US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 3, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 3, 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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 3, 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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 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 3, 2026.
잡담 오스피어 이름 유래가 오창섭님이였구나. 축제의 본격적인 시작인 개막식은 30일 저녁 7시 열린다. 스포츠한국 이혜영 기자 가비가 19일 오후 인천 파라다이스시티에서 진행된 제2회 청룡시리즈어워즈 시상식 레드카펫 행사에 참석하고 있다. 러시아 커피를 한자로 음역한 뜻을 가진 노서아 가비는 평범한 역사적 사건에 불과했을 고종독살 음모사건으로.
쵸라 천송이 민서영 신비 핵빵디 거박2일 조기석 허영무 232 앙쁠 들레 남연지 티엘성형외과 현성좌 꼴까닥 나너기 땡땡양 하치 초롱빡 메딕 빨무여신오리 또봉순 솖 수국 멍유라 미구미 토리 세아 갓도욤 꼬미 도하 소풍왔니 얄지매 우리가소영 엔찌날히 아우라, This is a list of polyneoptera, or orthopteroid insects found in the wild of the korean peninsula and surrounding islands. 사진 가비 인스타그램 가비가 프로젝트 그룹 재스비 jaessbee로 mma 2024 the 16th melon music awards에 참석했다.News › article › 1519323가비, 가슴 쌀보리 댄스 탄생 비화수위가 점점 라스 종합.. Com › article › 1527524가비, 가슴 쌀보리 댄스 탄생 비화수위가 점점 라스종합..
공개된 사진 속 문가비는 풀빌라의 선베드서 태닝에 한창인 포즈를 취하고 있다, 안토시아닌은 우리 몸의 세포를 손상시키는 활성산소를 제거하고, 세포 노화를 방지하는 데 큰 도움을 줍니다. 29 2150 슈팅원툴깨리 노제도 나쁘지않았음 리더미션에서 댄스 젤 잘짜서 초이스받기도 했고 메인자리에 서기도 했어 하루12시간채식 2021.
29 오전 1110 유튜브 채널 전대미문 영상 갈무리. 6일 방송되는 jtbc my name is, 화끈하다 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㄹㅇ 상상치도 못한 답변 ㄴㅇㄱ 걸그룹 보이그룹 여솔 남솔 방송인 dance 기타 기획사 덕업 국가별 시사예능 음지 힙합언더, 팬더티비 출신 나는찬미 꼭지 잡고 가슴을 완전 꺼내서 재정리 5, 해당 영상에는 가비가 댄스 배틀에 참가한 모습이 담겨있다.
가지는 여러 가지 탁월한 효능 때문에 열매뿐만 아니라 부위별로 모두 쓰여왔습니다, This is a list of polyneoptera, or orthopteroid insects found in the wild of the korean peninsula and surrounding islands. List of orthopteroids of korea. 마이데일리 유진형 기자 문가비가 반라 상태에서 손으로 겨우 가린 파격적인 노출을 선보였다, 댄서 가비는 그의 트레이드 마크인 헤이를 외치며 등장, 카메라를.
뭉선생, 윤효식 공그림, 주니어김영사, 2024, 어린이실. 팬더티비 출신 나는찬미 꼭지 잡고 가슴을 완전 꺼내서 재정리 5. 인천뉴스1 박혜성 기자 댄서 가비가 봄륨감 넘치는 몸매를 과시하며 화려한 모습으로 레드카펫을 밟았다, 가브리엘 최초 성별이 바뀐다는 점에서 흥미를 더한다, 안토시아닌은 우리 몸의 세포를 손상시키는 활성산소를 제거하고, 세포 노화를 방지하는 데 큰 도움을 줍니다.
시즌5의 키워드는 인간人間과 인생人生이다. 소통&참여 괴산소식 오늘의 뉴스괴산군청. 스우파 가비→피넛, 파격 화보 공개망사 스타킹에 속옷.
| 안토시아닌은 우리 몸의 세포를 손상시키는 활성산소를 제거하고, 세포 노화를 방지하는 데 큰 도움을 줍니다. | 가비원인불명 빈혈의 진료보고서, 관리자, 0930, 1. | 인천뉴스1 박혜성 기자 댄서 가비가 봄륨감 넘치는 몸매를 과시하며 화려한 모습으로 레드카펫을 밟았다. | 이달 29일 개막하는 2024 괴산고추축제는 뜨겁거나 차갑거나를 주제로 다음 달 1일까지 나흘간 유기농엑스포광장 일원에서 열린다. |
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| 진료의뢰보고서 172 페이지 로얄동물메디컬센터 본원. | 댄서 가비 0건 14,130회 211130 1249. | 스우파 가비 탱크톱 입고 격한 춤추다 노출사고 깜짝 고백. | 한눈에 보는 오늘 연예가 화제 뉴스 시크뉴스 한숙인 기자 예능에서 솔직담백함을 넘어서는 거침없는 입담으로 주목받고 있는 마마무 화사와 문가비의 또 다른 공통점은 건강미다. |
| 가브리엘 최초 성별이 바뀐다는 점에서 흥미를 더한다. | 가브리엘 최초 성별이 바뀐다는 점에서 흥미를 더한다. | 쵸라 천송이 민서영 신비 핵빵디 거박2일 조기석 허영무 232 앙쁠 들레 남연지 티엘성형외과 현성좌 꼴까닥 나너기 땡땡양 하치 초롱빡 메딕 빨무여신오리 또봉순 솖 수국 멍유라 미구미 토리 세아 갓도욤 꼬미 도하 소풍왔니 얄지매 우리가소영 엔찌날히 아우라. | 0 댓글 잡담 한시간걸려서밥받았는데잘못오고배달파트너전화안받음. |
| 130, 라몽특발성 간질의 진료 꼭지원인불명 위장관염의 진료보고서, 관리자, 0930, 1. | 이 기간 △황금고추를 찾아라 △ read more. | 4k views 4 years ago more. | 스우파 가비 탱크톱 입고 격한 춤추다 노출사고 깜짝 고백. |
13일 방송된 jtbc ‘my name is 가브리엘’ 11회에서는 멕시코에서 ‘우시엘’이 된 가비가 친, 11k followers, 1,953 following, 3,958 posts see instagram photos and videos from 내추럴보이 내추럴와인샵 내추럴와인 @naturalboywineshop. 가비 젖통 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 꼭지 다보이네 기타 국내 드라마 갤러리.
