US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, July 29, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, July 29, 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, July 29, 2026. © 2025 Marton Monus/Reuters; SECOND: University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, July 29, 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, July 29, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, July 29, 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, July 29, 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, July 29, 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, July 29, 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, July 29, 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, July 29, 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, July 29, 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, July 29, 2026.
사장 아내 성폭행한 20대 직원, 동료 여직원에게도 너랑 자고 싶다. 10대 여성이 실시간 방송 도중 극단적인 선택을 한 사건으로 논란이 된 디시인사이드 ‘우울증 갤러리’에서 또다른 미성년자를 상대로 성폭행이 수차례 있었다는 피해 신고가 접수돼 경찰이 수사에 착수했다. Kr › article › 25288182우울증갤러리 10대에 수면제 주고 성폭행&mldr. 성폭행 당했던 여자들이 공통적으로 하는 말 ㅇㅇ86.
대표는 학원에서 아이들을 가르치고 있으며, 현재는 청소년성보.. 2%로 여성이 10배 이상 높게 나타났다.. 피해자의 아버지 제보로 밝혀져 공분 일고 있다..디시 우울증 갤러리서 만난 10대 여학생 집으로 불러 성폭행한 20대 남성 황당한 변명 내놨다 강지원 기자 입력 2024, 북한군 돕던 러시아 여대생 병사 5명에 성폭행 당했다 홍주석 인턴 기자 북한군의 적응을 돕던 러시아 여대생이 북한군 5명에게 집단 성폭행을 당했다고 주장했다. 디시인사이드 우울증 갤러리서 만난 인천 10대들 성폭행한, 일반 고딩때 같은반 여자애가 성폭행 당한적 있었는데 ㅇㅇ211. A군은 오토바이 구매 자금을 위해 여성들에 접근. 통계에 따르면 성추행 폭행, 협박 포함을 경험한 비율은 여성 중 17, 20대 3명, ‘우울증갤’서 알게 된 여학생 4명 성폭행피해자 2명은 만 16세 이하 중학생 경찰, 우울증갤러리 폐쇄 요청했으나 방송통신심의위원회 ‘경고’ 그쳐. 막말로 할 때는 ok인 척하다가 나중에 가서 억지로 당했다고 하면 결백을 증명하는 것이 여간 까다롭지 않다. 성폭행당했다 첫 진술미성년자 노린 신대방팸 sbs 8뉴스. 온라인 커뮤니티에서 알게 된 10대 여학생들과 성관계를 하고 촬영한 불법 영상물을 유포하겠다며 협박한 20대 남성에게 중형이 선고됐다. 07 161502 조회 48723 추천 166 댓글 757 1 이미지 순서 on. 여고생 제자 성폭행 후미안하다 사랑했다 끔찍 사과 야갤러92. 미성년 여고생을 성폭행한 연기 학원 대표가 황당한 사과를 한 사건에 대한 보도가 공개되었다. 온라인 커뮤니티 디시인사이드 ‘우울증 갤러리’에서 알게 된 10대 여학생을 성폭행한 혐의로 재판에 넘겨진 20대 남성 2명이 각각 징역 7년8년을.
Kr › news › societydc 우울증갤러리에서 또중학생 등 4명 성폭행 피해 매일경제, 17 1807 장난으로라도 저 ㅈㄹ하는 놈들은 제발 잡아서 쳐넣어라 영원히 취향존중 2023. 디시인사이드에 초등학생을 성폭행하겠다는 예고 글이 올라와 경찰이 수사에 나섰다. 검찰은 13일 인천지법 형사14부손승범 부장판사 심리로 열린 결심 공판에서 아동청소년의 성보호에 관한 법률상 준강간 등 혐의로 기소한 a23씨에게 read more. 남아가 여아의 치마를 들추는 행위인 아이스께끼 도 19701980년대에는 어린아이의 장난으로 치부하며 문제로 삼지 않았으나 2000년대 후반부터는 성추행으로 규정되었다.
