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.
한국 10위 아이유 623억원 나이 31세 9위 송혜교 640억원 나이 42세 8위 최시원 760억원 나이 38세 7위 정지훈 788억원 나이 42세 6위 이영애 815억원 나이. 2000년대 최고의 인기를 누렸던 배우 권상우 영화 개봉일을 앞두고 뜨거운 관심이 쏟아지고 있습니다. 권상우가 등촌동에 280억짜리 건물을 사는데 240억을 대출. 권상우가 자기가 부동산 부자인걸 숨기지 않는 이유.
지난해 손태영은 자신의 유튜브 채널 mrs.. 지난 26일 방송된 kbs 2tv 예능 프로그램 사장님 귀는 당나귀 귀에서는 전현..4 미국 선교사로부터 신학을 배운 아버지는 목회 활동을 하다가 파출소에서 근무를 했고, 어머니는, Kr › entertain › broadcasttv김수미, 연봉 수십억원 전현무에 재산이 30억 밖에 없어, 4 미국 선교사로부터 신학을 배운 아버지는 목회 활동을 하다가 파출소에서 근무를 했고, 어머니는.
권상우가 잘하는것보다 재산이 부부사이좋게함 역학 갤러리. 보도에 따르면 배우 권상우는 부동산 큰 손으로 등극하여 700억 원 대의 부동산 재산을 보유 중이라고 하는데, 갖고 있는 건물만 3채라고 알려졌습니다. 그러나 결혼 이후 화장품 cf는 뚝 끊긴 상태.
연옌탑이어도 배우는 재산 천억 어려움 긷갤러61. 우리나라에서도 상위 1프로에 속하는 권상우의 재산이 얼마인지 알아보기로 했어요 약 20년간 쌓아올린 재력과 재산을 확인해볼께요, 2004년, 시사저널 에 기고한 김태촌의 못다 한 이야기를 보면 그의 생애가 일목요연하게 정리된다, Com › elon0119 › 224016641459권상우 집 재산 네이버 블로그. 한국 10위 아이유 623억원 나이 31세 9위 송혜교 640억원 나이 42세 8위 최시원 760억원 나이 38세 7위 정지훈 788억원 나이 42세 6위 이영애 815억원 나이. 재산이 거의 천억가까이있을텐데뭐 이거보다 성수동건물이 더 대박이지 80억에 리모델링해서 지금거의600억임.
세계일보 자료사진 배우 권상우가 자신의 재테크재산 관리. 영화 히트맨2감독 최원섭는 대히트 흥행 작가에서 순식간에 ‘뇌절작가’로 전락한 ‘준’이, 재산이 거의 천억가까이있을텐데뭐 이거보다 성수동건물이 더 대박이지 80억에 리모델링해서 지금거의600억임.
이날 22일 방송한 sbs파워fm 두시탈출 컬투쇼에는 영화 히트맨2의 주연 배우 권상우, 정준호, 이.. Com › money82827 › 223861152517700억 자산가 배우 권상우 재산 프로필, 과거 논란 네이버 블로그..
배우 권상우가 자신의 재테크재산 관리 방식을 공개했다. 권상우가 등촌동에 280억짜리 건물을 사는데 240억을 대출. Com › board › view연옌탑이어도 배우는 재산 천억 어려움 기타 국내 드라마 갤러리.
미남 미녀 연예인의 필수조건인 화장품 cf를 찍기도 했는데, 브랜드의 자연주의 이미지와 권상우 이미지와 맞물려 묘한 분위기를 자아낸다. 권상우가 자기가 부동산 부자인걸 숨기지 않는 이유. 2000억 언저리 유재석, 이병헌 &이민정 부부 1500억 언저리 송강호, 현빈&손예진 부부 1000억 내외 권상우 디시앱 설치 전체리스트 로그인.
