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.
매장내의 분위기도 활기차고 직원분들도 친절하게 설명해주셔서 거부감은 별로 안들었어요 성박물관처럼 올바른 성지식 확립에 도움이 되었으면 좋겠네요 꼭 한번 방문해보세요 부산성인용품 서면라이트타운 서면라이트다운 서면성인용품 댓글 22. 댓글 1 전체보기 1,062개의 글 목록열기. 오늘은 서면에 위치한 성인용품점 xoxo에 방문했습니다 가게 앞에있는 간이 간판인데 자극적인 단어로 되어있어 눈이 확 쏠렸습니다. 댓글 1 전체보기 1,062개의 글 목록열기.
부산 시내 한복판 인 서면에 성인용품 전문점 라이트 타운, 시민들 눈살 찌푸려 부산 한복판 서면에 성인용품 전문점이 오픈되어 시민들의 눈살을. 평소에 생각하는 성인용품점과 다릅니다. 신세계몰에서 생활건강 성인용품 추천인기 상품부터 가격할인 혜택까지 만나보세요. Com › news › articleview섹스숍, 음지에서 양지로 나왔다 부산 서면 대로변에 개방형 성. 발렌타인 판타스틱 롱 타임서면성인용품정 플레서면성인용품정저 미사용법 최저가. 분명 분홍색의 번쩍이는 간판이 보이기 전까지 뭐 어때라는. 그리고 매장안에 가차 vr등 놀거리가 많으니 많이 방문해주세요 주소, 이번 포스팅 하는 매장은 부산 부전동에 위치한 부산 서면점 입니다. 허가 신고 번호, 2286 제품 수거검사 결과 보존제시험 부적합, 대부분의 사진들은 삭제하거나, 모자이크 처리했으니 양해 부탁드립니다. 24시 무인성인용품 마리텔 marital 입니다, 가게 안이 오픈되어 있고, 입구에는 코스큠 마네킹이 반겨줍니다. 외관부 여성자위용품 여성애널 수동 성인용품. 이번 포스팅 하는 매장은 부산 부전동에 위치한 부산 서면점 입니다.딩동 남포동에서 핫한 성인용품점 딩동 서면 상륙, Meimpvwvs0 💚서면1번가점 샤이맨 부전동 51914 💙서면2번가점 샤이맨 부전동 168299 ↓, 국내 최초 오픈형 어덜트샵 ☎️ 051 8088818 ⏰ ᴀᴍ1000ᴀᴍ0500 서면일번가 상상마당 사거리 롯데리아 맞은편.
매장 내부에는 각종 성인용품들이 그 용도에 따라 진열되어 있다, 홀딱바나나 부산엔 광복로가, 광복로엔 딩동이 있다. 서면 xoxo @xoxo_adultshop. 일본직수입중 가장 저렴하게 판매하고 있습니다. 보고 끝나는게 아니라 직접 만지고 체험까지, 224 followers, 2 following, 137 posts 서면 xoxo @xoxo_adultshop on instagram.
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부산 시내 한복판 인 서면에 성인용품 전문점 라이트 타운. 콘돔세트메뉴 남성 성기확대 발기커버 남성 성기확대 고급 발기커버 고급형 마사지로션러브젤 핫젤롱타임젤윤활제 애널 섹스기구항문 자위용품 페로몬향수기타 성인용품 sm용품 목줄수갑족갑 sm용품 재갈전신 구속 sm용품 채찍가면, 0518033888 서면라이트타운부산라이트타운서면성인백화점라이트타운맞팔선팔성인몰성박물관성인쇼핑성인용품부산서면부산성인용품서면성인용품그린라이트서면이색데이트서면추천부산여행맞팔선팔f4f성인용품콘돔러브젤 부산성박물관 , 서면_딩동 커플들 이색데이트 코스로 강력추천♥ 예쁜사랑을 위한 다양한 아이템들 가득함bb 신혼.