대표는 성폭행 피해자에게 나 너 사랑했다고 말하며 사과하였으나, 현재는 혐의를 부인하고 있다. 결국 피해자와 지역주민들 빡침 스택 추가. 단독 미성년자인데, 성폭행 당했다 우울증갤러리 첫 진술.
성폭행당했다 첫 진술미성년자 노린 신대방팸 sbs 8뉴스.. 인천지법 형사 15부재판장는 20일 미성년자 의제 강간과 성폭력범죄의 처벌 등에 관한.. 막말로 할 때는 ok인 척하다가 나중에 가서 억지로 당했다고 하면 결백을 증명하는 것이 여간 까다롭지 않다..
이 내용 취재한 김보미 기자와 얘기해 보겠습니다, 10대 여성이 실시간 방송 도중 극단적인 선택을 한 사건으로 논란이 된 디시인사이드 우울증 갤러리에서 또다른 미성년자를 상대로 성폭행이 수차례. 16일 경찰에 따르면 전날 오후 4시50분께 온라인 커뮤니티 디시인사이드 갤러리에 ‘남양주시 한 고등학교에서, Mefhufti0f 고교생인 척 초등생 성폭행성병까지 옮긴 20대 징역형미성년자인 척 여자 초등학생에게 접근해 성범죄를 저지른 20대 남성이 1심에서 징역 1년 6개월을 선고받았다.
| 여자 초등생 성폭행하겠다 디시인사이드에 예고글 올라와. | 17 1807 장난으로라도 저 ㅈㄹ하는 놈들은 제발 잡아서 쳐넣어라 영원히 취향존중 2023. | 단독 미성년자인데, 성폭행 당했다 우울증갤러리 첫 진술. |
|---|---|---|
| 히데라는 닉네임의 20대 남성이 주축이 돼 이른바 팸을 꾸린. | 대표는 성폭행 피해자에게 나 너 사랑했다고 말하며 사과하였으나, 현재는 혐의를 부인하고 있다. | 여자 초등생 성폭행하겠다 디시인사이드에 예고글 올라와. |
| 온라인 커뮤니티 디시인사이드 우울증 갤러리에서 알게 된 10대 여학생들을 성폭행한 혐의로 기소된 20대 남성 2명이 법정에서 혐의를 부인했다. | 인천연합뉴스 홍현기 기자 온라인 커뮤니티 디시인사이드 우울증 갤러리에서 알게 된 10대 여학생들을 성폭행한 혐의로 재판에 넘겨진 2. | Com › board › view성폭행 당했던 여자들이 공통적으로 하는 말 실시간 베스트 갤러리. |
| 16% | 19% | 65% |
손아섭, 부산 집단 성폭행 사건 연루nc 사실무근 프로야구 nc다이노스 구단이 최근 유튜브와 온라인 커뮤니티 등에서 유포된 손아섭36 관련 소문이 모두 사실무근이라는 입장을 밝혔다. Kr › arti › area‘우울증 갤러리’서 알게 된 10대 성폭행&mldr. 베이비뉴스 이중삼 기자인터넷 커뮤니티에 초등학생을 성폭행하겠다는 예고 글이 올라와 경찰이 수사에 착수했다.
우울증 갤러리서 만난 10대들 성폭행징역 10∼15년 구형. 이 내용 취재한 김보미 기자와 얘기해 보겠습니다, 디시인사이드의 마이너 갤러리 커뮤니티에서 다양한 주제를 탐색하고 소통할 수 있습니다. 17 1742 또 20대네 걍 병신은 나이 불문인게 맞는거 같다 ㅋㅋㅋ 알샤빈 2023. 온라인 커뮤니티에서 알게 된 10대 여학생들과 성관계를 하고 촬영한 불법 영상물을 유포하겠다며 협박한 20대 남성에게 중형이 선고됐다.
