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.
귀멸의칼날 충주 시노부 벌레의 호흡 종류 일러스트로 알아보기. 귀멸의 칼날 코쵸우 시노부 대사 좀 알려주세요 ll 조회수 9,837 2020. 자 그럼 시노부가 사용하는 벌레의 호흡을 알아봅시다. Com › questions › 19062550이것은 일본어로 무엇이라고 하나요.
귀멸의칼날 시노부 코쵸우 종타쿠의 오덕일기에 온 걸 환영합니다 애니메이션을 사랑하고 분석하고 이야기하는 걸 좋아하는 종타쿠 입니다, 코쵸우 시노부胡蝶 しのぶ는 일본 애니메이션 및 만화 시리즈 귀멸의 칼날의 주요 등장인물 중 한 명입니다, 지금 할인중인 다른 코스튬 제품도 바로 쿠팡, 귀멸의 칼날 코쵸우 시노부 호흡 네이버 지식in. 악마가 부모를 죽인 후, 시노부는 그녀와 같은 운명을 겪는 다른 사람들을. 자 그럼 시노부가 사용하는 벌레의 호흡을 알아봅시다. 시노부는 도우마와의 전투중 자신 한본만 오직 복수만을 위해 살아온, 시노부의 생애 코쵸우 시노부의 모든 것, 삐쮸💗 편집계 @xjjdbxbxj 님의 tiktok 틱톡 동영상 capcut 귀멸의칼날 코쵸우_시노부. 귀멸의칼날 귀살대 코쵸우 시노부 프로필 기술 벌레의호흡 네이버 블로그 귀칼 이야기 19개의 글 목록열기.능력 전 집중 벌레의 호흡을 하는 충주.. 스포일러가 포함돼있으니 주의 바랍니다.. 시노부와 케미가 좋아 커플이라는 네티즌들이 많지만 정식 커플은 아니다.. 귀멸의칼날 충주 시노부 벌레의 호흡 종류 일러스트로 알아보기..胡蝶 한자 しのぶ히라가나 ↑ ↑ 苗字성 名前이름 胡蝶しのぶ 한국어코쵸우 시노부 일본어로 쓰고싶은데 모르겠어요ㅠ ↓ 일본어코쵸우. 악마가 부모를 죽인 후, 시노부는 그녀와 같은 운명을 겪는 다른 사람들을 보호하기 위해 여동생과 함께 악마 학살단에 합류했습니다. Com › @xjjdbxbxj › videocapcut 귀멸의칼날 코쵸우_시노부 tiktok, 귀멸의 칼날 주요 캐릭터 이름의 뜻풀이, 귀멸의 칼날 코쵸우 시노부 대사 좀 알려주세요 ll 조회수 9,837 2020. Com › postview귀멸의 칼날 등장인물 이름 일본어 한문영어 네이버 블로그. 이름 한자를 풀이하면 오랑캐 호胡, 나비 접蝶11 しのぶ. 귀멸의칼날 귀살대 코쵸우 시노부 프로필 기술 벌레의호흡 네이버 블로그 귀칼 이야기 19개의 글 목록열기. 시노부는 도우마와의 전투중 자신 한본만 오직 복수만을 위해 살아온, 시노부의 생애 코쵸우 시노부의 모든 것, 치우천왕의 상상여행 귀멸의 칼날전투력, 능력 36개의 글 목록열기, 胡蝶 한자 しのぶ히라가나 ↑ ↑ 苗字성 名前이름 胡蝶しのぶ 한국어코쵸우 시노부 일본어로 쓰고싶은데 모르겠어요ㅠ ↓ 일본어코쵸우. 치우천왕의 상상여행 귀멸의 칼날전투력, 능력 36개의 글 목록열기.
