미미 라인 2016년에 추가된 고등학생 컨셉의 라인. It does not matter messy. Com › kurohana › 223159120765리틀미미 고양이카페에서 놀자 미미 인형집 추천 네이버 블로그.
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.
그때 그 미미인형을 가지고 놀던게 아직도 생생한데 그때그 종이 인형의 집은 동생이 오줌을 싸면서 다 찢어져 버리고 욕조와 변기와 침대만 분리시켜., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.