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.
즉, 발기 자체가 유도되지 않는다기 보다는 관계를 진행하려고 하면 충분한 상태로 유지되지 않는 문제가 생기게 되는 read more. Kr › @chloechung › 28성 상담 여친과 첫 성관계시 발기문제. 여친이랑 할려하면 발기가 죽는데 어캄. 여자친구 f21와 사귄 지 4개월 정도 됐는데 갑자기 여자친구랑 섰을 때 발기가 안 돼요.
여자친구랑 할려 할때마다 안서요 kkk0 조회수 1,207 2024. 관계도중 중간에 풀리는건 싸지 말라는 신의 뜻입니다, 신체 접촉 없더라도 좋아하는 여자랑 나란히 걸어가기만 해도 발기하는게 정상이니까 걱정말라고 하던데.외적인걸 신경쓰지않을때 관계시 서로의 몸을 적나라하게 보는건 당연한건데 관리를 전혀 안하면 많이 식었음 너도 관리 안하면서 뭔소리냐 할까봐.. 장문젊거나 20대 초반 관계중 발기 풀리거나 안서거나 물렁한.. 본인 20대중반 남자 최근에 첫 연애시작함 2..
| 난여잔데 남친이랑 너무 편해지기도 했고 속궁합이 잘 안맞아서 관계할때 안젖음 근데 이게 관계할때 안젖으면 어떡하지 하면서 하니까. | 여친이랑 할려하면 발기가 죽는데 어캄. | 친아버지와 새아버지 두사람 모두 연락은 하지 않는다고 해요. | 인터뷰 아카이브 유엔참전용사 디지털 아카이브. |
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| 헠헠 하지 않고 아그냥 여자 벗은 몸이네 _ 하는 느낌이야 여친 말고도 쭉쭉빵빵 야동을 봐도 그럼. | 작은 변화가 큰 자신감을 만들어냅니다. | 애무하다가 흥분되면 넣어달라고하는데 넣으려고하면 자꾸 ㅂㄱ가 풀리고 안들어가네요 일단 한번도 해본적없고 긴장도 안하는데왜이럴까요 ㅠㅠ 평소에는 여친이랑 포옹하거나 키스만해도 완전 잘 서는데 넣으려고 하는순간에. | 넣기전에 입이랑 손으로만 해줄때는 한 2030분 서있었는데 넣으려고 하니까 자꾸 죽네 처음엔 여친도 첨이라 아파서 잘 넣지도 못했으니 죽고 두번째엔 넣고 움직이는것도 적응하긴 했는데 더하려고 해도 죽어서 안스. |
| 18 0105 valderam ㅁㅊㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 리맄 2021. | 여자친구랑 할려할때마다 안서서 고민이 되네요 벌써 3번째인데 문제는 뭐고 어떻게 해야 할까요 평상시에는 문제 없어요. | 로또에 미친 아버지 진짜 여초회사 다이런가요. | 셋째, 발기를 방해하는 신체적인 이유가 있다. |
| 솔직히 내기준으로 말하면 여자친구랑 초반에 너무 열나게 해서 그런지 4개월쯤 넘어가면 빈도 확실히 줄긴해. | 왠지 진지하게 글 안싸면 댓글 대충 달꺼같아서 난 분당에 있는 모 대학병원에서 근무하고 있는 방사선사고 내일모레 계란한판임 여친은 수원에 살면서 거주지 주변 산부인과에서 일하는. | 외적인걸 신경쓰지않을때 관계시 서로의 몸을 적나라하게 보는건 당연한건데 관리를 전혀 안하면 많이 식었음 너도 관리 안하면서 뭔소리냐 할까봐. | 야동이나 아침에는 ㅈㄴ잘서는데 여친이 나 막 만지면 잘 안선다 내가 해주면 발기하기는 하는데 이러니까 진도 더 빼기가 무서워 ㅅㅂ 오늘도 여친이. |
야동이나 아침에는 ㅈㄴ잘서는데 여친이 나 막 만지면 잘 안선다 내가 해주면 발기하기는 하는데 이러니까 진도 더 빼기가 무서워 ㅅㅂ 오늘도 여친이. Com › 4000318849여자친구와 포옹하는데 발기한다면 유머움짤이슈 에펨코리아, 여자친구와 성관계시 발기가 되지 않아 너무나 고민입니다. 평소에 혼자할때나 야동볼때, 자고 일어났을때, 여자친구와 스킨십, 심지어 상상만해도 아주 잘 서는데 새로 사귄 여자친구와 첫 관계에 실패했습니다 ㅠㅠ 진도가 좀 빠른편이긴 했는데요.
왠지 진지하게 글 안싸면 댓글 대충 달꺼같아서 난 분당에 있는 모 대학병원에서 근무하고 있는 방사선사고 내일모레 계란한판임 여친은 수원에 살면서 거주지 주변 산부인과에서 일하는.. 또 삽입을 목적으로 발기를 위해 애무를 하려니 발기가 되지를 않네요 처음에.. 여자친구랑 관계 비뇨기과 마이너 갤러리.. 즐겼는데 지금은 너무 아파하니 여자친구가 더 스트레스를 받습니다..
그리고 20살때 첫 경험을 포함해서 25살까지 복수의 이성과, 즐겼는데 지금은 너무 아파하니 여자친구가 더 스트레스를 받습니다. 18 0038 성을 불결하게 생각하거나 안좋은쪽으로만 바라보는 사람들은 피하는게 좋음 2 lilliiil 2021, 그렇게 저와의 사랑을 즐겼던 여자친구가 삽입후 오는 고통에 대한 두려움떄문에 겁먹은 표정이나 이제는 관계에 대한 욕구보다는 두려움이 너무커서 피하게된다고 합니다. 뒤로할때 넣는 자세를 좀 바꿔봐야하나.
