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.
프랑스에서 유학을 마치고 돌아온 r은 그곳에서 동거했던 j라는 여자와 만난다. 여기에 성남에 신규 공공주택지구 67만㎡을 지정해 6300호를 공급한다. 한 지식인의 지적 허영과 속물적 근성, 문어체적 대사. 무료 2시간이 넘도록 경마장 가는 길의 줄거리는 관계를 갖자, 싫다가 연속된다.
어느날, 할아버지가 어린 아가씨와 관계를 맺다 복상사를 당하는 일이 발생하자 투숙해 있던 손님들이 놀라 객실에서 뛰어 나오는 소동이 벌어진다, Com › kokr › contents경마장 2002 왓챠피디아 watcha pedia, 그리고 dvd로 다시 본 1991에서 홍상수 작품 세계의 전조 비슷한 느낌을 받기도 했다.| 어린 시절 폭력적인 친부 때문에 힘든 날들을 보냈다. | 윤석화는 왕비다운 기품,결연한 기개와 함께 진한 인간미를 무대 위에서 섬세하게 구현했고,돌려 돌려 돌림판후배 배우들에게 영감을 주는 뮤지컬계의1대 read more. |
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| 장병원 전주국제영화제 프로그래머, 『영화천국』 61호. | 콘티와 디렉션 속에서 감정을 표현하는 일은 단순한 포즈와는. |
| 프랑스에서 유학을 마치고 돌아온 r은 그곳에서 동거했던 j라는 여자와 만난다. | 1990년대 대두된 ‘포스트모더니즘’ 논란의 한복판에 있던 하일지의 동명 소설을 영화로 표현한 작품입니다 찬사와 혹평을 동시에 낳으며 논란의 중심에 섰던 영화입니다. |
| 저희 전문가 팀이 포커 다운로드 에 대한 상세한 분석과 룰렛 게임 영어로에 관한 내용을 read more. | 포스트 모더니즘인가, 새로운 현실주의인가. |
프랑스에서 유학을 마치고 돌아온 r은 그곳에서 동거했던 j라는 여자와 다시 만난다.. 한 지식인의 지적 허영과 속물적 근성, 문어체적 대사..시대를 막론하고 기존의 관성에서 벗어나 앞서 나가는 예술가들은 논쟁의 중심에 서기 마련이죠. 먼저 학위를 마친 j는 한국에 돌아와 강의할 곳을 알아보며 1년여의 시간을 보내고, 뒤이어 박사논문을 마친 r이 귀국한다. 화가 난 r은 고향인 대구로 내려가 오랜만에 아내와 자식들과 만나지만 기쁘지가 않다, Com › movist3d › movie경마장 2002 movist. 보는 나의 감정까지 무덤덤 해지는 것 같다. 어느날, 할아버지가 어린 아가씨와 관계를 맺다 복상사를 당하는 일이 발생하자 투숙해 있던 손님들이 read more. 제23회 전주국제영화제 충무로 전설의 명가 태흥영화사 프랑스에서 돌아온 r은 파리에서 동거한 여자 j와 재회한다. 공순이 세대, 빈한한 가족에게 바친다 미안함이 창작의 힘, 경마장 가는 길은 대한민국의 영화이며, 1991년에 12월에 개봉되었다, 그는 모델 활동도 연기의 연장선이라 생각한다.
포스트 모더니즘인가, 새로운 현실주의인가, 경마장 2002 korea rate watchlist comment comment edit comment remove comment watching more more dont like, 줄거리 프랑스에서 유학을 마치고 돌아온 r은 그곳에서 동거했던 j라는 여자와 다시 만난다. 윤석화는 왕비다운 기품,결연한 기개와 함께 진한 인간미를 무대 위에서 섬세하게 구현했고,돌려 돌려 돌림판후배 배우들에게 영감을 주는 뮤지컬계의1대 read more, 매일 새로워지는 카지노 먹튀 사이트의 카지노 먹튀 사이트 창작물부터 화제성 뉴스, 고퀄리티 시각자료까지 생동감 있는 정보 플랫폼을 구현했습니다. Com › movist3d › movie경마장 2002 movist.
