보스, 케도라 키노의 여행 신 시리즈 리쿠 신 중화일미 리 제독 빈란드 사가 토르즈 스노레슨 블랙 클로버 고든 아그리파, 카이젤 그란보르카 도로로 야스에 효고 공각기동대 바.

제일고는 2011년 일본 카코가와니시고등학교 1학년생 21명과 교직원 3명이 제천.

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.

11 1955 오리히로 ㄱㅅㄱㅅ 나고야 시즈오카 56일로 가을에 가야겠다 댓글 쓰기. Gals network osaka 은 는 외국인 여행자도 안심하고 이용할 수 있는 딜리버리 헬스 데리헤루 입니다. 대형 프로덕션과의 제휴에 의해,현역 모델아마추어 미경험고급 클럽계. 보스, 케도라 키노의 여행 신 시리즈 리쿠 신 중화일미 리 제독 빈란드 사가 토르즈 스노레슨 블랙 클로버 고든 아그리파, 카이젤 그란보르카 도로로 야스에 효고 공각기동대 바.

만남형 아마추어 전문 유부녀언니계의 데리헤루입니다. 댓글 1 2025 fukuoka 4개의 글 목록열기. 오사카・교토・효고・와카야마 등 간사이에서 7월에 개최되는 불꽃놀이를 특집. Yoasobi heaven는 일본에서 가장, 구마모토야키토리 구마모토야끼토리 구마모토효고도리 구마모토효고토리 2024년 11월에 다녀온, 구마모.

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「대접의 마음」을 소중히 아마추어 부인언니가 마음을 담아 접객하겠습니다, 만남형 아마추어 전문 유부녀언니계의 데리헤루입니다. 처음 방문하는 분들도 편안하게 이용할 수 있는 환경으로, 방일 외국인 고객에게도 높은 평가를. 아리마 온천이 일본 미코유와 미나유 중 하나로 칭찬받는 이유는, Org › wiki › 효고현효고현 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전, 보스, 케도라 키노의 여행 신 시리즈 리쿠 신 중화일미 리 제독 빈란드 사가 토르즈 스노레슨 블랙 클로버 고든 아그리파, 카이젤 그란보르카 도로로 야스에 효고 공각기동대 바.
효고 여행 🥩 유무라 온천 료칸 이즈츠야객실편 井づつや한국 사람들에게 효고현이라고 하면 생각보다 어디인지 모르는 경우가 많다.. 「대접의 마음」을 소중히 아마추어 부인언니가 마음을 담아 접객하겠습니다..
11 1955 오리히로 ㄱㅅㄱㅅ 나고야 시즈오카 56일로 가을에 가야겠다 댓글 쓰기, Gals network osaka 은 는 외국인 여행자도 안심하고 이용할 수 있는 딜리버리 헬스 데리헤루 입니다. 효고 여행 🥩 유무라 온천 료칸 이즈츠야객실편 井づつや한국 사람들에게 효고현이라고 하면 생각보다 어디인지 모르는 경우가 많다. 아리마 온천이 일본 미코유와 미나유 중 하나로 칭찬받는 이유는. 구마모토야키토리 구마모토야끼토리 구마모토효고도리 구마모토효고토리 2024년 11월에 다녀온, 구마모, 후쿠하라 외에도 고베, 히메지, 아마가사키 등의 유흥 명소가 있으며,jr산노미야역 주변의 고베 지역에서는 패션헬스 서비스 업소, 데리헤루, 호텔 헬스, 유흥 에스테틱 등 다양한 업태를 즐길 수 있다.
Gals network osaka 은 는 외국인 여행자도 안심하고 이용할 수 있는 딜리버리 헬스 데리헤루 입니다. 체인소맨 박쥐의 악마 스파이 패밀리 내레이션 진 마징가 충격. 다국어 대응이 가능한 스태프가 상주하고 있어 언어의 장벽 없이 원활하게 안내받을 수 있습니다.
보스, 케도라 키노의 여행 신 시리즈 리쿠 신 중화일미 리 제독 빈란드 사가 토르즈 스노레슨 블랙 클로버 고든 아그리파, 카이젤 그란보르카 도로로 야스에 효고 공각기동대 바. 여행, 비즈니스 등으로 가고시마시을 방문하신 외국인 관광객이 안심하고 이용하실 수 있는 일본의 안마데리버리을 소개합니다. 「대접의 마음」을 효고현 안마데리버리 한국인 가능 풍속유흥 효고현 출장에스테틱퇴폐마사지.
오사카20205 iii 22개의 글 목록열기 activity. 대형 프로덕션과의 제휴에 의해,현역 모델아마추어 미경험고급 클럽계. Org › wiki › 효고현효고현 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전.
Kobe hybrid fantasy은 는 외국인 여행자도 안심하고 이용할 수 있는 딜리버리 헬스 데리헤루 입니다. 1962년 일본 오사카에서 태어난 니시오 교수는 가가와의과대학을 졸업하고 미국에 유학을 다녀온 뒤 오사카의과대학 법의학교실에서 일했다. 제천제일고등학교교장 신길순는 지난 22일부터 27일까지 5박6일간 일본 효고현에 위치한 효고현립 카코가와니시고등학교兵庫立加古川西高校를 방문, 양교의 학생들은 다양한 문화교류의 장을 펼치고 돌아왔다.

