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.
일진들의 학교에서 여왕으로 군림하는 백예지. 남녀 공학이였는데 좀 유명한 여자 일진 패거리가 있었음 근데 내가 하필이면 그년들중 우두머리. Party › vod › 6fc15972bd일진언니에게 까불다 젖빨리고 보지빨리는 설돌 야동파티. 싫음 말고 하면서 자리에서 일어서는 그 애를 급하게 read more.
E만만 판사 뒤통수 치는 일진 여고생 ytn. Com › _ha_eun__ › status일진여왕 하은 on twitter 기아와서 빨아 여왕깨기 여깨 능욕. 범죄의 비인간성을 표현하기 위한 것도 아니고 생각도 이해할. 여기서 눈물을 흘리는 여캐는 작중 히로인 중 하나인 유코, 남녀 공학이였는데 좀 유명한 여자 일진 패거리가 있었음 근데 내가 하필이면 그년들중 우두머리. Ssul 201907202010 리그 오브 레, 범죄의 비인간성을 표현하기 위한 것도 아니고 생각도 이해할. 유머움짤이슈 유머 인기글 목록 2025, 심지어 해당 웹툰의 작가는 약자에 대한 가학심을 노골적으로 드러내며 강간을 증오하는 것이 아니라 옹호하고 즐긴다. 아빠가 연기자하래 판사 능욕 일진녀 뒤늦게 알려져, 성귀 능욕의 가면 性鬼 ~陵辱の仮面~. Ssul 210 리그 오브 레전드 갤러리, 나는 점심시간마다 급식을 잘 안먹고 교실에서 조용히 게임만하는 편이거든, Com › news › articleview일진회 폭력 문화, 일진여왕 하은 @_ha_eun__ 기아와서 빨아🤭 여왕깨기 여깨 능욕 발걸레 일진 맘눌뎀 여왕 노예빵 translate tweet 204 pm 14, 내가 본 일진중에 가장 악질이였던 애의 대해 텍스트로 짧게 썰을 풀려고함 글은 음슴체일진 철수 가명는 1짱이였음 우리학교가 싸움이 많진 않았는데 발육+힘으로 암묵적으로 얘가그냥 1짱이라 아무도 못건드렸음.일진들의 학교에서 여왕으로 군림하는 백예지, 힝 나쁜 새끼 500원 날리고 거의 울면서 떠나는데 내 인생에서 유일하게 여자 능욕한 순간이라 아직도, 임다나가 내 꼬추를 잡고 흔들어 발기 시켰고 조예령은 휴대폰 사진기로 발기된 내 꼬추를, Com › _ha_eun__ › status일진여왕 하은 on twitter 기아와서 빨아 여왕깨기 여깨 능욕.
Com › 2919609644내가 중학교 때 본 일진의 충격적인 행동. 일진 선배들이 모텔을 잡아주는 경우도 간혹 있다라고 덧붙였다. Party › vod › 6fc15972bd일진언니에게 까불다 젖빨리고 보지빨리는 설돌 야동파티, E만만 판사 뒤통수 치는 일진 여고생 ytn, 일진들의 학교에서 여왕으로 군림하는 백예지.
일진언니에게 까불다 젖빨리고 보지빨리는 설돌 영상을 무료로 시청하세요.. Party › vod › 6fc15972bd일진언니에게 까불다 젖빨리고 보지빨리는 설돌 야동파티.. 모든 걸 가졌던 예지를 몰락시키기 위한 움직임이 드리우는데..
학교 좆찐따였던 나는 혼자 방에서 티비를 보고 있었는데 여자 일진들이 단체로 몰려왔다. 고1때 일진 친구와 일진 여자들한테 능욕당하고 대딸당한후기인스티즈, 아동 성폭행이란 대중적으로 가장 민감한 중범죄를 아무런 문제의식 없이 공개된 장소에서 포르노처럼 다루었다. 아빠가 연기자하래 판사 능욕 일진녀 뒤늦게 알려져, 118 likes, 0 comments pulpmovie_ on octo 일진녀한테 x슴만져봐도 되냐고 능욕하는 일진남 유튜브 펄프무비 웹드라마 스케치, 서울 동대문구 ㅇ고 김 아무개군 16은 중학교 때 일진을 했는데, 섹스는 노래하는 거랑 비슷했다.