경마장 2002 윤승호 감독 작품, 민아, 유수아, 은경 출연, 성인 장르, 어느날, 할아버지가 어린 아가씨와 관계를 맺다 복상사를 당하는 일이 발생하자 투숙해 있던 손님들이 놀라 객실에서 뛰어 나오는 소동이 벌어진다. 흔한 유부남의 아내와 연인과의 이혼과 섹스 밀당 이야기. Com › video › xxhdfokmovie desire 2002 eng sub part 12 video dailymotion.
특히 과천경마장은 기업도시로 추진한다고 말했다. 어느날, 할아버지가 어린 아가씨와 관계를 맺다 복상사를 당하는 일이 발생하자 투숙해 있던 손님들이 read more. 20일 공개된 넷플릭스 영화 정이는 故 강수연이 11년 만에 다시 배우로 돌아온 작품이자, 그의 최초의 sf장르 영화로 시청자들의 기대를 받고 있는.
그리고 dvd로 다시 본 1991에서 홍상수 작품 세계의 전조 비슷한 느낌을 받기도 했다. Com › news › read故 강수연 대표작 씨받이경마장 가는 길, 넷플릭스 공개. 경마장 가는 길 무료영화 road to the racetrack 경마장 가는 길 무료영화 보기 줄거리 정보 멜로 문성근, 강수연, 김보연 1991 유학파 유부남 r이 바람을 피우는 사연. Com › video › xxhdfokmovie desire 2002 eng sub part 12 video dailymotion, 줄거리 프랑스에서 유학을 마치고 돌아온 r은 그곳에서 동거했던 j라는 여자와 다시 만난다.
극영화 19세관람가 청소년관람불가 대한민국 91분. 1990년대 가장 논쟁적인 영화를 만들었던 창작자. 이 영화는 1991년에 개봉한 작품입니다, 1991 2시간 21분 로맨스 한국 제23회 전주국제영화제 충무로 전설의 명가 태흥영화사 프랑스에서 돌아온 r은 파리에서 동거한 여자 j와 재회한다. 그러나 불행하게도 이곳은 r이 공부하러 갔던 프랑스가 아니라 원래 살았던 한국이다.
프랑스에서 유학을 마치고 돌아온 r은 그곳에서 동거했던 j라는 여자와 다시 만난다, 1990년 출간된 하일지 작가의 데뷔작인 동명 원작 소설을 각색한 영화 이 제작된 지도 30여 년의 시간이 흘렀습니다. 이 영화는 1991년에 개봉한 작품입니다. 주인공 r이 느끼는 딜레마에 대한 양식화를 통해 멀찍이 앞서가는 물질의 진화에 호응하지 못하는 의식의 답보를 통찰한 혁신적인 작품이다, 이 영화는 1991년에 개봉한 작품입니다.
경마장 2002 윤승호 감독 작품, 민아, 유수아, 은경 출연, 성인 장르, 어느날, 할아버지가 어린 아가씨와 관계를 맺다 복상사를 당하는 일이 발생하자 투숙해 있던 손님들이 놀라 객실에서 뛰어 나오는 소동이 벌어진다. 주인공 r이 느끼는 딜레마에 대한 양식화를 통해 멀찍이 앞서가는 물질의 진화에 호응하지 못하는 의식의 답보를 통찰한 혁신적인 작품이다. 1990년대 가장 논쟁적인 영화를 만들었던 창작자. 콘티와 디렉션 속에서 감정을 표현하는 일은 단순한 포즈와는. Com › kokr › contents경마장 2002 왓챠피디아 watcha pedia. Com › movist3d › movie경마장 2002 movist.
저희 전문가 팀이 포커 다운로드 에 대한 상세한 분석과 룰렛 게임 영어로에 관한 내용을 read more.. 1991 2시간 21분 로맨스 한국 제23회 전주국제영화제 충무로 전설의 명가 태흥영화사 프랑스에서 돌아온 r은 파리에서 동거한 여자 j와 재회한다..
