US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 7, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 7, 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 7, 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 7, 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 7, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 7, 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 7, 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 7, 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 7, 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 7, 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 7, 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 7, 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 7, 2026.
메이 마틴 오늘의ai위키 는 ai 기술로 일관성 있고 체계적인 최신 지식을 제공하는 혁신 플랫폼입니다. 서방국가 줄줄이 방중트럼프 대신 중국. Com › 20230130 › rebelrebel엠마rebel rebel 엠마 코린. 글 이연숙 리타 평론가 20241030 메이 마틴은 캐나다 출신의 스탠드업 코미디언이자 극작가다.
글 이연숙 리타 평론가 20241030 메이 마틴은 캐나다 출신의 스탠드업 코미디언이자 극작가다. 수술은 무사히 끝났지만 회복하려면 시간이 필요하다고 의사가 밝혔고, 다행히, 2001년부터 2009년까지 운영했던 청소년 합숙 학교이며 이에 대한 피해자의 이야기를 넷플릭스 다큐멘터리 더 프로그램 사기, 컬트, 납치를 통해 방송했습니다, 넷플릭스 추천템 메이 마틴 행복을 찾아서 mae martin sap. 영국을 주 무대로 활동하는 캐나다 출신의 메이 마틴은 30분 안에 풀어내기에는 지나치게 무거운 게 아닌가 싶은 중독을 소재로 삼아, 자신의 이야기를. 하지만 메이는 이날 복귀 무대에서 자기 공을 던지며 임무를 완수했다.
They a cocreated, cowrote, and starred in the channel 4 netflix comedy series feel good. 서방국가 줄줄이 방중트럼프 대신 중국. 메이 마틴 mae martin 87년생 캐나다 출신의 코미디언, 배우랍니다, 또 다른 조력자로 캐나다 출신 코미디언 메이 마틴 mae martin을 들 수 있다. 캐릭터는 꽤 초반에 트랜지션 중이거나, 아니면 t에. 201819 시즌을 앞두고 경기 도중 심장에 박동수가 빨라지면서 경기장을 빠져나와 병원으로 이송됐고, 수술을 했는데 다행히 경미한 수술로 끝났다.
그린란드 병합을 둘러싼 미국과 유럽의 갈등으로 대서양 동맹이 분열 위기에 처하고 중국 부상과 함께 국제 구도가 변곡점을 맞고 있다는 관측이 나온다.. 할리우드 배우 엘리엇 페이지가 받은 가슴절제술탑수술에.. 실제로 메이는 남성여성 모두와 연애를 하지만 가슴을 절제하는 수술을 하기도 했다..
핀란드캐나다 이어 英총리 방중中 美일변도 서방의 반성, 대규모 경제사절단과 함께 중국을 찾은 스타머 총리는 시진핑 국가주석과 정상. 쇼를 쓴 메이 마틴도 논바이너리인데, 탑 수술을 받았지만 테스토스테론에 대해 언급하는 건 못 봤어. 엑스포츠뉴스 이창규 기자 할리우드 배우 엘리엇 페이지가 처음으로 공식석상에 모습을 비췄다.
부산안면거상 수술 사례 befor 2018. 환자에 따라 부작용이 발생할 수 있으니. 2001년부터 2009년까지 운영했던 청소년 합숙 학교이며 이에 대한 피해자의 이야기를 넷플릭스 다큐멘터리 더 프로그램 사기, 컬트, 납치를 통해 방송했습니다. Official website for all things mae martin. 핑크뉴스 에 따르면 두 배우는 캐나다 토론토에서 우정 문신을 새긴 것으로 알려졌다. Official website for all things mae martin.
캐릭터는 꽤 초반에 트랜지션 중이거나, 아니면 t에, 오늘의ai위키 의 ai를 통해 더욱 풍부하고 폭넓은 지식 경험을 누리세요. 엘리엇 페이지와 배우 메이 마틴은 둘 다 캐나다 출신으로 동갑내기 절친이다. 어떤 트랜스 남성들은 성전환 수술을 받고, 어떤 남성들은 받지 않고요, 핑크뉴스 에 따르면 두 배우는 캐나다 토론토에서 우정 문신을 새긴 것으로 알려졌다. 메이 마틴 또한 엘리엇 페이지가 날 데리고 갔어♥라는.
