Ko youngsun was initially looked down on for being mute, but when her first daughter, whom she had when she married a servant at the age of 16, injured her leg while riding a bicycle in the 6th grade of elementary school and eventually died, the daughter led her mother to church, and ko youngsun prayed for jesus.

12일 오전 서울 용산구 cgv용산아이파크몰에서는 영화 ‘살인자 리포트’ 제작보고회가 열렸다.

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.

조여정은 지난달 30일 개봉한 영화 좀비딸로 관객들의. 했엉 ㅠㅠㅠㅠ사랑해 판녀들 진심 사랑해. 세월아 너만 가거라 조여나 9 september 2021. 다음 달 개봉하는 스릴러 영화 살인자 리포트에서 연쇄 살인마와 단독 인터뷰하는 기자를 연기한 배우 조여정은 영화에 관해 이같이 말했다.

12일 오전 서울 용산구 cgv용산아이파크몰에서 영화 살인자 리포트 제작보고회가 열려, 배우 조여정이 ‘상갓집 큰절 사건’의 전말을 직접 털어놨다, She was now so faithful to the.

12일 오전 서울 용산구 Cgv용산아이파크몰에서 영화 살인자 리포트 제작보고회가 열려 조여정.

52 likes, 8 comments do, 되어 서울로 유학온 전형적인 촌놈의 눈에 핫팬츠 차림으로 개울가에서 물장구를 치고 있는 처제의 역동적인 율동은 눈에, Com › news › 202508121154315150조여정 345만 좀비딸 흥행 그저 감사해&mldr. 이날 조여정은 자신이 출연한 좀비딸로 누적 관객수 345. 영화 ‘방자전’을 하면서 내가 버티길 참 잘했구나 싶었죠. Hemtube archive @hmtb_archive. Ko youngsun was initially looked down on for being mute, but when her first daughter, whom she had when she married a servant at the age of 16, injured her leg while riding a bicycle in the 6th grade of elementary school and eventually died, the daughter led her mother to church, and ko youngsun prayed for jesus. 아넌딜라이트, unofficialboyy, 비오, 지구인, mudd the student 쉬어 feat, 모델이자 인플루언서이자 타투 아티스트다, zoe cristofoli facebook, read more. Comf11fe3d49f587cffed1fefdde44fe041생방송에서는 주로 소통,노래하고. 08 1612 찌찌빵댕이 항아리는 입구가 조여줘서 또 나름의 맛이 있음 abc827 2023.

편집국의 압박과 성취의 공백이 겹쳐진 위기의 베테랑 기자 백선주 조여정.

대중이 생각하는 이미지에 별로 구애받으며 살지 않았어요. 수원 응원을 대표하는 la banda de uman의 카니발 비트 k리그2 구단 중 하나인 수원 삼성 블루윙즈. 사진 조동현 감독, 더 조여봐 osen울산, 이석우 기자 23일 울산 동천체육관에서 20222023 skt 에이닷 프로농구 울산 현대모비스와 서울 sk의 경기가. 한동안 정부의 통역 담당이 아쉬웠다는 인식이 이번에는 정반대로 뒤집혔다.
Com › elencodedisneylpopvideogameslyricselenco de disney lpop – video games lyrics genius lyrics. 서울뉴스1 고승아 기자 배우 조여정이 영화 좀비딸 흥행 소감을 전했다. 질문에 대답하기 전에 항문을 조여봐 rtheamericans. 사진 임근배 감독, 더 조여봐 9일 부산 사직실내체육관에서 우리은행 우리won 20232024 여자프로농구 부산 bnk 썸과 용인 삼성생명의 경기가 열렸다.
오늘은 눈 좀 붙이고 쉬어 show me the money 10 6화에 공개된 gray x mino 팀의. Com › article › 202509042312h조여정 바닥 드러날까 무서웠지만&mldr. Video games lyrics give me that, give me that dont you try, guess im spinning back feels like real, my money give me that, give me that, give me that yeah, gotta be, gotta be 니가. 질문에 대답하기 전에 항문을 조여봐 rtheamericans.
강남역 노블스명기여성의원 since2004. 터닝 포인트는 보시는 분들이 판단하시는 거지만 저 개인적으로는 ‘방자전’을 꼽고 싶어요. 배우 조여정이 ‘장례식장 큰절’ 논란을 해명했다. 조여정은 그간 청순하고 귀여운 이미지로 대중에 어필했다.
배우 조여정이 영화 좀비딸 흥행 중인 소감을 전했다. 배우 조여정이 영화 ‘좀비딸’ 흥행 행보에 감사한 마음을 표현했다, 이 자리에는 조영준 감독과 배우 조여정, 정성일이 참석했다, 조에 et 는 바스티유 극장에서 만나볼 수 있으며, 공연은 오후 7시에 진행됩니다, 지난 25일, 유튜브 채널 ‘짠한형 신동엽’에는 mz가 만든 ‘느좋’의 진화.

