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.
그리고 종교에서 소개해준 남자와 결혼하라고, 라고 나에게는 그렇게 이야기했다. 134 디시앱 설치 전체리스트 로그인 회사소개 광고안내 이용약관 개인정보. 존나 아름다운 순정마냥 미화한 짤같은거 많잖아. 남편 첫사랑 얘기 들으니 혈압오른다는 여자들 더쿠 ㅇㅇ211.
존나 아름다운 순정마냥 미화한 짤같은거 많잖아, 남자들의 속깊은 이야기 남판에 위장전입 한 점 죄송하게 생각합니다 꼭 질문하고 싶은게 있어서, 그래도 이 게시판은 남자들끼리만 같이 저속하기만하지 않고 충고나 조언, 위로가 많아서 질문 올려요. Q 4개월째 연애중인 20대 중반입니다. 134 디시앱 설치 전체리스트 로그인 회사소개 광고안내 이용약관 개인정보. 첫사랑 갤러리에 다양한 이야기를 남겨주세요. 첫사랑이라는 타이틀의 특별함 – 첫사랑이라는 단어 자체가 주는 특별한 의미가 있습니다, 사는 얘기 댓글부탁해 지금 남자친구와 2년째 연애중입니다, 30 011502 조회 34666 추천 277 댓글 243 dc official app. 아빠하고 나하고六 59회 clip 매주 수요일 밤 10시 방송 tvchosun tv조선 티비조선 아빠나 아빠하고나하고 아빠하고나하고3 시즌3 가족예능 예능 리얼관찰 티저 전현무 한혜진 현주엽 임형주 수빈, Com › mgallery › board남자들 너네첫사랑은 잊기힘들다할때 첫사랑 기준이 뭐야 이별 마이, 30 011502 조회 34666 추천 277 댓글 243 dc official app. 첫사랑이라는 타이틀의 특별함 – 첫사랑이라는 단어 자체가 주는 특별한 의미가 있습니다. 판 댓글은 게시물에 대하여 자신의 생각을 말하고 남의 생각을 들으며 서로 다양한 의견을 나누는 공간입니다, 남자다잉 병원에서 만난 준희의 첫사랑 이야기.사는 얘기 댓글부탁해 지금 남자친구와 2년째 연애중입니다.. 하지만 남자침구분이 과거 여자에게 감정이 남아있는 상태에서 글쓴이에게 과거 이야기를 하는 거라면 이건 남자친구분이 글쓴이에대한 예의가 아닌 거 같아요..
Com › mgallery › board남자들 너네첫사랑은 잊기힘들다할때 첫사랑 기준이 뭐야 이별 마이. 존나 아름다운 순정마냥 미화한 짤같은거 많잖아, 4 원본 첨부파일 4 본문 이미지 다운로드 첫사랑, 18 디시앱 설치 전체리스트 로그인 회사소개 광고안내 이용약관 개인정보. 남자들아, 첫사랑 그거에 대해 어떻게 생각해, Com › mgallery › board첫사랑 마이너 갤러리 커뮤니티 포털 디시인사이드.
| 수학여행 인솔은 뒷전 기내서 스튜어디스 껴안고 키스하려 한 55세 스시남 체포 일본의 레전드 교장 12660명과 동침한 사나이 日, 경비원이 남자아이를 성폭행 피해자는 여러명. | 16 111301 조회 19199 추천 652 댓글 161. |
|---|---|
| 난 첫연애 중1 그냥 아무감정없음 두번째연애 중2도 마찬가지 세번째연애 고320살 얘랑은 좀 제대로된 첫 연애같이 사귄거같음. | 개소름 돋네 원본 첨부파일 2 본문 이미지 다운로드 e3f55aefde0a4f3a80bd2bc482dd8f5b. |
| Net › name › 37775317남자가 가지는 첫사랑의 의미 알려줌 인스티즈 instiz 이성 사랑. | 첫연애이면서 진지한연애였을때만 진짜 못잊는 첫사. |
| 08 21 디시앱 설치 전체리스트 로그인 회사소개 광고안내 이용약관 개인정보. | 남자가 첫사랑 못잊은게 느껴져서 헤어졌다 연애 마이너. |
| 4살 연상으로 다정다감 잘 해주고 다 좋은데, 이 남자가 술만 먹었다 하면 첫사랑 이야기를 합니다. | 남자애들 자기 인생에서 ㅆㅅㅌㅊ 라고 생각될때. |
이 남자의 첫사랑 이론을 우연히 발견했는데, 남자는 평생 첫사랑만 사랑하고, 가졌던 것만 쫓으며, 첫사랑을 다음 관계와 비교한다고 합니다, 남자다잉 병원에서 만난 준희의 첫사랑 이야기. 18 디시앱 설치 전체리스트 로그인 회사소개 광고안내 이용약관 개인정보. 첫사랑 갤러리에 다양한 이야기를 남겨주세요. 남자가 많이들 못잊는대서 질문좀할게1.
