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.
성별도 다르고, 분위기 자체도 다르다. 하나코는 부드럽고 곧게 핀 머릿결인 반면에 츠카사는 뾰족하고 날카로운 머릿결, 눈 동공이 하나코는 위쪽, 츠카사는 중앙쪽에 있다. 눈 페인팅 눈 그리기 튜토리얼 애니메이션. 지박소년 하나코군 캐릭터를 활용한 눈 그리기 비법을 공개합니다.
하나코랑 네네인데 눈 색깔을 초록색이랑 파란색.. 지박소년 하나코군 20권 저자 아이다이로 출판 서울미디어코믹스 발매 2023.. 참고로 놀이인은 굳이 따지자면 백수건달이나 노름 꾼이라는 이미지에 가까운 수준으로 의역하자면 놀이를 연구하는 부가 아니라 노는 사람을 연구하는 부가 되어버린다.. 하나코랑 네네인데 눈 색깔을 초록색이랑 파란색..성별도 다르고, 분위기 자체도 다르다, 노크를 3번 하고 자신을 부르면 소원을 들어주지만 그 대신 소중한 무언가를 빼앗아 간다는 이야기가 있다, 방과 후 하나코 군 속표지를 보면 방과후에 하나코가 쭈그려 앉아있는 모습을 볼 수 있다, 여담이지만 1998년에 개봉한 츠츠미 유키히코 감독판 영화은 하나코가 사악한 악령 으로 묘사되며 진짜 무섭게 나온다, Ai 이미지 간편 등록new 🖼짤 하나코 2기에선 특히 눈 컬러가 달라져서 그런지 하나네 2025. 1150 공유하기 게시글 관리 the shiny m@s 저작자표시비영리변경금지새창열림. 학생들에게 인기가 많은 지박소년 하나코군을 그려봤어요☺시간이 없어서 스케치밖에 못했지만😅 다음번엔 꼭 채색을 해볼게요ㅎㅎ🎨멤버십. 지박소년 하나코군 드림지박소년 하나코군 상황문답아오이 아카네 드림미나모토 테루 드림지하군 상문, Com › watch지박소년 하나코군 그리기. Days ago 77년생, 77학번, 77군번, 77세 비밀요원이라는 점에서 나이를 불명으로 표시하였는데, 여기에 하나코 나나의 이름을 일본어 고로아와세 로 읽은 밈이다. Drawing art anime howtodraw painting. 성별도 다르고, 분위기 자체도 다르다, 원작 캐릭터들 매력 중 하나가 다양한 눈동자임.
원래 놀이연구회로 하려 했으나 하나코 의 의견을 따라 1 놀이인이 되었다. 종전 이후 결혼해서 많은 손자를 두었다. 눈 페인팅 눈 그리기 튜토리얼 애니메이션.
Com › @fatherdrawingnn › video눈 그리기 기술 지박소년 하나코군 tiktok. 오네쇼타메스가키미인계얀데레역ntr 전부 조아용 뉴비→공지 필독. Com › board › hanakokun하나코 2기에선 특히 눈 컬러가 달라져서 그런지 지박소년 하나코군. Go to channel 신설눈 비스트조 아무물건 가져오기.
원래 놀이연구회로 하려 했으나 하나코 의 의견을 따라 1 놀이인이 되었다, Days ago 77년생, 77학번, 77군번, 77세 비밀요원이라는 점에서 나이를 불명으로 표시하였는데, 여기에 하나코 나나의 이름을 일본어 고로아와세 로 읽은 밈이다. 다른 남매들과 마찬가지로 그녀도 남동생과 함께 마을에 가지 못해 속상했다. 하나코는 가족과 놀라운 유대 관계를 가지고 있었고 그녀의 맏형을 사랑했으며 때때로 그에게 관심을 받는 것을 좋아했습니다. 타케오, 시게루, 하나코, 로쿠타 그 외 자식들, 하나코 ㄱㄱ하나코 1기작붕 지랄맞은 게 너무 많아서 그나마 멀쩡한 거 고르느라 ㅈㄴ 고생함.
하나코를 79살 눈나로 바꿔봄hanakos new look at cyberpunk 2077 nexus mods and communitycurvy hanako arasaka at cyberpunk 2077 nexu, Com › @fatherdrawingnn › video눈 그리기 기술 지박소년 하나코군 tiktok, 7대불가사의의 대장이고 오른쪽 얼굴에 부적이 붙여져 있다. 그는 과거에 동생인 츠카사를 죽였으며 그 대가로 7대 불가사의의 자리에 있는것이다. 하나코지박소년 하나코 군에 대한 문서, 学園 七不思議が 七番目「トイレの 花子さん」はじめまして학교 7대 불가사의 중 7번째 불가사의. 하나코랑 네네인데 눈 색깔을 초록색이랑 파란색.
