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.

Roman catholicism meaning 1. Learn more in the cambridge englishspanish dictionary. Install mods or upload your own to heighten the experience of your favourite games. 天主教（會）的正式稱為「公教（會）」，原由為希臘文的「καθολικὴ ἐκκλησία」（katholike ekklesia、英譯：catholic church），意思為「大公教會」，此詞最早出現於公元2世紀初，該.

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Roman catholicism translations 天主教教义, 教义 translate into english with the chinese simplified–english dictionary cambridge dictionary. Zəmnoun the beliefs and activities of the roman catholic church. Install mods or upload your own to heighten the experience of your favourite games. Org › wiki › category天主教教义category天主教教义 维基百科，自由的百科全书, Pdf12 pagechristian doctrine, in spanish and tagalog wdl82.

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分类天主教教义中的页面 本分类共含有4个页面，以下显示其中4个。.. Catholicism meaning 1.. 难道你们没有看到，无数的敌基督已经加入敌基督的阵营，与耶稣基督为敌吗？ 敌基督的到来是为了推翻天主教教义，废除天主教信仰的信条。 所有受洗的人都曾被警告过祂的到来，但祂却披着圣洁的外衣而来，迷惑了上帝的选民。.. 都可証明此點。1985年非常規的世界主教會議要求「編一本教理或一套綜合全部天主教教義和倫 訓導的摘要」。教宗若望保祿二世接納了主教會議的這個願望,認為它「必定滿全普世教會和個別教會的一個真正需求」,並從速著手工作,務使與會主教們..

国学与西学 国际学刊 international journal of sinowestern studies 主编 黄保罗 editorinchief paulos huang 马丁, It is believed by christians to have been written by human authors under the inspiration of the holy spirit. 第三章：天主的恩寵：法律和恩寵 第二部分：十誡 第一章：愛天主 第二章：愛人 卷四：基督徒的祈禱 第一部分：基督徒生活中的祈禱 第一章：祈禱的啟示 第二章：祈禱的傳統 第三章：祈禱生活 卷四：第二部分：主禱文 search results 舊金山天主教華人團體. 圣传与圣经彼此紧紧相连并相通，因为二者都由同一神泉流出，好似汇成一道江河，朝著同一目标流去。（天主的启示，9号）教宗良十四世1月28日在保禄六世大厅 read more. Roman catholicism translate 天主教教义, This concept is known as sola scriptura.

Translations in context of 天主教教义 in chineseenglish from reverso context 这本于 1593 年在马尼拉出版的西班牙语和塔加洛语, Pdf1 pagechristian doctrine, in spanish and tagalog wdl82. 圣传与圣经彼此紧紧相连并相通，因为二者都由同一神泉流出，好似汇成一道江河，朝著同一目标流去。（天主的启示，9号）教宗良十四世1月28日在保禄六世大厅 read more.

圣传与圣经彼此紧紧相连并相通，因为二者都由同一神泉流出，好似汇成一道江河，朝著同一目标流去。（天主的启示，9号）教宗良十四世1月28日在保禄六世大厅 read more. Pdf10 pagechristian doctrine, in spanish and tagalog wdl82, Org › zhs › 词典教义 简体中文英语翻译——剑桥词典. 天主教认为，圣言是天主的话，它包含天主对世界和人类的计划和旨意，并能给人以启发和灵感。 教会认为，为明了天主的话，教徒必须有适当的准备，开放自己的心灵 read more. Pdf13 pagechristian doctrine, in spanish and tagalog wdl82.

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Install mods or upload your own to heighten the experience of your favourite games. Learn more in the cambridge englishchinese simplified dictionary, Learn more in the cambridge englishspanish dictionary, The following 30 pages use this file pagechristian doctrine, in spanish and tagalog wdl82. 很多天主教规矩并非教会的既定教义，不应被当作教条来宣扬 在重要的事情上保持团结；在有争议的事情上保持自由；在所有事情上保持爱。read more. 天主教会实际上由24个 自权 教会组成（自权的拉丁语原文为 sui iuris ，意为自我管治），包括教宗直接治理且规模较大的 拉丁礼教会，以及23个与教宗有 共融 关系、规模较小的 东仪天主教会。.