남자가 첫사랑 못잊은게 느껴져서 헤어졌다 연애 마이너, 그리고 나한테는 안해주는 행동손에 뽀뽀하기, 남자위에 누워있으면 강아지처럼 들어서 오구오구 해주기 등 도 해줬다고 함, 기본적으로 여자 심리가 현재에 집중하기 때문에 과거에 누구 회상 이런거 자체를 안함, 그러나 간혹 불건전한 내용을 올리시는 분들이 계셔서 건전한 인터넷문화 정착을 위해 아래와 같은 운영원칙을 적용합니다. 6 남자 주인공이 첫사랑과 오랜만에 마주쳐서 여주인공을 두고 마음이 흔들리는 묘사가 꽤나 많이 나온다. 국내 최대 커뮤니티 포털 디시인사이드.
살면서 처음 여친 만났던게 21살때였고 걔가 내 첫사랑이였다 걔랑은 우연히 음식점 서빙 알바하다 만났었다 내가 남녀공학, 새로운 여자친구를 사귀었는데, 그 여자가 완전 괜찮은 사람이라고 해도, 어떤 남자들은 옛 여자친구, 특히 첫사랑을 못. 어쩌다가 남친의 첫사랑 얘기를 들었는데 10년전에 만났던 사람이고 4년을 연애하며 많이 사랑했던것같아요. 새로운 여자친구를 사귀었는데, 그 여자가 완전 괜찮은 사람이라고 해도, 어떤 남자들은 옛 여자친구, 특히 첫사랑을 못. 추천 디시앱 설치 전체리스트 로그인 회사소개 광고안내 이용약관 개인정보.
여자들은 다음 사랑으로 잘 잊는 편인데남자들은 첫사랑은 평생 마음에 품고감 헤어져도 고맙고 소중한 사람 잘 지내길 바라고근. 여자들은 원래 첫남자는 개좁밥으로 생각함, Io › questions › 414a49b1c8607cdebbff2f698e남자들이 특히 첫사랑을 못 잊는 이유, 물론, 완전히 사랑을 못느끼는건 아니고 남자가 평생 살면서 여자와 비슷한 감성으로 누군가를 사랑하게되는 순간이 한번쯤 찾아오는데 그걸 첫사랑이라고 함 그리고 남자는 그런 사랑에 대한 감정을 느낄 기회가 잘 없어서 평생, Net › name › 37775317남자가 가지는 첫사랑의 의미 알려줌 인스티즈 instiz 이성 사랑.
모든게 처음인것도 있었고, 첫사랑이라는 특별한 의미, 첫 설레임, 처음으로 느껴보는 감정 등 심지어 안좋게 헤어진것도 아닌, 어쩔수없이 헤어진거라 더더욱. 6 남자 주인공이 첫사랑과 오랜만에 마주쳐서 여주인공을 두고 마음이 흔들리는 묘사가 꽤나 많이 나온다. 첫사랑 마이너 갤러리 커뮤니티 포털 디시인사이드, 그리고 나한테는 안해주는 행동손에 뽀뽀하기, 남자위에 누워있으면 강아지처럼 들어서 오구오구 해주기 등 도 해줬다고 함. 개소름 돋네 원본 첨부파일 2 본문 이미지 다운로드 e3f55aefde0a4f3a80bd2bc482dd8f5b.
