Viktor Orbán’s 16-year grip on power has ended in Hungary. The new government should act fast: end rule by decree, suspend Sovereignty Protection Office, drop politically motivated cases, guarantee peaceful protest, restore judicial independence, & meet EU rule of law milestones. Rights can’t wait.

Was für ein Unsinn: Was die Welt über Orbáns historische Niederlage berichtet, spiegelt sich in der Überschrift des @blick.ch überhaupt nicht wider! Im Gegenteil: Die Welt ist sich einig, dass die EU durch den Machtwechsel in Ungarn gestärkt und Trump und Putin geschwächt wurden.

Today. Hungary freed itself from 16 years of a despotic illiberal regime 🇭🇺 It’s Day 500 of the protests in Georgia against a despotic illiberal regime 🇬🇪 Europe can make a difference 🇪🇺 Now.

Goodbye Mr Orbán ⚡️ Now Europe needs to stand up. Now.

Orbán built an “illiberal” country. He also built the EU's poorest one. By real household consumption, Hungary ranks last of 27 EU members. Trump endorsed him & Vance flew to Budapest to campaign. Orbán still trails. Not even the MAGA seal of approval can rescue a failing authoritarian.

Today, Hungarians vote. 16 years of Orbán's illiberalism face a genuine threat: Tisza's Péter Magyar leads every independent poll. But the field is rigged: gerrymandered districts, captured media, a captive judiciary. Magyar must win big to win at all 🇭🇺⚡️🗳️

Twenty photographs from the past week selected by @theguardian.com. The planet, seen from afar, is breathtaking. The moment, lived on it, is not. Worth a few minutes of your day 🌍 🔗 www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Bravo à @franceinter.fr qui ce matin présente deux voix féminines pour parler géopolitique — un domaine souvent réservé aux hommes dans les médias.

Morocco's authorities are still holding Ibtissame Betty Lachgar in prison ⚡️ She is denied urgent medical care 🏥 In this context, no royal grace is just disgraceful. UN Special Rapporteur @marylawlorhrds.bsky.social now calling for her humanitarian release ⤵️

💡 Just dropping something here that was said at the ongoing Human Rights Compass Convening, as it’s worth to be shared: *Human rights is security infrastructure:* because they reduce volatility, prevent conflict, and build trust in institutions.

As the US gets mired in Iran, Putin is preparing his next move: the Narva People’s Republic.

It feels great to be starting Human Rights Compass's 3rd season. A year in, with a great group of colleagues from across the globe, as the global realignment accelerates and the stakes for human rights keep rising. Proud of what we've built & energised for what comes next.

Iran's 1979 constitution: intact. Supreme Leader post: intact. Mojtaba Khamenei—viewed as more extreme than his father—now holds it. Switzerland's mandate to maintain minimal contact is mooted. Nuclear oversight is gone since Trump tore up the 2015 deal. Trump calls this "new, more reasonable" 🇺🇸⚡️🇮🇷

Looks more and more like Trump trapped himself (and the whole world) into an impossible situation… He now has every reason to try to “finish the job,” writes Nouriel Roubini @projectsyndicate.bsky.social www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/u...

Absolutel 💯 Yesterday, Liechtenstein with 13 States shared a draft resolution on Article 27.3 of the Charter, which essentially forbids a state from voting when party to a dispute.

🕊️ 10 years ago today, Intigam Aliyev was released from prison: Azerbaijan’s leading human rights lawyer, teacher of a generation, jailed for doing his job. His release came in a decade of repression that has never stopped.

Just read “Mr Men Little Miss: I Am Angry” putting my 4yo to bed. Trump’s last State of the Union scores at fourth grade on the same readability scale. Hargreaves had the excuse: he was writing for 3–4 year-olds 📖

The honour is ours, @mainakiai.bsky.social — welcome to Progress & Change's Thought Circle 🙏

The Epic Risk: self-preservation vs international law ⚡️ Why self-preservation is a structural principle within international law, not a freestanding right that can justify violating other rules, via @justsecurity.org. www.justsecurity.org/134361/self-...

„Die Frage ist nur, wann die direkte Demokratie sich ihres nationalen Egoismus entledigen kann.“ Lesenswertes Interview mit Daniel Cohn-Bendit (Ja, er ist ein Boomer). www.tagesanzeiger.ch/daniel-cohn-...

“Special military operation." "Large-scale combat operations." Same logic writes @calummackenzie.bsky.social in Swiss public Radio TV: frame aggression as defence, ignore international law, underestimate resistance. The authoritarian playbook, right there in the words ⚡️ www.srf.ch/news/interna...

“No plans for what comes next.” 🇮🇷 The Trump administration doesn't have an actual, real rationale, endgame, or plan for the aftermath of its attacks on Iran, an official told @theintercept.com ⚡️ A must read! theintercept.com/2026/03/05/t...

A few days in Toronto on the future of civic space 🇨🇦 A meeting with Canadian civil society and lawmakers, and ICNL's board meeting. The work of protecting human rights is built on exactly this kind of sustained, committed coalition-building ⚖️

61 years ago today, marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge were met with tear gas, batons and brutality ⚡️ The images shocked the world and changed it: rights are won in the streets before they are written into law. And we lost Jesse Jackson #RIP #BloodySunday #Selma

“If a government attacks its own people, silences journalists, and curtails freedom, there are consequences…” except if it happens in Azerbaijan 😵‍💫

Tonight, Barack Obama spoke to the American people. Don’t we all miss him?