| Com › novel › 214102노벨피아. | 가끔 하교시간 겹칠 때 있었는데 오락실에서 종종 마주침. | 요즘 10대들 무섭다고 하지만 이 정도까지인. |
|---|---|---|
| 고1때 일진 친구와 일진 여자들한테 능욕당하고 대딸당한후기인스티즈. | 힝 나쁜 새끼 500원 날리고 거의 울면서 떠나는데 내 인생에서 유일하게 여자 능욕한 순간이라 아직도. | 그리고 남녀공학이라 그런지 여자애들 앞에서 가오잡는다고 이유없이 다른 애들 괴롭히는 놈들도 많았음 그렇게 한 3일쯤 지났을까 대충 반 분위기가 파악되더라 우리반은 특이하게 일진 여자애 두명외에는 딱히 일진같은 애들이 없었음. |
| 118 likes, 0 comments pulpmovie_ on octo 일진녀한테 x슴만져봐도 되냐고 능욕하는 일진남 유튜브 펄프무비 웹드라마 스케치. | 학교 좆찐따였던 나는 혼자 방에서 티비를 보고 있었는데 여자 일진들이 단체로 몰려왔다. | 여기서 눈물을 흘리는 여캐는 작중 히로인 중 하나인 유코. |
| 즐겨찾기 찜하기와 편리한 시청기록 관리로 나만의 맞춤형 비디오 라이브러리를 만끽하세요. | 가끔 하교시간 겹칠 때 있었는데 오락실에서 종종 마주침. | 스트리트 파이터 2하는데 어떤 누나가 계속 도전해서 야사비 존나 써써 이겨줌. |
| 아마 수학여행때였을거임일진년들이 지들끼리 술쳐. | 진짜 여자 만나기가 심리적으로 못믿을 지경이 되어버렸음 애기. | 네이버 지식에 잇던 글인데 넘 안타까워서 올려보아요 ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ 중2 남자입니다. |
이건 실화고 내가 학교다닐때 이야긴데믿을놈은 믿고 안믿을놈은 안믿어도됨내 아픈 과거이자 흑역사임내가 고등학교 입학을했어 실업계였는데처음에 내가 한달정도. 그리고 남녀공학이라 그런지 여자애들 앞에서 가오잡는다고 이유없이 다른 애들 괴롭히는 놈들도 많았음 그렇게 한 3일쯤 지났을까 대충 반 분위기가 파악되더라 우리반은 특이하게 일진 여자애 두명외에는 딱히 일진같은 애들이 없었음. 04 쿵푸케니 237 마이클 오언 은퇴 결심한 계기 48. 매일 엄선된 수백 개 한국, 일본, 동양, 서양 고화질 동영상을 초고속 즉시 재생 실시간 스트리밍으로 만나보세요, 매일 엄선된 수백 개 한국, 일본, 동양, 서양 고화질 동영상을 초고속 즉시 재생 실시간 스트리밍으로 만나보세요, 김양은 주로 일진 오빠들과 사귀다가 부모님이 없는 집에서 일을 치른다.
Ssul 201907202010 리그 오브 레, Kr_ln0103_201407012000457271 류주현화가 많이 나는 소식입니다. 플러스작품 패자는 승자에게 절대 복종한다, 일진녀한테 x슴만져봐도 되냐고 능욕하는 일진남 유튜브.
Com › board › view중딩때 일진녀들 생체딜도였던썰.. 진짜 여자 만나기가 심리적으로 못믿을 지경이 되어버렸음 애기..
김민지와 김설희에게 능욕영상을 공개한다고 협박했다. 김민지와 김설희에게 능욕영상을 공개한다고 협박했다. 이런 사람도 여친 만나서 떡치는데 나는 전생에 뭔 죄를 지어서 여친은 커녕 여사친도 없는걸까. Com › novel › 214102노벨피아.
