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.
최현철 편집국장대리 중앙일보 최현철 기자입니다. 5기가 바이트 분량의 해당 영상은 진료실 내부 천장에 달린 ip카메라로 촬영된 것으로 병원 외부와 연결된 전산망이 뚫리면서 유출된 것으로 추정되고 있다. 암환자 집중 관리 가능한 아산병원 근처 암요양병원은 어디. 중앙일보the joongang는 현장의 진실을 빠르게 전달합니다.
5기가 바이트 분량의 해당 영상은 진료실 내부 천장에 달린 ip카메라로 촬영된 것으로 병원 외부와 연결된 전산망이 뚫리면서 유출된 것으로 추정되고 있다.. Hours ago 3년차인 올해 지나면 전국의 3분의 1이 개벽되는 것 김정은 북한 노동당 총비서가 올해 첫 지방공업공장 건설 착공식에 참석했다.. 앵커 서울 강남의 한 유명 성형외과에서 환자의 신체가 노출된 모습이 고스란히 담긴 내부 영상이 유출됐습니다.. 병원 측에 수술실 cctv를 공급하는 한 업체 대표는 개인정보보호법에 따라 보안 조치까지 다 하면 정부가 주는 cctv 설치 보조금의 2배 이상까지 들어가 의사들의 불만이 상당한데, 사실 완벽한 보안이라는 건 없다고 말했다..전북의 한 정신병원에서 50대 환자가 여성 환자를 성폭행한 혐의로 검찰에 넘겨졌다. 2015년 4월 촬영 아시아프레스 2025년을 보건 혁명의 원년으로. Hours ago 왼쪽부터울산의대 서울아산병원 종양내과 김정은 교수, 융합의학과 탁은영 교수최지완 박사한규영 연구원 환자의 암 조직을 체외에서 3차원으로 배양해 실제 암 특성을, 문제점21년8월,수술실에cctv설치를 의무화하는 법안이 국회 본회의를 통과했습니다. Hours ago 왼쪽부터울산의대 서울아산병원 종양내과 김정은 교수, 융합의학과 탁은영 교수최지완 박사한규영 연구원 환자의 암 조직을 체외에서 3차원으로 배양해 실제 암 특성을. ip카메라 영상 유출로 곤혹을 겪고있는 강남성형외과 병원관계자 보다는 중국 해커들의 소행으로 보고 있어. 「제시 김정은 병원 cctv 영상」란. 수술실 cctv 설치 의무화법은 올 9월 시행을 앞두고 있다, 전북의 한 정신병원에서 50대 환자가 여성 환자를 성폭행한 혐의로 검찰에 넘겨졌다. 성형외과 치료실 내부를 찍은 영상엔 의료진들이 오가는 모습과 함께, 환자들이 옷을 갈아입고 진료를 받는 모습까지 고스란히 담겨 있습니다. 7일 의료계에 따르면 서울경찰청 사이버수사대는 지난 6일 진료실에 설치된 ip 카메라에 찍힌 영상이 유출됐다는 a병원 측의 신고를 받고 수사에 나섰다. 7일 의료계에 따르면 서울경찰청 사이버수사대는 지난 6일 진료실에 설치된 ip 카메라에 찍힌 영상이 유출됐다는 a병원 측의 신고를 받고 수사에 나섰다.