나는 진짜로 좋은느낌이없어 여자친구가 너무좋아해서 그런지 꼬추가 죽지는않는데 5분넘게 박아도 전혀쌀거같지않구 힘들기만해 ㅠㅠ 원래이런거아니지않아, Question 안녕하세요 30살 남자입니다 어제 여자친구와 처음으로 관계를 맺으려고 했는데 키스와 애무를 할 때는 발기가 잘되는데 삽입을 하려고 하니 발기가 풀려버리는데 발기부전증상인가요. Question 안녕하세요 30살 남자입니다 어제 여자친구와 처음으로 관계를 맺으려고 했는데 키스와 애무를 할 때는 발기가 잘되는데 삽입을 하려고 하니 발기가 풀려버리는데 발기부전증상인가요.
가장 멀고도, 가까운 그 녀석 나는 진짜로 좋은느낌이없어 여자친구가 너무좋아해서 그런지 꼬추가 죽지는않는데 5분넘게 박아도 전혀쌀거같지않구 힘들기만해 ㅠㅠ 원래이런거아니지않아. 여친앞에서 발기 컨트롤 어떻게함 연애상담. 평소에 혼자할때나 야동볼때, 자고 일어났을때, 여자친구와 스킨십, 심지어 상상만해도 아주 잘 서는데 새로 사귄 여자친구와 첫 관계에 실패했습니다 ㅠㅠ 진도가 좀 빠른편이긴 했는데요. 헠헠 하지 않고 아그냥 여자 벗은 몸이네 _ 하는 느낌이야 여친 말고도 쭉쭉빵빵 야동을 봐도 그럼. 여자친구랑 할려할때마다 안서서 고민이 되네요 벌써 3번째인데 문제는 뭐고 어떻게 해야 할까요 평상시에는 문제 없어요. 清義明 sotwe
矢島twitter漫画ついこみ 인터뷰 아카이브 유엔참전용사 디지털 아카이브. 여자친구랑 할려 할때마다 안서요 kkk0 조회수 1,207 2024. 심리적, 신체적 요인을 모두 고려하고, 생활습관 개선, 소통, 전문 상담을 병행하면 대부분 개선 가능합니다. 여자친구 f21와 사귄 지 4개월 정도 됐는데 갑자기 여자친구랑 섰을 때 발기가 안 돼요. 새로운 파트너와의 관계에서는 처음 발기부전 현상을 느끼는 것은 흔한일이며, 불안감, 특히 과거에 그런 경험이 한두번이라도 있었다면 쉽게 악순환으로 read more. 가치 아 쿠타 아모 과거
那個女孩開通了裏帳號 로또에 미친 아버지 진짜 여초회사 다이런가요. 심리적, 신체적 요인을 모두 고려하고, 생활습관 개선, 소통, 전문 상담을 병행하면 대부분 개선 가능합니다. 친아버지와 새아버지 두사람 모두 연락은 하지 않는다고 해요. 여자친구랑 할려할때마다 안서서 고민이 되네요 벌써 3번째인데 문제는 뭐고 어떻게 해야 할까요 평상시에는 문제 없어요. Question 안녕하세요 30살 남자입니다 어제 여자친구와 처음으로 관계를 맺으려고 했는데 키스와 애무를 할 때는 발기가 잘되는데 삽입을 하려고 하니 발기가 풀려버리는데 발기부전증상인가요. 学生时代欺负我的不良♂成为了我的部下
真美子夫人 エロ 외적인걸 신경쓰지않을때 관계시 서로의 몸을 적나라하게 보는건 당연한건데 관리를 전혀 안하면 많이 식었음 너도 관리 안하면서 뭔소리냐 할까봐. 관계도중 중간에 풀리는건 싸지 말라는 신의 뜻입니다. 신체 접촉 없더라도 좋아하는 여자랑 나란히 걸어가기만 해도 발기하는게 정상이니까 걱정말라고 하던데. 또 삽입을 목적으로 발기를 위해 애무를 하려니 발기가 되지를 않네요 처음에. 심리적, 신체적 요인을 모두 고려하고, 생활습관 개선, 소통, 전문 상담을 병행하면 대부분 개선 가능합니다.
弟弟 sotwe 새로운 파트너와의 관계에서는 처음 발기부전 현상을 느끼는 것은 흔한일이며, 불안감, 특히 과거에 그런 경험이 한두번이라도 있었다면 쉽게 악순환으로 read more. 애무하다가 흥분되면 넣어달라고하는데 넣으려고하면 자꾸 ㅂㄱ가 풀리고 안들어가네요 일단 한번도 해본적없고 긴장도 안하는데왜이럴까요 ㅠㅠ 평소에는 여친이랑 포옹하거나 키스만해도 완전 잘 서는데 넣으려고 하는순간에. Com › mgallery › board여자친구랑 뒤로할때아무느낌이없음 진짜 비뇨기과 마이너 갤. 애무하다가 흥분되면 넣어달라고하는데 넣으려고하면 자꾸 ㅂㄱ가 풀리고 안들어가네요 일단 한번도 해본적없고 긴장도 안하는데왜이럴까요 ㅠㅠ 평소에는 여친이랑 포옹하거나 키스만해도 완전 잘 서는데 넣으려고 하는순간에. 신체 접촉 없더라도 좋아하는 여자랑 나란히 걸어가기만 해도 발기하는게 정상이니까 걱정말라고 하던데.
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.