Com › busanoppa › posts부산오빠 체험까지 가능한 역대급 성인용품샵. 365일 24시간 무인성인용품점 창원시 성산구 상남동 25번지 상남분수광장 옆 빌딩1층 창원성인용품점 상남동성인용품 창원무인성인용품 마산성인 목 빠지는 줄 알았네 드뎌 도착했다 ㅋㅋ 킨제이부터 써 봤다, 침을 한번 삼키고 서면에 위치한 어느 성인용품점 입구 계단에 첫발을 내디뎠다, 오늘은 작년 10월 8일에 업로드 했던 부산 성인용품점 포스팅을 재업로드 하도록 하겠습니다. 일본직수입중 가장 저렴하게 판매하고 있습니다.
성인용품점 이미지 변신, 음지서 양지로, 침을 한번 삼키고 서면에 위치한 어느 성인용품점 입구 계단에 첫발을 내디뎠다. 오늘은 남편과 서면 딩동 성인용품점에 데이트를 갔다. Bb 위치는 1번가 런투유 옆에 있음, 발렌타인 판타스틱 롱 타임서면성인용품정 플레서면성인용품정저 미사용법 최저가, 드림 오르가즘의 극한의 쾌감으로 이끌어줄 아네로스 시리즈의 자극적인 만남 드라이 오르서면 성인용품점가즘에 도전하세요.
Com › busanoppa › posts부산오빠 체험까지 가능한 역대급 성인용품샵.. 254 likes, 0 comments gemsmaduckautopill on septem 다양하고 가성비좋은 서면 무인성인용품점 버버니 서면 no.. 넥서스 에이스 미디엄 선놈 마사지 플레이스 지망 쿠팔로아 하드 에디션 매직.. 169 followers, 114 following, 66 posts 샤이맨서면 무인어른이장난감 서면핫플 서면데이트 @shymanseomyeon on instagram 💜연인 솔로들의 프라이빗 아이템을 골라보세요 💛24시 연중무휴 영업중 💙오시는길 snaver..
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365일 24시간 무인성인용품점 창원시 성산구 상남동 25번지 상남분수광장 옆 빌딩1층 창원성인용품점 상남동성인용품 창원무인성인용품 마산성인 목 빠지는 줄 알았네 드뎌 도착했다 ㅋㅋ 킨제이부터 써 봤다. 텐가의 가장 기본적인 제품으로 한국에서 판매서면 성인용품량 기준 베스트셀러 1위에 오른 오리지널 바 싼 콘돔은 지금 드디어 유명하고 좋은 콘돔을 싸고 대용량으로. 서면 xoxo @xoxo_adultshop, 콘돔과 같은 피임기구는 물론이고 ‘바이브레이터’나 ‘애널용품’ 같은 생소한 제품까지 모두 모여 있다. 매장내의 분위기도 활기차고 직원분들도 친절하게 설명해주셔서 거부감은 별로 안들었어요 성박물관처럼 올바른 성지식 확립에 도움이 되었으면 좋겠네요 꼭 한번 방문해보세요 부산성인용품 서면라이트타운 서면라이트다운 서면성인용품 댓글 22.
매장내의 분위기도 활기차고 직원분들도 친절하게 설명해주셔서 거부감은 별로 안들었어요 성박물관처럼 올바른 성지식 확립에 도움이 되었으면 좋겠네요 꼭 한번 방문해보세요 부산성인용품 서면라이트타운 서면라이트다운 서면성인용품 댓글 22.. 그리고 매장안에 가차 vr등 놀거리가 많으니 많이 방문해주세요 주소.. Kr › search › detail부산 부산진구딩동 서면점, 0518082005, 0518082005, 성인용품판.. 분명 분홍색의 번쩍이는 간판이 보이기 전까지 뭐 어때라는..
오늘은 서면에 위치한 성인용품점 xoxo에 방문했습니다 가게 앞에있는 간이 간판인데 자극적인 단어로 되어있어 눈이 확 쏠렸습니다. 텐가의 가장 기본적인 제품으로 한국에서 판매서면 성인용품량 기준 베스트셀러 1위에 오른 오리지널 바 싼 콘돔은 지금 드디어 유명하고 좋은 콘돔을 싸고 대용량으로. 딩동 남포동에서 핫한 성인용품점 딩동 서면 상륙. 댓글 1 전체보기 1,062개의 글 목록열기. 국내 최초 오픈형 어덜트샵 ☎️ 051 8088818 ⏰ ᴀᴍ1000ᴀᴍ0500 서면일번가 상상마당 사거리 롯데리아 맞은편.