Kr › article › 202504030938003빅리그 6년차 두 번의 팔꿈치 수술, 식도 파열 이겨낸 감동의 복귀 무.. 오늘은 안면거상술 시 가장 중요한 것은 무엇이며 어떤 성형외과를 선택해야 하는지에 대해 구체적으로 알려드리도록 하겠습니다.. 항상 밝은 얼굴로 있어서 어떤 트라우마가 있었는지 알기 어려운 메이..
Mae pearl martin1 born 2 may 1987 is a canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, and recording artist. 런던에 온 지 2년이 된 메이는 개그 빈이라는 코미디 클럽에서 스탠드업 코미디를 하며 하루하루를 근근이 버티고 있다, Abbi jacobson director mae martin writer. 또 다른 조력자로 캐나다 출신 코미디언 메이 마틴 mae martin을 들 수 있다. 커쇼 어깨 부상에 이어 메이 팔꿈치 수술빨간 불 켜진 다저스 선발진, 트레이드만이 살 길 osen손찬익 기자 la 다저스 투수 더스틴 메이가 팔꿈치 수술로 올 시즌을 마감한다, 대규모 경제사절단과 함께 중국을 찾은 스타머 총리는 시진핑 국가주석과 정상.
오늘은 안면거상술 시 가장 중요한 것은 무엇이며 어떤 성형외과를 선택해야 하는지에 대해 구체적으로 알려드리도록 하겠습니다. 런던에 온 지 2년이 된 메이는 개그 빈이라는 코미디 클럽에서 스탠드업 코미디를 하며 하루하루를 근근이 버티고 있다, 그리고 이 모든 이야기를 그녀의 코미디 쇼 dope에 담아냈다. 30일 관영 신화통신 등에 따르면 키어 스타머 영국 총리가 31일까지 중국을 방문 중이다. 20대가 된 이후에는 런던으로 무대를 옮겨 30대 중반인 현재까.
| 캐나다 출신 코미디언, 배우, 작가인 메이 마틴은 코미디 스케치 시리즈 수상 경력과 더불어 논바이너리 정체성을 가지고 넷플릭스 코미디 드라마 시리즈의 주연, 각본, 제작을 맡아 호평을 받았다. | 최고 153㎞ 메이, 1이닝 무실점 일간스포츠 일간스포츠 naver x 하지마. |
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| They a cocreated, cowrote, and starred in the channel 4 netflix comedy series feel good. | Com › 20230130 › rebelrebel엠마rebel rebel 엠마 코린. |
| 진지함 메이 마틴에 대해 궁금한 미국인입니다 rtaskmaster. | 핀란드캐나다 이어 英총리 방중中 美일변도 서방의 반성. |
| They a cocreated, cowrote, and starred in the channel 4 netflix comedy series feel good. | 메이 마틴이 중심을 잃은 듯한 세상에 관해 이야기하는 코미디 스페셜. |
메이 마틴이 중심을 잃은 듯한 세상에 관해 이야기하는 코미디 스페셜. 개요 신비로운 사슴과의 만남부터 《미녀와 야수》 속 젠더 스펙트럼까지, 진피님이 메이 마틴 행복을 찾아서2023에 남긴 코멘트, 미국에 등 돌리고 중국에 다가선 유럽 대서양 동맹 깨지나. 커쇼 어깨 부상에 이어 메이 팔꿈치 수술빨간 불 켜진 다저스 선발진, 트레이드만이 살 길 osen손찬익 기자 la 다저스 투수 더스틴 메이가 팔꿈치 수술로 올 시즌을 마감한다.
Org › wiki › 메이_마틴메이 마틴 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전, 영국을 주 무대로 활동하는 캐나다 출신의 메이 마틴은 30분 안에 풀어내기에는 지나치게 무거운 게 아닌가 싶은 중독을 소재로 삼아, 자신의 이야기를. 16 위 이미지의 수술 사례는 메이성형외과에서 직접 진행한 안면거상술 사례이며 환자분의 동의를 받은 후 촬영하였습니다. 1화 봤는데 벌써 큰일났네 반항아 청소년 메이 마틴이 전환수술 마치고 중년의 가장이 되어 나타나서 토니 콜렛이랑 연기 차력쑈 넷플에 문제. 오늘은 안면거상술 시 가장 중요한 것은 무엇이며 어떤 성형외과를 선택해야 하는지에 대해 구체적으로 알려드리도록 하겠습니다. 영국을 주 무대로 활동하는 캐나다 출신의 메이 마틴은 30분 안에 풀어내기에는 지나치게 무거운 게 아닌가 싶은 중독을 소재로 삼아, 자신의 이야기를.
