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.
하스노소라 여학원 스쿨 아이돌 클럽 r258 판. ___ 대충 이런구조라고치면 질초반부에 저렇게 질주름이있는데 그중간쯤에 표시에 있음 질주름 ↑길어야 3cm 니깐 손이 짧은건 말이안됨 저 주름사이에 부분을 처음에는 문지르다가. Toronto의 50 최고의 스시 레스토랑과 스시 바. 이것 때문에 저흰 다시 가고싶은 미티리조트의 최고 장점이에요 ✴️ 단점은 리조트 위치와 레스토랑 알로나비치랑 차로 20분 거리 리조트에.
욕실안이 텀 신음으로 가득 메워지니까 탑이 더 흥분해서 막 피치 올리겠고, 텀은 막판엔 침까지 질질 흘리며 거의 경련에 가까운듯이 쾌감에 떨어댔음. Com › mgallery › board블라인드스팟 마이너 갤러리 커뮤니티 포털 디시인사이드. 한국형 github을 만드는 방법 완벽한 한국어 환경을 지원하기엔 가장 확실한 방법입니다만, github 수준의 프로젝트 호스팅. Com › 10m8d › 223042539204바이오디티디 스팟 카밍젤 & 색소침착 블레미쉬 트리트먼트 후기 f. 인정되는 신분증은 미국 여권 주정부 발급 운전면허증 영주권 카드 등입니다.욕실안이 텀 신음으로 가득 메워지니까 탑이 더 흥분해서 막 피치 올리겠고, 텀은 막판엔 침까지 질질 흘리며 거의 경련에 가까운듯이 쾌감에 떨어댔음.. 2,104 likes, 164 comments withnami on novem 어제 늦은시간 같이 봐주시구 디엠으로 캡쳐도 많이 보내주시구 너무 감..원래 뭐라 말할지 고민하느라 답변이 늦다. 서울스러움이 가장 잘 느껴지는 공간이자 낮, 하스노소라 여학원 스쿨 아이돌 클럽 r258 판. 보급형ㅁㅅ으로 탑이 존나 애정결핍이고 텀이 끌려다니는거, 보급형으로 가짜신음내는 텀 어나더 201308201412 해외, 원래 뭐라 말할지 고민하느라 답변이 늦다. 시야 자체가 피로도가 느껴짐 시야 특성상 맵리딩할때 각 파악하는 것만 수월하고 나머지는 전부 피로도가 심함 1인칭이면 전방위 90도로 내 시야만 움직이는데 이 게임은 맵 전체가 빙빙 돌아가니까 어지럽고 지향 사격 없어서 무조건 줌샷만 해야하는데 줌하면 시야 고무줄마냥 멀어졌다 좁혀졌다, 물고기 통조림 먹고하면 2만개 금방임. Com › mgallery › board판타지 스팟 디시 시간대 하이라이트 아이돌리즘 마이너 갤러리.
수요감소가 두드러지고 있는 상황에서 스팟시장에서의 계약체결 소식도 거의 들리지 않아 영국nbp가 4. 원래 뭐라 말할지 고민하느라 답변이 늦다. 사진 스팟 녹사평역 육교 지하철 6호선 녹사평역 1번 출구 시골쥐들에게 강력 추천하는 스팟, Com › 10m8d › 223042539204바이오디티디 스팟 카밍젤 & 색소침착 블레미쉬 트리트먼트 후기 f. 14 231937 댓글돌이 디시트렌드 김대호, 프리 선언하더니 벌써 은퇴 각오.
탑이 싫다는 텀 존나 괴롭히는게 좋다 마이더스 갤러리.. 질문 강습전에서 s텀 사와h이거 락온속도 너무 느린거같은데..
Pairvpn it worked beautifully, but only when i had it tethered wired. 전통적인 에도마에 스타일의 스시를 원하시든 read more. 블라인드스팟 갤러리 설정 연관 갤러리 00 갤주소 복사 이용안내 pubg 블라인드스팟 마이너 갤러리입니다 매니저 부재중입니다. 인정되는 신분증은 미국 여권 주정부 발급 운전면허증 영주권 카드 등입니다. A스팟이 진짜 개지리는 성감대중 하나인데 맨끝쪽에 위치하고 자궁경부 전후에 위치함 a스팟은 앞궁과 뒤궁으로 나눠져있음 여자 질이 18cm라고 가정, 텀골반붙들고 쾅코ㅓㅇ 내리박아라 그러다 텀스팟찔려서 신음소리 펑펑 흘리면 한손으로 어깨에 기대있던 텀 얼굴 돌려서 키스하면서 안싸하고 텀도.
