일시적으로 콘텐츠 정보를 가져올 수 없습니다.

일시적으로 콘텐츠 정보를 가져올 수 없습니다.

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.

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 9, 2026.
University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, June 9, 2026.

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 9, 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 9, 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.

A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 9, 2026.
A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 9, 2026. © 2025 Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

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.

A pregnant asylum seeker comforts her 2-year-old inside the motel room where she and her children are living after her husband was deported to Nicaragua, in Miami, Florida, June 9, 2026.
A pregnant asylum seeker comforts her 2-year-old inside the motel room where she and her children are living after her husband was deported to Nicaragua, in Miami, Florida, June 9, 2026. © 2025 Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo

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.

US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson talks to reporters after a closed door briefing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on US military strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats, Washington, DC, June 9, 2026.
US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson talks to reporters after a closed door briefing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on US military strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats, Washington, DC, June 9, 2026. © 2025 Samuel Corum/Sipa USA via AP Photo

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.

Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, June 9, 2026. 
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 9, 2026.

FIRST: Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, June 9, 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 9, 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.

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.

A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, June 9, 2026.
Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, June 9, 2026.

FIRST: A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, June 9, 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 9, 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.

Com › mgallery › boardwep 네트워크 허용 끄니깐 히토미 렉 오지네 공유기 마이너 갤러리. Com › 8325298278히토미 다운로더 3개 넘게키면 렉걸림. 님들히토미가너무렉이걸려요시발 에픽세븐 채널. Com › mgallery › boardwep 네트워크 허용 끄니깐 히토미 렉 오지네 공유기 마이너 갤러리.

이전1주일 전 까지는 잘 사용하다가 오늘 사용하려고 하니 이런 현상이 발생하였습니다.

Com › kurtbestor › hitomidownloader히토미 다운 속도가 느린 것 같은데 원인을 알 수 있을까요, 장원영, 안유진→히토미 4세대5세대 대표 그룹, 양놈들 몰려서 그런데 vpn 홍콩으로 우회하면 그나마 로딩 좀더. 님들히토미가너무렉이걸려요시발 에픽세븐 채널. 양놈들 몰려서 그런데 vpn 홍콩으로 우회하면 그나마 로딩 좀더, 브리나돌까 dc official app 저녁 뭐먹지. 검색기에서 렉이 걸리는 이유는 크게 두 가지예요 qwidgetitem이 많아지면 생기는 qt 문제 webp 파일을 읽을 때 생기는 pillow 문제 아마 gil 때문 requests urllib3 라이브러리에서 생기는 렉 아마 gil 때문 urllib, qnetworkrequest 등에서는 발생하지 않음 프로그램 시작 시간과 메모리를 절약하기 위해 필요할. Com › kurtbestor › hitomidownloader하드웨어 가속기능 문의 issue 6672 kurtbestorhitomidownload. 브리나돌까 dc official app 저녁 뭐먹지. 와이파이나 공유기설정 건든 기억이 없는데 왜 렉걸리지 했는데 one ui 7. mayocarmen on author 히토미 자체속도가 저래요 히토미에서 직접 받아도 비슷할거에요 혹시 작년에 비해 느려진 건가요. 검색기에서 렉이 걸리는 이유는 크게 두 가지예요 qwidgetitem이 많아지면 생기는 qt 문제 webp 파일을 읽을 때 생기는 pillow 문제 아마 gil 때문 requests urllib3 라이브러리에서 생기는 렉 아마 gil 때문 urllib, qnetworkrequest 등에서는 발생하지 않음 프로그램 시작 시간과 메모리를 절약하기 위해 필요할, Com › kurtbestor › hitomidownloadergui 렉 issue 7188 kurtbestorhitomidownloader github. Com › kurtbestor › hitomidownloadergui 렉 issue 7188 kurtbestorhitomidownloader, 0업데이트 하고 이런거 생겼길래 그냥 꺼뒀는데 이거때문이였네, Com › 8325298278히토미 다운로더 3개 넘게키면 렉걸림. 다만 hitomi downloader은 task manager을 통해 확인해봐도 background process가 없는 건. 지금 점점 느려져서 총 다운 속도가 700kbs 정도 나오는데 작년까지만 해도 이 정도는 아니었던 것 같아서, 이전1주일 전 까지는 잘 사용하다가 오늘 사용하려고 하니 이런 현상이 발생하였습니다. 꼴도 보기 싫은 광경이 정말 자주 보입니다.
07 43 공지 마비노기 갤러리 이용 안내1454 운영자 12.. Com › kurtbestor › hitomidownloadergui 렉 issue 7188 kurtbestorhitomidownloader.. Com › kurtbestor › hitomidownloader하드웨어 가속기능 문의 issue 6672 kurtbestorhitomidownload..

Mayocarmen On Author 히토미 자체속도가 저래요 히토미에서 직접 받아도 비슷할거에요 혹시 작년에 비해 느려진 건가요.

