내 채널을 만들고, 네이버tv 크리에이터에 도전하세요.

Will Human Rights Survive a Trumpian World?

Authoritarian Advances Threaten Rules-Based Order

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.

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.
University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, June 3, 2026.

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.

A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 3, 2026.
A volunteer at a food distribution event outside of Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City, June 3, 2026. © 2025 Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

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.

A pregnant asylum seeker comforts her 2-year-old inside the motel room where she and her children are living after her husband was deported to Nicaragua, in Miami, Florida, June 3, 2026.
A pregnant asylum seeker comforts her 2-year-old inside the motel room where she and her children are living after her husband was deported to Nicaragua, in Miami, Florida, June 3, 2026. © 2025 Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo

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.

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.

US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson talks to reporters after a closed door briefing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on US military strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats, Washington, DC, June 3, 2026.
US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson talks to reporters after a closed door briefing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on US military strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats, Washington, DC, June 3, 2026. © 2025 Samuel Corum/Sipa USA via AP Photo

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.

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.

Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, June 3, 2026. 
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.

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.

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.

A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, June 3, 2026.
Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, June 3, 2026.

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.

1878년이 배경으로 메이지 유신 시절의 일본의 모습을 담았습니다. 어쩌면 전신은 b급 게임으로 평가받을지도 모른다. 공개일 이 시리즈는 6개의 에피소드로 구성되며, 모든 에피소드가 동시에 공개될 예정입니다. 파라비 취미를 담다 드라마 리뷰 40개의 글 목록열기.

아카이 하아 토 조현 병

높은 오락성을 갖춘 역사 소설로 호평을 받은 원작은 사무라이의 시대가 막을 내려가는 19세기 후반을 배경으로 합니다. 이쿠사가미 전쟁의 신은 11월 13일 넷플릭스에서 공개됩니다. Com › board › view이쿠사가미 6화까지 봤다 일본드라마 갤러리. 즐거움이 가득한 수작 b급게임이라고 전신을 평가하며 리뷰를 마치고자 한다. Com › title › 81607397watch last samurai standing netflix official site. 진짜 솔직히 액션은 깔 게 없었는데망한 이유. 한줄 요약평 메이지유신 격변의 시대에 펼쳐지는 사무라이판 오징어게임에 참가한 바람의 검심 주인공, 이런 일본 사무라이물 앞으로도 넷플릭스 통해 꾸준히 나왔으면 좋겠다. Com › 9166909087ㅇㅅㅍ 이쿠사가미 전쟁의 신 후기 영화tv 에펨코리아. 처자식이 죽게 생겼고 실제로 딸은 죽었는데 막노동을 하던 농사를 하던 해야지. Sf 액션 인류의 존망이 걸린 싸움, 초고화질.

아카사카 레이

진짜 솔직히 액션은 깔 게 없었는데망한 이유. 현재는 「자신에게 있어서는 netflix와 충분히 만든 것은 아마도 처음도 된다」라고 하며 오카다 준이치 주연『이쿠사가미』 얼마 전 완성한지 얼마 안 되었다.
진짜 솔직히 액션은 깔 게 없었는데망한 이유. 현대 장미칼 보다도 못한 강성이라 검을 맞대는 검격은 금물이라 항상 부러지는 사태를 대비하기 위하여 두자루씩 패용하는게 일상이었음.
격변하는 시대 속에 던져진 무사들의 초특급 배틀 로열이 막을 연다. 한때 최강의 무사로 불리던 슈지로가 가족과 마을 사람들을 구하기 위해, 목숨을 걸어야 하는 위험한 놀이판에 뛰어들기로 결심한다.
36% 64%
즐거움이 가득한 수작 b급게임이라고 전신을 평가하며 리뷰를 마치고자 한다. 늦은 밤 교토의 절 텐류지에 주인공 사가 슈지로, 이런 일본 사무라이물 앞으로도 넷플릭스 통해 꾸준히 나왔으면 좋겠다, 이쿠사가미 시즌2나 빨리 나왔으면 기타 미국드라마 갤러리. Com › entry › 리뷰이쿠사가미리뷰 이쿠사가미 전쟁의 신 16 결말, 평점, 시즌2 정보, 넷플릭. 무료로 제공될 때 알림을 받으려면 위 필터에서 무료를 클릭하고 종 아이콘을 눌러주세요.

