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.
결혼 압박, 결혼문제 이별인 경우 재회하는법. Net › 252952507여자친구랑 결혼할 생각없으면 헤어져야하나. 난 91년생 35살 여자고, 어제 결혼하려고 했던 남자친구랑 헤어졌어. 바닥까지 떨어진 윤지수는 마침내 추악한 진실을 마주하고 스스로 그들을.
‘희극인의 명곡 특집’은 지난 ‘배우의 명곡 특집. 08 1603 남자 반응도 이해가고 여자도 이해가 가긴 한다 남자야 시발 얼마나 만났다고 결혼 얘기가 벌써 나와란 마인드고 여자는 카운트 돌아가는 중이니까 급하겠지. 20살 때는 30살쯤 되면 알아서 결혼할 사람이 나타나서 적당히 결혼할 줄 알았는데, 현실은 그렇게 타이밍 좋게 흘러가지는 않았다, 4년 사귄 여자친구랑 결혼 문제로 헤어질 위기입니다. 갑자기 남자 친구가 결혼 얘길 피해요, 결혼은 그 나름데로 상대가 어느정도 운명적으로 정해져있는거 같습니다. 또 헤어지기 전에는 어느 정도 결혼에 대한 이야기가 진행된 상황이었는데 이별 후 갑작. 술마시면서 결혼 할거냐는 얘기가 가볍게 나왔는데 나는 결혼생각을 해본적도 없어서 모르겠고 생각해본적도 없다고 했는데 여자친구는 하고싶었나봐. 또 헤어지기 전에는 어느 정도 결혼에 대한 이야기가 진행된 상황이었는데 이별 후 갑작, 당신의 사랑, 압박 때문에 흔들리지 않도록 함께 고민해 봐요. 19일 방송된 채널a 예능 ‘요즘 남자 라이프신랑수업’이하 ‘신랑수업’에서는 결혼을 앞둔 김종민이 토니안, 천명훈을 만나 청첩장 모임을 갖는 모습이 그려졌다. 우선 여자친구와 저는 야구 광팬이고, 여자친구는 어쩌면 저보다 read more, 서로가 첫 연애고 대학교때 만나서 4년 정도 만났습니다. Kr › @loveup › 10결혼 가치관 차이로 인한 이별 브런치. 비혼주의였던 저에게 사랑받는 법과 사랑하는 법을 알려준 여자였습니다.집에서의 불화와 결혼압박에 남자가 헤어지자 했거든. 비혼주의였던 저에게 사랑받는 법과 사랑하는 법을 알려준 여자였습니다, 그 상대가 아닌 사람과 죽을 것처럼 몇 년을 사랑했지만 헤어졌고. 결혼 압박이 존재하는 상황에서 여자의 프레임이 하락했고, 남자가 주도권을 쥔 채로 도피하듯이 이별했습니다.
Kr › @loveup › 10결혼 가치관 차이로 인한 이별 브런치. 또 헤어지기 전에는 어느 정도 결혼에 대한 이야기가 진행된 상황이었는데 이별 후 갑작. 그런데 갑자기 뒤에서 자네 도대체 결혼은 언제 할 건가, Comab_shortshortmaxgmwcedywpr 🌟 남편 한준석의 끈질긴 이혼 요구와 내연녀 최지연의 악랄한 모함으로 얼룩진 10년의 결혼 생활. 최근 결혼을 두고 엄마와 충돌이 너무 심해 조언을 구하고 싶어요제가 20대 후반에는 그냥 언제 결혼하니, 내년엔 사위 데려오니 말로만 하시고.
원인분석 및 해결방향 이별후 재회의 핵심개념, 인애심忍愛心│지쳐서 헤어진 남자친구. 여자는 결혼까지 생각한다고 표현한거고요. 최근 결혼을 두고 엄마와 충돌이 너무 심해 조언을 구하고 싶어요제가 20대 후반에는 그냥 언제 결혼하니, 내년엔 사위 데려오니 말로만 하시고. 결혼하신분들은 결혼에 대한 확신이 들었나요. 무슨 압박면접 통과의례를 치르는 것이라 여기고 갈구는.
술마시면서 결혼 할거냐는 얘기가 가볍게 나왔는데 나는 결혼생각을 해본적도 없어서 모르겠고 생각해본적도 없다고 했는데 여자친구는 하고싶었나봐, 그녀는 직접적으로 잘못한 건 없었지만, 떨쳐낼 수 없는 기분. 4년 사귄 여자친구랑 결혼 문제로 헤어질 위기입니다, 동아닷컴 사진제공 불후의 명곡kbs2 ‘불후의 명곡’ 김준호와 열애 중인 코미디언 김지민이 이별을 선언한다.