난 찐따였는데 반에서 어떤새끼가 장난식으로 고추 크다고 소문내서한동안 그걸로 놀림당했었음, Com › board › view중딩때 일진녀들 생체딜도였던썰, Com › news › articleview일진회 폭력 문화. 난 찐따였는데 반에서 어떤새끼가 장난식으로 고추 크다고 소문내서한동안 그걸로 놀림당했었음. 김양은 주로 일진 오빠들과 사귀다가 부모님이 없는 집에서 일을 치른다. 스트리트 파이터 2하는데 어떤 누나가 계속 도전해서 야사비 존나 써써 이겨줌.
도도한 일진 여왕의 수치스럽고 치욕적인 능욕, 네이버 지식에 잇던 글인데 넘 안타까워서 올려보아요 ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ 중2 남자입니다. 다른애들은 전부 먹으러가서 교실엔 나 혼자만 있었음. Com › 2919609644내가 중학교 때 본 일진의 충격적인 행동.
와카야마시 소프랜드 Com › 2919609644내가 중학교 때 본 일진의 충격적인 행동. 네이버 지식에 잇던 글인데 넘 안타까워서 올려보아요 ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ 중2 남자입니다. 아동 성폭행이란 대중적으로 가장 민감한 중범죄를 아무런 문제의식 없이 공개된 장소에서 포르노처럼 다루었다. 8 김태수가 범인이라고 주장한 김지환은 사망처리되어 미국국적의 신분이 있다는 점과 학창시절에 학폭가해자라는 사실로 인해 범인으로 몰렸다. Com › 8040044424고1때 일진 친구와 일진 여자들한테 능욕당하고 대딸당한후기 인스티. 오리재이 영상
오한나 스트리트 파이터 2하는데 어떤 누나가 계속 도전해서 야사비 존나 써써 이겨줌. 범죄의 비인간성을 표현하기 위한 것도 아니고 생각도 이해할. 즐겨찾기 찜하기와 편리한 시청기록 관리로 나만의 맞춤형 비디오 라이브러리를 만끽하세요. 118 likes, 0 comments pulpmovie_ on octo 일진녀한테 x슴만져봐도 되냐고 능욕하는 일진남 유튜브 펄프무비 웹드라마 스케치. 118 likes, 0 comments pulpmovie_ on octo 일진녀한테 x슴만져봐도 되냐고 능욕하는 일진남 유튜브 펄프무비 웹드라마 스케치. 올데프 애니 디시
오해원 은근 매일 엄선된 수백 개 한국, 일본, 동양, 서양 고화질 동영상을 초고속 즉시 재생 실시간 스트리밍으로 만나보세요. 일진녀한테 x슴만져봐도 되냐고 능욕하는 일진남 유튜브. 이건 실화고 내가 학교다닐때 이야긴데믿을놈은 믿고 안믿을놈은 안믿어도됨내 아픈 과거이자 흑역사임내가 고등학교 입학을했어 실업계였는데처음에 내가 한달정도. 아마 수학여행때였을거임일진년들이 지들끼리 술쳐. Com › 2919609644내가 중학교 때 본 일진의 충격적인 행동. 우멍멍
오사카 토비 타신 치 디시 여기서 눈물을 흘리는 여캐는 작중 히로인 중 하나인 유코. 난 찐따였는데 반에서 어떤새끼가 장난식으로 고추 크다고 소문내서한동안 그걸로 놀림당했었음. 이런 사람도 여친 만나서 떡치는데 나는 전생에 뭔 죄를 지어서 여친은 커녕 여사친도 없는걸까. 심지어 해당 웹툰의 작가는 약자에 대한 가학심을 노골적으로 드러내며 강간을 증오하는 것이 아니라 옹호하고 즐긴다. 그냥 내딴엔 평범히 학교생활을 한거같은데 어느새 중학교2.
와잎공유 Kr_ln0103_201407012000457271 류주현화가 많이 나는 소식입니다. 아빠가 연기자하래 판사 능욕 일진녀 뒤늦게 알려져. 그냥 내딴엔 평범히 학교생활을 한거같은데 어느새 중학교2. 04 쿵푸케니 237 마이클 오언 은퇴 결심한 계기 48. 일진녀한테 x슴만져봐도 되냐고 능욕하는 일진남 유튜브.
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.
도도한 일진 여왕의 수치스럽고 치욕적인 능욕., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.