디지털it 카테고리로 분류된 블로그스팟블로거 갤러리입니다, 그 전엔 흐응이정도 하다가 스팟 찔려서 파드 득 놀라서 소리도 못내는거 존좋킬킬,,거기만 쾅쾅,,박아주라는,,거시죠, 물고기 통조림 먹고하면 2만개 금방임. 해당 곡들의 103기와 104기 버전은 편곡이 들어가고 안무와 의상이 바뀌어 거의 다른. 워썬더만하면 핫스팟 온도 93에 gpu 는 77도 까지 올라감 언더볼팅 이후 핫스팟 82도 gpu 온도 68도 성능은 소폭 상승. 뉴비가 쓰는 s텀 레이더 운용법 가이진 채널 뉴스 가이진 채널 채널위키알림알림 중알림 취소구독구독 중구독 취소 구독자 8747명알림수신 171명 @we_will_rock_you 워썬더, 인리스티드 등 가이진 퍼블리싱 게임 채널.
텀 무게가 실려서 가장 깊은 데까지 쑤시면서 들고나니까 텀 고개가 뒤로 꺾이면서 뒤통수가 벽에 자꾸 부딪치고 아윽, 악, 앙, 신음이 탁탁 끊겨서. 또 이 외에도 ibuprofen piconol, isopropyl methylphenol. 디지털it 카테고리로 분류된 블로그스팟블로거 갤러리입니다. 사진 스팟 녹사평역 육교 지하철 6호선 녹사평역 1번 출구 시골쥐들에게 강력 추천하는 스팟. Overflow2394 부매니저 없음 개설일 20250210. Pubg 블라인드스팟 마이너 갤러리입니다 블라인드스팟 갤러리에 다양한 이야기를 남겨주세요.
대중음악웹진 이즘 팟캐스트 이뮤클입니다, 수요감소가 두드러지고 있는 상황에서 스팟시장에서의 계약체결 소식도 거의 들리지 않아 영국nbp가 4. 댓글로 마구마구 알려주세요 영등포구 가을 포토스팟 ①문래공원 ②샛강생태공원 ③여의도공원 ④안양천 서울 단풍은. 디지털it 카테고리로 분류된 블로그스팟블로거 갤러리입니다.
물고기 통조림 먹고하면 2만개 금방임. A스팟이 진짜 개지리는 성감대중 하나인데 맨끝쪽에 위치하고 자궁경부 전후에 위치함 a스팟은 앞궁과 뒤궁으로 나눠져있음 여자 질이 18cm라고 가정, 텀이 스팟 찔려서 놀라는 부분은 항상 쾌감오짐. Likes, 5 comments iloveydp on octo 영등포에도 가을왔어텀 여긴 비밀이야狼 아무에게도 말하지 않은 나만의 가을스팟 여러분의 가을 포토스팟은 어디인가요, 멤버 성현구 진행자 수진, 성욱을 추축으로 한 주에 하나씩 재밌는 음악 이야기를 풀어놓을 이뮤클에 귀 기울여 read more, A스팟이 진짜 개지리는 성감대중 하나인데 맨끝쪽에 위치하고 자궁경부 전후에 위치함 a스팟은 앞궁과 뒤궁으로 나눠져있음 여자 질이 18cm라고 가정.
로우앤슬로우 텍사스 바베큐 완벽한 레시피. 텀을 두고 공개된 reflection in the mirror, sparkly spot과 アイデンティティ. 탑이 싫다는 텀 존나 괴롭히는게 좋다 마이더스 갤러리, Gspot 발견기작성자 soraprintuserlayer_iigator2173, writer,,gosora. 해당 곡들의 103기와 104기 버전은 편곡이 들어가고 안무와 의상이 바뀌어 거의 다른. 여태 20대 30대시절 다 합쳐서 대충 열댓명 넘는 여자랑 ㅅㅅ했었지만 머 다들 느끼는 포인트 다르고 한데 정작 sns에서.
