US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 10, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 10, 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 10, 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 10, 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 10, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 10, 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 10, 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 10, 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 10, 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 10, 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 10, 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 10, 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 10, 2026.
성형 중독과 부작용으로 일명 선풍기 아줌마라고 화제를 모았던 한혜경 씨 근황이 공개됐는데요. 선풍기 아줌마라는 자극적인 이름 뒤에 가려졌던 한혜경 씨의 삶은, 불법 성형의 위험성과 정신질환 치료 공백, 그리고 사회적 고립이 한 인간을 어떻게. 성형중독 후유증으로 얼굴이 크게 부풀어 선풍기 아줌마로 불렸던 한혜경 씨가 지난 15일 별세했다. 성형 중독과 부작용으로 일명 선풍기 아줌마라고 화제를 모았던 한혜경 씨 근황이 공개됐는데요.
2013년, 선풍기 아줌마 선풍기 아줌마 안타까운 사망 소식.. 오는 8일 방송되는 sbs 예능 꼬리에 꼬리를 무는 그날 이야기 꼬꼬무는 잃어버린 이름, 한혜경을 주제로 선풍기 아줌마로 불렸던 한혜경씨의 불법 성형수술 이후 삶을 조명한다.. 선풍기 아줌마, 9년 만의 이야기_채널a_그때그사람 5회..선풍기 아줌마라는 자극적인 이름 뒤에 가려졌던 한혜경 씨의 삶은, 불법 성형의 위험성과 정신질환 치료 공백, 그리고 사회적 고립이 한 인간을 어떻게, 젊은 시절 가수가 꿈이었던 한씨는 성형 부작용을 겪기 전 빼어난 미모를 자랑했다. 2013년, 선풍기 아줌마 선풍기 아줌마 안타까운 사망 소식. 언니와 형부 등 가족들이 조용히 장례를 치른 후 17일 오전 발인을 마쳤다. 대중에게 알려진 것보다 훨씬 더 복잡하고 힘든 시간을 보냈다는 사실이 공개되면서 많은 이들의 가슴을 먹먹하게 만들었어요, 젊은 시절 가수가 꿈이었던 한씨는 성형 부작용을 겪기 전 빼어난 미모를 자랑했다. 8년 전 세상을 떠난 선풍기 아줌마 한혜경씨의 숨겨진 이야기가 공개된다, Com › star › 20251215선풍기 아줌마 故 한혜경, 성형 부작용 재활했으나 사망 사인 불명. 고인의 사망 원인은 알려지지 않았으며, 가족들끼리 조용히 장례를 치른, 성형중독 후유증으로 얼굴이 크게 부풀어 선풍기 아줌마로 불렸던 한혜경 씨가 지난 15일 별세했다, Sbs 꼬리에 꼬리를 무는 그날 이야기에서 선풍기 아줌마로 불린 고 한혜경씨 이야기를 다룬다. 선풍기 아줌마의 비하인드 스토리를 들어본다. 불법 성형 시술 부작용으로 정신 질환과 우울증, 환청에 시달리던 선풍기 아줌마 한혜경 씨가 지난 15일 세상을 떠났다, 뿐만아니라 환청과 환각이 이어지며 read more. 아줌마 사진포즈, 레즈 아줌마, 30대 선풍기 아줌마.
뿐만아니라 환청과 환각이 이어지며 read more, 일명 선풍기 아줌마로 불렸던 고故 한혜경씨의 불법 성형수술 이유와 사망 후의 사연이 밝혀진다, 싱글벙글 선풍기 아줌마jpg 싱글벙글 지구촌 마이너 갤러리. 고인은 지난 2004년 sbs 순간포착 세상에 이런 일이의 잃어버린 얼굴 편에 출연했다, 대중에게 알려진 것보다 훨씬 더 복잡하고 힘든 시간을 보냈다는 사실이 공개되면서 많은 이들의 가슴을 먹먹하게 만들었어요.
| 故 선풍기 아줌마, 콩기름 불법 성형→원인 불. | 선풍기 아줌마, 9년 만의 이야기_채널a_그때그사람 5회. | 고인의 사망 원인은 알려지지 않았으며, 가족들끼리 조용히 장례를 치른. | 선풍기 아줌마로 세상에이런일이 나왔던 한혜경씨 15일. |
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| 이후 2018년 12월 57세 일기로 세상을 떠났으나, 고인의 사망 원인은 알려지지 않았다. | 고인은 지난 2004년 sbs 순간포착 세상에 이런 일이의 잃어버린 얼굴 편에 출연했다. | 언니 부부는 그동안 말하지 못했던 동생의 사망 당시 상황과 숨겨진 비화들을 조심스럽게 꺼내 놓았는데요. | 17일 서울 도봉구 한일병원에 따르면 한 씨는. |
| 선풍기 아줌마, 50대에 의문의 죽음 언니가 직접 밝힌 비화. | 일명 선풍기 아줌마라고 불리던 고 故 한혜경 씨가 세상을 떠난 지 7년이 흘렀다. | 언니와 형부 등 가족들이 조용히 장례를 치른 후 17일 오전 발인을 마쳤다. | Kr › entertainment › 20260108선풍기 아줌마 성형 전 미모에 깜짝57세에 사망, 안타까운 뒷이. |
| 한혜경 씨는 과거 한미옥이라는 가명으로 가수 활동을 했지만, 불법 성형을 비롯한 계속된 수술로 얼굴이 변질됐다. | 일명 선풍기 아줌마라고 불리던 고 故 한혜경 씨가 세상을 떠난 지 7년이 흘렀다. | 선풍기 아줌마로 불리던 전직 가수 한혜경의 7주기가 돌아왔다. | 8년 전 세상을 떠난 선풍기 아줌마 한혜경씨의 숨겨진 이야기가 공개된다. |
성형중독 후유증으로 얼굴이 크게 부풀어 선풍기 아줌마로 불렸던 한혜경 씨가 지난 15일 별세했다. 선풍기 아줌마의 비하인드 스토리를 들어본다, Com › article › 2026010813471058515차례 대수술, 얼굴에 4kg이물질 선풍기 아줌마는 왜 사망 했나.
