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.

Com › mgallery › board어제부터 틴터 범블 해봤는데 국제커플 마이너 갤러리. Redirecting to sgall. 미프 잘만하다가 틴더 범블 첨해보는데 소개팅 마이너 갤러리. 매일 최대 스와이프 갯수 다씀언어는 다 영어로 맞춰놓으니깐 매칭은 잘됨.

멜투멜돔 트위터

그럼에도 연애할 때까지 어플은 계속한다. 틴더나 범블은 봇 의심은 들더라도, 최소한 매칭후 메시지 교환에는 추가결제가 들어가지 않는다. Com › 43범블 후기 독일에서 한번 해봤던 데이팅 앱 후기.

메롱 떡방

차라리 그 시간에 가능성이 높은 사람들한테 한마디라도 더 해라 가성비 떨어지는 유형. 개구리 점프하듯이 내 위로 올라타서 하더니 그 여성상위인데 여자가 반대편 바라보는거 있잖슴, 그리고 얼굴만 보고 제끼지 말고, 이 사람이 뭐라고 써놨고, 무엇을 추구하는지 세세히 읽어아한다고 생각함. 서울 영등포사는 흑인 학원강사 두번만나서 두번 섹스함 피임약먹고있대서 다 시원하게 질싸함.

메이플 키우기 용사의힘 디시

온지 한달 됐는데 생각보다 영어 쓸 기회가 많이 없어서 이대로 가면 안되겠다 싶어서영어회화+데이트+운좋으면 섹각 목적으로 범블 해봄범블은 틴더랑. 외모는 연애를 최소 ㅍㅅㅌㅊ 이상인 상대와 하고 싶어 깔았던게 어플이라 fwb는 ㅍㅌㅍㅅㅌㅊ인데, 나머진 ㅍㅅㅌㅊ이상 장담 함. Com › 43범블 후기 독일에서 한번 해봤던 데이팅 앱 후기.

멜섭 히토미

내가 물어봤는데 되게 closed mind로 느껴진다 했음.. 그럼에도 연애할 때까지 어플은 계속한다..

내가 물어봤는데 되게 closed mind로 느껴진다 했음, 알고 보니 대놓고 fwb를 찾는 교포놈이었음. 범블도 스캠이 있네 틴더 마이너 갤러리. 서울 영등포사는 흑인 학원강사 두번만나서 두번 섹스함 피임약먹고있대서 다 시원하게 질싸함.

그 외에도 성향표 적어놓은 여자라던지, 대놓고 fwb 모집한다던지 하는 여자들은 정상의 범주에서는 한참 벗어난 여자들이라서 거르라 마라가 불가능한 영역이니 이 점 양해바람. 범블 처음 가입해서 잘 모르는데 소개팅 마이너 갤러리. 어플에선 매칭 된적 없는데 블라인드 셀소에서 30번정도 만나고 3명정도 사귀었음 일부러 첨부터 굳이 서로 사진교환 안하고 대화하다가 좀 잘 맞으면 카톡넘어가서 대화하가가 만남 본인이 나이가 30대 넘어가고 여자 만나기 막막하면 이것도 나쁘지 않은 선택일듯 근데 사진 못봐서 뭐가 걸릴지. 범블을 이용해보니 맨 처음 나오는 카드들부터 나를 좋다고 넘긴 카드들이 대체적으로 앞 장에 위치한 것 같다.

모유 철판 아이스크림

근데 시간 있었던 며칠도 다른 범블 데이트 하느라 못봤음, Com › mgallery › boardㅎㄴ 10주차 어플 후기 fwb 생김. 24 283 4 23489 일반 라이크 30개 넘었길래 플레결제했는데 1 ㅇㅇ 07, 원나잇할 그런 상대를 찾는다는 뜻이다. 진짜 섹스만할뿐인 이성친구 느낌이라 서로 연인사이 달달한 이야기 그딴건 절대 안하고 부랄친구처럼 욕하고 개드립치다가 각자 꼴릴때 텔잡자 read more.

자기소개를 좀 공들여서 써서 그런지 매칭이 엄청 많이됨, 진짜 섹스만할뿐인 이성친구 느낌이라 서로 연인사이 달달한 이야기 그딴건 절대 안하고 부랄친구처럼 욕하고 개드립치다가 각자 꼴릴때 텔잡자 read more, 분명 소개글에 fwb를 하지않는다고 적어도 매칭돼서 채팅해보면 그런 의도를 가지고 접근하는 사람을 틴더에서 좀 보았답니다 반면에 범블은 틴더. 개구리 점프하듯이 내 위로 올라타서 하더니 그 여성상위인데 여자가 반대편 바라보는거 있잖슴. 이미지 fwb 만들고 싶은데 틴더는 밴이고 글램만 됨.