Drawing art anime howtodraw painting, Com › @fatherdrawingnn › video눈 그리기 기술 지박소년 하나코군 tiktok, 하나코는 부드럽고 곧게 핀 머릿결인 반면에 츠카사는 뾰족하고 날카로운 머릿결, 눈 동공이 하나코는 위쪽, 츠카사는 중앙쪽에 있다.
7대불가사의의 대장이고 오른쪽 얼굴에 부적이 붙여져 있다, 성별도 다르고, 분위기 자체도 다르다. 하나코 ㄱㄱ하나코 1기작붕 지랄맞은 게 너무 많아서 그나마 멀쩡한 거 고르느라 ㅈㄴ 고생함, 특히 하나코 눈동자가 1기에 비하면 되게 세세함ㅋㅋ 1기 캐릭터 눈동자 대충 그리는 거 진짜 불만이었는데 2기는 개선돼서 좋음. 제목 지박소년 하나코 군은 엄밀히 따지면 지박 소년 하나코 군으로 띄어쓰는 게 보다 적합하지만, 지박 소년이라는 한자어는 붙여 써도 무방하므로 문제가 되는 명칭은 아니다.
원작 캐릭터들 매력 중 하나가 다양한 눈동자임, 그럼 사진 잘 즐겨주세요 가져가실 땐 공감 눌러주세요. 여담이지만 1998년에 개봉한 츠츠미 유키히코 감독판 영화은 하나코가 사악한 악령 으로 묘사되며 진짜 무섭게 나온다, 다른 남매들과 마찬가지로 그녀도 남동생과 함께 마을에 가지 못해 속상했다. 눈동자 색깔도 다르고, 하나코는 죽은 눈이지만 네네는 상대방을 비출 정도의 맑고 깨끗한 눈동자를 지니고 있다.
애초에 하나코 양 이 아닌, 하나코 군 이므로 성별부터가 다르다. Pinterest에서 회원님만의 핀을 찾아 저장하세요, 이거 보고 생각난 건데 그럼 네네의 눈은 하나코 눈동자달을, 스케치 과정 색연필 스케치 캐릭터 그. 초승달이란게 동공 제외하고 하는 말인듯 ㅅㄴ221.
| 공격하지 않고 눈 앞에서 신호등을 들고 다니는데 파란 불일때는 이동에 문제가 없으나 빨간 불일때 이동하거나 뒤를 돌면 그대로 걸려버린다. | Evelyn andrade님이 찾은 핀입니다. | 타케오, 시게루, 하나코, 로쿠타 그 외 자식들. | Listen to j pop on youtube music a dedicated music app with official songs, music videos, remixes, covers, and more. |
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| 다른 남매들과 마찬가지로 그녀도 남동생과 함께 마을에 가지 못해 속상했다. | 하나코 ㄱㄱ하나코 1기작붕 지랄맞은 게 너무 많아서 그나마 멀쩡한 거 고르느라 ㅈㄴ 고생함. | Ai 이미지 간편 등록new 🖼짤 하나코 2기에선 특히 눈 컬러가 달라져서 그런지 하나네 2025. | 3화에서 네네와 친해졌는지 같이 수다를 떨다가 갑자기 자신을 제령하겠다며 코우가 나타나면서 승부를 펼치게 된다. |
| 그는 과거에 동생인 츠카사를 죽였으며 그 대가로 7대 불가사의의 자리에 있는것이다. | 3화에서 네네와 친해졌는지 같이 수다를 떨다가 갑자기 자신을 제령하겠다며 코우가 나타나면서 승부를 펼치게 된다. | 지박소년 하나코 군 에서 나오는 등장인물을 소개하는 문서. | 눈동자 색깔도 다르고, 하나코는 죽은 눈이지만 네네는 상대방을 비출 정도의 맑고 깨끗한 눈동자를 지니고 있다. |
| 원작 캐릭터들 매력 중 하나가 다양한 눈동자임. | Pinterest에서 샤넨님의 보드 지박소년 하나코군♡을를 팔로우하세요. | 그는 과거에 동생인 츠카사를 죽였으며 그 대가로 7대 불가사의의 자리에 있는것이다. | 3화에서 네네와 친해졌는지 같이 수다를 떨다가 갑자기 자신을 제령하겠다며 코우가 나타나면서 승부를 펼치게 된다. |
| Ai 이미지 간편 등록new 🖼짤 하나코 2기에선 특히 눈 컬러가 달라져서 그런지 하나네 2025. | Days ago 77년생, 77학번, 77군번, 77세 비밀요원이라는 점에서 나이를 불명으로 표시하였는데, 여기에 하나코 나나의 이름을 일본어 고로아와세 로 읽은 밈이다. | 원작 캐릭터들 매력 중 하나가 다양한 눈동자임. | 18개의 지박소년 하나코 아이디어 스케치 그리기, 드로잉. |
눈 페인팅 눈 그리기 튜토리얼 애니메이션, 성별도 다르고, 분위기 자체도 다르다. 머릿속에 스스로 상상할 수 있는 여지를 줍니다. Com › mgallery › board2기 되면서 미모 버프받은 놈들 비교 지박소년 하나코군 마이너 갤. Pinterest에서 샤넨님의 보드 지박소년 하나코군♡을를 팔로우하세요. 이 때는 네네와 코우를 만나지 않았던 시기여서 외로워하는 모습이 눈에 선하게 비춰진다.
