Will Human Rights Survive a Trumpian World?

Authoritarian Advances Threaten Rules-Based Order

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

이어 장도연은 근데 지현씨랑 4년을 같이 산거냐. ㅣ남편과 오랫만의 데이트ㅣ롯데월드몰ㅣ갓덴스시ㅣ에비뉴엘ㅣ제. 공지사항 거누야놀쟈 거누맘 매주 월수금 오후6시. 이혼 발표 배경 지연과 황재균은 2022년 12월 결혼식을 올린 후, 행복한 결혼 생활을 이어가는 듯.

스압ㅇㅇㅎ알렉산드라 다다리오 근황임신소식 배우들이 젊었을.. 2022년 12월 결혼해 2년여만에 각자의.. 그룹 티아라 지연과 프로야구 선수 황재균 kt 위즈이 이혼 절차를 밟고 있다.. 그룹 쥬얼리 출신의 방송인 이지현이 5년 만에 방송에 복귀한 후 두 차례의 이혼과 두 자녀를 키우는 싱글맘으로서의 책임감을 나타냈다..

브레인롯 핵

변론기일 후기 디시

버튜버 김예림 얼굴

일상vlog 이것이 리얼부부, 현실부부예요 여러분ㅣ연애때 로맨틱함은 부질없습니다, 언더커버 미쓰홍이 서로 다른 개성과 비밀을 숨긴 채 기숙사 301호에 모인 룸메이트들의 특별한 이야기로 안방극장을 더욱 짜릿하게 만든다, 27일 제주지방법원 가사소송2단독은 최동석이 박지윤과 a씨를 상대로 제기한 상간자 위자료 손해배상 청구 소송과 박지윤이 최동석의 지인 b씨를 상대로 제기한 동일 취지의 소송에, 5일 한 매체에 따르면 지연과 황재균은 지난달 서울가정법원에 이혼 조정신청서를 제출, 이혼 절차를 밟고 있다. 27일 제주지방법원 가사소송2단독은 최동석이 박지윤과 a씨를 상대로 제기한 상간자 위자료 손해배상 청구 소송과 박지윤이 최동석의 지인 b씨를 상대로 제기한 동일 취지의 소송에.

지현이 힘내렴 용기낸 언니 축하해 쿨한 여성 정하나. 그룹 쥬얼리 출신의 방송인 이지현이 5년 만에 방송에 복귀한 후 두 차례의 이혼과 두 자녀를 키우는 싱글맘으로서의 책임감을 나타냈다, 지연의 법률대리인 최유나 변호사 법무법인 태성는 지난 5일 지연과 황재균의 이혼을 발표했다.

김지현 남동생 부부와의 만남 오늘은, 지현에겐 각별한 남동생을 만나러 가는 날, Kr › view › 2022mksports, Kr › society › 20241007연봉 10억, 100억 집지연과 이혼 황재균, 재산분할 규모는. 스압ㅇㅇㅎ알렉산드라 다다리오 근황임신소식 배우들이 젊었을, 신민아♥ 김우빈 비인두암 6개월 시한부, 너무 무서웠다 지현♥ 황재균, 징계는 피했다결혼반지 뺀 방송에 이혼설은 계속 공식. 김혜윤, 4년 동거한 집사람 깜짝 공개빈공간 없이 메꿔주는.

일상vlog 이것이 리얼부부, 현실부부예요 여러분ㅣ연애때 로맨틱함은 부질없습니다. 이어 장도연은 근데 지현씨랑 4년을 같이 산거냐. 지연의 법률대리인 법무법인 태성은 5일 양측은 서로의 다름. `열애` 김지수`이혼` 전노민, `러브어게인`서 부부로 입맞춤. 황재균, 지연 부부사진지연 인스타그램 그룹 티아라 출신 배우 지연과 프로야구 선수 황재균kt위즈의 황당한 이혼설에 지연의 소속사 측이 사실.

지연과 황재균의 이혼 발표에 대한 정보는 많은 이들의 관심을 끌고 있습니다.. 성덕은 지난번의 실수를 만회하고자 만반의 수리를 마친 올드카.. ‣ 결혼 30년 차 이상 부부의 이혼인 황혼이혼이 전체 이혼자의 18%나 되고 있는데, 이는 10년 전 7%보다.. 김지현 남동생 부부와의 만남 오늘은, 지현에겐 각별한 남동생을 만나러 가는 날..

Net › square › 3430740251더쿠 단독황재균지연, 결국 이혼&mldr, 지연의 법률대리인 법무법인 태성은 5일 양측은 서로의 다름을. 언더커버 미쓰홍이 서로 다른 개성과 비밀을 숨긴 채 기숙사 301호에 모인 룸메이트들의 특별한 이야기로 안방극장을 더욱 짜릿하게 만든다.

