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.
위업 03년생 위업 스투반 권다솜 야이 시발년아. 삼시보 사이버불링 논란 코로나바이러스감염증19 유튜브 몰카 사건 김재석 폭행피해 사건 2020년 3월 12일. 사건 발생 2022년 6월 재보궐선거 당시, 김건희 여사가 김영선 전 국민의힘 의원의 공천에 개입했다는 의혹이 제기됨. 이 사건은 우리나라의 가장 유명한 학교폭력으로 인한 자살.
데뷔 전 어린 시절부터 배우의 꿈을 키워왔다고 한다.. 그의 사촌은 권 대행의 지역기반인 강릉시 에서 조명업체를 운영하는데, 수의계약 조건을 위반하여 강릉시청 의 사업을 얻어낸 사실이 드러났다..
녹취록은 대북송금 사건 조작 의혹과 연관, 권 의원의 발언이 대가성 거래로 해석될 여지가 있음. @dasom_pingping on instagram 2018. 민주노총 간첩사건 개요 2024년 11월 6일, 수원지방법원은 북한으로부터 지령을 받아 간첩 활동을 한 혐의로 기소된 전직 민주노총 간부들에게 중형을 선고했습니다. 사건 개요 1심에서 어떤 혐의가 다뤄졌나 권 의원은 통일교 측 관계자로 알려진 윤영호 전 통일교 세계본부장으로부터 1억원을 받았다는 정치자금법 위반 혐의로 재판을 받아 왔다. 1056 태국파타야 드럼통살인사건정리 한국인납치 열손가락 절단된 채 시멘트에 담겨 살해 3명용의자정보. 권다솜 사건과 관련된 소식을 전합니다.
28일 서울중앙지법 형사합의27부재판장, 실종된 김은비를 찾기 위한 이야기와 충격적인 사실을 알아보세요. 삼시보 사이버불링 논란 코로나바이러스감염증19 유튜브 몰카 사건 김재석 폭행피해 사건 2020년 3월 12일. 사건을 자세히 설명하기 앞서 내용을 잠시 요약하자면 걸그룹 aoa 출신 권민아가 중학교 때. 위업 03년생 위업 스투반 권다솜 야이 시발년아, 그러면서 돌아오지 않으면 남아있는 인질인 윤양을 죽이겠다고 협박했습니다.
동덕여대 사태, 대학 서열사회에서 아랫사람 취급하니 폭발한 것 그러니까 계엄도 아 아니당 ㅎㅎ이화여대 어쩌고 부분은 오피셜도 아니고 걍 자기 뇌피셜임. 728x90 그리드형 공유하기 게시글 관리 만물의 영장 속세의 삶 저작자표시비영리변경금지새창열림, 녹취록은 대북송금 사건 조작 의혹과 연관, 권 의원의 발언이 대가성 거래로 해석될 여지가 있음.
제작진 대응 sbs 측은 논란이 커지자 해당 출연자의 분량을 전면 삭제하고 다시보기 서비스를 중단하는 등 흔적 지우기에 나섰습니다.. 권민아 사건에 대해 정리해드리겠습니다.. 권 대행의 친인척과 관련한 내용의 보도인데 이른바 특혜 의혹이 제기된 것이다.. 동덕여대 사태, 대학 서열사회에서 아랫사람 취급하니 폭발한 것 그러니까 계엄도 아 아니당 ㅎㅎ이화여대 어쩌고 부분은 오피셜도 아니고 걍 자기 뇌피셜임..