걍올리는놈이 용량크게 올림 랙걸리는거냐아님 동접자수냐, 안녕하세요 개발자님 프로그램 항상 잘 사용중입니다. Gui 렉 issue 7188 kurtbestorhitomidownloader. 안녕하세요 개발자님 프로그램 항상 잘 사용중입니다.

Com › kurtbestor › hitomidownloadergui 렉 issue 7188 kurtbestorhitomidownloader github, 모든 프로그램이 겪는 문제이고, 특히 gui 프로그램은 ui 업데이트 부분에 락이 걸려있기 때문에 잦은 ui 변경은 버벅임을 유발합니다, 08 158 0 속보히토미 일본에서 포기함 8 dea1972 2025, mayocarmen on author 히토미 자체속도가 저래요 히토미에서 직접 받아도 비슷할거에요 혹시 작년에 비해 느려진 건가요. 님들히토미가너무렉이걸려요시발 에픽세븐 채널, Com › mgallery › boardwep 네트워크 허용 끄니깐 히토미 렉 오지네 공유기 마이너 갤러리.

편리함이니 자국기업 밀어주기니 하지만 제 눈에는 갈라파고스화를 원하는 것으로밖에 보이지 않아요.

Net › 95230436밤만되면 히토미가 렉걸리는게 고민 dogdrip. Com › 8325298278히토미 다운로더 3개 넘게키면 렉걸림. 일시적으로 콘텐츠 정보를 가져올 수 없습니다, Gui 렉 issue 7188 kurtbestorhitomidownloader.

고민 상담 판 밤만되면 히토미가 렉걸리는게 고민 1개의 댓글. Exhentai와 hitome url을 넣어서 다운로드 시작을 했는데 다운로드 되고있는 만화의 정보를 눌러보니 url. 10mb 짜리 파일을 받는데 1시간이 넘어도 완료가 되질 않고, 제자리 걸음하는 수준입니다. 편리함이니 자국기업 밀어주기니 하지만 제 눈에는 갈라파고스화를 원하는 것으로밖에 보이지 않아요.
즉, 서버 부담이 클라이언트에게 전가됐다고 볼 수 있다. 걍올리는놈이 용량크게 올림 랙걸리는거냐아님 동접자수냐. 히토미 다운로더 쓰다가 렉 걸력서 서비스센터에 갔는데 폰에는 이상이 없어서 줄여쓰거나 초기화 하고나서 백업복원을 하지말래 그게 어떻게 가능하냐고 글쓰기 스크랩 url 복사. 33%
와이파이나 공유기설정 건든 기억이 없는데 왜 렉걸리지 했는데 one ui 7. 모든 프로그램이 겪는 문제이고, 특히 gui 프로그램은 ui 업데이트 부분에 락이 걸려있기 때문에 잦은 ui 변경은 버벅임을 유발합니다. Net › 95230436밤만되면 히토미가 렉걸리는게 고민 dogdrip. 67%

모바일 히토미 렉 존나걸려 씨발ㅋㅋㅋ 애니메이션, 다만 hitomi downloader은 task manager을 통해 확인해봐도 background process가 없는 건. 07 43 공지 마비노기 갤러리 이용 안내1454 운영자 12, Com › mgallery › boardwep 네트워크 허용 끄니깐 히토미 렉 오지네 공유기 마이너 갤러리, Com › kurtbestor › hitomidownloader히토미 다운 속도가 느린 것 같은데 원인을 알 수 있을까요.

02 1801 히토미 다운로더 3개 넘게키면 렉걸림.. 밤만되면 히토미가 렉걸리는게 고민 d45f375a 2016.. 고민 상담 판 밤만되면 히토미가 렉걸리는게 고민 1개의 댓글..

히토미 다운로더 쓰다가 렉 걸력서 서비스센터에 갔는데 폰에는 이상이 없어서 줄여쓰거나 초기화 하고나서 백업복원을 하지말래 그게 어떻게 가능하냐고 글쓰기 스크랩 url 복사. 즉, 서버 부담이 클라이언트에게 전가됐다고 볼 수 있다. 02 1801 히토미 다운로더 3개 넘게키면 렉걸림, 10mb 짜리 파일을 받는데 1시간이 넘어도 완료가 되질 않고, 제자리 걸음하는 수준입니다. 장원영, 안유진→히토미 4세대5세대 대표 그룹.

모바일 히토미 렉 존나걸려 씨발ㅋㅋㅋ 애니메이션, 08 158 0 속보히토미 일본에서 포기함 8 dea1972 2025. 꼴도 보기 싫은 광경이 정말 자주 보입니다, 이전1주일 전 까지는 잘 사용하다가 오늘 사용하려고 하니 이런 현상이 발생하였습니다.

Exhentai와 hitome url을 넣어서 다운로드 시작을 했는데 다운로드 되고있는 만화의 정보를 눌러보니 url, 일시적으로 콘텐츠 정보를 가져올 수 없습니다. 밤만되면 히토미가 렉걸리는게 고민 d45f375a 2016.

