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.
Sextortion happens when someone uses blackmail to obtain sexually explicit material from someone else online. 🔍 ai로 생성된 이미지의 위험성, 알고 계셨나요. Sextortion is a type of blackmail that happens when someone threatens to share or publish private, sensitive material unless you send them sexually explicit images, perform sexual favors, or give them money. 이중 섹스토션 보안위협은 성적 행위와 관련한 민감한 자료를 확보한 후 이를 유포.
Com › mangwoo17 › 223921139264리벤지 포르노, 페이크 포르노, 이젠 섹스토션 sextortion까지 네. 섹스토션은 영어 단어 성sex과 갈취extortion를 합성해 만든 단어다, Learn how to report sextortion. 급증하는 섹스토션 공격, 이메일 보안이 중요한 이유.| 섹스토션은 섹스sex와 강탈extortion이라는 두 단어를 결합시켜 만든 합성어로 주로 온라인을 통해 이뤄지는 성관련 협박범죄를 가리킨다. | Sextortion is a type of blackmail that happens when someone threatens to share or publish private, sensitive material unless you send them sexually explicit images, perform sexual favors, or give them money. | 19 often, the cybercriminal simply shows the victim a prerecorded video of a performer from a cybersex webcam site which they are sufficiently familiar with, then messages the. |
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| 멕시코, 섹스토션을 디지털 범죄로 규정. | 참고로 섹스토션이라는 단어는 섹스 sex와 강요갈취 extortion의 합성어인데, 개인 사생활 – 대게로 성적인 – 정보를 빌미로 성적 행위를 강요하거나 금품을. | Sextortion섹스토션이란 섹스토션은 ‘성sex’과 ‘갈취. |
| Sns를 통해 이성인 것처럼 접근해 친해진 뒤 피해자의 알몸 사진영상을. | Cbs 뉴스가 지난달 31일현지 시간 보도한 내용에 따르면, 일라이자 히콕elijah heacock은 ai로. | Sextortion happens when someone uses blackmail to obtain sexually explicit material from someone else online. |
| Kr › view美서 ai 생성 누드사진으로 협박받은 10대 사망&mldr. | 2022년 11월 17일 멕시코mexico 언론사 아리스테기 뉴스aristegui noticias에 따르면, 멕시코 하원은 섹스토션sextortion을 올림피아 법ley olimpia에. | 🔍 ai로 생성된 이미지의 위험성, 알고 계셨나요. |
| 젊은 층이 많은 시간을 보내는 사회관계망서비스sns를 이용한 디지털 성범죄로, 전문가들은 sns 이용 시 경각심을 가져야 한다고 조언한다. | 당신의 음란 사이트 접속 사실을 알고 있다 섹스토션 보안. | Sns에서 성착취 당한 후 극단적 선택한 10대 소년 유가족. |
Sns를 통해 이성인 것처럼 접근해 친해진 뒤 피해자의 알몸 사진영상을 요구하고 이를 이용해 돈을 뜯어내는 수법 이다.. Facebook rss feed follow us in feedly.. 24일 일본 요미우리신문에 따르면 최근 일본에서 섹스토션 피해 상담을 받는 1020대가 크게.. 섹스토션sextortion이라고 들어 보셨어요..주로 당신의 웹캠을 해킹했고, 당신이. 섹스토션sextortion, 성착취 관련 보안위협 등을 꼽았다. 젊은 층이 많은 시간을 보내는 사회관계망서비스sns를 이용한 디지털 성범죄로, 전문가들은 sns 이용 시 경각심을 가져야 한다고 조언한다. 섹스토션은 성sex과 갈취extortion의 합성어로, 또래 이성을 가장해 피해자에게 접근하고, 성적인 사진을 확보한 다음 이를 이용해 돈을 뜯어내는. 美英 10대소년 유가족, 메타 상대 소송미성년 성착취 방치.
이는 인공지능으로 생성된 누드 사진을 이용해 협박하는 신종 범죄입니다. 한국에서 몸캠 피싱으로 불리는 섹스토션은 sns나 온라인게임 사이트, 화상채팅 등에서 이성인 것처럼 접근해 민감한 영상이나 사진을 찍게 하고 이를, Kr › view美서 ai 생성 누드사진으로 협박받은 10대 사망&mldr.
24일 일본 요미우리신문에 따르면 최근 일본에서 섹스토션 피해 상담을 받는 1020대가 크게, 해외에서 새롭게 유행하기 시작한 섹스토션 공격. Com › html › detail급증하는 섹스토션 공격, 이메일 보안이 중요한 이유, 섹스토션은 협박자가 피해자의 은밀한 이미지를 점유하여 수행되는 협박에서 유래합니다. 성폭력이란 무엇이고, 성폭력으로부터 자신을 보호하는 방법과, 표적이 된 경우 어떻게 해야 하는지 알아보십시오.
섹스토션은 디지털 협박의 한 형태입니다 어떤 사람이 사적인 자료를 공개하겠다고 위협하는 경우, 멕시코, 섹스토션을 디지털 범죄로 규정, 섹스토션 이메일을 처음 받았어요 rphishing. 공격자들은 피해자들이 포르노그래피를 시청하고 있는 모습을 웹캠 영상으로 녹화했다며, read more. 공격자들은 피해자들이 포르노그래피를 시청하고 있는 모습을 웹캠 영상으로 녹화했다며, read more, 디지털 성폭력, 맞서 싸우는 세계 1사라지지 않는 이미지들.
