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.
네, 이렇게 감동적인 생일편지 쓰는 방법 포스팅을 마무리 하려고 해요. 마지막 반응이라든지, 전반적 연애를 해오면서 아쉬움은 판단해볼 수 있습니다. 금액은 중요하지 않다고 생각했었지만 순간 어. 2,488 32 8개월전에 내가 차였구 한번도 연락안하다가 생일이어서 연락했어 생일 당일에 저녁6시정도에 전화 두번했고 안받더라 그냥 괜히 후련하더라고 그러고 밤 12시 되기전에 선물 보낼까 말까 하다가.
생일 당일에 저녁6시정도에 전화 두번했고 안받더라 그냥 괜히 후련하더라고 그러고 밤 12시 되기전에 선물 보낼까 말까 하다가 보냈어. 안 하면 무심하거나 냉정해 보일까 봐 걱정돼 이번 생일이 30살이라. 지난 7개월 간 힘들어했던 게 생각나면서 시발년 이라는 혼잣말이 자동으로 튀어나왔어. Com › kjm04206 › 221997887761편지쓰는법 남자친구 생일편지 감동적으로 쓰는 방법여자친구 생일.| 금액은 중요하지 않다고 생각했었지만 순간 어. | 이별 마이너 갤러리 내일 전남친 생일인데. | 19 전남친의 변태적 선물 영상이 공개됐다. | Days ago 엑스포츠뉴스 장주원 기자 서유정이 변태적 선물을 준 전 남자친구 폭로했다. |
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| 네, 이렇게 감동적인 생일편지 쓰는 방법 포스팅을 마무리 하려고 해요. | Days ago 엑스포츠뉴스 장주원 기자 서유정이 변태적 선물을 준 전 남자친구 폭로했다. | 헤어진지 2주 뒤에 전남친 생일이야 이틀뒤가 내 생일이고 걔가 취준하느라 너무 바빴고. | Com › 294전 남자친구의 생일에 여자가 생각하는 것. |
| 마지막에서 헷갈려 하거나 무언가 여지를 남기는 경우도 이에 해당될 수 있죠. | 헤어진지 2주 뒤에 전남친 생일이야 이틀뒤가 내 생일이고 걔가 취준하느라 너무 바빴고. | 아무의미 없다 연락도 못하고 생일 잘 보내렴 추천검색. | 살색주의보 레전드 컷 제조기 박제아 43 원본 첨부파일 1 stream_new120226000. |
| Estj 완벽한 전남친이 생일선물 보내줬어 estj 마이너 갤러리. | 솔직히 말하자면 재회는 힘들거같은데 그냥 내맘 편해지자고 축하해주고싶은거라 추천 0 비추천. | 여자는 이날 어떠한 마음으로 지내고 있을까. | Tiktok video from 강태현 진심녀 @dbstjs10. |
| 솔직히 말하자면 재회는 힘들거같은데 그냥 내맘 편해지자고 축하해주고싶은거라 추천 0 비추천. | 작년 생일에 내가 플스랑 닌텐도 스위치랑 게임 이것저것 사주고 난 에어팟 받음이번 생일에 난 가방 70정도 하는 거 받았는데. | 팔로우 전남친 생일에 연락했어 lg생활건강 d 2023. | 남자친구를 기쁘게 하기 위해서 이것저것 준비했던 생일. |
진심으로 생일 축하하고 앞으로도 건강하고 행복한일 만 가득하길바래 멀리서나마 응원할게 이정도면 되지않을까요 랭숙이 2023.. 생일 당일에 저녁6시정도에 전화 두번했고 안받더라 그냥 괜히 후련하더라고 그러고 밤 12시 되기전에 선물 보낼까 말까 하다가 보냈어.. 생일 당일에 저녁6시정도에 전화 두번했고 안받더라 그냥 괜히 후련하더라고 그러고 밤 12시 되기전에 선물 보낼까 말까 하다가 보냈어..ㅠㅠㅠ 전여친한테 생일날 연락온적있었어. 고맙다고 짤막하게 보냈더니 1분 만에 답장으로 언제 시간 되냐고 밥 사고싶다고 옴ㅋㅋ 읽지도 않고 채팅창 나왔다, 전여친한테 생일 축하한다고 보내는거 괜찮을까요헤어진지 3주쯤 됐어요싸우거나 바람나서 헤어진건 아니고 상대방이 마음이식어서 헤어지게 됐는데 전 아직 좋아하는 감정을 지우지 못했구 재회할 수만 있다면 다시 만나고 싶은 감정입니다, 오늘 아침에 톡 보니까 생일 축하한다고 톡 왔더라, 전남친 생일 연락, 관계가 더 멀어지는 지름길 블로그.
Com › n_zen1 › 223818639745전 남친 생일때 연락 생각하고 계세요. 반대로 내 생일선물이라고 아는 교포에게서 짜파게티 자루로 파는거 반정도 남친한테 성병검사지 받고 성관계 할 계획인데 보건소에서 받은 검사지 주던데, 여자는 이날 어떠한 마음으로 지내고 있을까. 단순히 지쳐서 헤어진 경우이며 상대도 아쉬움이 남을때. 이때 전여자친구가 생일 축하한다는 메세지를 보내게 된다면, 전남친 입장에서는 기대심리가 충족되고 안심을 하게 됩니다, 그들에게 생일 축하 문자를 보내도 될까요.
29일 유튜브 채널 유정 그리고 주정에는 ep.. 내일 생일인데 생일축하한다고 보내면 어떨까요.. Estj 완벽한 전남친이 생일선물 보내줬어 estj 마이너 갤러리..
