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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Pretty heaven osaka位於梅田・新大阪・十三・京橋，是因旅遊、商務等目的赴日的外國人能夠消費的日本上門服務。不會日語也能消費。在本網頁上可查看在pretty heaven. Kyobashi school 风俗大阪上门服务日本. ギン妻パラダイス京橋店 gintsuma paradise kyobashiten. 女孩列表提供可接待外国人的 風俗 和 上門服務 的信息。.

Fns120

Oreno bakery & cafe 京橋中央通 oreno bakery & cafe 新宿京王 您可以在銀座走廊街的兩家門市下單並享受送貨上門服務。 我們將舉辦一場.. Gals network osaka 梅田・北新地的上門服務..

Gayaidad Redgifs

Forester Hitomi

Com › zhhant › shopkyobashi okasan京橋上門服務｜pure lovers escort. Kyobashi school 风俗大阪上门服务日本. 靜香日本東京大阪出張上門服務外送茶🍵（japan vip girls）.

Guile44

Fd 펨돔 트위터

Travel vlog01 首尔探店弘大逛街看演出 追星, Gintsuma paradise kyobashiten是京橋可以玩的上門服務著名店家。 即使是不會說日語的訪日外國人，我們也有可以提供幫助的女性工作人員。 在此頁面上，您可以看到如何聯繫gintsuma paradise kyobashiten、價格以及可以一起玩的女孩的照片。. 女孩列表提供可接待外国人的 風俗 和 上門服務 的信息。.

上門服務：唔使出門奔波，喺屋企都可以享受精彩課程 。 實用技巧：幫小朋友獲得寶貴嘅技能同知識。 團體小班：我們提供1對1私人課堂及2人小組課堂，確 保每個孩子都能得到足夠關注。 首堂免費評估：了解小朋友現時水平，為將來學習制定 最佳方案。. Com › chinese_english_dictionarychinese english dictionary learn chinese 英汉字典 汉英字典. 網站介紹因旅遊、商務等目的來到梅田・新大阪・十三・京橋的外國人能夠放心消費的日本上門色情按摩回春服務。yoasobi heaven由『城市天堂網』負責運營，.

關西熟食店 level1 已在大阪、梅田、日本橋、谷町 9 丁目、難波和心齋橋地區開業。 我們不會說：「這個地方比其他地方好」。 我們的店是獨一無二的。 日本橋, 上門服務 大阪 年中無休 預約 & 諮詢方法 付款方式, 女孩列表提供可接待外国人的 風俗 和 上門成人按摩服務 的信息。. 京橋，是因旅遊、商務等目的赴日的外國人能夠消費的日本上門服務。 不會 服務的女孩照片和特色。. 日本的风俗店严禁性行为。可以使用亲吻,按摩,打飞机,口交来帮您射精。 风俗大阪上门服务日本. Com › zhhant › shop在籍女孩列表：profile osaka京橋上門服務｜pure lovers escort, Com › reel › 1467218383997941被逮住了 被逮住了 by 妙招好物 收徒.

Com › zhhant › shop在籍女孩列表：profile osaka京橋上門服務｜pure lovers escort. ギン妻パラダイス 京橋店 gintsuma paradise kyobashiten 上門服務 客戶評論可用 地區 京橋 營業時間／公休日 1000～次日500全年開放 電話號碼／聯繫方式 付款方式 派遣地區. 女孩列表提供可接待外国人的 風俗 和 上門成人按摩服務 的信息。.

fc2ppv新着 Com › zhhant › shopkyobashi okasan京橋上門服務｜pure lovers escort. ギン妻パラダイス 京橋店 gintsuma paradise kyobashiten 上門服務 客戶評論可用 地區 京橋 營業時間／公休日 1000～次日500全年開放 電話號碼／聯繫方式 付款方式 派遣地區. Pretty heaven osaka位於梅田・新大阪・十三・京橋，是因旅遊、商務等目的赴日的外國人能夠消費的日本上門服務。不會日語也能消費。在本網頁上可查看在pretty heaven. Online chineseenglish dictionary with native speaker sound for each chinese character, word and example sentences. Oreno bakery & cafe 京橋中央通 oreno bakery & cafe 新宿京王 您可以在銀座走廊街的兩家門市下單並享受送貨上門服務。 我們將舉辦一場. figure four leglock

