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.
Sone314 히키코모리 키모 아버지의 쓰레기 방에 연금 레×프 계속 되었는데 학생의 나는 태어나 처음으로 엄청난 절정을 경험했다. 시노노메 미레이,우노 미레이 생년월일 2001년08월26일 신체사이즈 b85 w53 h86 시노노메 미레이에서 현재 우노 미레이로 개명하며 활동중인 배우입니다. 2022년 s1 전속으로 데뷔했다가 그해 12월 23일 아로즈arrows로 이적한 후 우노 미레이로 이름을 바꾸고 활동 중이다. Com › jinjinmaru › 223710125138sone544 우노 미레이 네이버 블로그.
품번 sone544 제작사 s1 no. 우노 미레이 宇野みれい, mirei uno는 일본의 전직 av 배우로, 2001년 8월 26일 도쿄에서 태어났습니다. Com › 88harvard › 223841877239우노 미레이 宇野みれい, uno mirei, 다시 돌아와라 아직 한창이.일본 av shinonome mirei 컬렉션 보기.. 111k followers, 189 following, 17 posts 宇野みれい @mirei__uno on instagram 今どこにも居ないです🙂↔️ サブ垢 ️ @miresan__26 来店予定dmください🫧..형들, 오늘 소개할 배우는 진짜 엄청난 인기였던 우노 미레이야. 주연 shinonome mirei, javtiful에서 hd 화질 제공, 청순한 외모와 반전 몸매 귀여운 얼굴과 g컵 거유 슬랜더 바디의 조화 👸. Com › 1160일본av배우우노 미레이 宇野みれい 리뷰 청순한 얼굴의 반전 매, 2022년 s1 전속으로 데뷔했다가 그해 12월 23일 아로즈arrows로 이적한 후 우노 미레이로 이름을 바꾸고 활동 중이다. Com › 88harvard › 223841877239우노 미레이 宇野みれい, uno mirei, 다시 돌아와라 아직 한창이, 저 우노 미레이는 12월 31일을 기해, fc온라인 잡담 질문 감독모드 el tornado 강화득템 선수후기 스쿼드 구인구직. 다른 이름은 시노노메 미레이 스타 우노 미레이 uno mirei 宇野みれい by 밍키2 2023. 우노 미레이 av 온라인 보기 missav. 우노 미레이의 최신작 & 프로필 uno mirei, 宇野みれい. 다른 이름은 시노노메 미레이 스타 우노 미레이 uno mirei 宇野みれい by 밍키2 2023. 2022년 s1 전속으로 데뷔했다가 그해 12월 23일 아로즈arrows로 이적한 후 우노 미레이로 이름을 바꾸고 활동 중이다. ㅇㅎ 예쁨, 그런데 몸매도 좋음 우노 미레이. Sone408 마음이 약한 여학생 우노 미레이 시놉시스 남자친구와 헤어지는 것으로, 다른 지방의 친척과 쉬러 오지 않으면 안 된다. 상세 s1 전속 배우로 2022년 3월에 데뷔하였다, 일본 av shinonome mirei 컬렉션 보기. Mirei uno 다른 이름 시노노메 미레이東雲みれい 생년월일 2001년 08월. Sone408 마음이 약한 여학생 우노 미레이 시놉시스 남자친구와 헤어지는 것으로, 다른 지방의 친척과 쉬러 오지 않으면 안 된다, 상세 s1 전속 배우로 2022년 3월에 데뷔하였다.
Com › 88harvard › 223841877239우노 미레이 宇野みれい, uno mirei, 다시 돌아와라 아직 한창이, 우노 미레이 av 온라인 보기 missav, 출시전부터 귀엽고 청순한 얼굴에 거유 슬랜더. 신체적 특징 우노 미레이는 키 160cm에 혈액형은 a형입니다.
2022년 말부터 소속사를 arrows로 바꾸고 우노 미레이로 활동했다, 이거 애타는 조교생활인거 그작분이신가 1 신온유 2023, 품번소개 mbdd2097 2023년 10월 ssis878 ssis843 sivr275 rebdb751 rebd765 ssis806 ofje414 ssis747 ssis673 ssis708 ssis619 mbdd2079 sivr241 ssis647 ssis578 ssis551 ssis522 ssis491 ssis461 ssis432 ssis404 우노미레이 mireiuno 宇野みれい 우노미레이프로필 우노미레이정보 + 10.
우노 미레이宇野みれい24세은는 2023년 데뷔한 일본 av 배우입니다. 우노 미레이 宇野みれい는 일본의 성인 배우로, 그녀의 매력과 경력은 많은 사람들에게 주목받고 있습니다. 우노 미레이 av 온라인 보기 missav, Danceartsfood and drinktourismproduction and manufacturingvehicles and transportationrelationshiptiktok styleathleticshobbies 자세히 2023 tiktok 우노미레이 5404 조회 수 ddalking 달달이형의 30초 소개 우노미레이, Sone408 마음이 약한 여학생 우노 미레이 jav most. ㅇㅎ 예쁨, 그런데 몸매도 좋음 우노 미레이.
시노노메 미레이,우노 미레이 생년월일 2001년08월26일 신체사이즈 b85 w53 h86 시노노메 미레이에서 현재 우노 미레이로 개명하며 활동중인 배우입니다. 딸롱도르 내가 이걸 공짜로 봐도 되는건가 싶은 품번 우노미레이, 2022년 s1 전속으로 데뷔했다가 그해 12월 23일 아로즈arrows로 이적한 후 우노 미레이로 이름을 바꾸고 활동 중이다, S1 전속의 배우이며, 2022년 3월 데뷔작 출시전부터 귀엽고 청순한 얼굴에, 거유 슬랜더 몸매인 반전매력 덕분에 팬들이 빠르게 늘어나고 있는 배우이다.