리타 lpl Com › article › 1527524가비, 가슴 쌀보리 댄스 탄생 비화수위가 점점 라스종합. 마이데일리 유진형 기자 문가비가 반라 상태에서 손으로 겨우 가린 파격적인 노출을 선보였다. 7월 첫째주한주간 언론 서평 베스트 책이 있어 여름이. 0 댓글 잡담 한시간걸려서밥받았는데잘못오고배달파트너전화안받음. 가비는 여자의 섹시함이 댄스 배틀의 주제였다고 설명하며 배틀이다 보니 댄스 동작의 수위가 점점 올라갔다고 밝혔다. 루미뜨 벨라치아
로리 fc2 Mc 재재는 모니카 씨도 쟤 가비랑은 붙기 싫다고 했었다라며 서바이벌에서 몸을 사리지 않는 가비를 치켜세웠다. 이날 가비는 가슴을 쓸어내린 아찔한 무대가 있었다며 에피소드를 공개했다. Com › postview가지 효능 5가지와 부작용, 가지물 가지차 먹는법 가지꼭지, 말린. 특히, 가지의 껍질과 꼭지에는 안토시아닌, 클로로겐산, 나수닌, 페놀 화합물 등의 다양한 항산화 성분이 풍부해 보라색을 띠게 하며 건강에 도움이 됩니다. 화끈하다 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㄹㅇ 상상치도 못한 답변 ㄴㅇㄱ 걸그룹 보이그룹 여솔 남솔 방송인 dance 기타 기획사 덕업 국가별 시사예능 음지 힙합언더. 로블록스 99일 살아남기 코드
마 운자 로 중단 디시 쵸라 천송이 민서영 신비 핵빵디 거박2일 조기석 허영무 232 앙쁠 들레 남연지 티엘성형외과 현성좌 꼴까닥 나너기 땡땡양 하치 초롱빡 메딕 빨무여신오리 또봉순 솖 수국 멍유라 미구미 토리 세아 갓도욤 꼬미 도하 소풍왔니 얄지매 우리가소영 엔찌날히 아우라. Com › board › view가비 젖통 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 꼭지 다보이네 기타 국내 드라마 갤러리. 지난 14일 방송된 mbc 예능프로그램 라디오스타는 지구마불 세계무대 특집으로 꾸며진 가운데 타블로, 이장원, 가비, 우기가 게스트로 출연했다. 문가비의 비키니 하의는 끈 형태로 되어 있어. 가비 젖통 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 꼭지 다보이네 기타 국내 드라마 갤러리. 로라 뮐러
로라 엉밑 쵸라 천송이 민서영 신비 핵빵디 거박2일 조기석 허영무 232 앙쁠 들레 남연지 티엘성형외과 현성좌 꼴까닥 나너기 땡땡양 하치 초롱빡 메딕 빨무여신오리 또봉순 솖 수국 멍유라 미구미 토리 세아 갓도욤 꼬미 도하 소풍왔니 얄지매 우리가소영 엔찌날히 아우라. 이달 29일 개막하는 2024 괴산고추축제는 뜨겁거나 차갑거나를 주제로 다음 달 1일까지 나흘간 유기농엑스포광장 일원에서 열린다. 가비가 멕시코 밴드 멤버가 된 72시간의 삶을 시작한다. 그래서 오늘은 가지 꼭지 효능과 부작용에 대해서 정리해보려고 합니다. Com › postview가지 효능 5가지와 부작용, 가지물 가지차 먹는법 가지꼭지, 말린.
리즈 딸감 강력한 항산화 작용가지 꼭지에는 강력한 항산화 물질인 안토시아닌이 풍부하게 들어 있어요. 11k followers, 1,953 following, 3,958 posts see instagram photos and videos from 내추럴보이 내추럴와인샵 내추럴와인 @naturalboywineshop. 29 2150 슈팅원툴깨리 노제도 나쁘지않았음 리더미션에서 댄스 젤 잘짜서 초이스받기도 했고 메인자리에 서기도 했어 하루12시간채식 2021. 사진 가비 인스타그램 가비가 프로젝트 그룹 재스비 jaessbee로 mma 2024 the 16th melon music awards에 참석했다. 엘르가 만난 여성 댄스크루 네 팀의 화보와 인터뷰는 엘르11월호에서.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 3, 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 3, 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 3, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 3, 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.
마이데일리 유진형 기자 문가비가 반라 상태에서 손으로 겨우 가린 파격적인 노출을 선보였다., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.