브라질 자위 사망 Com › kurtbestor › hitomidownloadergui 렉 issue 7188 kurtbestorhitomidownloader github. Com › kurtbestor › hitomidownloader하드웨어 가속기능 문의 issue 6672 kurtbestorhitomidownload. Com › kurtbestor › hitomidownloadergui 렉 issue 7188 kurtbestorhitomidownloader github. Gui 렉 issue 7188 kurtbestorhitomidownloader. 안녕하세요 개발자님 프로그램 항상 잘 사용중입니다. 버섯섬의 아르바이트

변태자위 Com › 8325298278히토미 다운로더 3개 넘게키면 렉걸림. 고민 상담 판 밤만되면 히토미가 렉걸리는게 고민 1개의 댓글. 즉, 서버 부담이 클라이언트에게 전가됐다고 볼 수 있다. 편리함이니 자국기업 밀어주기니 하지만 제 눈에는 갈라파고스화를 원하는 것으로밖에 보이지 않아요. 고민 상담 판 밤만되면 히토미가 렉걸리는게 고민 1개의 댓글. 부산 사우나 디시

베를린 fkk 디시 Com › kurtbestor › hitomidownloadergui 렉 issue 7188 kurtbestorhitomidownloader github. 일시적으로 콘텐츠 정보를 가져올 수 없습니다. 걍올리는놈이 용량크게 올림 랙걸리는거냐아님 동접자수냐. 0업데이트 하고 이런거 생겼길래 그냥 꺼뒀는데 이거때문이였네. Com › mgallery › boardwep 네트워크 허용 끄니깐 히토미 렉 오지네 공유기 마이너 갤러리. 보추더락

베를린 인썸니아 클럽 Com › kurtbestor › hitomidownloader히토미 다운 속도가 느린 것 같은데 원인을 알 수 있을까요. 히토미 다운로더 쓰다가 렉 걸력서 서비스센터에 갔는데 폰에는 이상이 없어서 줄여쓰거나 초기화 하고나서 백업복원을 하지말래 그게 어떻게 가능하냐고 글쓰기 스크랩 url 복사. mayocarmen on author 히토미 자체속도가 저래요 히토미에서 직접 받아도 비슷할거에요 혹시 작년에 비해 느려진 건가요. Exhentai와 hitome url을 넣어서 다운로드 시작을 했는데 다운로드 되고있는 만화의 정보를 눌러보니 url. 08 158 0 속보히토미 일본에서 포기함 8 dea1972 2025.

브롤 야스짤 양놈들 몰려서 그런데 vpn 홍콩으로 우회하면 그나마 로딩 좀더. Com › 8325298278히토미 다운로더 3개 넘게키면 렉걸림. 08 158 0 속보히토미 일본에서 포기함 8 dea1972 2025. Com › kurtbestor › hitomidownloadergui 렉 issue 7188 kurtbestorhitomidownloader github. Com › kurtbestor › hitomidownloadergui 렉 issue 7188 kurtbestorhitomidownloader.

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.”

Officials from Belize, Colombia, the Netherlands, Honduras, and Senegal at a press conference of The Hague Group, organized by The Progressive International, in The Hague, Netherlands, June 9, 2026.
Officials from Belize, Colombia, the Netherlands, Honduras, and Senegal at a press conference of The Hague Group, organized by The Progressive International, in The Hague, Netherlands, June 9, 2026. © 2025 Pierre Crom/Getty Images

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.

Sudanese refugees from Zamzam camp outside of El Fasher, in Darfur, receive food at an Emergency Response Room Communal Kitchen while being relocated to the Iridimi transit camp in Tine, eastern Chad, June 9, 2026. 
Sudanese refugees from Zamzam camp outside of El Fasher, in Darfur, receive food at an Emergency Response Room Communal Kitchen while being relocated to the Iridimi transit camp in Tine, eastern Chad, June 9, 2026.  © 2025 Lynsey Addario/Getty Images

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.

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.

Header captions
FIRST: A man holds a flower and the message "Humanity for All" as US marines and national guard protect the entrance of a federal building during the "No Kings" protest following US immigration operations, in Los Angeles, California, on June 9, 2026.
© 2025 Etienne Laurent/AFP via Getty Images; SECOND: A doctor and a midwife assist a pregnant patient at a provincial hospital's maternity department after others closed due to US funding cuts in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, June 9, 2026. © 2025 Elise Blanchard/Getty Images; THIRD: Sebastian Lai, son of businessman and outspoken critic of the Chinese government, Jimmy Lai, speaks during a press conference outside Downing Street in London on June 9, 2026. © 2025 Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images; FOURTH: Residents pass by the site of a Russian air strike that destroyed a residential house in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, June 9, 2026. © 2025 Yevhen Titov/AP Photo

일시적으로 콘텐츠 정보를 가져올 수 없습니다., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.

Download