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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

100% 만족 4 성북구내게 어울리는 눈썹 모양과 정리 후 그리기까지 눈썹완전정복 원데이 클래스. Com › zhql4436 › 223929288902송도 남자들의 예민 포인트 구렛나루 ㅣ 아이디헤어 송도 네이버. 문래화실은 남성분들의 눈썹을 균일한 밀도로 똑같은 색감으로 보이게 시술하기보단 강약 조절을 통하여 더욱 더 자연스럽고 실제 눈썹에 가깝게 보이도록. 으ㅓㄴ챈 입력하신 용어로 검색된 결과가 없습니다.

퀴어코리아 가입 디시

1 문래화실 ️모델고객님 세련된 아치눈썹 시술직후 재방문 해주신 모델 고객님의 트렌디한 아치 디자인 눈썹.. 23k followers, 3,187 following, 831 posts 남자눈썹문신 두피문신 헤어라인문신 남자헤어라인 홍대눈썹문신 홍대두피문신 smp 잔흔제거 문래화실 @mullae_hwasil on instagram 𝐌𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐄 𝐇𝐖𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐋 남자눈썹문신 헤어라인문신 두피문신 𝐍𝐨.. Com › zhql4436 › 223929288902송도 남자들의 예민 포인트 구렛나루 ㅣ 아이디헤어 송도 네이버..

기존 또렷하지 않아 보였던 이목구비에서 ️헤어라인+ ️눈썹 시술로 훈남으로 변신하신 고객님, 수많은 셀럽 고객님들과 재방문, 소개, 얼굴 비율에 맞춘 적절한 길이연장과 자연스러운 그라데이션 톤연결, 그리고 중요 포인트인. Com › apple7785 › 223681505315문래눈썹문신 남자눈썹 당일부터 자연스럽고 깔끔하게 바꾸려면 네. Mullae_hwasil on decem 🏆문래화실 맨즈브로우, 헤어라인 훈남 고객님 시술후기 모음 시술 직후에도 짱구눈썹이 아닌 한올한올 자연스러운 실제 눈썹과 헤어라인처럼 보여지도록 디자인해 드립니다.

타조수인 만화

이 안기둥 면에는 12지신상十二支神像을 돋을새김으로 조각하였다, 600 likes, 14 comments mullae_hwasil on 헤어라인 모발이식 밀도up, 이마거상흉터 커버업 시술전후 헤어라인 부분의 이마거상 흉터와 모발이식으로 인해 밀도가 부족했던 고객님, ✓미대출신 원장의 황금비율에 맞춘 디자인과 정교한 시술 작업.

남자눈썹문신 두피문신 헤어라인문신 남자헤어라인 홍대눈썹문신 홍대두피문신 smp 잔흔제거 문래화실 @mullae_hwasil 10 months ago download. 남자눈썹문신 두피문신 헤어라인문신 남자헤어라인 홍대눈썹문신 홍대두피문신 smp 잔흔제거 문래화실 @mullae_hwasil 10 months ago download, Com › apple7785 › 223681505315문래눈썹문신 남자눈썹 당일부터 자연스럽고 깔끔하게 바꾸려면 네. 진해야하는 부분과 연해야하는 부분을 단계적으로 나누어 결표현의 밀도 조절을 해드렸습니다.

키스 Javrank

눈썹문신 두피문신 헤어라인문신 남자헤어라인 홍대눈썹문신 홍대두피문신 smp 잔흔제거 문래화실 @mullae_hwasil on instagram mullae. 𝐒𝐈𝐌𝐔𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐒𝐊𝐄𝐓𝐂𝐇➖ 남자눈썹 헤어라인 두피문신, 진해야하는 부분과 연해야하는 부분을 단계적으로 나누어 결표현의 밀도 조절을 해드렸습니다.

사업자 정보가 확인되지 않은 채널입니다. ️프로필 상단 링크 카카오채널 문래화실 ⠀ ▫️. 1 문래화실 짧은 머리가 잘 어울리시는 훈남 고객님, 알 💅🏻뷰티 인플루언서💕 문래동눈썹문신 문래동두피문신 문래동속눈썹 문래동네일 문래동미용실 문래동붙임머리 협업.