| 유명연예인 제시, 김정은씨를 포함한 30여명의 여성의 수술실, 탈의실 영상이 유출되어 난리입니다. | 병원 측에 수술실 cctv를 공급하는 한 업체 대표는 개인정보보호법에 따라 보안 조치까지 다 하면 정부가 주는 cctv 설치 보조금의 2배 이상까지 들어가 의사들의 불만이 상당한데, 사실 완벽한 보안이라는 건 없다고 말했다. | 7일 의료계에 따르면 서울경찰청 사이버수사대는 지난 6일 진료실에 설치된 ip 카메라에 찍힌 영상이 유출됐다는 a병원 측의 신고를 받고 수사에 나섰다. | 성형외과 영상 유출 스캔들 주요 질문에 대한 답변 1. |
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| 조선중앙tv는 김정은이 건물 완공직전 현장을 찾았다가 눈동자 색깔까지 제대로 표시하라는 지침을 내리면서 지금의 모습이 갖춰졌다고 소개했습니다. | 이번 사건은 서울 강남의 한 유명 성형외과 수술실 cctv 영상을 무단 유출한 사건이다. | 암살자들 공항 cctv로 완성된 김정남 암살 소재 다큐멘터리 영화 dogwoof 김정남 사건의 용의자였던 아이샤와 흐엉 빈센트 다우드 bbc 예술 전문기자. | 문제점21년8월,수술실에cctv설치를 의무화하는 법안이 국회 본회의를 통과했습니다. |
| 중앙일보the joongang는 현장의 진실을 빠르게 전달합니다. | 경찰은 이 병원 내부에 설치된 cc 폐쇄회로tv 영상, ip 카메라 운영 시스템과 로그기록 등을 확인했다. | 서울 강남구 소재의 한 성형외과 진료실에서 촬영된 영상이 유출되면서 수술실 cctv 설치 의무가 다시 논란의 도마 위에 올랐다. | A병원은 대리 의사가 유령 수술을 하지 않고 전문의가 직접 수술한다고 홍보하면서 수술실에 cctv가 설치된 사실을 적극 알려왔던 것으로 전해졌다. |
| 암환자 집중 관리 가능한 아산병원 근처 암요양병원은 어디. | 참고사진 양강도 보천군의 한 병원 입원실. | 유명연예인 제시, 김정은씨를 포함한 30여명의 여성의 수술실, 탈의실 영상이 유출되어 난리입니다. | 경찰은 이 병원 내부에 설치된 cctv 영상과 ip 카메라 운영 시스템로그 기록 등을 확인했다. |
| 2023년 3월 강남 성형외과에 진료실과 탈의실에 설치된 cctv 27 드라마 종합병원2. | 암환자 집중 관리 가능한 아산병원 근처 암요양병원은 어디. | 존나 무섭네 해킹인지 아니면 병원 관계자가 유출 시킨건지. | 최현철 편집국장대리 중앙일보 최현철 기자입니다. |
이번 피해 병원은 cctv 공사를 다시 할 예정이라고 밝혔다.. 수술실 cctv 설치 의무화법은 올 9월 시행을 앞두고 있다..휴대전화로 단속요원들을 촬영하고 있습니다. 「제시 김정은 병원 cctv 영상」란. 수술실 cctv 설치 의무화법은 올 9월 시행을 앞두고 있다. 수술실 내 cctv 운용과 관련된 교육 프로그램을 제공하여 의료진들의 개인정보 보호 및 cctv 운영에 대한 이해를 높이는 것이 중요합니다.
지난 6일 oo성형외과 진료실에서 찍힌 영상이 온라인 불법사이트로 유포됐다는 경찰. 서울 강남의 한 유명 성형외과에서 환자들의 치료 모습이 촬영된 ip카메라 영상이 무단 유출됐습니다, 재작년 8월, 수술실에 cctv 설치를 의무화하는 법안이 국회 본회의를 통과했습니다. 휴대전화로 단속요원들을 촬영하고 있습니다.
범행 모습이 담긴 폐쇄회로cctv를 삭제한 병원관계자도 송치, 이 클리닉은 유명인을 대상으로 하는 것으로 알려져 있어 침해 사건이. 전북의 한 정신병원에서 50대 환자가 여성 환자를 성폭행한 혐의로 검찰에 넘겨졌다, 한눈에 보는 오늘 연예가 화제 뉴스 김정은 인스타헤럴드pop배.
외부가 국외인지, 국내인지는 추가 분석이 필요하다고 전했다. 유출 영상은 당초 진료실에서만 찍힌 것으로 알려졌으나, 탈의실과 심전도 검사실 내부 ip 카메라 영상도 포함된 것으로 전해졌다, 성형외과 ip캠 중국 업체 제품서구에선 퇴출 대상 kbs.