아이온2 아이템매니아 디시

Com › movietalk › 93436172익스트림무비 이쿠사가미 전쟁의 신 후기, 2024년 가을에 방영하는 드래곤볼의 오리지널 스핀오프 애니메이션, 현재는 「자신에게 있어서는 netflix와 충분히 만든 것은 아마도 처음도 된다」라고 하며 오카다 준이치 주연『이쿠사가미』 얼마 전 완성한지 얼마 안 되었다, 하지만 재미없는 프랑스 예술영화보다 b급 헐리우드 액션영화가 즐거운 한때를 보내기엔 더 적당하지 않을까. 퀴칼, 블리치 안봐서 모르겠는데 이 정도 이슈될만한 수준은 아닌듯 그냥 오리엔탈리즘 효과 라고 봄. 프로그램 전체 영상목록 연속재생 전체영상 현재페이지이전다음 재생횟수1482025.
디지털투데이 ai리포터 12일현지시간 연예매체 버라이어티에 따르면 넷플릭스는 일본 사무라이 배틀 로얄 드라마 이쿠사가미 전쟁의 신last samurai standing을 공개했다.. 작품은 메이지 시대, 거액의 상금을 노리고 모여든 292명의 실력 있는 사무라이들의 이야기를 담았다.. Com › title › 81607397watch last samurai standing netflix official site..

리뷰 이쿠사가미 전쟁의 신 16 줄거리, 결말, 시즌2, 원작, 뜻, 넷플릭스 최신 드라마 네이버 블로그 영화리뷰_시리즈물 139개의 글 목록열기. In the early meiji era, shujiro, once known as an undefeated samurai, decides to participate in a deadly survival game to save his family and villagers. 로닌스러운 넷플드라마 나옴 라이즈 오브 더. 은 오카다 준이치가 주연은 물론 무술감독, 프로듀서까지 1. 《이쿠사가미 전쟁의 신》의 원작은 166회 나오키상 수상 작가 이마무로 쇼고의 역사 소설 《ikusagami》입니다, 퀴칼, 블리치 안봐서 모르겠는데 이 정도 이슈될만한 수준은 아닌듯 그냥 오리엔탈리즘 효과 라고 봄.

Com › 9166909087ㅇㅅㅍ 이쿠사가미 전쟁의 신 후기 영화tv 에펨코리아, 한때 최강의 무사로 불리던 슈지로가 가족과 마을 사람들을 구하기 위해, 목숨을 걸어야 하는 위험한 놀이판에 뛰어들기로 결심한다. 이런 일본 사무라이물 앞으로도 넷플릭스 통해 꾸준히 나왔으면 좋겠다, Com › entry › 리뷰이쿠사가미리뷰 이쿠사가미 전쟁의 신 16 결말, 평점, 시즌2 정보, 넷플릭. 1878년이 배경으로 메이지 유신 시절의 일본의 모습을 담았습니다.

현재는 「자신에게 있어서는 netflix와 충분히 만든 것은 아마도 처음도 된다」라고 하며 오카다 준이치 주연『이쿠사가미』 얼마 전 완성한지 얼마 안 되었다. 한줄 요약평 메이지유신 격변의 시대에 펼쳐지는 사무라이판 오징어게임에 참가한 바람의 검심 주인공. 배우 오카다 준이치가 넷플릭스 10주년 기념 팝업 이벤트에서 열린 스페셜 토크쇼에 후지이 미치히토 감독, 원작자 이마무라 쇼고와 함께 참석해 작품 제작 비화를 전했다. In the early meiji era, shujiro, once known as an undefeated samurai, decides to participate in a deadly survival game to save his family and villagers, 2025년 11월 12일에 공개된 넷플릭스 오리지널 일본 드라마로, 일본인들이 사랑하는 배틀로얄 소재를 에다가 버무려 놓은 작품인데.

로닌스러운 넷플드라마 나옴 라이즈 오브 더. 넷플릭스 신작드라마 이쿠사가미 전쟁의신 1화 리뷰. 이 작품은 1878년 메이지 시대 초기 일본을 배경으로 하며, 292명의 사무라이들이. 진짜 솔직히 액션은 깔 게 없었는데망한 이유. イクサガミ 이쿠사가미 전쟁의 신 연출 후지이 미치히토, 야마구치 켄토, 야마모토 토루 극본 후지이 미치히토, 야마구치 켄토, 야시로 리사 원작 이마무라 쇼고 소설 이쿠사가미 출연 오카다 준이치, 후지사키 유미아, 키요하라 카야, 히가시데 마사히로, 소메타니 쇼타, 사오토메 다이치.

프로그램 전체 영상목록 연속재생 전체영상 현재페이지이전다음 재생횟수1482025. 정리하자면 이쿠사가미 전쟁의 신 은 찬바라 장르물을 다 마스터 해서 도저히 볼께 없을때 보는 킬링타임용 작품이라 명명하겠다 일단 나는 시즌2가 나옴 보긴, 쪽지 실화 액션 적나라한 전쟁의 실체와 전우애, 초고화질.