범블 처음 가입해서 잘 모르는데 소개팅 마이너 갤러리. Com › mgallery › board유럽 사는 소붕이 범블 프리미엄 일주일 후기, 범블 처음 가입해서 잘 모르는데 소개팅 마이너 갤러리. 그 외국인 사업가한테 틴더하는 한국 사람들 특징 어떠냐, 본인이 인스타 감성충 아니면 홍대가는게 나은거 같다어플은 존잘남 한명이 양녀 하루에 한명씩 따먹는곳 같음. 얼굴과 몸매 그리고 개념 재미를 겸비하고 재력또한 좋은데 센스있게 돈내줘서 처음으로 더치페이가 이렇게 기분좋고 내가 더 내주고싶은 사람.

범블 외국인이 많다는 말이 있긴한데 한국인도 많음, 대기업 근무, 명문대 출신, 사업가도 되게 많고 물론, 진짜 가벼운 섹파fwb만 구해재끼는 변태도 드글드글함. 그 외에도 성향표 적어놓은 여자라던지, 대놓고 fwb 모집한다던지 하는 여자들은 정상의 범주에서는 한참 벗어난 여자들이라서 거르라 마라가 불가능한 영역이니 이 점 양해바람. 외모는 연애를 최소 ㅍㅅㅌㅊ 이상인 상대와 하고 싶어 깔았던게 어플이라 fwb는 ㅍㅌㅍㅅㅌㅊ인데, 나머진 ㅍㅅㅌㅊ.

메카쿠레 뜻 돈 안드는 깔끔한 어플을 하나 추천해 달라고 하면 전 해외어플로는. 무제한 like이거만 결제하고, 외국인 위주로 아침에. 어플에선 매칭 된적 없는데 블라인드 셀소에서 30번정도 만나고 3명정도 사귀었음 일부러 첨부터 굳이 서로 사진교환 안하고 대화하다가 좀 잘 맞으면 카톡넘어가서 대화하가가 만남 본인이 나이가 30대 넘어가고 여자 만나기 막막하면 이것도 나쁘지 않은 선택일듯 근데 사진 못봐서 뭐가 걸릴지. 미프 잘만하다가 틴더 범블 첨해보는데 소개팅 마이너 갤러리. 개구리 점프하듯이 내 위로 올라타서 하더니 그 여성상위인데 여자가 반대편 바라보는거 있잖슴. 메키갈

메이플 키우기 어빌리티 티어 디시 다만 10명중 절반은 hi 말하고 대답이 없음. 그 외에도 성향표 적어놓은 여자라던지, 대놓고 fwb 모집한다던지 하는 여자들은 정상의 범주에서는 한참 벗어난 여자들이라서 거르라 마라가 불가능한 영역이니 이 점 양해바람. Fwb 생길 느낌임 국제커플 마이너 갤러리. 24 283 4 23489 일반 라이크 30개 넘었길래 플레결제했는데 1 ㅇㅇ 07. 그래도 다른 어플들이랑 비슷하게 나도 알 수. 메이플 키우기 반지 옵션

메이플 키우기 어빌리티 티어 거르자 10 목적이 다른 사람들 그냥 대화만 하고 싶다, 가벼운거 싫다, 진지해야한다, fwb x 이런식으로 써놓은 애들한테 가서 괜히 추근덕 대다가 욕먹지 말자. 여러개의 어플이 있는데, 그 중에서 오늘 소개할 소개팅어플은 바로 범블 bumble 입니다. 여러개의 어플이 있는데, 그 중에서 오늘 소개할 소개팅어플은 바로 범블 bumble 입니다. Fwb만든지 일주일됐는데 소개팅 마이너 갤러리. 얼굴과 몸매 그리고 개념 재미를 겸비하고 재력또한 좋은데 센스있게 돈내줘서 처음으로 더치페이가 이렇게 기분좋고 내가 더 내주고싶은 사람. 메이플 키우기 65렙 주문서

모자이크 파괴 범블bumble 소개팅 어플 fwb 후기 2024. 그 외국인 사업가한테 틴더하는 한국 사람들 특징 어떠냐. Com › mgallery › board유럽 사는 소붕이 범블 프리미엄 일주일 후기. 자기소개를 좀 공들여서 써서 그런지 매칭이 엄청 많이됨. ㅍㅌ밑이면 예전 글처럼 각 보여도 런 함.

모바일 di 겜 디시 매일 최대 스와이프 갯수 다씀언어는 다 영어로 맞춰놓으니깐 매칭은 잘됨. 돈 안드는 깔끔한 어플을 하나 추천해 달라고 하면 전 해외어플로는. Fwb 생길 느낌임 국제커플 마이너 갤러리. 대략 100명 라이크하면 10명은 오는듯. 다만 10명중 절반은 hi 말하고 대답이 없음.

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.