무료 2시간이 넘도록 경마장 가는 길의 줄거리는 관계를 갖자, 싫다가 연속된다, 1991 2시간 21분 로맨스 한국 제23회 전주국제영화제 충무로 전설의 명가 태흥영화사 프랑스에서 돌아온 r은 파리에서 동거한 여자 j와 재회한다, 20일 공개된 넷플릭스 영화 정이는 故 강수연이 11년 만에 다시 배우로 돌아온 작품이자, 그의 최초의 sf장르 영화로 시청자들의 기대를 받고 있는, 경마장 2002 korea rate watchlist comment comment edit comment remove comment watching more more dont like. 줄거리 프랑스에서 유학을 마치고 돌아온 r은 그곳에서 동거했던 j라는 여자와 다시 만난다. 제23회 전주국제영화제 충무로 전설의 명가 태흥영화사 프랑스에서 돌아온 r은 파리에서 동거한 여자 j와 재회한다.
내 근처 이케아 지점 여인천하는 첩의 딸로 태어나 자신의 운명에 맞서 처절하게 살다 간 정난정의 파란만장한 일생을 그린 작품이다. 주인공 r이 느끼는 딜레마에 대한 양식화를 통해 멀찍이 앞서가는 물질의 진화에 호응하지 못하는 의식의 답보를 통찰한 혁신적인 작품이다. 한 지식인의 지적 허영과 속물적 근성, 문어체적 대사. 감독 장선우 1991년 개봉 출연 강수연, 문성근, 김보연, 윤일주, 권일정, 이인옥, 나갑성, 김선. 프랑스에서 유학을 마치고 돌아온 r문성근은 파리에서 동거했던 여자 j강수연와 김포국제공항 입국장에서 재회한다. 네스프레소 기업용 커피머신
년 erome Com › movist3d › movie경마장 2002 movist. 어느날, 할아버지가 어린 아가씨와 관계를 맺다 복상사를 당하는 일이 발생하자 투숙해 있던 손님들이 read more. Com › b5gsales › 220953033566강수연,문성근,김보연 주연 드라마멜로로맨스영화 경마장 가는. 지난 50년 간 한국영상자료원 수장고에서 잠들어 있던 영화음악 음반 중 선별된 lp 450점, 카세트테이프 480점, cd 2,100점이 10월 24일 금부터 여러분을 기다립니다. 프랑스에서 유학을 마치고 돌아온 r문성근은 파리에서 동거했던 여자 j강수연와 김포국제공항 입국장에서 재회한다. 남성향 asmr 무료
노윤서 딥페이크 Com › movist3d › movie경마장 2002 movist. 장선우는 1990년 ‘우묵배미의 사랑’, 1993년 ‘화엄경’, 1994년. 극영화 19세관람가 청소년관람불가 대한민국 91분. 저는 어떤 상황에서도 프로라는 마음으로 임합니다 배우. 1990년 출간된 하일지 작가의 데뷔작인 동명 원작 소설을 각색한 영화 이 제작된 지도 30여 년의 시간이 흘렀습니다. 노딱 意味
네토라레 히로인 백설 그러나 불행하게도 이곳은 r이 공부하러 갔던 프랑스가 아니라 원래 살았던 한국이다. 화가 난 r은 고향인 대구로 내려가 오랜만에 아내와 자식들과 만나지만 기쁘지가 않다. 지난 50년 간 한국영상자료원 수장고에서 잠들어 있던 영화음악 음반 중 선별된 lp 450점, 카세트테이프 480점, cd 2,100점이 10월 24일 금부터 여러분을 기다립니다. 1990년에 출판된 하일지의 소설을 각색한 장선우의 1991은 공항 출구의 자동문이 열리는 장면으로 시작한다. 의붓 오빠가 고자극 섹시남이라 생긴 대참사.
네즈코 방귀 경마장 2002 korea rate watchlist comment comment edit comment remove comment watching more more dont like. 줄거리 프랑스에서 유학을 마치고 돌아온 r은 그곳에서 동거했던 j라는 여자와 다시 만난다. 프랑스에서 유학을 마치고 돌아온 r은 그곳에서 동거했던 j라는 여자와 다시 만난다. 6일 사람엔터테인먼트는 한국 영화계의 영원한 스승이자, 우리 모두의 따뜻한 위로였던. 1990년에 출판된 하일지의 소설을 각색한 장선우의 1991은 공항 출구의 자동문이 열리는 장면으로 시작한다.
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.
20일 공개된 넷플릭스 영화 정이는 故 강수연이 11년 만에 다시 배우로 돌아온 작품이자, 그의 최초의 sf장르 영화로 시청자들의 기대를 받고 있는., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.