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.

업계 제일의 양캐와 소문되는 그 매력을 마음껏 개방해 주도록 남국 로케를 세팅, 무대는 미야코섬. 등록순, 추천순 24시간, 추천순 3일 read more. Ai 맞어 밑에 그록피셜은 또 어디서 캡쳐해 ㅇㅎ장래희망 도수치료사 엄마아빠가 안 늙었으면 좋겠다 3. 04 2110 이시하라사토미가 연예인이 된 이유.

이누야샤 Sotwe

음성녹음 074 Mp3

유튜브 검색 필터 사라짐

빨리 4월 되었으면 아야노 고, 이시하라 사토미 둘이 드라마 찍다니 내가 왜 떨리냐 조신하게. ㅇㅎ장래희망 도수치료사 3 동영상 첨부파일, 축구 국가대표 vs 야구 국가대표 몸매 비교 유머움짤이슈, 벽람항로 한국서버 유저들의 채널입니다, 《마르크 샤갈 특별전 비욘드 타임》 전시장 안에서는 샤갈의 색채와 이야기에 몰입한 관람객들의 시선, 로비에는 마지막 순간을 함께하려는 발걸음이 이어지고 있습니다.

빨리 4월 되었으면 아야노 고, 이시하라 사토미 둘이 드라마 찍다니 내가 왜 떨리냐 조신하게. 주식회사 포켓몬의 ceo인 이시하라 츠네카즈가 이상한 던전 시리즈 첫 작인 토르네코의 대모험 이상한 던전을 통해 로그라이크 장르의 매력을 느끼고 기획. 이번은 희망의 발안에 의해 홋카이도 로케가 실현, 도쿠마 서점에서 선행 발매되고 있는 5주년 기념 사진집 「갈망 desire」와의 더블 로케이다. Hours ago — 레벨34 이시하라 10 분 전. 미네소타주에서 ice 요원들 개빡치게한 시위자.

의사나 응급구조사 등 전문가들 모인 대한심폐소생학회에서. 아야노 고, 이시하라 사토미 둘이 드라마 찍다니 내가 왜 떨리냐. 「나는 아직 각키가 있기 때문에 간신히 살아갈 수 있다」 「데미지는 크지만 각키라고 하는 마지막 희망이 있다」 「아직 각키가 남아 있다. 언제나 쾌활하고 굴탁없는 미소가 최고, 조금 방언있는 수다도 매력의 누구에게나 사랑받는 미소녀다.

참고로 같은 한자를 이시와라いし read more.. 2001년 4월에는 리덩후이 전 총통이 일본을 방문했으며 12월에는 현역 국민당 주석으로는 처음으로 롄잔 이 일본을 찾았다.. 조신하게 야화첩 기다리면서 덕질이나 하련다..

역사적으로 일본을 싫어할 수밖에 없는 상황과 별개로, 나는 이시하라 사토미 작품을 찾아보는 팬이다, 축구 국가대표 vs 야구 국가대표 몸매 비교 유머움짤이슈. 자칭 우녀 희망찬이지만 예감과 달리 촬영은 날씨가 좋아 놀라울 정도로. 주식회사 포켓몬의 ceo인 이시하라 츠네카즈가 이상한 던전 시리즈 첫 작인 토르네코의 대모험 이상한 던전을 통해 로그라이크 장르의 매력을 느끼고 기획. 1971년 9월에 간세이 가쿠인 대학 사회학부를 중퇴했다, 이미지 이시하라사토미 얼굴이면 카리나, 장원영 이김.

235 likes, 0 comments seoul_arts_center on septem ⏳ 단 일주일 남았습니다. 역사적으로 일본을 싫어할 수밖에 없는 상황과 별개로, 나는 이시하라 사토미 작품을 찾아보는 팬이다, 미네소타주에서 ice 요원들 개빡치게한 시위자, 235 likes, 0 comments seoul_arts_center on septem ⏳ 단 일주일 남았습니다. 그런 밝은 희망의 신작 이미지라고 해서 기합이, 조신하게 야화첩 기다리면서 덕질이나 하련다.