권 의원은 혐의를 대부분 부인하였으나 불법 정치자금 실체와 관련해 구치소에 수감된 이후 폭행 피해까지 보고돼 정치적 논란이 더욱 증폭되었습니다. 왕따 주행 논란 김보름은 2018년 평창동계올림픽 여자 스피드스케이팅 팀 추월 종목에서 왕따 주행 논란에 중심에 있었던 선수다. Com › discover › 권다솜사건tiktok. 쟁점 녹취록이 사실인지, 아니면 정치적 공세를 위한 조작인지. Com 쌍방울대북송금 800만덜러 이화영부지사 대북송금의혹 유엔제재위반 제3자뇌물 쌍방울사건정리 이화영진술 김성태쌍방울 국제법위반 연어유통기한 0 인쇄.
| 2020년 aoa 내 괴롭힘 폭로 2021년 성폭행 피해 폭로 202. | 2020년 aoa 내 괴롭힘 폭로 2021년 성폭행 피해 폭로 202. | 통일교로부터 정치자금 1억원을 받은 혐의로 구속기소된 권성동 국민의힘 의원이 징역 2년을 선고받았다. | 통일교로부터 정치자금 1억원을 받은 혐의로 구속기소된 권성동 국민의힘 의원이 징역 2년을 선고받았다. |
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| 다인실에서 다른 재소자와 갈등이 물리적 충돌로 이어져 권 의원이 얼굴과 목에 멍과 상처를 입었다. | 쟁점 녹취록이 사실인지, 아니면 정치적 공세를 위한 조작인지. | 걸그룹 aoa 출신 멤버인 권민아가 성폭행 사건과 aoa 멤버 지민과 관련되어 이슈가 되고 있다. | 걸그룹 aoa는 멤버끼리 불화설로 인해 예전부터 화제가 되고 있다. |
| Issue거리 태국파타야 드럼통살인사건정리 한국인납치 열손가락 절단된 채 시멘트에 담겨 살해 3명용의자정보 2024. | 728x90 그리드형 공유하기 게시글 관리 만물의 영장 속세의 삶 저작자표시비영리변경금지새창열림. | 1심 재판부는 이 혐의를 유죄로 판단해 징역 2년과 추징금 1억원을 선고했다. | 왓츠인마이블로그 2025블로그챌린지 관봉권 관봉권띠지 관봉권사건 관봉권유실 관봉권유실사건 건진법사 전성배 검찰개혁 검찰조직범죄 검찰청문회 법제사법위원회 국회청문회 특검 특검검토 사건정리 정치뉴스 사회이슈 김정민수사관 0 댓글 4. |
| 민주노총 간첩사건 개요 2024년 11월 6일, 수원지방법원은 북한으로부터 지령을 받아 간첩 활동을 한 혐의로 기소된 전직 민주노총 간부들에게 중형을 선고했습니다. | 사건 개요 1심에서 어떤 혐의가 다뤄졌나 권 의원은 통일교 측 관계자로 알려진 윤영호 전 통일교 세계본부장으로부터 1억원을 받았다는 정치자금법 위반 혐의로 재판을 받아 왔다. | 데뷔 전 어린 시절부터 배우의 꿈을 키워왔다고 한다. | 이 사건은 우리나라의 가장 유명한 학교폭력으로 인한 자살. |
| 스피트스케이팅 김보름 노선영의 왕따사건이 소송으로 이어졌던 가운데 법원판결에 따라 진실로 밝혀지며 화제가 되고 있습니다. | 현재 김건모는 폭행 피해를 주장한 매니저를 무고죄로 고소했다. | 권다솜 사건과 관련된 소식을 전합니다. | 왕따 주행 논란 김보름은 2018년 평창동계올림픽 여자 스피드스케이팅 팀 추월 종목에서 왕따 주행 논란에 중심에 있었던 선수다. |
1심 재판부는 이 혐의를 유죄로 판단해 징역 2년과 추징금 1억원을 선고했다, 권 의원은 악의적 편집이라며 법적 대응 중, 그러면서 돌아오지 않으면 남아있는 인질인 윤양을 죽이겠다고 협박했습니다.
의혹 내용 김건희 여사가 김 전 의원에게 특정 지역구로 출마할 것을 제안했다는 텔레그램 메시지가 있었음. 이를 sbs 중계진이 잘못된 운영이라고 지적하고, 이후 sbs 측이 편집된 영상 등으로 왕따 의혹을. 02 721pm 개인 기록용으로 남깁니다 팔로우 다른분들껀 잘 보고있어요🤍 가끔 댓글 답니다 ㅎㅎ.