教义 中文（简体）–英语词典翻译——剑桥词典 a religion that developed in the 15th century, based on belief in a single god and on the teachings of guru nanak, Org › zhcn › 天主教教理天主教教理 维基百科，自由的百科全书, Roman catholicism meaning 1, 七宗罪（拉丁语：septem peccata mortalia；英语：seven deadly sins），天主教术语中称为七罪宗，指对人类道德堕落根源的七种精神性罪恶分类体系，包含傲慢、嫉妒、暴怒、懒惰、贪婪、暴食和色欲。该体系不同于具体罪行，而是强调驱动恶行的原始动机，如暴力行为背后的嫉妒或贪婪等深层罪宗。在.

츠키시로 루나 教义 translate into english with the chinese simplified–english dictionary cambridge dictionary. 天主教 translate into english with the chinese simplified–english dictionary cambridge dictionary. Learn more in the cambridge englishchinese simplified dictionary. Org天主教要理 – catechism of the catholic church. 天主教会实际上由24个 自权 教会组成（自权的拉丁语原文为 sui iuris ，意为自我管治），包括教宗直接治理且规模较大的 拉丁礼教会，以及23个与教宗有 共融 关系、规模较小的 东仪天主教会。. 카나오 가슴

카리나 레전드 움짤 디시 Translations in context of 天主教教义 in chineseenglish from reverso context 这本于 1593 年在马尼拉出版的西班牙语和塔加洛语. 主教天主教徒相信聖父、聖子、聖神三位一體的天主，天主所啟示的一切，主要都記載於《聖經》裡；祂創造世界和人，以分享祂的愛，原祖父母卻違逆天意，而天主仍派救主耶穌降生 read more. Org › zhs › 词典教义 简体中文英语翻译——剑桥词典. Christianity regards the bible, a collection of canonical books in two parts the old testament and the new testament, as authoritative. 都可証明此點。1985年非常規的世界主教會議要求「編一本教理或一套綜合全部天主教教義和倫 訓導的摘要」。教宗若望保祿二世接納了主教會議的這個願望,認為它「必定滿全普世教會和個別教會的一個真正需求」,並從速著手工作,務使與會主教們. 카사노바 다리문신녀

캠gay Zəmnoun the beliefs and activities of the roman catholic church. 教义 中文（简体）–英语词典翻译——剑桥词典 a religion that developed in the 15th century, based on belief in a single god and on the teachings of guru nanak. Org › wiki › 天主教天主教 维基百科，自由的百科全书. Roman catholicism definition 1. Org › wiki › catholic_theologycatholic theology wikipedia. 캔디 러브 디시

케 모노 팬박스 디시 Catholicism translations 天主教. 天主教是一個愛的大家庭，為完成耶穌交付的傳教使命，當有組織和制度。 聖統制：耶穌為使教會成長，設立了. 难道你们没有看到，无数的敌基督已经加入敌基督的阵营，与耶稣基督为敌吗？ 敌基督的到来是为了推翻天主教教义，废除天主教信仰的信条。 所有受洗的人都曾被警告过祂的到来，但祂却披着圣洁的外衣而来，迷惑了上帝的选民。. Org › wiki › catholic_theologycatholic theology wikipedia. 主教天主教徒相信聖父、聖子、聖神三位一體的天主，天主所啟示的一切，主要都記載於《聖經》裡；祂創造世界和人，以分享祂的愛，原祖父母卻違逆天意，而天主仍派救主耶穌降生 read more.

츠키 가슴 Catholicism 의미, 정의, catholicism의 정의 1. Translations in context of 天主教教义 in chineseenglish from reverso context 这本于 1593 年在马尼拉出版的西班牙语和塔加洛语. Ch › introductioncatholicreligion天主教简介：信仰、习俗和历史. This concept is known as sola scriptura. It is believed by christians to have been written by human authors under the inspiration of the holy spirit.

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.