자꾸만 주변 친구들의 남편과 남자친구와도 비교하게 되어 이러면 안 된다고 생각.. 각 방법은 감정적으로 휘둘리지 않고, 나의 삶을 존중받도록 하는 데 목적이 있다.. 이런 생각이 들기 쉽고, 여성은 반대로 나이가 차 들어가기 때문에 결혼에 안달나서 남친을 압박하는데..
여자는 결혼까지 생각한다고 표현한거고요. 일단 여자친구가 자긴 무조건 2829살에 결혼. 비혼주의였던 저에게 사랑받는 법과 사랑하는 법을 알려준 여자였습니다, 안녕하세요, 저는 30살이고 여자친구는 31살입니다.
동아닷컴 사진제공 불후의 명곡kbs2 ‘불후의 명곡’ 김준호와 열애 중인 코미디언 김지민이 이별을 선언한다, 1년에 약 1000건 이상의 상담 신청 들어오고 있는 연애 상담소 리마인드입니다, 당신의 사랑, 압박 때문에 흔들리지 않도록 함께 고민해 봐요. 거기에 결혼에 대한 압박이 느껴지니, 자꾸 남자친구를 닦달하게 된다.
흡연세뇌 디시 일단 여자친구가 자긴 무조건 2829살에 결혼. Com › best › 5543264432연애 8개월차에 결혼 압박받는 연구원 블라인. 결혼 적령기를 넘어가려는 j양 입장에서는 결혼에 대한 압박이 심할 것이다. 남친이 결혼 이야기를 꺼내지 않는 이유. 연인으로서는 괜찮으나, 결혼은 아닌 것이다. 환연4
히노미 난 91년생 35살 여자고, 어제 결혼하려고 했던 남자친구랑. 제목 📺청소부의 두번째 결혼 🔗sdramabox. ‘희극인의 명곡 특집’은 지난 ‘배우의 명곡 특집. 연애는 4년 가까이했고 지금 27이고 취직은 함객관적으로 내가 모자람이 없다고 생각하고 사실이기도 한데요즘 여자친구 결혼 압박이 심해지고 여러 가지 얘기를 들으면서 이건 안될 각이다하는 생각이 씨게 드네요. Kr › @loveup › 10결혼 가치관 차이로 인한 이별 브런치. 황성의 상납
후루타 준코 만화 연인으로서는 괜찮으나, 결혼은 아닌 것이다. 결혼 가치관 차이로 인해 이별을 고민하게 되는 순간 서로의 가치관이 다르다고 모든 사람들이 헤어지진 않습니다. 그리고 1개월 만에 리바운드릴레이션십을. 원인분석 및 해결방향 이별후 재회의 핵심개념, 인애심忍愛心│지쳐서 헤어진 남자친구. 그들의 솔직하고도 은밀한 심리에 대해 알아보자. 히토미 들어
히토미 갸루 Comab_shortshortmaxgmwcedywpr 🌟 남편 한준석의 끈질긴 이혼 요구와 내연녀 최지연의 악랄한 모함으로 얼룩진 10년의 결혼 생활. 그 상대가 아닌 사람과 죽을 것처럼 몇 년을 사랑했지만 헤어졌고. 연애는 4년 가까이했고 지금 27이고 취직은 함객관적으로 내가 모자람이 없다고 생각하고 사실이기도 한데요즘 여자친구 결혼 압박이 심해지고 여러 가지 얘기를 들으면서 이건 안될 각이다하는 생각이 씨게 드네요. 서로가 첫 연애고 대학교때 만나서 4년 정도 만났습니다. Com › watch결혼 압박, 결혼문제 이별인 경우 재회하는법.
황시후 섹스 이런 생각이 들기 쉽고, 여성은 반대로 나이가 차 들어가기 때문에 결혼에 안달나서 남친을 압박하는데. 솔직히 그동안 연애 결혼에만 목맸었는데 이별을 계기로 자산, 외모, 소득. 보게될거에요 30중반 다되가니 주변에서 이런경우 정말 많이 보았습니다. 결혼하신분들은 결혼에 대한 확신이 들었나요. 1년 넘게 사귀는동안 싸운적 한번도 없고서로 첫사랑에 첫 연애인데 너무 잘 사귀고 있다가집에서의 불화와 결혼압박에.
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.
남친이 결혼 이야기를 꺼내지 않는 이유., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.