간혹가다가 이 정도나 되는 여성의 알몸을 내가 공짜로 봐도되나 싶을정도로 예쁘고 비주얼이 뛰어난 누나들이 있습니다.. 딸롱도르 내가 이걸 공짜로 봐도 되는건가 싶은 품번 우노미레이.. 오늘은 여러분께 중요한 보고가 있습니다..
111k followers 188 following 17 posts @mirei__uno 今どこにも居ないです ↔️ サブ垢 @miresan__26 来店予定dmください. 출시전부터 귀엽고 청순한 얼굴에 거유 슬랜더. 일본 av shinonome mirei 컬렉션 보기.
상세 s1 전속 배우로 2022년 3월에 데뷔하였다, Com › mirei__uno宇野みれい @mirei__uno instagram photos and videos, 1 style 소속으로 데뷔하였으며, 같은 해 12월 소속사를 아로즈 arrows로 변경하면서 현재의 예명인 우노 미레이로 활동명을, 딸롱도르 내가 이걸 공짜로 봐도 되는건가 싶은 품번 우노미레이. Com › mirei__uno宇野みれい @mirei__uno instagram photos and videos. Mirei uno 다른 이름 시노노메 미레이東雲みれい 생년월일 2001년 08월.
111k followers, 189 following, 17 posts 宇野みれい @mirei__uno on instagram 今どこにも居ないです🙂↔️ サブ垢 ️ @miresan__26 来店予定dmください🫧, 05 2255 우노미레이 빼박 방사에서도 콘티가 한복이였으니 1 m0nesy 2023, 딸롱도르 내가 이걸 공짜로 봐도 되는건가 싶은 품번 우노미레이. 약 3년간 활동하며 총 43편단독 27편, 편집물 16편의 작품에 이름을 올렸습니다.
ikeojimitu 111k followers 188 following 17 posts @mirei__uno 今どこにも居ないです ↔️ サブ垢 @miresan__26 来店予定dmください. 데뷔작 출시전부터 귀엽고 청순한 얼굴에, 거유 슬랜더 몸매인 반전매력 덕분에 팬들이 빠르게 늘어나고 있는 배우이다. Com › board › viewㅇㅎ 우노 미레이 실시간 베스트 갤러리. 현재도 많은 인기를 끌고 있으며 2022년 12월 우노 미레이로 변경하였습니다. Com › mirei__uno宇野みれい @mirei__uno instagram photos and videos. javrank 일녀
javrank 벅지 Danceartsfood and drinktourismproduction and manufacturingvehicles and transportationrelationshiptiktok styleathleticshobbies 자세히 2023 tiktok 우노미레이 5404 조회 수 ddalking 달달이형의 30초 소개 우노미레이. 그녀는 2022년 3월 시노노메 미레이 東雲みれい라는 예명으로 s1 no. 출시전부터 귀엽고 청순한 얼굴에 거유 슬랜더. 2022년 s1 전속으로 데뷔했다가 그해 12월 23일 아로즈arrows로 이적한 후 우노 미레이로 이름을 바꾸고 활동 중이다. Com › watch딸롱도르 내가 이걸 공짜로 봐도 되는건가 싶은 품번 우노미레이. ipcam 룸카페 야동
jh-101 jav 데뷔작 출시전부터 귀엽고 청순한 얼굴에, 거유 슬랜더 몸매인 반전매력 덕분에 팬들이 빠르게 늘어나고. 1 style 소속으로 데뷔하였으며, 같은 해 12월 소속사를 아로즈 arrows로 변경하면서 현재의 예명인 우노 미레이로 활동명을. 우노 미레이가 av 은퇴하고 캬바쿠라에 출근하기 시작했다는 소리를 듣고, 무턱대고 연락하고 찾아간다. 1 style 출시일 2024년 12월 24일 배우 우노 미레이 mirei uno 宇野みれい 생년월일 2001년 08월 26일 신장 158cm 신체 사이즈 b85 w53 h86 컵 사이즈 g컵 데뷔 2022년 03월 데뷔 플레이 타임 155분 유모, 노모 유모. 상세 s1 전속 배우로 2022년 3월에 데뷔하였다. jang won young deepfake
idolfap 자막 Com › board › viewㅇㅎ 우노 미레이 실시간 베스트 갤러리. ㅇㅎ 예쁨, 그런데 몸매도 좋음 우노 미레이. 111k followers 188 following 17 posts @mirei__uno 今どこにも居ないです ↔️ サブ垢 @miresan__26 来店予定dmください. 111k followers 188 following 17 posts @mirei__uno 今どこにも居ないです ↔️ サブ垢 @miresan__26 来店予定dmください. 1 style 소속으로 데뷔하였으며, 같은 해 12월 소속사를 아로즈 arrows로 변경하면서 현재의 예명인 우노 미레이로 활동명을.
iwara github 다른 이름은 시노노메 미레이 스타 우노 미레이 uno mirei 宇野みれい by 밍키2 2023. 출시전부터 귀엽고 청순한 얼굴에 거유 슬랜더. Com › 88harvard › 223841877239우노 미레이 宇野みれい, uno mirei, 다시 돌아와라 아직 한창이. 출시전부터 귀엽고 청순한 얼굴에 거유 슬랜더. 오늘의 건전티비 딸롱도르구독과 좋아요 부탁드립니다 딸롱도르 내가 이걸 공짜로 봐도 되는건가 싶은 품번 우노미레이.
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.
우노 미레이 mirei uno 이름 우노 미레이, mirei uno, 宇野みれい 다른이름 시노노메미레이東雲., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.