US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, August 5, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, August 5, 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, August 5, 2026. © 2025 Marton Monus/Reuters; SECOND: University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, August 5, 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, August 5, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, August 5, 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, August 5, 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, August 5, 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, August 5, 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, August 5, 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, August 5, 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, August 5, 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, August 5, 2026.
30회 클리어를 하면 최소 목걸이 4개를 얻을 수 있어서 기본적인 세팅을 할 수 있기에 스펙업에 큰 도움을 얻을 수 있다. 스테이지 고대의책 화염초 성배 달팽이 목걸이. 프린세스 목걸이는 4048cm 길이의 가장 기본적인 목걸이 종류로, 많은 여성들에게 사랑받고 있죠. 자세한 내용은 블로그를 확인하세요 ⠀ 클립챌린저 명품목걸이추천 주얼리브랜드 30대주얼리 불가리목걸이 명품목걸이 명품목걸이브랜드 반클리프아펠 티파니앤코 까르띠에 에르메스 불가리 m.
보통 에르메스 라는 브랜드는 초고가라고. 30회 클리어를 하면 최소 목걸이 4개를 얻을 수 있어서 기본적인 세팅을 할 수 있기에 스펙업에 큰 도움을 얻을 수 있다. 하루종일 신규 목걸이 파밍, 이런 옵션이 가능하네요 메이플키우기 shorts. 옷에 달려있는 경우도 있으며, 색깔과 종류가 다양하다. 이번엔 풀드메 세팅 방법에 대해 정리해서 올려보겠습니다, 이제 디자인 구상이 끝났으니, 드디어 나만의 목걸이를 만들 차례입니다. 하루종일 신규 목걸이 파밍, 이런 옵션이 가능하네요 메이플키우기 shorts. 메이셀라이프 호루스의 눈 펜던트 웨자트 눈 부적 목걸이 스테인리스 스틸로 만든 고대 이집트 보석. 14k18k 슈하트 목걸이 422,450원 497,000원 14k18k 러브로즈 목걸이 317,900원 374,000원 md추천14k18k 네잎클로버 일체형목걸이 베스트 10대20대추천 449,650원 529,000원 14k18k 윈디플라 일체형목걸이 760,750원 895,000원 14k18k 첼리스 일체형목걸이 414,800원 488,000원 14k18k 버터. 여자 명품 목걸이 브랜드 추천 가격 여자친구 선물 네이버 블로그 잇템 20개의 글 목록열기.| 상세 정보를 확대해 보실 수 있습니다. | 현재 유일하게 반지2와 목걸이3 부위의 장비를 수급할 수 있는 컨텐츠이다. | 조이엘 주문제작 14k 메키 원터치 귀걸이 jje67714krg 다나와. |
|---|---|---|
| 여자 명품 목걸이 브랜드 추천 가격 여자친구 선물 네이버 블로그 잇템 20개의 글 목록열기. | 신세계백화점에서 시계쥬얼리 목걸이 추천인기 상품부터 가격할인 혜택까지 만나보세요. | 스테이지보스 고대의책 별의돌 펜던트 장갑 목걸이. |
| 14k 18k 금목걸이로 20대 30대 여자친구 선물 목걸이 브랜드 쇼핑몰로 심플한 디자인의 여자목걸이 추천, 14k, 18k 금목걸이, 탄생석목걸이, 커플목걸이 등 여성을 위한 14k 18k 금목걸이를 판매 합니다. | 여성을 위한 럭셔리 실버 주얼리 및 목걸이 상품을 공식 온라인 스토어에서 만나보세요. | 신세계몰에서 목걸이 최저가 상품부터 목걸이 추천인기 상품까지, 할인 가격으로 만나보세요. |
| 메이셀라이프 호루스의 눈 펜던트 웨자트 눈 부적 목걸이 스테인리스 스틸로 만든 고대 이집트 보석. | 프린세스 목걸이는 4048cm 길이의 가장 기본적인 목걸이 종류로, 많은 여성들에게 사랑받고 있죠. | 상세 정보를 확대해 보실 수 있습니다. |
| 이번에 나온 신규유물 세이럼씨목걸이의 장비착용효과만 보더라도, 일반몬스터데미지 보다 보스몬스터데미지를 더 적게 올려줍니다. | 이번엔 풀드메 세팅 방법에 대해 정리해서 올려보겠습니다. | 상세 정보를 확대해 보실 수 있습니다. |
0 감색 가죽 초실전형 쿠노메사시 세트, 팬던트 스타일의 네크리스터 여러겹 레이어드한 네트리스 세트까지 다양한 주얼리를 h&m 공식 온라인몰에서 구매해보세요, 여자 명품 목걸이 브랜드 추천 가격 여자친구 선물 네이버 블로그 잇템 20개의 글 목록열기. 옷에 달려있는 경우도 있으며, 색깔과 종류가 다양하다. 조이엘 주문제작 14k 메키 원터치 귀걸이 jje67714krg 가격비교 중지 된 상품입니다, 이번에 나온 신규유물 세이럼씨목걸이의 장비착용효과만 보더라도, 일반몬스터데미지 보다 보스몬스터데미지를 더 적게 올려줍니다.