amway 5a1 변호사는 고개 숙여가고 절하고 기어가고 의뢰인을 씹어가며 사과함 read more. Mefhufti0f 고교생인 척 초등생 성폭행성병까지 옮긴 20대 징역형미성년자인 척 여자 초등학생에게 접근해 성범죄를 저지른 20대 남성이 1심에서 징역 1년 6개월을 선고받았다. 성폭행당했다 첫 진술미성년자 노린 신대방팸 sbs 8뉴스. 베이비뉴스 이중삼 기자인터넷 커뮤니티에 초등학생을 성폭행하겠다는 예고 글이 올라와 경찰이 수사에 착수했다. 정말 나한테 나도 나지만 내 사랑하는 여자친구 한테 이런일이 생기다니 정말 좆같다 여친한테 위로를 해야할지 화를 내야할지도 모르겠고read more. asakai mocchinu
anime imaizumin chi wa douyara gal no tamariba ni natteru rashii 08 144002 스크랩 조회 43960 추천 187 댓글 615 힘 차이가 생각보다 너무 커서 무서웠다고 말한다더라. 07 161502 조회 48723 추천 166 댓글 757 1 이미지 순서 on. 우울증 갤러리서 알게 된 10대 성폭행가해자 구속 송치. 하지만 대부분의 언론은 41명만 보도했고 경찰이 75명에 대해 제대로 조사하고 있는지에 대해선 침묵하고 있다. 2%로 여성이 10배 이상 높게 나타났다. apdlvmfzldnrl eltl
areumy2 A군은 오토바이 구매 자금을 위해 여성들에 접근. 아동청소년의 성보호에 관한 법률상 준강간 등 혐의로 구속 기소된 a씨의 변호인은 12일 인천지법 형사 14부 심리로 열린 첫 재판에서 수사를 받을. 인천연합뉴스 김상연 기자 온라인 커뮤니티 디시인사이드 우울증 갤러리에서 알게 된 10대 여학생들을 성폭행한 혐의로 재판에 넘겨진 2. 남아가 여아의 치마를 들추는 행위인 아이스께끼 도 19701980년대에는 어린아이의 장난으로 치부하며 문제로 삼지 않았으나 2000년대 후반부터는 성추행으로 규정되었다. 대표는 학원에서 아이들을 가르치고 있으며, 현재는 청소년성보. asmr 노출
akirabox 다운로드 방법 서울 강남역 인근 초등학교를 지목, 여자 초등학생을 성폭행하겠다는 범행 예고글을 온라인 커뮤니티에 올린 작성자가 경찰에 자수했다. 10대 여성이 실시간 방송 도중 극단적인 선택을 한 사건으로 논란이 된 디시인사이드 우울증 갤러리에서 또다른 미성년자를 상대로 성폭행이 수차례. 디시인사이드에서 다양한 주제와 갤러리를 탐색하며 커뮤니티 활동을 즐겨보세요. 정말 나한테 나도 나지만 내 사랑하는 여자친구 한테 이런일이 생기다니 정말 좆같다 여친한테 위로를 해야할지 화를 내야할지도 모르겠고read more. 온라인 커뮤니티 디시인사이드 우울증 갤러리에서 알게 된 10대 여학생들을 성폭행한 20대 남성들이 구속 상태로 검찰에 넘겨졌다.
alexandra daddario house 여자 초등생 성폭행하겠다 디시인사이드에 예고글 올라와. 성폭행 가담자가 116명까지 불어날 수도있다. Com › board › view성폭행 당했던 여자들이 공통적으로 하는 말 실시간 베스트 갤러리. 디시인사이드에서 다양한 주제와 갤러리를 탐색하며 커뮤니티 활동을 즐겨보세요. 사장 아내 성폭행한 20대 직원, 동료 여직원에게도 너랑 자고 싶다.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on July 29, 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, July 29, 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, July 29, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, July 29, 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.
, Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.