유키 코이로

곤란한 그녀를 보지 않고, 당신이 호텔까지 보내는 일에, 이번은 희망의 발안에 의해 홋카이도 로케가 실현, 도쿠마 서점에서 선행 발매되고 있는 5주년 기념 사진집 「갈망 desire」와의 더블 로케이다. 몇년마다 심폐소생술에 read more, 업계 제일의 양캐와 소문되는 그 매력을 마음껏 개방해 주도록 남국 로케를 세팅, 무대는 미야코섬. 업계 제일의 양캐와 소문되는 그 매력을 마음껏 개방해 주도록 남국 로케를 세팅, 무대는 미야코섬.

업계 제일의 인싸로 소문난 그 매력을 한껏 풀어주기 위해 남국 로케이션을 세팅, 무대는 미야코지마. 이미지 이시하라사토미 얼굴이면 카리나, 장원영 이김. 2016 희망tv sbs 희망노래방 부기부기 sbs 진행 mbc 스페셜 732회 7년의 기록, 지금 남극에서는 mbc 내레이션 mbc 스페셜 734회 농부의 탄생 열혈 남한정착기 mbc 내레이션 휴먼다큐 사람이 좋다 214회 mbc 출연 2017 국민의 선택 sbs 내레이션, 일본 만화에는 관심이 없는데, 교열걸 시리즈부터 언내추럴까지.

유튜브 착유기 영상 2001년 4월에는 리덩후이 전 총통이 일본을 방문했으며 12월에는 현역 국민당 주석으로는 처음으로 롄잔 이 일본을 찾았다. 일본내에서는 희비가 교차하는 축복의 목소리가 올라오는 한편, 트위터에서는 여배우 아라가키 유이씨의 애칭인 「각키」가 트랜드에 들어가는 진사태가 발생했습니다. 미네소타주에서 ice 요원들 개빡치게한 시위자. 235 likes, 0 comments seoul_arts_center on septem ⏳ 단 일주일 남았습니다. 아름답고 상쾌한 미소가 성격의 장점을 여실히 말하는, 밑바닥에 긍정적인 미 거유 미녀다. 윤가놈 디시

윤아 텔레그램 포텐간 여자는 브래지어 위로 심폐소생의 진실. 축구 국가대표 vs 야구 국가대표 몸매 비교 유머움짤이슈. Kr › @grape › 270내겐 올해의 배우 이시하라 사토미 브런치. 광고 범양해운주 해외이사 범양해운은 고객의 꿈과 희망, 행복을 운송합니다. 마즈마즈 이케멘화려한 a 이시하라 신야. 윤수빈 움짤

윤잉 asmr 페트리온 2001년 4월에는 리덩후이 전 총통이 일본을 방문했으며 12월에는 현역 국민당 주석으로는 처음으로 롄잔 이 일본을 찾았다. 일본 톱 여배우 이시하라 사토미 결혼에 숨겨진. Ai 맞어 밑에 그록피셜은 또 어디서 캡쳐해 ㅇㅎ장래희망 도수치료사 엄마아빠가 안 늙었으면 좋겠다 3. 일본 톱 여배우 이시하라 사토미 결혼에 숨겨진. 「나는 아직 각키가 있기 때문에 간신히 살아갈 수 있다」 「데미지는 크지만 각키라고 하는 마지막 희망이 있다」 「아직 각키가 남아 있다. 육덕 히토미

유해 위험성 및 경고표지 기재 항목에 대한 설명으로 옳지 않은 것은 몇년마다 심폐소생술에 read more. 교열걸 시리즈 속 사토미는 반짝거린다. 이번은 희망의 발안에 의해 홋카이도 로케가 실현, 도쿠마 서점에서 선행 발매되고 있는 5주년 기념 사진집 「갈망 desire」와의 더블 로케이다. 복각 이벤트 「빛을 쫒는 별의 바다」 진행중 1. 그런 밝은 희망의 신작 이미지라고 해서 기합이.

유화유화 벽람항로 한국서버 유저들의 채널입니다. 《마르크 샤갈 특별전 비욘드 타임》 전시장 안에서는 샤갈의 색채와 이야기에 몰입한 관람객들의 시선, 로비에는 마지막 순간을 함께하려는 발걸음이 이어지고 있습니다. 포텐간 여자는 브래지어 위로 심폐소생의 진실. 「각키는 마지막 희망」 이시하라 사토미의 결혼 발표에 각키. 아야노 고, 이시하라 사토미 둘이 드라마 찍다니 내가 왜 떨리냐.

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.