Com 쌍방울대북송금 800만덜러 이화영부지사 대북송금의혹 유엔제재위반 제3자뇌물 쌍방울사건정리 이화영진술 김성태쌍방울 국제법위반 연어유통기한 0 인쇄, 의혹 내용 김건희 여사가 김 전 의원에게 특정 지역구로 출마할 것을 제안했다는 텔레그램 메시지가 있었음. 이와 함께 권 의원이 기자 폭행 사건으로 형사 고소를 당하는 등 다수 논란에 휩싸여 있는 상황입니다, 사건 발생 2022년 6월 재보궐선거 당시, 김건희 여사가 김영선 전 국민의힘 의원의 공천에 개입했다는 의혹이 제기됨. 걸그룹 aoa는 멤버끼리 불화설로 인해 예전부터 화제가 되고 있다.
남자 진동기 디시 걸그룹 aoa는 멤버끼리 불화설로 인해 예전부터 화제가 되고 있다. 그의 사촌은 권 대행의 지역기반인 강릉시 에서 조명업체를 운영하는데, 수의계약 조건을 위반하여 강릉시청 의 사업을 얻어낸 사실이 드러났다. 쟁점 녹취록이 사실인지, 아니면 정치적 공세를 위한 조작인지. 02 721pm 개인 기록용으로 남깁니다 팔로우 다른분들껀 잘 보고있어요🤍 가끔 댓글 답니다 ㅎㅎ. 의혹 내용 김건희 여사가 김 전 의원에게 특정 지역구로 출마할 것을 제안했다는 텔레그램 메시지가 있었음. 네토퀸 마사지
네즈코 19금 내가 동덕대학생이었으면 개빡쳤을듯응 서로 이야기하고 용서하기전에 락카칠부터 하셨음. 728x90 그리드형 공유하기 게시글 관리 만물의 영장 속세의 삶 저작자표시비영리변경금지새창열림. @dasom_pingping on instagram 2018. 쟁점 녹취록이 사실인지, 아니면 정치적 공세를 위한 조작인지. 그의 사촌은 권 대행의 지역기반인 강릉시 에서 조명업체를 운영하는데, 수의계약 조건을 위반하여 강릉시청 의 사업을 얻어낸 사실이 드러났다. 남자 둘레 11cm 디시
놀자 성인들의 파라다이스 위업 03년생 위업 스투반 권다솜 야이 시발년아. 왕따 주행 논란 김보름은 2018년 평창동계올림픽 여자 스피드스케이팅 팀 추월 종목에서 왕따 주행 논란에 중심에 있었던 선수다. Com › discover › 권다솜사건tiktok. 녹취록은 대북송금 사건 조작 의혹과 연관, 권 의원의 발언이 대가성 거래로 해석될 여지가 있음. 현재 김건모는 폭행 피해를 주장한 매니저를 무고죄로 고소했다. 난징 사우나
내 근처의 집과 가구점 1심 재판부는 이 혐의를 유죄로 판단해 징역 2년과 추징금 1억원을 선고했다. @dasom_pingping on instagram 2018. 현재 김건모는 폭행 피해를 주장한 매니저를 무고죄로 고소했다. 권민아 사건에 대해 정리해드리겠습니다. 사건 발생 2022년 6월 재보궐선거 당시, 김건희 여사가 김영선 전 국민의힘 의원의 공천에 개입했다는 의혹이 제기됨.
노아 asmr 디시 현재 김건모는 폭행 피해를 주장한 매니저를 무고죄로 고소했다. 의혹 내용 김건희 여사가 김 전 의원에게 특정 지역구로 출마할 것을 제안했다는 텔레그램 메시지가 있었음. 권 대행의 친인척과 관련한 내용의 보도인데 이른바 특혜 의혹이 제기된 것이다. 걸그룹 aoa 출신 멤버인 권민아가 성폭행 사건과 aoa 멤버 지민과 관련되어 이슈가 되고 있다. 02 721pm 개인 기록용으로 남깁니다 팔로우 다른분들껀 잘 보고있어요🤍 가끔 댓글 답니다 ㅎㅎ.
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.
권 의원은 악의적 편집이라며 법적 대응 중., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.