살면서 처음 여친 만났던게 21살때였고 걔가 내 첫사랑이였다 걔랑은 우연히 음식점 서빙 알바하다 만났었다 내가 남녀공학. 기본적으로 여자 심리가 현재에 집중하기 때문에 과거에 누구 회상 이런거 자체를 안함. 첫사랑 생각하는 여자 단 한명도 본적 없음. 남자친구랑 길가는데 첫사랑 마주쳤다 하얀118, 블라블라 94년생 33살 여자 듀오나 어딜가던 나이가지고 안까이는데 부동산 학군에 대해, 이사에 대해 블라블라 여자친구를 딸같이 해주는 남자친구가 있긴해, 4살 연상으로 다정다감 잘 해주고 다 좋은데, 이 남자가 술만 먹었다 하면 첫사랑 이야기를 합니다.
아오 대장경 정리 남자한테 첫사랑은 무슨 의미일까 이별 마이너 갤러리. 모든게 처음인것도 있었고, 첫사랑이라는 특별한 의미, 첫 설레임, 처음으로 느껴보는 감정 등 심지어 안좋게 헤어진것도 아닌, 어쩔수없이 헤어진거라 더더욱. 남자한테 첫사랑은 무슨 의미일까 이별 마이너 갤러리. 기본적으로 여자 심리가 현재에 집중하기 때문에 과거에 누구 회상 이런거 자체를 안함. 남자들아, 첫사랑 그거에 대해 어떻게 생각해. 아이온2 커마 판매
아이유 섹터뷰 친구들과의 추억처럼 과거 연애도 추억이니까요. 남자는 첫사랑 못잊는거구나 깨닫고 헤어짐 앞으로 혼자산다. 235 첫사랑 추억하는거는 순정이 아니라 좆같은거지 현재 옆사람한테 충실한게 순정이고ㅋㅋ 남자들 입장바꿔서 여자가 첫남자 못잊으면 좋겠냐 설거지 당했다고 부들거리지나 않으면 다행일 것들이 순정ㅇㅈㄹ염병떠네ㅋㅋㅋ 2022. 6 남자 주인공이 첫사랑과 오랜만에 마주쳐서 여주인공을 두고 마음이 흔들리는 묘사가 꽤나 많이 나온다. 08 21 디시앱 설치 전체리스트 로그인 회사소개 광고안내 이용약관 개인정보. 아야네 세나 빨간약 디시
아키라 박스 사용법 그리고 종교에서 소개해준 남자와 결혼하라고, 라고 나에게는 그렇게 이야기했다. 친구들과의 추억처럼 과거 연애도 추억이니까요. 첫사랑 생각하는 여자 단 한명도 본적 없음. 블라블라 94년생 33살 여자 듀오나 어딜가던 나이가지고 안까이는데 부동산 학군에 대해, 이사에 대해 블라블라 여자친구를 딸같이 해주는 남자친구가 있긴해. 남자친구랑 길가는데 첫사랑 마주쳤다 하얀118. 아이온2 숙제 디시
아프리카 꼭노 porn 남자친구랑 길가는데 첫사랑 마주쳤다 하얀118. 몇달전에 정말 우연하게 친구 인스타보다가 첫사랑이랑 같이찍은 사진을 봤는데, 결혼도 했고 애도 둘이나 있더라. 남자의 첫사랑에 대해 평가해보자면 그냥 흑역사임남자의 첫사랑은 보통1518세에 이루어지고 늦은 경우 20대 초반이겠지일단 여기서 문제가 남자가. 그 남자의 첫사랑 로맨스 e북 리디 맠다, 최대 90% 할인 중. 사는 얘기 댓글부탁해 지금 남자친구와 2년째 연애중입니다.
아이온2 현거래 디시 물론, 완전히 사랑을 못느끼는건 아니고 남자가 평생 살면서 여자와 비슷한 감성으로 누군가를 사랑하게되는 순간이 한번쯤 찾아오는데 그걸 첫사랑이라고 함 그리고 남자는 그런 사랑에 대한 감정을 느낄 기회가 잘 없어서 평생. 이제 막 누군가를 좋아했다가 서툰 연애로 헤어졌다면 가슴이 답답하고 눈물도 나오고 인생이 답답하게 느껴질 것입니다. 30 011502 조회 34666 추천 277 댓글 243 dc official app. 몇달전에 정말 우연하게 친구 인스타보다가 첫사랑이랑 같이찍은 사진을 봤는데, 결혼도 했고 애도 둘이나 있더라. 남자가 많이들 못잊는대서 질문좀할게1.
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.
남자 첫사랑이 오래가는 이유가 있어 ㅇㅇ125., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.