mib 서연 야동 배우 권상우가 자신의 재테크재산 관리 방식을 공개했다. 재산이 거의 천억가까이있을텐데뭐 이거보다 성수동건물이 더 대박이지 80억에 리모델링해서 지금거의600억임. 2000년대 최고의 인기를 누렸던 배우 권상우 영화 개봉일을 앞두고 뜨거운 관심이 쏟아지고 있습니다. 배우 손태영과 권상우 부부가 미국에 이어 유럽에 살고 싶다는 바람을 드러냈다. 미남 미녀 연예인의 필수조건인 화장품 cf를 찍기도 했는데, 브랜드의 자연주의 이미지와 권상우 이미지와 맞물려 묘한 분위기를 자아낸다. mib mosy-101
mib 결제 ㄹ, ㅅ, ㅈ 발음을 유심히 들어보면 확인이 가능하다. 배우 권상우가 자신의 재테크재산 관리 방식을 공개했다. 2004년, 시사저널 에 기고한 김태촌의 못다 한 이야기를 보면 그의 생애가 일목요연하게 정리된다. 아 700억이네ㅋㅋㅋ그것도 존나 십년전. 권상우 수백억있는데 운동자세 지적을하냐 어쩌구. mib d컵
lilitales -リリテイルズ- act.1 虜囚の銀騎士 한눈에 보는 오늘 연예가 화제 뉴스 엑스포츠뉴스 김수아 기자 배우 권상우가 나이가 들고 있음을 느꼈다고 고백했다. 올해 1976년생 46살로, 2001년 맛있는 청혼으로 데뷔한 권상우는 동갑내기 과외하기. Kr › news › articleview빚 때문에 일해야 수백억 재산 보유했다고 알려진 유명 배우 부부. 돈없으면 좋던사이도 파탄나고 이혼하는게 부부사이임 뉴저지 살기좋고 공기좋고 맛있는 맛집 맘껏 찾아서 즐기고 얼마나 좋노. 4 미국 선교사로부터 신학을 배운 아버지는 목회 활동을 하다가 파출소에서 근무를 했고, 어머니는. lk hitomi
mib 약모 미국 뉴저지로 이사 간 권상우, 손태영 부부는 여전히 한국에 부동산 3채를 보유하고 있으며 현재 가치로 700억원에 달하는 것으로 평가된다. 한국 10위 아이유 623억원 나이 31세 9위 송혜교 640억원 나이 42세 8위 최시원 760억원 나이 38세 7위 정지훈 788억원 나이 42세 6위 이영애 815억원 나이. 우리나라에서도 상위 1프로에 속하는 권상우의 재산이 얼마인지 알아보기로 했어요 약 20년간 쌓아올린 재력과 재산을 확인해볼께요. 권상우 주연 히트맨2가 해외 개봉을 확정했다. 지난해 손태영은 자신의 유튜브 채널 mrs.
lovelynnboo onlyfans 미국 뉴저지로 이사 간 권상우, 손태영 부부는 여전히 한국에 부동산 3채를 보유하고 있으며 현재 가치로 700억원에 달하는 것으로 평가된다. Com › board › view연옌탑이어도 배우는 재산 천억 어려움 기타 국내 드라마 갤러리. 권상우가 보유한 땅과 건물의 시세는 2017년 개발 호재에 힘입어 크게 올랐는데 보도에 따르면 권상우 측은 매매가로 620억원을 원하는 것으로 알려졌습니다. 우리나라에서도 상위 1프로에 속하는 권상우의 재산이 얼마인지 알아보기로 했어요 약 20년간 쌓아올린 재력과 재산을 확인해볼께요. 박진영, 양현석 4000억전지현 2000억 이상유재석 1500억원빈 부부, 장동건 부부 1300억송강호, 이정재, 장근석 1000억송혜교, 최수종 부부 900억강호동, 공유, 지드래곤, 권상우.
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.
이날 22일 방송한 sbs파워fm 두시탈출 컬투쇼에는 영화 히트맨2의 주연 배우 권상우, 정준호, 이., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.