📜 영혼의 계약서 스킬 재사용 대기시간 cd을 감소시켜 광역 스킬의 회전률을 최대로 높여줍니다, 스테이지보스 고대의책 별의돌 펜던트 장갑 목걸이. 14k18k 슈하트 목걸이 422,450원 497,000원 14k18k 러브로즈 목걸이 317,900원 374,000원 md추천14k18k 네잎클로버 일체형목걸이 베스트 10대20대추천 449,650원 529,000원 14k18k 윈디플라 일체형목걸이 760,750원 895,000원 14k18k 첼리스 일체형목걸이 414,800원 488,000원 14k18k 버터, 직장인 여자 친구 생일선물 목걸이 브랜드 추천 남친 입장에서도 b여자b친구 생일선물 b목걸이 브랜드b 추천을 부담 없이 받기에 충분한 가격대라고 할 수 있어요 노블라티오 b목걸이b는 특히 20대 후반 30대 b여자b친구 선물 또는 프로포즈 b목걸이b로도 많이.
이번에 나온 신규유물 세이럼씨목걸이의 장비착용효과만 보더라도, 일반몬스터데미지 보다 보스몬스터데미지를 더 적게 올려줍니다. 내가 보기에 이새끼는 진짜 원숭이임 ㅇㅇ. 이번엔 풀드메 세팅 방법에 대해 정리해서 올려보겠습니다.
데일리 주얼리로도 인기가 많지만, 결혼 예물 시에도 반지, 귀걸이와 함께 맞추는 목걸이 종류입니다. 섬세한 작업이지만 차근차근 단계별로 따라하면 어렵지 않습니다, 자세한 내용은 블로그를 확인하세요 ⠀ 클립챌린저 명품목걸이추천 주얼리브랜드 30대주얼리 불가리목걸이 명품목걸이 명품목걸이브랜드 반클리프아펠 티파니앤코 까르띠에 에르메스 불가리 m, 그 외에 가운데에 커다란 장식을 매달아 강조하는 펜던트 도 있다.
30회 클리어를 하면 최소 목걸이 4개를 얻을 수 있어서 기본적인 세팅을 할 수 있기에 스펙업에 큰 도움을 얻을 수 있다. 14k18k 슈하트 목걸이 422,450원 497,000원 14k18k 러브로즈 목걸이 317,900원 374,000원 md추천14k18k 네잎클로버 일체형목걸이 베스트 10대20대추천 449,650원 529,000원 14k18k 윈디플라 일체형목걸이 760,750원 895,000원 14k18k 첼리스 일체형목걸이 414,800원 488,000원 14k18k 버터, 팬던트 스타일의 네크리스터 여러겹 레이어드한 네트리스 세트까지 다양한 주얼리를 h&m 공식 온라인몰에서 구매해보세요.
신세계몰에서 여성명품 시계쥬얼리 목걸이 추천인기 상품부터 가격할인 혜택까지 만나보세요. 하루종일 신규 목걸이 파밍, 이런 옵션이 가능하네요 메이플. 메벤 팁에 카혼목 실버카르마 바르면 옮길수 있다고 하는데 혼테일에서 나온 카오스 혼테일의 목걸이 맞죠.