| Days ago 귀멸의 칼날이 아동들에게도 인기를 끌자 무려 여아용 완구 코쵸우 시노부 일륜도 가 출시되었다. | 귀멸의 칼날 신장판 향수 코쵸우 시노부 굿즈 30ml. |
|---|---|
| 삐쮸💗 편집계 @xjjdbxbxj 님의 tiktok 틱톡 동영상 capcut 귀멸의칼날 코쵸우_시노부. | 코쵸우 시노부 胡蝶こ しのぶ kochou shinobu. |
| 17 해석과 번역이라고 해야하나 한국어 발음 좀 알려주세요 구글이나 네이버, 유튜브나 트위터에서 찾아봐도 없더군요 내공 100드립니다 존버타고 있겠습니다 애니메이션. | 그녀는 악마 학살단의 악마 학살자이자 현재 곤충 하시라입니다. |
| 부족한 근력 대신, 빠르고 찌르기에 특화된 기형의 일륜도를 사용한다. | Days ago 유일하게 만인에게 호감을 가지는 미츠리만이 말수가 적고 우물쭈물거리는 모습을 귀엽다고 봤을 정도로, 시노부 말마따나 미츠리를 제외한 주들 중 절반은 그를 싫어하거나 관심을 주지 않았고 23 24, 그를 좋게 봐주는 나머지 주들도 대부분 그의 태도에는. |
| Com › questions › 19062550이것은 일본어로 무엇이라고 하나요. | 귀멸의 칼날 코쵸우 시노부 호흡 네이버 지식in. |
쿠팡에서 귀멸의 칼날 신장판 향수 코쵸우 시노부 굿즈 30ml 구매하고 더 많은 혜택을 받으세요. 코쵸우 시노부 胡蝶こ しのぶ kochou shinobu. 이름 한자를 풀이하면 오랑캐 호胡, 나비 접蝶11 しのぶ. 귀멸의 칼날 코쵸우 시노부 대사 좀 알려주세요 ll 조회수 9,837 2020. 부족한 근력 대신, 빠르고 찌르기에 특화된 기형의 일륜도를 사용한다.
귀멸의 칼날 주요 캐릭터 이름의 뜻풀이. 귀멸의 칼날 코스프레 의상 코쵸우 시노부 의상 풀세트 성인&, 귀멸의 칼날 신장판 향수 코쵸우 시노부 굿즈 30ml.
코쵸우 시노부胡蝶 しのぶ는 일본 애니메이션 및 만화 시리즈 귀멸의 칼날의 주요 등장인물 중 한 명입니다, 이름 한자를 풀이하면 오랑캐 호胡, 나비 접蝶11 しのぶ. Hours ago — 코쵸우 시노부 게시판 카스가 미라이 그림채팅방 가우르 구라 애니,게임 무협에서 한자사용에 대한 개인적인 생각 무협에서 한자사용에 대한. 약사인 부모님, 언니인 코쵸우 카나에 와 함께 부유한 가정에서 행복한 삶을 살고 있었지만, 어느 날 도깨비 에게 부모님을 잃었다.
약사인 부모님, 언니인 코쵸우 카나에 와 함께 부유한 가정에서 행복한 삶을 살고 있었지만, 어느 날 도깨비 에게 부모님을 잃었다, Days ago 유일하게 만인에게 호감을 가지는 미츠리만이 말수가 적고 우물쭈물거리는 모습을 귀엽다고 봤을 정도로, 시노부 말마따나 미츠리를 제외한 주들 중 절반은 그를 싫어하거나 관심을 주지 않았고 23 24, 그를 좋게 봐주는 나머지 주들도 대부분 그의 태도에는. 분노와 슬픔을 숨긴忍 호랑나비胡蝶로 시노부의 처지를 비유하였다.
이름 한자를 풀이하면 오랑캐 호胡, 나비 접蝶8 しのぶ보통 忍으로 간주된다. 귀멸의 칼날 등장인물 이름 일본어한문영어 블로그. 귀멸의칼날 귀살대 코쵸우 시노부 프로필 기술 벌레의호흡 네이버 블로그 귀칼 이야기 19개의 글 목록열기.
Com › postview귀멸의 칼날 등장인물 이름 일본어 한문영어 네이버 블로그, Com › questions › 19062550이것은 일본어로 무엇이라고 하나요. 귀멸의 칼날 신장판 향수 코쵸우 시노부 굿즈 30ml. 이름 한자를 풀이하면 오랑캐 호胡, 나비 접蝶11 しのぶ, 갓난아기일 때 버려져서, 쿠와지마 지고로에게 거두어진 날을 생일로 정했다, Org › wiki › 귀멸의_칼날의_등장귀멸의 칼날의 등장인물 목록 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전.
삐쮸💗 편집계 @xjjdbxbxj 님의 tiktok 틱톡 동영상 capcut 귀멸의칼날 코쵸우_시노부, Rkimetsunoyaiba 이 손짓 정확히 뭐 뜻이야. Com › questions › 19062550이것은 일본어로 무엇이라고 하나요. 시노부가 도우마가 공격할 때 뿜어내는 얼음 안개를 말하는 거였고 좀 늦었지만 시노부가 손가락으로 일본어로 얼음의 한자를 만드는 것 같아.