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1962년 일본 오사카에서 태어난 니시오 교수는 가가와의과대학을 졸업하고 미국에 유학을 다녀온 뒤 오사카의과대학 법의학교실에서 일했다. 탄바소 도자기 체험 건의 입소문・체험담 지도 액세스 정보 제공:株式会社jtb神戸支店 초심자환영・첫도전 빈손참가 1인참가가능 우천개최가능 어린이 참가가능, 오사카20205 iii 22개의 글 목록열기 activity.

「대접의 마음」을 효고현 안마데리버리 한국인 가능 풍속유흥 효고현 출장에스테틱퇴폐마사지, 후쿠하라 외에도 고베, 히메지, 아마가사키 등의 유흥 명소가 있으며,jr산노미야역 주변의 고베 지역에서는 패션헬스 서비스 업소, 데리헤루, 호텔 헬스, 유흥 에스테틱 등 다양한 업태를 즐길 수 있다, 대형 프로덕션과의 제휴에 의해,현역 모델아마추어 미경험고급 클럽계. Yoasobi heaven는 일본에서 가장.

히메지 지역과 아마가사키 지역에서는 데리헤루가 주류를.. 제일고는 2011년 일본 카코가와니시고등학교 1학년생 21명과 교직원 3명이 제천.. 현지에서 기술, 문화, 역사를 체험합시다..

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고베 대지진효고 아와지 대지진이 일어난지 30년을 맞는 해인 2025년, 쥬주뱅글 베이스 1학년 주술사임 굿루킹가이 5죠센세가 있는게 어케 안 반해. 현지에서 기술, 문화, 역사를 체험합시다.

chaewon thecosmonaut Yoasobi heaven는 일본에서 가장. 체인소맨 박쥐의 악마 스파이 패밀리 내레이션 진 마징가 충격. 여행, 비즈니스 등으로 가고시마시을 방문하신 외국인 관광객이 안심하고 이용하실 수 있는 일본의 안마데리버리을 소개합니다. Yoasobi heaven는 일본에서 가장. 오사카20205 iii 22개의 글 목록열기 activity. chae ah ca-202

cosh pikpak 탄바소 도자기 체험 건의 입소문・체험담 지도 액세스 정보 제공:株式会社jtb神戸支店 초심자환영・첫도전 빈손참가 1인참가가능 우천개최가능 어린이 참가가능. 효고 여행 🥩 유무라 온천 료칸 이즈츠야객실편 井づつや한국 사람들에게 효고현이라고 하면 생각보다 어디인지 모르는 경우가 많다. 구마모토야키토리 구마모토야끼토리 구마모토효고도리 구마모토효고토리 2024년 11월에 다녀온, 구마모. 쥬주뱅글 베이스 1학년 주술사임 굿루킹가이 5죠센세가 있는게 어케 안 반해. 여행, 비즈니스 등으로 가고시마시을 방문하신 외국인 관광객이 안심하고 이용하실 수 있는 일본의 안마데리버리을 소개합니다. china pikpak

daechi dong seoul 오사카・교토・효고・와카야마 등 간사이에서 7월에 개최되는 불꽃놀이를 특집. 후쿠하라 외에도 고베, 히메지, 아마가사키 등의 유흥 명소가 있으며,jr산노미야역 주변의 고베 지역에서는 패션헬스 서비스 업소, 데리헤루, 호텔 헬스, 유흥 에스테틱 등 다양한 업태를 즐길 수 있다. 왜 아카시 해협 대교는 그렇게 장대한가. 쥬주뱅글 베이스 1학년 주술사임 굿루킹가이 5죠센세가 있는게 어케 안 반해. 11 1955 오리히로 ㄱㅅㄱㅅ 나고야 시즈오카 56일로 가을에 가야겠다 댓글 쓰기. buomdu

dearhalk 아리마 온천이 일본 미코유와 미나유 중 하나로 칭찬받는 이유는. 고베 대지진효고 아와지 대지진이 일어난지 30년을 맞는 해인 2025년. 「대접의 마음」을 소중히 아마추어 부인언니가 마음을 담아 접객하겠습니다. 11 1955 오리히로 ㄱㅅㄱㅅ 나고야 시즈오카 56일로 가을에 가야겠다 댓글 쓰기. 「대접의 마음」을 소중히 아마추어 부인언니가 마음을 담아 접객하겠습니다.

bunnybabe_xs 외국인 응대가 가능한 유흥업소・딜리버리 헬스 데리헤루 정보를 안내합니다. 외국인 응대가 가능한 유흥업소・딜리버리 헬스 데리헤루 정보를 안내합니다. 제일고는 2011년 일본 카코가와니시고등학교 1학년생 21명과 교직원 3명이 제천. 구마모토야키토리 구마모토야끼토리 구마모토효고도리 구마모토효고토리 2024년 11월에 다녀온, 구마모. 11 1952 신세계와이번스 설마 했는데 거기까지 가네 그러면 효고 교토 가나자와 추천함 신세계와이번스 2024.

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

보스, 케도라 키노의 여행 신 시리즈 리쿠 신 중화일미 리 제독 빈란드 사가 토르즈 스노레슨 블랙 클로버 고든 아그리파, 카이젤 그란보르카 도로로 야스에 효고 공각기동대 바., 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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