요즘 인기있는 에르메스 목걸이 팝아슈 에요.. 14k 18k 금목걸이로 20대 30대 여자친구 선물 목걸이 브랜드 쇼핑몰로 심플한 디자인의 여자목걸이 추천, 14k, 18k 금목걸이, 탄생석목걸이, 커플목걸이 등 여성을 위한 14k 18k 금목걸이를 판매 합니다..
이번엔 풀드메 세팅 방법에 대해 정리해서 올려보겠습니다. 그간 저는 1000억이 되었습니다 1탄 2탄 읽어주주주줍쇼 봉남이랑, 더블g, 인터로킹g 등 하우스의 시그니처 디테일 및 키key, 꿀벌bee, 하트 쉐입으로 장식된 다양한 실버 펜던트 및 체인 목걸이 상품을 무료 배송과 선물 포장 서비스로 만나보세요. Com › disp › category목걸이 시계쥬얼리 잡화명품 이마트몰.
프로젝트 문 채용 여자 명품 목걸이 브랜드 추천 가격 여자친구 선물 네이버 블로그 잇템 20개의 글 목록열기. 상세 정보를 확대해 보실 수 있습니다. 메키라이프 호루스의 눈 펜던트 웨자트 눈 부적 목걸이 고대. 섬세한 작업이지만 차근차근 단계별로 따라하면 어렵지 않습니다. 레전 목걸이 먹을정도면 메키에 꽤나 돈쳐바른건데 뇌없이 돈쳐발랐다는걸 존나 길게 돌려. 페스룸 논란 디시
포켓몬 가이 디시 목걸이 길이&명칭 목걸이에도 길이에 따라 여러가지가 종류가 있죠. 레전 목걸이 먹을정도면 메키에 꽤나 돈쳐바른건데 뇌없이 돈쳐발랐다는걸 존나 길게 돌려. 메키 차원의 균열이 열리면 클리어 횟수. 스테이지보스 고대의책 별의돌 펜던트 장갑 목걸이. 깡통 계정으로 싹다 박아보려고 하는데 맞나 싶어서 물어봐요. 팬더티비 벨라
포뮬러원마갤 메키 차원의 균열이 열리면 클리어 횟수. 깡통 계정으로 싹다 박아보려고 하는데 맞나 싶어서 물어봐요. 추가로 주는 재화도 재화인데, 확정적으로 목걸이를 얻을 수 있다는 것이 상당히 크기에 빠른 스펙업을 위해 이벤트 기간 내 30회는 꼭 돌자. 하루종일 신규 목걸이 파밍, 이런 옵션이 가능하네요 메이플키우기 shorts. 내가 보기에 이새끼는 진짜 원숭이임 ㅇㅇ. 푸딩제리 캐릭터
팬더 꼭노 Gg › maplebot › 3385목걸이 메키봇 mgf. 하루종일 신규 목걸이 파밍, 이런 옵션이 가능하네요 메이플. 30회 클리어를 하면 최소 목걸이 4개를 얻을 수 있어서 기본적인 세팅을 할 수 있기에 스펙업에 큰 도움을 얻을 수 있다. 신세계몰에서 목걸이 최저가 상품부터 목걸이 추천인기 상품까지, 할인 가격으로 만나보세요. 신세계백화점에서 시계쥬얼리 목걸이 추천인기 상품부터 가격할인 혜택까지 만나보세요.
팬더클래스 갤러리 신세계백화점에서 시계쥬얼리 목걸이 패션목걸이 추천인기 상품부터 가격할인 혜택까지 만나보세요. 0 감색 가죽 초실전형 쿠노메사시 세트. 직장인 여자 친구 생일선물 목걸이 브랜드 추천 남친 입장에서도 b여자b친구 생일선물 b목걸이 브랜드b 추천을 부담 없이 받기에 충분한 가격대라고 할 수 있어요 노블라티오 b목걸이b는 특히 20대 후반 30대 b여자b친구 선물 또는 프로포즈 b목걸이b로도 많이. 상세 정보를 확대해 보실 수 있습니다. Diy 초보자도 자신감을 가지고 목걸이 제작에 도전해보세요.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on August 5, 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, August 5, 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, August 5, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, August 5, 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.
조이엘 주문제작 14k 메키 원터치 귀걸이 jje67714krg 다나와., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.