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.
이를 보고 타카노는 자극 받은 것으로 보임. 일본에서 한 20대 여성이 라이브 방송 도중 흉기에 찔려 숨지는 충격적인 사건이 발생했다. 이 장면은 그대로 온라인으로 송출됐다. 일본 유명 여성 스트리머가 신주쿠에서 공격을 받아 사망하는 충격적인 사건이 발생했다.
모감이 아이의 생방송 중 발생한 끔찍한 사건을 조망합니다.. 그러니까 모가미 아이가 웃으면서 받아침.. 어떤남자가 일본bj모가미아이 라는 사람을 죽인 사건..
케이짱 kzzang 남편 의존증 아내가 남편이 바람피면 생기는 일 일본 여고생 사체. 일본 도쿄 신주쿠 칼부림 사건 발생사망한 피해자 스트리머 모가미 아이로 확인 3월 11일 오전 10시 일본 도쿄 신주쿠 타카다노바바역 부근에서 인터넷 방송 라이브 스트리밍을 진행 중이던 스트리머 모가미 아이 最上あい, mogami ai가 사망했습니다, 일본 스트리머 모감이 아이 사건의 충격적 이야기, 일본 bj모가미아이가 라이브 방송 중 한남자에게 살해를 당함, 사건 발생 장소는 사람들의 통행이 많은 곳으로 피해자는 모가미 아이 最上あい라는 여성 스트리머 bj로 일본의 라이브 방송 서비스 후와치에서 야마노테선 일주 걷기라는 제목의 라이브 방송을 하고 있었다. 이 모습은 실시간 방송으로 그대로 read more.
경찰의 조사로 피해자의 신원은 도쿄도 타마시 토요가오카에 거주하는 사토 아이리佐藤愛里, 22세, 용의자는 도치기현 오야마시에 거주하는 타카노 켄이치高野健一, 42 read more, Com › micahyesung › 223792635279대낮 생방송 중 살해당한 일본 bj 모가미 아이 누구. 경찰은 현장에서 40대 남성을 살인미수 혐의로 현행범 체포했습니다, 모가미 아이는 40대 남성에게 40회가 넘게 공격을 당했는데요, 모가미아이범죄사건미스터리스트리머 미스테리한 이야기를 들려주는 채널 입니다 여캠에 빠진 육수충은 결국 xx을 했습니다. 일본에서 한 20대 여성이 라이브 방송 도중 흉기에 찔려 숨지는 충격적인 사건이 발생했다.
특히 피해 여성은 당시 동영상을 송출하고 있었던 것으로 보이며, 이 점이 사건과, 케이토탈채널 이성관 기자 일본 도쿄에서 생방송 중인 여성이 살해되는 끔찍한 사건이 벌어졌습니다. 이번 보들보들에서 새로운 프로젝트를 시작합니다 실제로 있었던 사건들을 재구성하여 출연진과 시청자들이 함께 사건의 전모를 파헤치는 게임이구요.
이 모습은 실시간 방송으로 그대로 read more, +충격 그자체 신주쿠구 인터넷 방송인 살인사건 존재하지 않는 이미지입니다, +충격 그자체 신주쿠구 인터넷 방송인 살인사건 존재하지 않는 이미지입니다. 일본 스트리머 모가미 아이 사건 충격적 사망. 사건의 경과와 충격에 대해 알아보세요. 그러니까 모가미 아이가 웃으면서 받아침.
여캠에 빠진 육수충은 결국 xx을 했습니다, 일본 스트리머 모가미 아이 사건 충격적 사망, 사건 발생 장소는 사람들의 통행이 많은 곳으로 피해자는 모가미 아이 最上あい라는 여성 스트리머 bj로 일본의 라이브 방송 서비스 후와치에서 야마노테선 일주 걷기라는 제목의 라이브 방송을 하고 있었다. 일본 주간지 여성 주간 prime은 피해자가 다수의 대부업체로부터 대출을 받고 있었고, 시청자들에게도 100만 엔 이상의 빚을 지고 있었다고 보도했다. 일본 스트리머 모감이 아이 사건의 충격적 이야기.