성형외과 ip캠 중국 업체 제품서구에선 퇴출 대상 kbs. 김정은은 그렇게 자꾸 방송에서 언급하면 실례라면서도 병원 어디인지 알려달라고 하기도, 서울의 한 성형외과에서 환자를 진료하는 모습이 담긴 영상이. 전북의 한 정신병원에서 50대 환자가 여성 환자를 성폭행한 혐의로 검찰에 넘겨졌다, 유출 영상은 당초 진료실에서만 찍힌 것으로 알려졌으나, 탈의실과 심전도 검사실 내부 ip 카메라 영상도 포함된 것으로 전해졌다.
가치아쿠타 104화 번역 Org › korean › 2025<북한내부>김정은 명령으로 지방병원 재건했지만 제대로 된 침. 김정은은 2025년 2월, 이렇게 선언했다. Hours ago 왼쪽부터울산의대 서울아산병원 종양내과 김정은 교수, 융합의학과 탁은영 교수최지완 박사한규영 연구원 환자의 암 조직을 체외에서 3차원으로 배양해 실제 암 특성을. 이번 사건은 서울 강남의 한 유명 성형외과 수술실 cctv 영상을 무단 유출한 사건이다. 휴대전화로 단속요원들을 촬영하고 있습니다. 对白 pikpak
가마타 유흥 Org › korean › 2025<북한내부>김정은 명령으로 지방병원 재건했지만 제대로 된 침. 정신병원 환자가 여성환자 성폭행병원은 cctv 삭제. 최현철 편집국장대리 중앙일보 최현철 기자입니다. 존나 무섭네 해킹인지 아니면 병원 관계자가 유출 시킨건지. Org › korean › 2025<북한내부>김정은 명령으로 지방병원 재건했지만 제대로 된 침. ㅗㅜ ㅑ 라이브 링크
가슴 만진썰 Com › watch단독 성형외과 치료실 ip캠 영상 유출&mldr. 경찰은 이 병원 내부에 설치된 cctv 영상과 ip 카메라 운영 시스템로그 기록 등을 확인했다. Kr › article › 25145489연예인 영상도 유출된 강남 병원&mldr. 성형외과 진료실 cctv 영상 유출, 왜 jtbc. 서울 강남구 소재의 한 성형외과 진료실에서 촬영된 영상이 유출되면서 수술실 cctv 설치 의무가 다시 논란의 도마 위에 올랐다. 西村ニーナ 離婚
下白石ネ神 조선중앙tv는 김정은이 건물 완공직전 현장을 찾았다가 눈동자 색깔까지 제대로 표시하라는 지침을 내리면서 지금의 모습이 갖춰졌다고 소개했습니다. 수술실 내 cctv 운용과 관련된 교육 프로그램을 제공하여 의료진들의 개인정보 보호 및 cctv 운영에 대한 이해를 높이는 것이 중요합니다. 경찰은 이 병원 내부에 설치된 cc 폐쇄회로tv 영상, ip 카메라 운영 시스템과 로그기록 등을 확인했다. 이번 피해 병원은 cctv 공사를 다시 할 예정이라고 밝혔다. 중앙일보the joongang는 현장의 진실을 빠르게 전달합니다.
三上悠亞 pikpak Hours ago 왼쪽부터울산의대 서울아산병원 종양내과 김정은 교수, 융합의학과 탁은영 교수최지완 박사한규영 연구원 환자의 암 조직을 체외에서 3차원으로 배양해 실제 암 특성을. 유명연예인 제시, 김정은씨를 포함한 30여명의 여성의 수술실, 탈의실 영상이 유출되어 난리입니다. 성형외과 진료실 cctv 영상 유출, 왜 jtbc. 강남성형외과 영상 유출 사건, 무슨 일이 있었던 걸까요. 총을 갖고 있는 모습은 일단 보이지 않습니다.
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.
성형외과 치료실 내부를 찍은 영상엔 의료진들이 오가는 모습과 함께, 환자들이 옷을 갈아입고 진료를 받는 모습까지 고스란히 담겨 있습니다., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.