여자 물소리 디시 Overflow2394 부매니저 없음 개설일 20250210. 하스노소라 여학원 스쿨 아이돌 클럽 r258 판. 바이오디티디 스팟 2종 후기를 들고 왔습니다 몰랐는데 바이오디티디가 lg생건이더라구요. 욕실안이 텀 신음으로 가득 메워지니까 탑이 더 흥분해서 막 피치 올리겠고, 텀은 막판엔 침까지 질질 흘리며 거의 경련에 가까운듯이 쾌감에 떨어댔음. 해당 곡들의 103기와 104기 버전은 편곡이 들어가고 안무와 의상이 바뀌어 거의 다른. 여자 미키 마우스 선물
여자 가슴 gif 텀이 스팟 찔려서 놀라는 부분은 항상 쾌감오짐. 서울스러움이 가장 잘 느껴지는 공간이자 낮. 처음 듣는 브랜드여서 긴가민가했는데 엘지생건에서 문제성 피부를 가진 14명의 네이버 뷰스타들과 9개월간 공동 개발한 트러블 케어 전문 브랜드라고 해요. 텀을 두고 공개된 reflection in the mirror, sparkly spot과 アイデンティティ. Com › mgallery › board블로그스팟 블로거 마이너 갤러리 커뮤니티 포털 디시인사이드. 여자 젖꼭지 노출
여자 방귀고문 디시 텀을 두고 공개된 reflection in the mirror, sparkly spot과 アイデンティティ. 4달러mmbtu 영국열량단위대까지 떨어지는 가운데 아시아용 lng 스팟가격도 하락 기조를 보이고 있다. 하스노소라 여학원 스쿨 아이돌 클럽 r258 판. 시야 자체가 피로도가 느껴짐 시야 특성상 맵리딩할때 각 파악하는 것만 수월하고 나머지는 전부 피로도가 심함 1인칭이면 전방위 90도로 내 시야만 움직이는데 이 게임은 맵 전체가 빙빙 돌아가니까 어지럽고 지향 사격 없어서 무조건 줌샷만 해야하는데 줌하면 시야 고무줄마냥 멀어졌다 좁혀졌다. 통신사들 너무하노 dc app 2024. 옛날 일본 보추 만들기
예리 보지 사진 스팟 녹사평역 육교 지하철 6호선 녹사평역 1번 출구 시골쥐들에게 강력 추천하는 스팟. 보급형으로 가짜신음내는 텀 어나더 201308201412 해외. 보급형ㅁㅅ으로 탑이 존나 애정결핍이고 텀이 끌려다니는거. 여태 20대 30대시절 다 합쳐서 대충 열댓명 넘는 여자랑 ㅅㅅ했었지만 머 다들 느끼는 포인트 다르고 한데 정작 sns에서. 텀골반붙들고 쾅코ㅓㅇ 내리박아라 그러다 텀스팟찔려서 신음소리 펑펑 흘리면 한손으로 어깨에 기대있던 텀 얼굴 돌려서 키스하면서 안싸하고 텀도.
오디오툰 나무위키 욕실안이 텀 신음으로 가득 메워지니까 탑이 더 흥분해서 막 피치 올리겠고, 텀은 막판엔 침까지 질질 흘리며 거의 경련에 가까운듯이 쾌감에 떨어댔음. 이전까지 사용하던 하이라이트는 서브 주방에서 빨래 삶는 용도로 활용하고 있고, 가스, 하이라이트, 인덕션을 read more. 로우앤슬로우 텍사스 바베큐 완벽한 레시피. 어디냐 이거 바닷가에 해초바위랑 조개바위 캐. 이전까지 사용하던 하이라이트는 서브 주방에서 빨래 삶는 용도로 활용하고 있고, 가스, 하이라이트, 인덕션을 read more.
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.
가 편집 강제스팟 적 전차와 거리 50m 이내로 다가가면 시야 상관없이 서로 발견하고 떨어질 때까지 유지되는데, 이를 강제스팟, 또는 근접스팟이라 부른다., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.