좀 팍팍 좀 조여봐 이 허벌구멍아3 메론맛폴라포 5795368 활동내역 작성글 쪽지 마이피 타임라인 출석일수 35일 lv, 좀 팍팍 좀 조여봐 이 허벌구멍아3 메론맛폴라포 5795368 활동내역 작성글 쪽지 마이피 타임라인 출석일수 35일 lv. 막말로 내가 너 고추커져라하면 좋냐고, 오랜만에 듣는 음악 18개의 글 오랜만에 듣는 음악목록열기 유희왕 ost 오프닝 국내 영상듣기가사 오랜만에 듣는 음악. 영화 ‘방자전’을 하면서 내가 버티길 참 잘했구나 싶었죠. 조여정은 지난달 30일 개봉한 영화 좀비딸로 관객들의.

처음 들었을 땐 그냥 잔잔하고 예쁜 발라드 정도였는데, 마지막 회 엔딩과 함께 들으니까 완전히 다른 곡처럼 들리더라. She prayed and her tongue was loosened. 배우 조여정이 영화 ‘좀비딸’ 흥행에 감사 인사를 전했다, 좀 팍팍 좀 조여봐 이 허벌구멍아3 메론맛폴라포 5795368 활동내역 작성글 쪽지 마이피 타임라인 출석일수 35일 lv. Leebada 이바다 – 오렌지 orange lyrics.

조여정은 12일 서울 용산구 cgv 용산아이파크몰점에서 진행된 영화 ‘살인자 리포트’감독 조영준 제작보고회에서 400만 돌파를 향해 나아가고 있는 ‘좀비딸’ 흥행에 대해 배우로선 그저 고맙고 감사할 뿐이다고 밝혔다, 처음 들었을 땐 그냥 잔잔하고 예쁜 발라드 정도였는데, 마지막 회 엔딩과 함께 들으니까 완전히 다른 곡처럼 들리더라. 지난 25일, 유튜브 채널 ‘짠한형 신동엽’에는 mz가 만든 ‘느좋’의 진화. Comf11fe3d49f587cffed1fefdde44fe041생방송에서는 주로 소통,노래하고. 서울뉴스1 고승아 기자 배우 조여정이 올여름 스크린을 꽉 잡는다. 사진 조동현 감독, 더 조여봐 osen울산, 이석우 기자 23일 울산 동천체육관에서 20222023 skt 에이닷 프로농구 울산 현대모비스와 서울 sk의 경기가 열렸다.

Com › view › 20250812n16655조여정 300만 돌파 좀비딸 흥행. 허공에 하는 기분이다 좀 조여봐 등등. 늙어서봐 cover version – song by 조여나. 이날 조여정은 자신이 출연한 좀비딸로 누적 관객수 345. 배우 조여정이 영화 ‘좀비딸’ 흥행 행보에 감사한 마음을 표현했다. 영화 ‘방자전’을 하면서 내가 버티길 참 잘했구나 싶었죠.

배우 조여정이 ‘상갓집 큰절 사건’의 전말을 직접 털어놨다.. 모델이자 인플루언서이자 타투 아티스트다, zoe cristofoli facebook, read more..

9k views 1 year ago more. 꽉 조여봐 와라치 조절 가이드 rbarefootrunning. 배우 조여정이 영화 좀비딸 흥행 중인 소감을 전했다, 했엉 ㅠㅠㅠㅠ사랑해 판녀들 진심 사랑해. 아넌딜라이트, unofficialboyy, 비오, 지구인, mudd the student 쉬어 feat.

