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.

澳門電台消息 美國總統特朗普再次指責印度採購俄羅斯石油，揚言將大幅提高印度進口商品的關稅. Связанная с группой ташир компания экострой хочет взыскать с ао выставка достижений народного хозяйства вднх 779,9 млн руб. Com › watch晨早直播內媒：澤連斯基批美大使館軟弱，甚至不敢提到俄羅斯。英. Explore more delicious scones recipe you can easily make at home understanding sensory overload in daily life fernando gil e a comédia em live streaming ciumes desnecessários relações e limites 俄羅斯石油en590交易流程 댄디의 세계 비×쉘리 인형 villa 443 relaxing stay near mambo beach 宇多田ヒカル.

Fc200 材質

Blader door de collectie van hoogwaardige, authentieke 俄羅斯石油 stockfotos, royaltyfree beelden en fotos van getty images.. Com › watch俄外交部中國需要多少石油 就準備輸多少石油｜俄挺中國 石油無上限｜.. Search home search俄羅斯石油 products 0 cases stories 0 cases brochures 0 ideas & howtos 0 news 0 catalog contact back to top facebook twitter linkedin get a free quote..

Fc2-ppv-2483055

美國財政部指出，這輪制裁包括超過180艘運輸石油的船隻、俄羅斯主要石油公司gazprom neft和surgutneftegas及其子公司，以及若干油田服務商和能源高官。, Escolha entre fotos premium de 俄羅斯石油 da melhor qualidade, Com › @dezley_diazz › video𝓓𐚁 on tiktok. 67 likes, tiktok video from alkapony @eko0123 😂, 2й западный окружной военный суд в москве рассматривает дело о покушении на диверсию, по которому проходят трое жителей подмосковья — 19л, Org › wiki › q1141123rosneft wikidata.

川普以烏克蘭戰爭為由，點名制裁俄羅斯「俄羅斯石油」 rosneft及「路克石油」 lukoil兩大石油公司，以致中國和印度兩大主要買家必須尋找替代來源。. 90% 47500 西澳 461553 164 96. 俄羅斯石油 stockfotos zijn beschikbaar in verschillende groottes en formaten. Day ago 俄羅斯的石油天然氣收入約佔國家預算收入的四分之一，並為在烏克蘭軍事行動提供資金。 然而，2025年俄羅斯石油天然氣收入跌至五年低位。 為施壓俄羅斯國家財政，美國2025年10月底將俄羅斯兩大石油生產商盧克石油和俄羅斯石油公司 rosneft列入制裁實體. Day ago 因美國基於俄烏戰爭持續不輟而遭華府制裁的俄羅斯主要石油供應商「路克石油」（lukoil）29日表示，該公司將把其海外資產售予美國投資公司, Com › 俄羅斯石油與天然氣俄羅斯石油與天然氣收入本月銳減35% 國家預算更無著落.

Leverage your professional network, and get hired, 俄罗斯石油 俄罗斯石油公司 （俄語： росне́фть， 羅馬化：rosneft， 發音： ˌrosˈnʲeftʲ；英語： rosneft），是 俄罗斯 一家综合能源公司，总部位于俄罗斯首都 莫斯科，专门从事勘探，开采，生产，提炼，运输，运输。, Search home search俄羅斯石油 products 0 cases stories 0 cases brochures 0 ideas & howtos 0 news 0 catalog contact back to top facebook twitter linkedin get a free quote. Blader door de collectie van hoogwaardige, authentieke 俄羅斯石油 stockfotos, royaltyfree beelden en fotos van getty images.

Org › wiki › q1141123rosneft wikidata. 俄罗斯石油 俄罗斯石油公司 （俄語： росне́фть， 羅馬化：rosneft， 發音： ˌrosˈnʲeftʲ；英語： rosneft），是 俄罗斯 一家综合能源公司，总部位于俄罗斯首都 莫斯科，专门从事勘探，开采，生产，提炼，运输，运输。. 遭美國制裁的俄羅斯第二大石油生產商盧克石油公司lukoil宣布，將海外資產出售予美國投資公司凱雷集團the carlyle group。 盧克石油今天宣布，已與凱, 澳門電台消息 歐盟及 7國集團 g7將俄羅斯石油價格上限定為每桶 60美元。俄羅斯副總理諾瓦克表示, 俄羅斯石油公司 （俄語： росне́фть， 羅馬化：rosneft， 發音： ˌrosˈnʲeftʲ；英語： rosneft），是 俄羅斯 一家綜合能源公司，總部位於俄羅斯首都 莫斯科，專門從事勘探，開採，生產，提煉，運輸，運輸。.

Day ago 俄羅斯的石油天然氣收入約佔國家預算收入的四分之一，並為在烏克蘭軍事行動提供資金。 然而，2025年俄羅斯石油天然氣收入跌至五年低位。 為施壓俄羅斯國家財政，美國2025年10月底將俄羅斯兩大石油生產商盧克石油和俄羅斯石油公司 rosneft列入制裁實體.. 天然氣禁運代價大 歐洲陷入兩難｜focus午間新聞 20220310 focus全球新聞 focus global news 3..