연방수사국fbi는 기술의 발달로 ai 딥페이크 콘텐츠의 질과 접근성이 점점 더 개선되고 있다고 경고했습니다, 섹스토션은 온라인에서 젊은이들을 표적으로 삼아 음란한 이미지 유포를 협박해 돈을 요구하거나 해로운 행위를 강요하는 범죄다. Sns에서 성착취 당한 후 극단적 선택한 10대 소년 유가족.
일본 1020대가 섹스토션이라고 불리는 성범죄에 노출되고 있다, 전문가들은 생성형 ai 기술 발달로 섹스토션sextortion 범죄가 급증하고 있다고 경고했다. 美서 ai 생성 누드사진으로 협박받은 10대 사망섹스토션. Org › wiki › sextortionsextortion wikipedia. Sextortion happens when someone uses blackmail to obtain sexually explicit material from someone else online.
Com › news › articlefbi 딥페이크 악용 ‘섹스토션’ 조심하세요. Kr › newsreport › ainews美서 ai 생성 누드사진으로 협박받은 10대 자살&mldr. 공격자들은 피해자들이 포르노그래피를 시청하고 있는 모습을 웹캠 영상으로 녹화했다며, read more.
섹스토션성적 갈취 사기, 10대 남학생들 자살 잇따라.. Com › mangwoo17 › 223921139264리벤지 포르노, 페이크 포르노, 이젠 섹스토션 sextortion까지 네..
젊은 층이 많은 시간을 보내는 사회관계망서비스sns를 이용한, 24일 일본 요미우리신문에 따르면 최근 일본에서 섹스토션 피해 상담을 받는 1020대가 크게. Sextortion using webcam content often involves a cybercriminal posing as someone else – such as an attractive person – initiating communication of a sexual nature with the victim about 95% of victims are male. 이러한 협박의 목적은 대개 돈을 얻거나, 피해자의 의지를 통제. 전문가들은 생성형 ai 기술 발달로 섹스토션sextortion 범죄가 급증하고 있다고 경고했다. 어떤 사이트를 방문하는지 신경 쓰세요.
hotramenaudios sotwe 미국에서 인공지능ai으로 생성된 누드 사진을 이용한 협박을 받은 10대가 극단적 선택을 한 사건이 발생했다. 이번 용의자들은 화상채팅 프로그램인 스카이프를 통해 해외 이용자들에게 접근해 유사 성행위를 유도, 이를 녹화해 협박의 도구로 사용한 것으로 드러났다. Paps 활동가들이 현재 일본에서 가장 논쟁적이고 심각한 온라인 젠더 기반 폭력으로 지목하는 것은 섹스토션이다. 섹스토션 이메일을 처음 받았어요 rphishing. Sns를 통해 이성인 것처럼 접근해 친해진 뒤 피해자의 알몸 사진영상을. hentai 미츠리
hnd910 한국에서 몸캠 피싱으로 불리는 섹스토션은 sns나 온라인게임 사이트, 화상채팅 등에서 이성인 것처럼 접근해 민감한 영상이나 사진을 찍게 하고 이를. 성폭력이란 무엇이고, 성폭력으로부터 자신을 보호하는 방법과, 표적이 된 경우 어떻게 해야 하는지 알아보십시오. 이번 용의자들은 화상채팅 프로그램인 스카이프를 통해 해외 이용자들에게 접근해 유사 성행위를 유도, 이를 녹화해 협박의 도구로 사용한 것으로 드러났다. 섹스토션은 섹스sex와 강탈extortion이라는 두 단어를 결합시켜 만든 합성어로 주로 온라인을 통해 이뤄지는 성관련 협박범죄를 가리킨다. 섹스토션은 온라인에서 젊은이들을 표적으로 삼아 음란한 이미지 유포를 협박해 돈을 요구하거나 해로운 행위를 강요하는 범죄다. hitomi 1019505
hitomila mind control chines 美서 ai 생성 누드사진으로 협박받은 10대 사망섹스토션. 섹스토션은 협박자가 피해자의 은밀한 이미지를 점유하여 수행되는 협박에서 유래합니다. Sns에서 성착취 당한 후 극단적 선택한 10대 소년 유가족. 이중 섹스토션 보안위협은 성적 행위와 관련한 민감한 자료를 확보한 후 이를 유포. 해외에서 새롭게 유행하기 시작한 섹스토션 공격. hitomi 한국어 인기
hitomi 한국인기 Sextortion섹스토션이란 섹스토션은 ‘성sex’과 ‘갈취. Paps 활동가들이 현재 일본에서 가장 논쟁적이고 심각한 온라인 젠더 기반 폭력으로 지목하는 것은 섹스토션이다. 젊은 층이 많은 시간을 보내는 사회관계망서비스sns를 이용한 디지털 성범죄로, 전문가들은 sns 이용 시 경각심을 가져야 한다고 조언한다. Sns를 통해 이성인 것처럼 접근해 친해진 뒤 피해자의 알몸 사진영상을 요구하고 이를 이용해 돈을 뜯어내는 수법 이다. 필리핀, 화상채팅 이용한 섹스토션 범죄 조직 58명 체포.
hitomi otsukimi 2022년 11월 17일 멕시코mexico 언론사 아리스테기 뉴스aristegui noticias에 따르면, 멕시코 하원은 섹스토션sextortion을 올림피아 법ley olimpia에. Sns 일상화에 섹스토션 피해 갈수록 확산. Com › news › articlefbi 딥페이크 악용 ‘섹스토션’ 조심하세요. Com › 섹스토션이란섹스토션 섹스토션이란 무엇이고, 자신을 보호하는 방법, 피해자가. Sextortion happens when someone uses blackmail to obtain sexually explicit material from someone else online.
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.
, Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.