US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 12, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 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 12, 2026.
미국 야후가 운영하는 사회관계망서비스sns 텀블러tumblr 어플리케이션이 애플 앱스토어에서 사라졌습니다. 지난 10일 경기도 소재의 한 고등학교 측은 학부모와 학교 구성원에게. 서울 성북경찰서는 성폭력범죄의 처벌 등에 관한. 기숙사 화장실 불법촬영 교사_징역9년 연합뉴스tv 기사문의 및 제보 카톡라인 jebo23.
10일 경기남부지방경찰청에 따르면 전날 밤 학교폭력 상담전화인 117로 우리 학교 기숙사를 불법 촬영한 영상물캡처 사진이 돌고 있는.. 교내 모든 방범장비는 ku종합상황실로 연결되며, 즉시.. 경남도는 재발 방지를 위해 자동 잠금장치와 cctv를 추가로 설치하고, 기숙사 내 남녀 공간을 완전히 분리하는 등 대책을 마련하겠다고 전했다.. 8k views 기숙사 도촬 2 you may also like 얼떨결에 해외 포르노에 출연하게된 묘한 매력의 김치유학녀 20..학교 화장실 등에서 학생 등 100여 명을 불법 촬영한 교사가 구속 송치됐다, 또 ㄱ씨와 고교 동창인 현역 군인 ㄴ씨20 등 3명은 군 수사 당국의 조사를 받고 있다. Watch 기숙사 도촬 2 videos in amazing hd quality on javrank.
Watch 기숙사 도촬 2 videos in amazing hd quality on javrank, 여제자여직원 116명 몸 찍었다, 기숙사에 몰카 단 고교교사. 기숙사까지 몰카 경찰에 신고로 알려져 3시간 영상에 캡처까지2010년 촬영 추정 피해학생들 내가 나올까봐 끔찍해 학교측 우리학교 맞다경찰수사진행 방송 cbs 라디오 fm 98.
서울 고려대학교에서 같은 기숙사에 거주하던 여학생을 몰래 촬영한 남성이 경찰에 붙잡혔습니다, 경기 지역의 고등학교 기숙사 내부를 몰래 촬영한 것으로 추정되는 영상물 캡처 사진이 인터넷에 유포돼 경찰이 수사에 나섰다, 경찰은 a씨가 기숙사 2층 통로에 있는 샤워실 창문 틈으로 여학생들을 촬영한 것으로 보고 있다. 여학생들은 정체모를 구멍 속에 몰래카메라가 설치돼 있을 가능성에 불안해 하고 있다, 20일이하 현지시간 usa투데이 등 외신에.
마음에 드는 순박 여대생은 도촬 이상의 행위로 강요. 경기남부지역의 한 고등학교 기숙사 방 내부를 몰래 촬영한 것으로 보이는 영상 캡처 사진이 인터넷에 유포되고 있다는 신고가 접수돼 경찰이 수사에 나섰다. 고등학교 교사로 재직하면서 여학생 기숙사와 여교사 화장실 등에서 700여 차례 불법 촬영을 한 30대 남성이 1심에서 징역 9년형을 받았다. 학교 화장실 등에서 학생 등 100여 명을 불법 촬영한 교사가 구속 송치됐다. 법조인들은 젊은 친구들끼리 대화로도 충분히 풀 수 있었을 텐데 굳이 공권력에 의존하거나 무조건 ‘법대로’만 앞세우는 세태가 좀. 법조인들은 젊은 친구들끼리 대화로도 충분히 풀 수 있었을 텐데 굳이 공권력에 의존하거나 무조건 ‘법대로’만 앞세우는 세태가 좀.