일본 유명 여성 스트리머가 신주쿠에서 공격을 받아 사망하는 충격적인 사건이 발생했다.. 라이브 동영상 전달 서비스 후왓치의 인기 스트리머였던 모가미 아이본명 사토 아이리 22가 지난 11일도쿄 신주쿠구 타카다노바바의 노상에서 남성에게 칼에 찔려 사망하는 사건으로 체포된타카노 켄이치42 용의자가 범행 동기에 대해 돈 문제였다고 진술해실제로 돈을 돌려달라고 요구하는..
이를 보고 타카노는 자극 받은 것으로 보임. 어떤남자가 일본bj모가미아이 라는 사람을 죽인 사건, 순진한 초식남을 이용하여 돈을 빌리고, 모가미 아이는 2002년 생으로, 일본에서 활동 하는 인터넷 방송 스트리머 인데요. 신주쿠 한복판에서 여캠 스트리머 모가미 아이 살인 사망사건 정리. 사건 발생장소는 사람들의 통행이 많은곳으로 피해자는 모가미 아이 最上あい라는 여성 스트리머 bj로 일본의 라이브 방송 서비스 후와치에서 야마노테선 일주 걷기라는 제목의 라이브 방송을 하고 있었다.
일본에 대해서 부정적인 사건만 다루고 부정적으로 보는 거 같은데, 한국에 사는데 일본에 관심이 많은거임, 일본 스트리머 모가미 아이 사건 드루와. 일본의 유명 인터넷 방송 스트리머 모가미 아이mogami ai, 最上あい가 도쿄 신주쿠에서 대낮 칼부림으로 살해당하는 충격적인 사건이 발생했다. 이를 보고 타카노는 자극 받은 것으로 보임.
일본 도쿄 신주쿠 칼부림 사건 발생사망한 피해자 스트리머 모가미 아이로 확인 3월 11일 오전 10시 일본 도쿄 신주쿠 타카다노바바역 부근에서 인터넷 방송 라이브 스트리밍을 진행 중이던 스트리머 모가미 아이 最上あい, mogami ai가 사망했습니다. 라이브 동영상 전달 서비스 후왓치의 인기 스트리머였던 모가미 아이본명 사토 아이리 22가 지난 11일도쿄 신주쿠구 타카다노바바의 노상에서 남성에게 칼에 찔려 사망하는 사건으로 체포된타카노 켄이치42 용의자가 범행 동기에 대해 돈 문제였다고 진술해실제로 돈을 돌려달라고 요구하는. 2025년 3월 11일 일본 도쿄의 거리에서 유명 스트리머 모가미아이가 살해당하는 일이 발생했습니다.
모감이 아이의 생방송 중 발생한 끔찍한 사건을 조망합니다, 모가이 마이는 생방송으로 진행 중이었으며 방송 도중 40대 남성에서 43차례를 찔려 잔혹하게 살해 당했는데 실시간 시청자들 에게도 충격적인 사건이었습니다 자세한 내용 알아보겠습니다 모가미 아이 bj 생방송 신주쿠 거리 칼부림 살해 사건, 일본에서 한 20대 여성이 라이브 방송 도중 흉기에 찔려 숨지는 충격적인 사건이 발생했다.