고인의 자세한 사인은 밝혀지지 않았다. 그리고 계속해서 불법 성형을 받다가 부작용이 온 모습 얼굴이 커지면 강해보이는 느낌이 들어서 얼굴 크기를 키우는 수술을 받. Kr › read‘선풍기 아줌마’ 한혜경 별세 ‘잘 지내는 줄 알았는데’. Kr › breaking › article‘선풍기 아줌마’ 한혜경, 성형수술 부작용 호소→사망&mldr.
Com › view › 20260108n12925연예인처럼 예뻤는데&mldr. 선풍기 아줌마라는 자극적인 이름 뒤에 가려졌던 한혜경 씨의 삶은, 불법 성형의 위험성과 정신질환 치료 공백, 그리고 사회적 고립이 한 인간을 어떻게. 선풍기아줌마 본명 한혜경 한미옥이라는 예명으로 불리던 전직 가수 1962년 2018년 12월 15일불법 성형에 의해 얼굴 모양이 변한 여성.
사망원인은 알려지지 않았으며, 가족들이 서울 도봉구 한 병원. Kr › breaking › article‘선풍기 아줌마’ 한혜경, 성형수술 부작용 호소→사망&mldr, 故 선풍기 아줌마, 콩기름 불법 성형→원인 불. 17일 서울 도봉구 한일병원에 따르면 한 씨는. Kr › news › 6453459얼굴에 공업용 실리콘&mldr.
시간이 지날수록 더더욱 불쌍하고 힘들어지는 느낌, 일명 선풍기 아줌마라고 불리던 고故 한혜경 씨가 세상을 떠난 지 7년이 흘렀다, 성형중독 후유증으로 얼굴이 크게 부풀어 선풍기 아줌마로 불렸던 한혜경 씨가 지난 15일 별세했다.
seon_h_e 디시 사진은 선풍기 아줌마 한혜경씨 생전 모습. 성형중독 후유증으로 얼굴이 크게 부풀어 선풍기 아줌마로 불렸던 한혜경 씨가 지난 15일 별세했다. Com › article › 2026010813471058515차례 대수술, 얼굴에 4kg이물질 선풍기 아줌마는 왜 사망 했나. 시간이 지날수록 더더욱 불쌍하고 힘들어지는 느낌. 싱글벙글 선풍기 아줌마jpg 싱글벙글 지구촌 마이너 갤러리. shiho 離婚
sj 101 missav 사진은 선풍기 아줌마 한혜경씨 생전 모습. 언니와 형부 등 가족들이 조용히 장례를 치른 후 17일 오전 발인을 마쳤다. 나 같았으면 너무 괴로워서 자살했을 것 같다. 한미옥이라는 예명으로 불리던 전직 가수 시절의 모습좌과 선풍기 아줌마로 변한 모습우. 선풍기 아줌마 故한혜경, 사인 불명 사망언니 부부. reze hentaiera
sayiera tumbex 선풍기아줌마 본명 한혜경 한미옥이라는 예명으로 불리던 전직 가수 1962년 2018년 12월 15일불법 성형에 의해 얼굴 모양이 변한 여성. 원래 1999년까지는 이 무렵에도 성형 중독으로 얼굴이 이상해져갔지만 그럼에도 이때까지는 얼굴이 그나마 정상적인 축에 들었다. ‘선풍기 아줌마’라는 자극적인 이름 뒤에 가려졌던 한혜경 씨의 삶은, 불법 성형의 위험성과 정신질환 치료 공백, 그리고 사회적 고립이 한 인간을 어떻게 몰아넣을 수 있는지를 보여주는 사례로 남았다. 8년 전 세상을 떠난 선풍기 아줌마 한혜경씨의 숨겨진 이야기가 공개된다. 고인은 지난 2004년 sbs 순간포착 세상에 이런 일이의 잃어버린 얼굴 편에 출연했다. sickly days and summer traces h scene
shironekyun sotwe 그의 가족들은 서울 도봉구 한 병원에서 장례를 치른 후 발인을 마쳤다. Kr › read‘선풍기 아줌마’ 한혜경 별세 ‘잘 지내는 줄 알았는데’. Kr › breaking › article‘선풍기 아줌마’ 한혜경, 성형수술 부작용 호소→사망&mldr. 한미옥이라는 예명으로 불리던 전직 가수 시절의 모습좌과 선풍기 아줌마로 변한 모습우. Com › view › 20260108n12925연예인처럼 예뻤는데&mldr.
seemm01 일명 선풍기 아줌마로 불렸던 고故 한혜경씨의 불법 성형수술 이유와 사망 후의 사연이 밝혀진다. 고인은 지난 2004년 sbs 순간포착 세상에 이. 사망원인은 알려지지 않았으며, 가족들이 서울 도봉구 한 병원. 한혜경 씨는 과거 한미옥이라는 가명으로 가수 활동을 했지만, 불법 성형을 비롯한 계속된 수술로 얼굴이 변질됐다. 선풍기 아줌마의 비하인드 스토리를 들어본다.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 10, 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 10, 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 10, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 10, 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.
사진sbs 꼬리에 꼬리를 무는 그날 이야기 제공2018년 사망한 선풍기 아줌마 한혜경씨의 비화가 sbs 꼬리에 꼬리를 무는 그날 이야기에서 밝혀진다., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.