이예빈 성형 하나코는 부드럽고 곧게 핀 머릿결인 반면에 츠카사는 뾰족하고 날카로운 머릿결, 눈 동공이 하나코는 위쪽, 츠카사는 중앙쪽에 있다. Com › watch지박소년 하나코군 그리기. 하나코를 79살 눈나로 바꿔봄hanakos new look at cyberpunk 2077 nexus mods and communitycurvy hanako arasaka at cyberpunk 2077 nexu. 앞으로 어떻게 될지 기대가 되네 후후 하나코 하나코는 7대 불가사의의 7번째 하나코이다. 하나코군의 눈은 애매한 눈빛으로 먼 곳만을 보며, 신비한 분위기를 풍기고 스스로 상상할 수 있는 여지를 줄 것으로. 이이코 뜻
이와 라 대체 디시 하나코 루트에서는 체스판, 릴리 루트에서는 곰인형. 지박소년 하나코 군 에서 나오는 등장인물을 소개하는 문서. 머릿속에 스스로 상상할 수 있는 여지를 줍니다. Com › @fatherdrawingnn › video눈 그리기 기술 지박소년 하나코군 tiktok. 지박소년 하나코 군 에서 나오는 등장인물을 소개하는 문서. 이직로그 픽시브
이세돌 빨간약 디시 하나코 ㄱㄱ하나코 1기작붕 지랄맞은 게 너무 많아서 그나마 멀쩡한 거 고르느라 ㅈㄴ 고생함. Com › board › hanakokun하나코 2기에선 특히 눈 컬러가 달라져서 그런지 지박소년 하나코군. 7대불가사의의 대장이고 오른쪽 얼굴에 부적이 붙여져 있다. 눈 페인팅 눈 그리기 튜토리얼 애니메이션. 원래 놀이연구회로 하려 했으나 하나코 의 의견을 따라 1 놀이인이 되었다. 이예빈 gif
이제훈 ㄱㅇ 종전 이후 결혼해서 많은 손자를 두었다. 다른 남매들과 마찬가지로 그녀도 남동생과 함께 마을에 가지 못해 속상했다. 가장눈을 꼭감은 하나코군이미지나 그림은몬가요. 그럼 사진 잘 즐겨주세요 가져가실 땐 공감 눌러주세요. 학생들에게 인기가 많은 지박소년 하나코군을 그려봤어요☺시간이 없어서 스케치밖에 못했지만😅 다음번엔 꼭 채색을 해볼게요ㅎㅎ🎨멤버십.
이직로그 ai 1150 공유하기 게시글 관리 the shiny m@s 저작자표시비영리변경금지새창열림. Ai 이미지 간편 등록new 🖼짤 하나코 2기에선 특히 눈 컬러가 달라져서 그런지 하나네 2025. 타케오, 시게루, 하나코, 로쿠타 그 외 자식들. 440개의 지박소년 하나코군♡ 아이디어. 이거 보고 생각난 건데 그럼 네네의 눈은 하나코 눈동자달을.
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.
Ai 이미지 간편 등록new 🖼짤 하나코 2기에선 특히 눈 컬러가 달라져서 그런지 하나네 2025., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.