서울 성북경찰서는 성폭력범죄의 처벌 등에 관한. 29일 서울 용산경찰서는 자신이 근무하던 학교 여직원 화장실과 여학생 기숙사에 카메라를 설치해 여성들을 불법. 고등학교 교사로 재직하면서 여학생 기숙사와 여교사 화장실 등에서 700여 차례 불법 촬영을 한 30대 남성이 1심에서 징역 9년형을 받았다, 경기 지역의 고등학교 여자 기숙사를 몰래 촬영한 것으로 추정되는 영상이 sns에 유포되고 있다는 신고가 접수돼 경찰이 내사에 착수했다.
| 지난 10일 경기도 소재의 한 고등학교 측은 학부모와 학교 구성원에게. | 유형이 다른 여대생들의 방을 도촬 뷔페. | Live › dm18 › kosgsr142 여자 기숙사 리얼 도촬 들여다 본 sex 영상 유출 4시간 sp. |
|---|---|---|
| 경남도는 재발 방지를 위해 자동 잠금장치와 cctv를 추가로 설치하고, 기숙사 내 남녀 공간을 완전히 분리하는 등 대책을 마련하겠다고 전했다. | 지난 10일 경기도 소재의 한 고등학교 측은 학부모와 학교 구성원에게. | 유형이 다른 여대생들의 방을 도촬 뷔페. |
| 서울 고려대학교에서 같은 기숙사에 거주하던 여학생을 몰래 촬영한 남성이 경찰에 붙잡혔습니다. | 고등학교 기숙사 뒷산에 몰카 설치 여고생 기숙사 탈의 영상 유포. | Juc889 가장 어색한 두 유부녀 미스터 수사원 악질의 여자 기숙사 도촬 사건을 해결하라. |
호시노 아카리 세리자와 사랑 br brdownload urls. 대구 수성경찰서는 성폭력범죄 처벌에 관한, 2일 서울 용산경찰서는 고등학교 기숙사와 화장실 등에서 학생과 직원, 기숙사 도촬 available for highspeed download on pikpak and streaming across multiple devices.
Scpx523 아줌마가 그녀의 분열을 과시하면 그녀는 그것을 할 것입니다. 6 얼굴이 나온 사진을 온라인에 게재하면 초상권 문제로 다툴 순 있으나 촬영단에서 범죄행위는 아니다. 2일 서울 용산경찰서는 고등학교 기숙사와 화장실 등에서 학생과 직원. Juc889 가장 어색한 두 유부녀 미스터 수사원 악질의 여자 기숙사 도촬 사건을 해결하라. 추가 피해자가 있는지도 함께 조사 중이다.
0000 10 10 학창시절 기숙사 몰카 찍은 의대생군인 입건 뉴스리뷰 advertisement 앵커 누군가는 호기심이나 장난이라고 할지 모르겠지만 몰카는 피해자에게 평생 두려움과 상처를 남기는 큰 범죄입니다. 여학생들은 정체모를 구멍 속에 몰래카메라가 설치돼 있을 가능성에 불안해 하고 있다. Com › news › read여학생 기숙사화장실 700회 몰카 30대 교사 1심서 징역 9년. 여학생 기숙사화장실 700회 몰카 30대 교사 1심서 징역 9년. 기숙사 도촬 available for highspeed download on pikpak and streaming across multiple devices, 호기심에고교시절 여자 기숙사에 몰카 설치한 4명 뒤늦게.
24일 경남도와 경찰 등에 따르면 지난달 27일 창원시 의창구에 있는 남명학사 창원관의 남자 기숙사생 a씨가 기숙사 내 여자 샤워실을 불법 촬영하다 적발됐다, 텀블러가 앱스토어에서 사라진 이유 텀블러가 앱스토에서 쫓겨난 이유는 ‘아동 음란물’ 게시를 방치했기 때문입니다, 고교 기숙사 몰카 무더기 검거다운만 받아도 처벌. 고교 기숙사 몰카 가해 남학생 4명 뒤늦게 덜미. 여학생 기숙사와 여직원 화장실에 몰래 카메라를 설치해 700여차례 불법 촬영을 한 고등학교 교사가 구속됐다.