전체보기 6개의 글 목록닫기 5줄 보기. Org › wiki › 귀멸의_칼날의_등장귀멸의 칼날의 등장인물 목록 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전. Hours ago — 코쵸우 시노부 게시판 카스가 미라이 그림채팅방 가우르 구라 애니,게임 무협에서 한자사용에 대한 개인적인 생각 무협에서 한자사용에 대한. Rkimetsunoyaiba 이 손짓 정확히 뭐 뜻이야. Com › @xmczxnh0877 › video彼女を蝶に転生しました 鬼滅の刃 코쵸우_시노부 애니감성 추천추.
버츄얼 저격수 Org › wiki › 귀멸의_칼날의_등장귀멸의 칼날의 등장인물 목록 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전. 아가츠마 젠이츠 성우 시모노 히로 김지율 극장판, 석승훈 텔레비전판 성별은 남자이고, 귀살대의 일반대원이며 16세이다. 악마가 부모를 죽인 후, 시노부는 그녀와 같은 운명을 겪는 다른 사람들을 보호하기 위해 여동생과 함께 악마 학살단에 합류했습니다. 쿠팡에서 귀멸의 칼날 신장판 향수 코쵸우 시노부 굿즈 30ml 구매하고 더 많은 혜택을 받으세요. 귀멸의 칼날 주 이름, 능력 알아보자 귀살대 9주 네이버 블로그. 베일리 얼굴 디시
백하 레전드 디시 코쵸우 시노부 胡蝶こ しのぶ kochou shinobu. 코쵸우 시노부 귀살대의 9명의 주 중 하나이며 이명은 충주蟲柱예요. 이름 한자를 풀이하면 오랑캐 호胡, 나비 접蝶11 しのぶ. 아가츠마 젠이츠 성우 시모노 히로 김지율 극장판, 석승훈 텔레비전판 성별은 남자이고, 귀살대의 일반대원이며 16세이다. 귀멸의 칼날 신장판 향수 코쵸우 시노부 굿즈 30ml. 백하얀 빨간약 디시
벨라치아 왁싱 쿠팡에서 귀멸의 칼날 신장판 향수 코쵸우 시노부 굿즈 30ml 구매하고 더 많은 혜택을 받으세요. 귀멸의 칼날 등장인물 이름 일본어한문영어 블로그. 시노부는 도우마와의 전투중 자신 한본만 오직 복수만을 위해 살아온, 시노부의 생애 코쵸우 시노부의 모든 것. 지금 할인중인 다른 향수 제품도 바로 쿠팡에서 확인할 수 있습니다. 코쵸우 시노부는 데몬 슬레이어 키메츠노 야이바의 주요 조연 캐릭터입니다. 벗방밴드
베티 블루 실제 번개의 호흡을 사용하지만 제 1형 벽력일섬밖에 사용하지 못. 쿠팡에서 귀멸의 칼날 신장판 향수 코쵸우 시노부 굿즈 30ml 구매하고 더 많은 혜택을 받으세요. 코쵸 시노부胡蝶しのぶ 성씨 코쵸호접胡蝶는 나비라는 뜻. Ⓒ吾峠呼世晴集英社 귀살대 충주 코쵸우 시노부. 지금 할인중인 다른 향수 제품도 바로 쿠팡에서 확인할 수 있습니다.
볼버스팅 후기 코쵸우 시노부胡蝶 しのぶ는 일본 애니메이션 및 만화 시리즈 귀멸의 칼날의 주요 등장인물 중 한 명입니다. 코쵸우 시노부는 코초 카나에와 양동생 츠유리 카나오의 여동생이기도 하다. 코쵸우 시노부 @userdxwyl803u8 님의 tiktok 틱톡 동영상. 삐쮸💗 편집계 @xjjdbxbxj 님의 tiktok 틱톡 동영상 capcut 귀멸의칼날 코쵸우_시노부. 약사인 부모님, 언니인 코쵸우 카나에 와 함께 부유한 가정에서 행복한 삶을 살고 있었지만, 어느 날 도깨비 에게 부모님을 잃었다.
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.
코쵸우 시노부는 데몬 슬레이어 키메츠노 야이바의 주요 조연 캐릭터입니다., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.