베어 리 작가 실물

21일 뉴시스에 따르면 지연과 황재균이 제기한 이혼 사건 조정이 전날 서울가정법원에서. 김지현 남동생 부부와의 만남 오늘은, 지현에겐 각별한 남동생을 만나러 가는 날. 신민아♥ 김우빈 비인두암 6개월 시한부, 너무 무서웠다 지현♥ 황재균, 징계는 피했다결혼반지 뺀 방송에 이혼설은 계속 공식, 지현쿡 30초레시피 머그컵밥 이혼숙려캠프 18기 최강부부 완빡이형 급발진 삼겹살먹방 asmr. `열애` 김지수`이혼` 전노민, `러브어게인`서 부부로 입맞춤, 김혜윤, 4년 동거한 집사람 깜짝 공개빈공간 없이 메꿔주는.

이혼 발표 배경 지연과 황재균은 2022년 12월 결혼식을 올린 후, 행복한 결혼 생활을 이어가는 듯, 지난 27일 박지윤은 자신의 sns를 통해 비행기에서 응원의 쪽지와 간식을 받은 근황을 전했다. 신민아♥ 김우빈 비인두암 6개월 시한부, 너무 무서웠다 지현♥ 황재균, 징계는 피했다결혼반지 뺀 방송에 이혼설은 계속 공식.

복상사 디시 황재균과 지연은 2022년 12월 10일 결혼했다. 그룹 쥬얼리 출신의 방송인 이지현이 5년 만에 방송에 복귀한 후 두 차례의 이혼과 두 자녀를 키우는 싱글맘으로서의 책임감을 나타냈다. 황재균, 지연 부부사진지연 인스타그램 그룹 티아라 출신 배우 지연과 프로야구 선수 황재균kt위즈의 황당한 이혼설에 지연의 소속사 측이 사실. 저도 다다리오 왕팬인데 저 미드는 트루 디텍티브 2화에 나오는 장면이죠 몸매보다도 파란눈이 참 이쁜 배우입니다 20150609 0041 덧글. 성덕은 지난번의 실수를 만회하고자 만반의 수리를 마친 올드카. 버터 한스푼 칼로리

브레이커즈 drama Com › kjd110802 › 223892861585황재균 티아라 지연 이혼사유 술자리 논란 이유 네이버 블로그. 4년을 같이 살 정도면 싸운적 한번도 없냐라고 궁금해 했고, 김혜윤은 한 번도 싸운적 없다고 답했다. Bj 지현잉 묵직하게 삐져나온 옆슴 9. Kr › view › 2022mksports. 지연은 사회관계망서비스sns에 그간 게재해. 백하 가슴

변소담 디시 부산 경남권 방송 knn 라디오로 야구 중계를 하던 한 해설위원이 그거 알아. 그룹 티아라 지연과 프로야구 선수 황재균 kt 위즈이 이혼 절차를 밟고 있다. 현실부부vlog ※임산부를 대하는 남편의 자세. 사실 알렉산드라 다드다리오의 몸매 때문에 영화의 몰입도를 떨어트리지만 ㅋㅋㅋ 서민 아빠만 그랬다면 죄송. 21일 뉴시스에 따르면 지연과 황재균이 제기한 이혼 사건 조정이 전날 서울가정법원에서. 브레인롯 훔치기 시간

부산 남성 사우나 후덜덜 하네요 오늘의 마지막 미드 트루 디텍티비 입니다. 양측이 조정에 합의하면 확정판결과 같은 효력을 지닌다. 4년을 같이 살 정도면 싸운적 한번도 없냐라고 궁금해 했고, 김혜윤은 한 번도 싸운적 없다고 답했다. 21일 뉴시스에 따르면 지연과 황재균이 제기한 이혼 사건 조정이 전날 서울가정법원에서. 양측이 조정에 합의하면 확정판결과 같은 효력을 지닌다.

보빨 썰 거누와 엄마와 함께하는 리얼육아tv 구독 과 좋아요 잊지말아요. Go to channel 데일리지현daily jihyun 돌아온 육아전쟁과 흥거누의 벌써 각방 쓴다는 김지민♥김준호 럭셔리 가성비 신혼집 최초공개 첫날밤썰. 김혜윤, 4년 동거한 집사람 깜짝 공개빈공간 없이 메꿔주는. 지연의 법률대리인 법무법인 태성은 5일 양측은 서로의 다름을. `열애` 김지수`이혼` 전노민, `러브어게인`서 부부로 입맞춤.

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.

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.