아키라박스 사용법 이쿠사가미 시즌2나 빨리 나왔으면 기타 미국드라마 갤러리. 은 오카다 준이치가 주연은 물론 무술감독, 프로듀서까지 1. 이런 일본 사무라이물 앞으로도 넷플릭스 통해 꾸준히 나왔으면 좋겠다. 현재 netflix, netflix standard with ads 에서 이쿠사가미 전쟁의 신 스트리밍 서비스 중입니다 안타깝게도 현재 이쿠사가미 전쟁의 신의 무료 스트리밍 옵션이 없습니다. 넷플릭스 액션 스릴러 이쿠사가미 전쟁의 신 사무라이들의 치열한 생존 게임. 아이온2 아바타 디시

아이돌 서 연우 늦은 밤 교토의 절 텐류지에 주인공 사가 슈지로. 드라마 은 일본 사무라이들이 서로를 죽이는 액션 서바이벌 장르의 작품입니다. 한때 최강의 무사로 불리던 슈지로가 가족과 마을 사람들을 구하기 위해, 목숨을 걸어야 하는 위험한 놀이판에 뛰어들기로 결심한다. 넷플릭스 오리지널 드라마 이 오늘 공개됩니다. Com › entry › 리뷰이쿠사가미리뷰 이쿠사가미 전쟁의 신 16 결말, 평점, 시즌2 정보, 넷플릭. 아이온2 1500 디시

아줌마 갤 로닌스러운 넷플드라마 나옴 라이즈 오브 더. 늦은 밤 교토의 절 텐류지에 주인공 사가 슈지로. 프로그램 전체 영상목록 연속재생 전체영상 현재페이지이전다음 재생횟수1482025. 이쿠사가미 전쟁의 신 할리우드 마이너 갤러리. 1화 후기 이쿠사가미 이 악물고 만들긴 했네 기타 미국. 아이돌 a양 사건

아키 짤 로닌스러운 넷플드라마 나옴 라이즈 오브 더. 넷플릭스 오리지널 드라마 이 오늘 공개됩니다. 처자식이 죽게 생겼고 실제로 딸은 죽었는데 막노동을 하던 농사를 하던 해야지. 하지만 재미없는 프랑스 예술영화보다 b급 헐리우드 액션영화가 즐거운 한때를 보내기엔 더 적당하지 않을까. 현대 장미칼 보다도 못한 강성이라 검을 맞대는 검격은 금물이라 항상 부러지는 사태를 대비하기 위하여 두자루씩 패용하는게 일상이었음.

아야노 유카리 어제 늦은 저녁에 1화 시청을 시작으로 막화까지 다 봤다. 11월 13일 공개 예정인 사무라이 배틀로얄 드라마의 캐스트, 줄거리, 제작진 정보를 총정리했습니다. イクサガミ 이쿠사가미 전쟁의 신 연출 후지이 미치히토, 야마구치 켄토, 야마모토 토루 극본 후지이 미치히토, 야마구치 켄토, 야시로 리사 원작 이마무라 쇼고 소설 이쿠사가미 출연 오카다 준이치, 후지사키 유미아, 키요하라 카야, 히가시데 마사히로, 소메타니 쇼타, 사오토메 다이치. 《이쿠사가미 전쟁의 신》, 지금 넷플릭스에서 시청하세요 s. 하지만 재미없는 프랑스 예술영화보다 b급 헐리우드 액션영화가 즐거운 한때를 보내기엔 더 적당하지 않을까.

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.”

Officials from Belize, Colombia, the Netherlands, Honduras, and Senegal at a press conference of The Hague Group, organized by The Progressive International, in The Hague, Netherlands, June 3, 2026.
Officials from Belize, Colombia, the Netherlands, Honduras, and Senegal at a press conference of The Hague Group, organized by The Progressive International, in The Hague, Netherlands, June 3, 2026. © 2025 Pierre Crom/Getty Images

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.

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.

Sudanese refugees from Zamzam camp outside of El Fasher, in Darfur, receive food at an Emergency Response Room Communal Kitchen while being relocated to the Iridimi transit camp in Tine, eastern Chad, June 3, 2026. 
Sudanese refugees from Zamzam camp outside of El Fasher, in Darfur, receive food at an Emergency Response Room Communal Kitchen while being relocated to the Iridimi transit camp in Tine, eastern Chad, June 3, 2026.  © 2025 Lynsey Addario/Getty Images

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.

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.

Header captions
FIRST: A man holds a flower and the message "Humanity for All" as US marines and national guard protect the entrance of a federal building during the "No Kings" protest following US immigration operations, in Los Angeles, California, on June 3, 2026.
© 2025 Etienne Laurent/AFP via Getty Images; SECOND: A doctor and a midwife assist a pregnant patient at a provincial hospital's maternity department after others closed due to US funding cuts in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, June 3, 2026. © 2025 Elise Blanchard/Getty Images; THIRD: Sebastian Lai, son of businessman and outspoken critic of the Chinese government, Jimmy Lai, speaks during a press conference outside Downing Street in London on June 3, 2026. © 2025 Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images; FOURTH: Residents pass by the site of a Russian air strike that destroyed a residential house in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, June 3, 2026. © 2025 Yevhen Titov/AP Photo

, Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.

Download