Tw › news › world制裁奏效？ 俄第2大石油公司出售海外資產給美企 國際 自由時報電, 普什科夫在通訊群組說，雖然美國總統特朗普發出實施高額二級制裁關稅的警告，但印度的煉油廠仍繼續購買俄羅斯石油，而事實上俄羅斯約佔全球石油供應量的10%，如此大量的石油供應，根本無法替代。, 俄罗斯石油 俄罗斯石油公司 （俄語： росне́фть， 羅馬化：rosneft， 發音： ˌrosˈnʲeftʲ；英語： rosneft），是 俄罗斯 一家综合能源公司，总部位于俄罗斯首都 莫斯科，专门从事勘探，开采，生产，提炼，运输，运输。.

F95zone.ti

Com › zhongwen › articles影子船隊無視制裁搬運八成俄羅斯石油，還執行間諜及破壞任務. 124 likes, tiktok video from 𝓓𐚁 @dezley_diazz 🍣🍣🍣, Gazprom is reported to be meeting china’s requests to increase the daily supply of gas in december as compared to the previously approved schedule.

fc1 ppv Tw › news › world制裁奏效？ 俄第2大石油公司出售海外資產給美企 國際 自由時報電. Com › @dezley_diazz › video𝓓𐚁 on tiktok. 俄羅斯石油公司 （俄語： росне́фть， 羅馬化：rosneft， 發音： ˌrosˈnʲeftʲ；英語： rosneft），是 俄羅斯 一家綜合能源公司，總部位於俄羅斯首都 莫斯科，專門從事勘探，開採，生產，提煉，運輸，運輸。. Org › zhtw › 俄罗斯石油俄羅斯石油 維基百科，自由的百科全書. Leverage your professional network, and get hired. fc2-ppv-3800565

fc2 제나 124 likes, tiktok video from 𝓓𐚁 @dezley_diazz 🍣🍣🍣. 俄羅斯去年能源收入較2024年減少約五分之一。隨著出口折價擴大以及全球油價低迷，克里姆林宮戰時經濟承受的壓力進一步加大。 11月，在美國對石油巨擘. Search home search俄羅斯石油 products 0 cases stories 0 cases brochures 0 ideas & howtos 0 news 0 catalog contact back to top facebook twitter linkedin get a free quote. 67 likes, tiktok video from alkapony @eko0123 😂. Com › interactive › 248753制裁見效，俄羅斯石油收入大幅下滑 ft中文網. fc2ppv many

fc2 why Tiktok video from кирилл @pazdravlay12 niche фруктыподмузыку хзчеписать рек фруктыедят рекомендации. 彭博 在去年大部分時間裡，打折銷售的俄羅斯石油占據了印度石油採購的大部分占有率。 這不僅是莫斯科的財政生命線，也為新德里節省了數十億美元的. Leverage your professional network, and get hired. Tw › news › world制裁奏效？ 俄第2大石油公司出售海外資產給美企 國際 自由時報電. 2й западный окружной военный суд в москве рассматривает дело о покушении на диверсию, по которому проходят трое жителей подмосковья — 19л. faphouse 결제

fc2ppv 4799139 俄罗斯石油 俄罗斯石油公司 （俄語： росне́фть， 羅馬化：rosneft， 發音： ˌrosˈnʲeftʲ；英語： rosneft），是 俄罗斯 一家综合能源公司，总部位于俄罗斯首都 莫斯科，专门从事勘探，开采，生产，提炼，运输，运输。. 彭博 在去年大部分時間裡，打折銷售的俄羅斯石油占據了印度石油採購的大部分占有率。 這不僅是莫斯科的財政生命線，也為新德里節省了數十億美元的. Start your search now for valuable insights into auction sales. Com › hashtag › 石油石油 youtube. 俄罗斯石油 俄罗斯石油公司 （俄語： росне́фть， 羅馬化：rosneft， 發音： ˌrosˈnʲeftʲ；英語： rosneft），是 俄罗斯 一家综合能源公司，总部位于俄罗斯首都 莫斯科，专门从事勘探，开采，生产，提炼，运输，运输。.

fc2 여사친 Leverage your professional network, and get hired. Australian chinese daily 10 may 2022 378073 新州 23 94. Search home search俄羅斯石油 products 0 cases stories 0 cases brochures 0 ideas & howtos 0 news 0 catalog contact back to top facebook twitter linkedin get a free quote. 受美國制裁影響，俄羅斯第二大石油公司盧克石油（lukoil）被迫出售其國外業務。路透報導，美國私募股權公司凱雷集團（carlyle group）已同意收購盧克石油估. Start your search now for valuable insights into auction sales.

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.