플디갤 부산 시내 한복판 인 서면에 성인용품 전문점 라이트 타운, 시민들 눈살 찌푸려 부산 한복판 서면에 성인용품 전문점이 오픈되어 시민들의 눈살을. 부산 시내 한복판 인 서면에 성인용품 전문점 라이트 타운, 시민들 눈살 찌푸려 부산 한복판 서면에 성인용품 전문점이 오픈되어 시민들의 눈살을. 텐가의 가장 기본적인 제품으로 한국에서 판매서면 성인용품량 기준 베스트셀러 1위에 오른 오리지널 바 싼 콘돔은 지금 드디어 유명하고 좋은 콘돔을 싸고 대용량으로. 분명 분홍색의 번쩍이는 간판이 보이기 전까지 뭐 어때라는. 망가, 화보집, 피규어도 전시되어있습니다. 한국야동 top 100
피딩 불법 매장내의 분위기도 활기차고 직원분들도 친절하게 설명해주셔서 거부감은 별로 안들었어요 성박물관처럼 올바른 성지식 확립에 도움이 되었으면 좋겠네요 꼭 한번 방문해보세요 부산성인용품 서면라이트타운 서면라이트다운 서면성인용품 댓글 22. 224 followers, 2 following, 137 posts 서면 xoxo @xoxo_adultshop on instagram. 224 followers, 2 following, 137 posts 서면 xoxo @xoxo_adultshop on instagram. 망가, 화보집, 피규어도 전시되어있습니다. 외관부 여성자위용품 여성애널 수동 성인용품. 하드펨돔 챈
하읏 아저씨 홀딱바나나 부산엔 광복로가, 광복로엔 딩동이 있다. 발렌타인 판타스틱 롱 타임서면성인용품정 플레서면성인용품정저 미사용법 최저가. 매장 내부에는 각종 성인용품들이 그 용도에 따라 진열되어 있다. 24시 무인성인용품 마리텔 marital 입니다. 서면 xoxo @xoxo_adultshop. 픽팍 야동
픽시브 무료 이번 포스팅 하는 매장은 부산 부전동에 위치한 부산 서면점 입니다. Bb 위치는 1번가 런투유 옆에 있음. 365일 24시간 무인성인용품점 창원시 성산구 상남동 25번지 상남분수광장 옆 빌딩1층 창원성인용품점 상남동성인용품 창원무인성인용품 마산성인 목 빠지는 줄 알았네 드뎌 도착했다 ㅋㅋ 킨제이부터 써 봤다. 국내 최초 오픈형 어덜트샵 ☎️ 051 8088818 ⏰ ᴀᴍ1000ᴀᴍ0500 서면일번가 상상마당 사거리 롯데리아 맞은편. Com › shymanseomyeon샤이맨서면 무인어른이장난감 서면핫플 서면데이트 @shymanseo.
하요야 빨간약 오늘은 서면에 위치한 성인용품점 xoxo에 방문했습니다 가게 앞에있는 간이 간판인데 자극적인 단어로 되어있어 눈이 확 쏠렸습니다. Com › busanoppa › posts부산오빠 체험까지 가능한 역대급 성인용품샵. 오늘은 서면에 위치한 성인용품점 xoxo에 방문했습니다 가게 앞에있는 간이 간판인데 자극적인 단어로 되어있어 눈이 확 쏠렸습니다. 딩동 남포동에서 핫한 성인용품점 딩동 서면 상륙. Com › jho3688 › 220816189108서면 라이트타운서면 성인용품점 탐방기부산 서면 라이트타운서면.
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.
부산 시내 한복판 인 서면에 성인용품 전문점 라이트 타운., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.