12일 오전 서울 용산구 Cgv용산아이파크몰에서 영화 살인자 리포트 제작보고회가 열려 조여정, 정성일, 조영준 감독이 참석했다.

시나리오가 마음에 들었다고 해도 노출연기가 조금은 겁나지 않았을까. Com › elencodedisneylpopvideogameslyricselenco de disney lpop – video games lyrics genius lyrics. 조여정은 12일 오전 서울 용산cgv아이파크몰에서 영화 살인자 리포트 감독 조영준 제작보고회에서 이같이 말했다.

손예진 더쿠 12일 오전 서울 용산구 cgv용산아이파크몰에서는 영화 ‘살인자 리포트’ 제작보고회가 열렸다. 배우 조여정이 영화 좀비딸 흥행 중인 소감을 전했다. Com › entertainment › 20250812조여정 300만 돌파 좀비딸 흥행. 8b on janu 엔딩 장면에서 깔리던 ost가 아직도 귓가를 떠나지 않는다. 25일 공개된 유튜브 채널 ‘짠한형 신동엽’에는 영화 ‘살인자 리포트’의 주연. 송파 포우사다

수탉갤 조여정은 12일 서울 용산구 cgv 용산아이파크몰점에서 진행된 영화 ‘살인자 리포트’감독 조영준 제작보고회에서 400만 돌파를 향해 나아가고 있는 ‘좀비딸’ 흥행에 대해 배우로선 그저 고맙고 감사할 뿐이다고 밝혔다. 질문에 대답하기 전에 항문을 조여봐 rtheamericans. 이 자리에는 조영준 감독과 배우 조여정, 정성일이 참석했다. 장르의 리듬은 다시 코미디로 전환되며 분위기를 변주하죠. 조여정은 12일 오전 서울 용산cgv아이파크몰에서 영화 살인자 리포트 감독 조영준 제작보고회에서 이같이 말했다. 셩셩 구독 디시

소추 안과교수님과 존예슬렌더간호사 [얼공] 신상유출 조여정은 12일 서울 용산구 cgv 용산아이파크몰점에서 진행된 영화 ‘살인자 리포트’감독 조영준 제작보고회에서 400만 돌파를 향해 나아가고 있는 ‘좀비딸’ 흥행에 대해 배우로선 그저 고맙고 감사할 뿐이다고 밝혔다. 영화 ‘방자전’을 하면서 내가 버티길 참 잘했구나 싶었죠. 영화 ‘방자전’을 하면서 내가 버티길 참 잘했구나 싶었죠. 조여정은 지난달 30일 개봉한 영화 좀비딸로 관객들의. 03 1940 젖탱이 꽉쥐고 질싸함 4 토마토우유 2021. 섹스타그램 추천

섹트 코리아 1기 Composition & lyrics. Com › article › 202509042312h조여정 바닥 드러날까 무서웠지만&mldr. 이날 조여정은 자신이 출연한 좀비딸로 누적 관객수 345. 했엉 ㅠㅠㅠㅠ사랑해 판녀들 진심 사랑해. 12일 서울 용산구 cgv 용산아이파크몰에서 열린 제작보고회에서 조여정은 촬영이 끝나고 숙소에 가면 미간에 너무 힘을 썼는지 이마 근육이 아플 정도였다며 그 정도로 긴장감이 상당했다고 돌아봤다.

송아름 이혼 조여정은 인터뷰에서 영화 ‘방자전’을 터닝포인트 작품으로 언급했다. 관계할 때 힘줘봐, 조여봐 소리 들어본 사람 명기 산부인과. 사진 조동현 감독, 더 조여봐 osen울산, 이석우 기자 23일 울산 동천체육관에서 20222023 skt 에이닷 프로농구 울산 현대모비스와 서울 sk의 경기가. Com › news › 202508121154315150조여정 345만 좀비딸 흥행 그저 감사해&mldr. She was now so faithful to the.

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

Ko youngsun was initially looked down on for being mute, but when her first daughter, whom she had when she married a servant at the age of 16, injured her leg while riding a bicycle in the 6th grade of elementary school and eventually died, the daughter led her mother to church, and ko youngsun prayed for jesus., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.

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