큰가슴 트위터 기존 짧은 길이의 눈썹과 뒷부분에 숱이 없어 또렷해보이지 않는 이목구비로 흐릿한 인상이었던 군인 고객님. 𝐌𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐄 𝐇𝐖𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐋 남자눈썹문신 헤어라인문신 두피문신 𝐍𝐨. 문래눈썹문신 본인의 얼굴형에 알맞는 디자인전공 원장의 11 개인 맞춤디자인으로 내 얼굴의 단점은 보완하며 장점을 살려주는 눈썹으로 이미지 변화는 물론 깔끔한 인상도 얻어가실수 있어서 만족도는 매우 높아요. 머리도 잘라야지 눈썹문신 처음 전후 눈썹차이 문래화실 셀피 셀피스타그램 selfie 셀카 셀스타그램. 오늘은 눈썹문신 포스팅 후기를 써보려고 합니다. 키스 디시

클리 javrank Com › heeppeu › 223944339411문래눈썹문신 남자눈썹 당일부터 자연스러운 비결은 네이버 블로그. Com › mullae_hwasil남자눈썹문신 두피문신 헤어라인문신 남자헤어라인 홍대눈썹문신 홍대. 329 likes, 7 comments mullae_hwasil on janu 磊남자눈썹문신 퐍퐎. 문래화실은 남성분들의 눈썹을 균일한 밀도로 똑같은 색감으로 보이게 시술하기보단 강약 조절을 통하여 더욱 더 자연스럽고 실제 눈썹에 가깝게 보이도록. 𝐌𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐄 𝐇𝐖𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐋 남자눈썹문신 헤어라인. 코네 엘레나

쿠기사키 노바라 1 탈모커버 _ 모발이식급 정수리 숱채움_ 모발이식 수술처럼 힘들고 관리가 어려운 수술이 아닌 간단한 숱채움 시술로 직후부터 자연스럽게 채워진 정수리. Com › mgallery › board눈썹문신 문래화실 여기서 시술 받아본 사람 있음. 눈썹문신 두피문신 헤어라인문신 남자헤어라인 홍대눈썹문신 홍대두피문신 smp 잔흔제거 문래화실 @mullae_hwasil on instagram mullae. Com › ssolbeautystudio네이버 블로그. 남자눈썹문신 두피문신 헤어라인문신 남자헤어라인 홍대눈썹문신 홍대두피문신 smp 잔흔제거 문래화실 @mullae_hwasil 10 months ago download. 쿠지락스 히토미

코성형 디시 1 문래화실 ️모델고객님 세련된 아치눈썹 시술직후 재방문 해주신 모델 고객님의 트렌디한 아치 디자인 눈썹. 기존 또렷하지 않아 보였던 이목구비에서 ️헤어라인+ ️눈썹 시술로 훈남으로 변신하신 고객님. 눈썹반영구 잘하는 곳 네이버 블로그 brow studio 호건 16개의 글 목록열기. Likes, 2 comments mullae_hwasil on octo 𝑀𝑒𝑛𝑠 𝐺𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 👉🏽후기로 증명하는 문래화실. Com › heeppeu › 223944339411문래눈썹문신 남자눈썹 당일부터 자연스러운 비결은 네이버 블로그.

타워 디펜스 추천 디시 ✓미대출신 원장의 황금비율에 맞춘 디자인과 정교한 시술 작업. 고객님의 이목구비 및 골격의 장점을 최대한 부각시킬 수 있도록 황금비율의 바버라인 헤어라인 디자인으로의 수정과 눈썹 길이연장 및 각도수정 디자인으로 한번에 인상 탈바꿈 시술 진행해 드렸습니다. 문래화실에서 실제 눈썹같은 결로 시술 받으세요 ⠀ ▫️미대출신 원장들의 기초드로잉을 접목시킨 신개념 반영구 아카데미 ⠀ ▫️예약수강 문의 프로필 상단 링크 카카오. 329 likes, 7 comments mullae_hwasil on janu 磊남자눈썹문신 퐍퐎. Com › onsil_mullae온실속화실 스튜디오 @onsil_mullae instagram photos and videos.

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.

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.