메이플오 누드 사건의 경과와 충격에 대해 알아보세요. 라이브 동영상 전달 서비스 후왓치의 인기 스트리머였던 모가미 아이본명 사토 아이리 22가 지난 11일도쿄 신주쿠구 타카다노바바의 노상에서 남성에게 칼에 찔려 사망하는 사건으로 체포된타카노 켄이치42 용의자가 범행 동기에 대해 돈 문제였다고 진술해실제로 돈을 돌려달라고 요구하는. 모가미 아이는 40대 남성에게 40회가 넘게 공격을 당했는데요. 일본 도쿄 신주쿠 칼부림 사건 발생사망한 피해자 스트리머 모가미 아이로 확인 3월 11일 오전 10시 일본 도쿄 신주쿠 타카다노바바역 부근에서 인터넷 방송 라이브 스트리밍을 진행 중이던 스트리머 모가미 아이 最上あい, mogami ai가 사망했습니다. 이번 보들보들에서 새로운 프로젝트를 시작합니다 실제로 있었던 사건들을 재구성하여 출연진과 시청자들이 함께 사건의 전모를 파헤치는 게임이구요. 모자모자 타츠키
모두가 구원받지 못한 하렘 사람들은 모가미아이를 죽인 남자를 비난하고 욕을함. 모가이 마이는 생방송으로 진행 중이었으며 방송 도중 40대 남성에서 43차례를 찔려 잔혹하게 살해 당했는데 실시간 시청자들 에게도 충격적인 사건이었습니다 자세한 내용 알아보겠습니다 모가미 아이 bj 생방송 신주쿠 거리 칼부림 살해 사건. 모가미 아이는 2002년 생으로, 일본에서 활동 하는 인터넷 방송 스트리머 인데요. 일본에 대해서 부정적인 사건만 다루고 부정적으로 보는 거 같은데, 한국에 사는데 일본에 관심이 많은거임. 모가이 마이는 생방송으로 진행 중이었으며 방송 도중 40대 남성에서 43차례를 찔려 잔혹하게 살해 당했는데 실시간 시청자들 에게도 충격적인 사건이었습니다 자세한 내용 알아보겠습니다 모가미 아이 bj 생방송 신주쿠 거리 칼부림 살해 사건. 모델 우요 인스 타
메키 공속 구간 모가이 마이는 생방송으로 진행 중이었으며 방송 도중 40대 남성에서 43차례를 찔려 잔혹하게 살해 당했는데 실시간 시청자들 에게도 충격적인 사건이었습니다 자세한 내용 알아보겠습니다 모가미 아이 bj 생방송 신주쿠 거리 칼부림 살해 사건. 일본 도쿄에서 라이브 방송을 진행하던 20대 여성이 흉기에 찔려 사망하는 사건이 발생했다. 일본 스트리머 bj 모가미아이 살인 사건 2025년 3월 11일 일본 도쿄의 거리에서 유명 스트리머 모가미아. 이 장면은 그대로 온라인으로 송출됐다. 신주쿠 한복판에서 여캠 스트리머 모가미 아이 살인 사망사건 정리. 모유 유튜브 디시
멜스토리 디시 경찰의 조사로 피해자의 신원은 도쿄도 타마시 토요가오카에 거주하는 사토 아이리佐藤愛里, 22세, 용의자는 도치기현 오야마시에 거주하는 타카노 켄이치高野健一, 42 read more. 일본 도쿄에서 라이브 방송을 진행하던 20대 여성이 흉기에 찔려 사망하는 사건이 발생했다. 케이토탈채널 이성관 기자 일본 도쿄에서 생방송 중인 여성이 살해되는 끔찍한 사건이 벌어졌습니다. 경찰은 현장에서 40대 남성을 살인미수 혐의로 현행범 체포했습니다. 일본 유명 여성 스트리머가 신주쿠에서 공격을 받아 사망하는 충격적인 사건이 발생했다.
모모랜드 낸시 꼭지 일본의 유명 인터넷 방송 스트리머 모가미 아이mogami ai, 最上あい가 도쿄 신주쿠에서 대낮 칼부림으로 살해당하는 충격적인 사건이 발생했다. 라이브 동영상 전달 서비스 후왓치의 인기 스트리머였던 모가미 아이본명 사토 아이리 22가 지난 11일도쿄 신주쿠구 타카다노바바의 노상에서 남성에게 칼에 찔려 사망하는 사건으로 체포된타카노 켄이치42 용의자가 범행 동기에 대해 돈 문제였다고 진술해실제로 돈을 돌려달라고 요구하는. 이번 보들보들에서 새로운 프로젝트를 시작합니다 실제로 있었던 사건들을 재구성하여 출연진과 시청자들이 함께 사건의 전모를 파헤치는 게임이구요. 일본 스트리머 모감이 아이 사건의 충격적 이야기. 모가미아이범죄사건미스터리스트리머 미스테리한 이야기를 들려주는 채널 입니다 여캠에 빠진 육수충은 결국 xx을 했습니다.
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.