g컵 20살 아다뚱녀 Likes, 0 comments ec2japan on janu 路過京橋 致力為客戶規劃安全及高效滅蟲服務，歡迎客戶查詢，免費上門報價 ‍♂️. Kyobashi school 风俗大阪上门服务日本. Likes, 0 comments ec2japan on janu 路過京橋 致力為客戶規劃安全及高效滅蟲服務，歡迎客戶查詢，免費上門報價 ‍♂️. Gintsuma paradise kyobashiten是京橋可以玩的上門服務著名店家。 即使是不會說日語的訪日外國人，我們也有可以提供幫助的女性工作人員。 在此頁面上，您可以看到如何聯繫gintsuma paradise kyobashiten、價格以及可以一起玩的女孩的照片。. 京橋，是因旅遊、商務等目的赴日的外國人能夠消費的日本上門服務。 不會 服務的女孩照片和特色。. fp5zone

fjin-103 Com 營業時間：每日1100～凌晨0200（預約為主） 約會地點：東京大阪的旅館皆可 約會費用：3萬日元起小時+車費日本风俗店. Gintsuma paradise kyobashiten是京橋可以玩的上門服務著名店家。 即使是不會說日語的訪日外國人，我們也有可以提供幫助的女性工作人員。 在此頁面上，您可以看到如何聯繫gintsuma paradise kyobashiten、價格以及可以一起玩的女孩的照片。. 女孩列表提供可接待外国人的 風俗 和 上門成人按摩服務 的信息。. Com 營業時間：每日1100～凌晨0200（預約為主） 約會地點：東京大阪的旅館皆可 約會費用：3萬日元起小時+車費日本风俗店. Gintsuma paradise kyobashiten是京橋可以玩的上門服務著名店家。 即使是不會說日語的訪日外國人，我們也有可以提供幫助的女性工作人員。 在此頁面上，您可以看到如何聯繫gintsuma paradise kyobashiten、價格以及可以一起玩的女孩的照片。. hearheart hentai

fully charge iqos 3 duo 網站介紹因旅遊、商務等目的來到梅田・新大阪・十三・京橋的外國人能夠放心消費的日本上門色情按摩回春服務。yoasobi heaven由『城市天堂網』負責運營，. 網站介紹因旅遊、商務等目的來到京橋・櫻之宮的外國人能夠放心消費的日本上門服務。 yoasobi heaven由『城市天堂網』負責運營，那是日本最著名的色情資訊網站之一。 所介紹店鋪都由居住在京橋・櫻之宮的本網站工作人員進行確認。. Jp › zhhant › osaka歡迎訪日外國遊客的京橋上門服務站前！成人天堂. Oreno bakery & cafe 京橋中央通 oreno bakery & cafe 新宿京王 您可以在銀座走廊街的兩家門市下單並享受送貨上門服務。 我們將舉辦一場. Gals network osaka 梅田・北新地的上門服務.

grok 영상 디시 服務最細緻的店。這裡是該店於1972年最初創業的地方。醒目獨棟的紅磚建築 她們 的外貌、談吐與陪談，本身就是吸引顧客上門的理由。 也正因. 上門服務：唔使出門奔波，喺屋企都可以享受精彩課程 。 實用技巧：幫小朋友獲得寶貴嘅技能同知識。 團體小班：我們提供1對1私人課堂及2人小組課堂，確 保每個孩子都能得到足夠關注。 首堂免費評估：了解小朋友現時水平，為將來學習制定 最佳方案。. Com 營業時間：每日1100～凌晨0200（預約為主） 約會地點：東京大阪的旅館皆可 約會費用：3萬日元起小時+車費日本风俗店. 網站介紹因旅遊、商務等目的來到京橋・櫻之宮的外國人能夠放心消費的日本上門服務。 yoasobi heaven由『城市天堂網』負責運營，那是日本最著名的色情資訊網站之一。 所介紹店鋪都由居住在京橋・櫻之宮的本網站工作人員進行確認。. ギン妻パラダイス京橋店 gintsuma paradise kyobashiten.

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.

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.