윈터 ㅂㅈ 1화 봤는데 벌써 큰일났네 반항아 청소년 메이 마틴이 전환. Watch trailers & learn more. 부산안면거상 수술 사례 befor 2018. 미국에 등 돌리고 중국에 다가선 유럽 대서양 동맹 깨지나. 신비로운 사슴과의 만남부터 《미녀와 야수》 속 젠더 스펙트럼까지. 유인영 여교사 디시
울산대녀 영상 성전환 엘리엇 페이지, 논바이너리 메이 마틴과 첫 공식석상. 오늘의ai위키 의 ai를 통해 더욱 풍부하고 폭넓은 지식 경험을 누리세요. Com은 5일이하 한국시간 다저스 투수 더스틴 메이는 오. 오늘은 안면거상술 시 가장 중요한 것은 무엇이며 어떤 성형외과를 선택해야 하는지에 대해 구체적으로 알려드리도록 하겠습니다. 최근 수정 시각 20250925 005425. 유진 냥 디시
위고비 직구 디시 런던에 온 지 2년이 된 메이는 개그 빈이라는 코미디 클럽에서 스탠드업 코미디를 하며 하루하루를 근근이 버티고 있다. 엘리엇 페이지는 지난 7일현지시간 나와 메이 마틴을 아트 필름 갈라art+ film gala에 초대해준 g사에 감사를 전한다는 글과 사진을 게재했다. 그린란드 병합을 둘러싼 미국과 유럽의 갈등으로 대서양 동맹이 분열 위기에 처하고 중국 부상과 함께 국제 구도가 변곡점을 맞고 있다는 관측이 나온다. 87년생 엘리엇 페이지와 메이 마틴은 오랜 우정을 자랑한다. 16 위 이미지의 수술 사례는 메이성형외과에서 직접 진행한 안면거상술 사례이며 환자분의 동의를 받은 후 촬영하였습니다. 유유화 19
원쿱 신비로운 사슴과의 만남부터 《미녀와 야수》 속 젠더 스펙트럼까지. 그린란드 병합을 둘러싼 미국과 유럽의 갈등으로 대서양 동맹이 분열 위기에 처하고 중국 부상과 함께 국제 구도가 변곡점을 맞고 있다는 관측이 나온다. Watch trailers & learn more. 2001년부터 2009년까지 운영했던 청소년 합숙 학교이며 이에 대한 피해자의 이야기를 넷플릭스 다큐멘터리 더 프로그램 사기, 컬트, 납치를 통해 방송했습니다. 메이 마틴이 중심을 잃은 듯한 세상에 관해 이야기하는 코미디 스페셜.
유레이 논란 정리 최고 153㎞ 메이, 1이닝 무실점 일간스포츠 일간스포츠 naver x 하지마. 런던에 온 지 2년이 된 메이는 개그 빈이라는 코미디 클럽에서 스탠드업 코미디를 하며 하루하루를 근근이 버티고 있다. 또 다른 조력자로 캐나다 출신 코미디언 메이 마틴 mae martin을 들 수 있다. 실제로 메이는 남성여성 모두와 연애를 하지만 가슴을 절제하는 수술을 하기도 했다. 캐나다 출신 코미디언, 배우, 작가인 메이 마틴은 코미디 스케치 시리즈 수상 경력과 더불어 논바이너리 정체성을 가지고 넷플릭스 코미디 드라마 시리즈의 주연, 각본, 제작을 맡아 호평을 받았다.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 7, 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 7, 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 7, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 7, 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.
커쇼 어깨 부상에 이어 메이 팔꿈치 수술빨간 불 켜진 다저스 선발진, 트레이드만이 살 길 osen손찬익 기자 la 다저스 투수 더스틴 메이가 팔꿈치 수술로 올 시즌을 마감한다., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.