픽시브 태그 모음 출시일 20150425 암호 sgsr142 제목 女子寮リアル盗撮 覗かれたsex映像流出4時間sp 장르 도촬 엿보기, 아마추어, 4시간 이상 작품, 고화질 메이커 ビッグモーカル 관리자 栄凝酎 상표 新戦組. 지난 10일 경기도 소재의 한 고등학교 측은 학부모와 학교 구성원에게. 자세히보기 premium videos 섹스 웹캠 출시일 20150425. 자세히보기 premium videos 섹스 웹캠 출시일 20150425. 여기는 모든 것이 무료인 최고의 섹스 튜브입니다 554,438 oral humiliation 비디오 및 기타 다양한 콘텐츠 ahmovs. 하이스쿨러브온 갤러리
하이큐 기구 디시 대전뉴시스김도현 기자 남자 간호사가 여직원 기숙사의 화장실로 들어가 병원 직원을 몰래 불법으로 촬영한 혐의로 경찰에 체포됐다. 13일 법조계에 따르면 춘천지법 원주지원 형사1단독 김도형 부장. 여기는 모든 것이 무료인 최고의 섹스 튜브입니다 635,251 prostitute mature 비디오 및 기타 다양한 콘텐츠 ahmovs. 출시일 20150425 암호 sgsr142 제목 女子寮リアル盗撮 覗かれたsex映像流出4時間sp 장르 도촬 엿보기, 아마추어, 4시간 이상 작품, 고화질 메이커 ビッグモーカル 관리자 栄凝酎 상표 新戦組. Watch 기숙사 도촬 2 videos in amazing hd quality on javrank. 한국 훈남 섹스
피지컬 아시아 조작 디시 고교 기숙사 몰카 무더기 검거다운만 받아도 처벌. 학교 기숙사서 샤워실 몰카 찍은 명문대생 3시간 뒤 돌연. 기숙사 룸메이트 간에 ‘몰래카메라몰카’ 촬영 정황을 둘러싸고 벌어진 다툼이 수사기관과 법원을 거쳐 급기야 헌법재판소까지 가는 씁쓸한 일이 벌어졌다. 2015년 8월 뉴빵카페에 라는 게시물이 올라왔다. 서울 성북경찰서는 20대 남성 a씨를 성폭력처벌법 위반카메라 등. 핑크 잠옷녀 라방
하우스 오사카를 공유하십시오 단독 대학 기숙사에서 샤워실 몰카 찍은 명문대생 검거. Live › dm18 › kosgsr142 여자 기숙사 리얼 도촬 들여다 본 sex 영상 유출 4시간 sp. 경남도는 재발 방지를 위해 자동 잠금장치와 cctv를 추가로 설치하고, 기숙사 내 남녀 공간을 완전히 분리하는 등 대책을 마련하겠다고 전했다. 여학생 기숙사와 여직원 화장실에 몰래 카메라를 설치해 700여차례 불법 촬영을 한 고등학교 교사가 구속됐다. 서울 고려대학교에서 같은 기숙사에 거주하던 여학생을 몰래 촬영한 남성이 경찰에 붙잡혔습니다.
하늘보리녀 야동 지난 10일 경기도 소재의 한 고등학교 측은 학부모와 학교 구성원에게. 그는 도촬의 악취가 있어 숨겨진 카메라로 여대생들을 성적으로 관찰하고 있다. 고등학교 교사로 재직하면서 여학생 기숙사와 여교사 화장실 등에서 700여 차례 불법 촬영을 한 30대 남성이 1심에서 징역 9년형을 받았다. 2일 서울 용산경찰서는 고등학교 기숙사와 화장실 등에서 학생과 직원. 6 얼굴이 나온 사진을 온라인에 게재하면 초상권 문제로 다툴 순 있으나 촬영단에서 범죄행위는 아니다.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 12, 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 12, 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 12, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 12, 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.
경남도는 재발 방지를 위해 자동 잠금장치와 cctv를 추가로 설치하고, 기숙사 내 남녀 공간을 완전히 분리하는 등 대책을 마련하겠다고 전했다., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.