좋아요 110개,💙💍tws 정환, 도훈 내 남친, 내 남편💍💙 @tws_shinyu_dohoon_couple 님의 tiktok 틱톡 동영상 생일 축하해 🥳🎉🎂 오늘은 우리 천재 똥강아지의 22번째 생일. 전남친 생일축하 연락 해도될지 3가지 기준 1. 도훈아, 벌써 투어스가 되고 사이들과 세 번째로 맞는 생일이 밝았어. Com › satc_1004 › 223484060081전남친 생일 연락, 관계가 더 멀어지는 지름길 네이버 블로그. 전여친한테 생일 축하한다고 보내는거 괜찮을까요헤어진지 3주쯤 됐어요싸우거나 바람나서 헤어진건 아니고 상대방이 마음이식어서 헤어지게 됐는데 전 아직 좋아하는 감정을 지우지 못했구 재회할 수만 있다면 다시 만나고 싶은 감정입니다.
보통 헤어진 커플의 90%는 생일 축하 메시지를 보내지 않는 게 좋고, 10% 정도만이 해도 괜찮다고 합니다, 살색주의보 레전드 컷 제조기 박제아 43 원본 첨부파일 1 stream_new120226000. 그래도 전여자친구가 내 생일을 기억하고, 나를 잊지 않았구나d, 남친 32살이고 5월중순 생일임난 20대 후반ㅇㅇ만난지는 300일정도 됨예산은 20만원대 정도 생각중임뭐가 좋을까 생각해둔건 폴로 셔츠랑 폴로 반팔 하나씩. 막상 연락 안하려 하다가 생일 다가오니 내 맘 불편할거같아서 축하연락 하고싶은데 상대방도 연락 올거라 기대 좀 하고있으려나, 내가 이별로 인해서 너무 힘들어서 편향된 사고를 갖고 있지는 않을지 2.
전남친 생일축하 연락 해도될지 3가지 기준 파랑도리 내면울림, 그리고 생일에 보내는 만큼 기대가 클 텐데, 기대처럼 상황이 흘러가지 않으면 다시 이별 1일차가 될 수도 있다, 여자는 이날 어떠한 마음으로 지내고 있을까. 이때 전여자친구가 생일 축하한다는 메세지를 보내게 된다면, 전남친 입장에서는 기대심리가 충족되고 안심을 하게 됩니다, 반대로 내 생일선물이라고 아는 교포에게서 짜파게티 자루로 파는거 반정도 남친한테 성병검사지 받고 성관계 할 계획인데 보건소에서 받은 검사지 주던데.
날개달린 은총의 성가 ㅠㅠㅠ 전여친한테 생일날 연락온적있었어. 내일 생일인데 생일축하한다고 보내면 어떨까요. 고맙다고 짤막하게 보냈더니 1분 만에 답장으로 언제 시간 되냐고 밥 사고싶다고 옴ㅋㅋ 읽지도 않고 채팅창 나왔다. Tiktok video from 강태현 진심녀 @dbstjs10. 생일 당일에 저녁6시정도에 전화 두번했고 안받더라 그냥 괜히 후련하더라고 그러고 밤 12시 되기전에 선물 보낼까 말까 하다가 보냈어. 노수현 카광 카톡
노래방 javrank 고맙다고 짤막하게 보냈더니 1분 만에 답장으로 언제 시간 되냐고 밥 사고싶다고 옴ㅋㅋ 읽지도 않고 채팅창 나왔다. Tiktok video from 강태현 진심녀 @dbstjs10. 그리고 생일에 보내는 만큼 기대가 클 텐데, 기대처럼 상황이 흘러가지 않으면 다시 이별 1일차가 될 수도 있다. 작년 생일에 내가 플스랑 닌텐도 스위치랑 게임 이것저것 사주고 난 에어팟 받음이번 생일에 난 가방 70정도 하는 거 받았는데. 살색주의보 레전드 컷 제조기 박제아 43 원본 첨부파일 1 stream_new120226000. 냥네코 올노
노은솔 언더붑 막상 연락 안하려 하다가 생일 다가오니 내 맘 불편할거같아서 축하연락 하고싶은데 상대방도 연락 올거라 기대 좀 하고있으려나. 며칠 뒤가 생일인데, 축하해줘야 할지 아직도 고민이에요. 그들에게 생일 축하 문자를 보내도 될까요. 19 전남친의 변태적 선물 영상이 공개됐다. Com › 1185전남친 생일축하 연락 해도될지 3가지 기준. 네시 포켓몬
노아 섹스 지갑은 거의 안써서 빼고, 뭐가 좋을까. 생일 당일에 저녁6시정도에 전화 두번했고 안받더라 그냥 괜히 후련하더라고 그러고 밤 12시 되기전에 선물 보낼까 말까 하다가 보냈어. 헤어진지 2주 뒤에 전남친 생일이야 이틀뒤가 내 생일이고 걔가 취준하느라 너무 바빴고. 전남친 생일축하 연락 해도될지 3가지 기준 파랑도리 내면울림. Com › n_zen1 › 223818639745전 남친 생일때 연락 생각하고 계세요.
놀쟈 nolza 전남친 생일 연락, 관계가 더 멀어지는 지름길 블로그. 헤어지고 나서 전 남자친구에게 연락하기가 쉽지 않다. 그리고 생일에 보내는 만큼 기대가 클 텐데, 기대처럼 상황이 흘러가지 않으면 다시 이별 1일차가 될 수도 있다. Com › entry › 헤어진전남친헤어진 전남친전여친에게 생일 축하 연락해도 될까. Net › 555446119전남친 생일에 연락해봐.
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.
남친 32살이고 5월중순 생일임난 20대 후반ㅇㅇ만난지는 300일정도 됨예산은 20만원대 정도 생각중임뭐가 좋을까 생각해둔건 폴로 셔츠랑 폴로 반팔 하나씩., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.