This ⚠️⤵️

68 years old = the average age of the four first known candidates to become UN Secretary-General. ⚠️ 10 years older than the average age of when previous UNSGs took office. #NothingToAdd

To friends of human rights, pay attention ⚠️ Abandoning international law now will harm generations of Iranians to come writes @amandaghahremani.com in the Toronto Star: www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

The commander of the world’s largest military rejecting the law in war is a risk for everyone⚡️ The War Crimes Act codifies jus in bello. US Naval Academy teaches it. Pentagon has a rulebook on it. Pete Hegseth acts as if none of it exists 🇺🇸 ➡️ US Law of War Manual: media.defense.gov/2023/Jul/31/...

So: there are now videos going round of @hillaryclinton.bsky.social’s deposition linked to the Epstein files. Is she not a force? 💪

To my human rights friends hesitating today: Iran’s rulers are brutal. But an illegal war does not deliver human rights. @alexneve.bsky.social explains from a Canadian perspective with global resonance why we can defend human rights in Iran *and* the UN Charter: www.alexneve.ca/blog/we-can-...

They say this war is for the Iranian people ⚡️ Then start with Evin. Start with the political prisoners who have spent decades behind its walls 🇮🇷 Iran’s rulers are brutal. But “regime change” is never guaranteed. Civilian victims are.

The circumstances make my trip to Canada this week even more relevant 🇨🇦 Canada has a role to play in today’s fractured order. I will be discussing this with civil society and lawmakers. ➡️ Ryota Jonen makes a strong case www.hilltimes.com/story/2026/0...

Another war ⚡️ Another war that appears to be in breach of international law. And it did not need to be started: diplomacy was under way this week in Geneva to pressure Iran over its nuclear programme 🇮🇷 Iran’s system is brutal. But regime change is never guaranteed; civilian victims are.

And the jurisprudence served way beyond th jurisdiction of the United Kingdom 🏫⚖️ ⤵️

Today, the UN General Assembly reaffirmed Ukraine’s sovereignty and borders; the United States abstained After weeks of @SecRubio’s State Department manoeuvres, this abstention reads like a choice to blur the line between aggressor and victim It’ll stay on US’s record 🇺🇦⚡️🇺🇸

Read @passblue.bsky.social's “Russia’s War on Ukraine: Certain Crimes and Possible Punishments“ 🇷🇺⚡️🇺🇦 passblue.com/2026/02/22/r...

Skopje strategy days with inspiring civil society people 💪 Three takeaways: security needs rule of law 🛡️; people need proof we help protect their future 👥; and when multilateral spaces go soft, we build new alliances 🗣️ Thanks to @ecnl.bsky.social for bringing us together. Until next time.

Ukraine has passed a point of no return, 4 years into Russis'a war of aggression 🇺🇦⚡️ www.nytimes.com/2026/02/22/o...

About the arrest of Andrew: King Charles: “The law must follow its course.” President Donald J. Trump: “It’s very very sad thing.” Nothing to add 🛑

A very frank and thoughtful interview with an admirable President Zelenskyy 🇺🇦⤵️

The democratic world has rarely seen something like this. #OnThisDay we are witnessing the erosion of what once was meant by “leader of the free world.” With the Board of Peace, the United States positions itself at the centre of a new alignment of autocrats ⚡️

We were among the first to analyse the Board of Peace Charter. An institution built to circumvent the rules-based multilateral system; with the participation of those who ignore rules and obligations under international law. Trump’s Club of Autocrats is meeting today in Washington DC ⚡️

This ⚠️ Human rights are being targeted, and the conditions under which they are defended have dramatically changed. They can serve as a compass, a framework for protection, accountability, resistance ⚖️⤵️

Honoured to be part of and to be mobilising this growing community: +120 human rights defenders 💪 #StayTunes with Human Rights Compass: ➡️ We'll publish the Top 10 Global Human Rights Trends on Thursday ⚖️🌍🕊️

Insane step by the @ec.europa.eu: rewarding Orbán right before the elections in Hungary 🇭🇺⚡️🇪🇺 Europe (EU and @coe.int) need to learn to stand up to the threat from within, hold illiberals and autocrats to account, and use institutional mechanisms to defend rights, principles, and values.

Semyon Gluzman died today in Kyiv, aged 79 🕯️ Psychiatrist, Gluzman exposed the Soviet abuse of psychiatry to silence dissent. After years in labour camps and exile, he helped rebuild ethical psychiatry in Ukraine, stood with people harmed by war and political persecution. #OnThisDay #RIP

I rate airports by the books in their shops and the tea in their cafés 📚🫶☕️ Athens failed both tests; straight to the bottom of the bucket list.

2025 may be seen as a tipping point for global human rights. With the US undermining the global human rights system, who will rise in its defense? #Rights2026 Reflecting on 2025 in our annual World Report, we remember the necessity of standing up for human rights. Read more: https://bit.ly/4aagjDl