In a stark address to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Secretary-General António Guterres issued a grave warning that the international rule of law is being systematically supplanted by a dangerous ‘rule of force.’ Delivering his final in-person speech to the council, Guterres declared that human rights are facing a ‘full-scale attack’ globally, often orchestrated openly by the world’s most powerful entities rather than emerging covertly.
The Secretary-General highlighted specific conflict zones to illustrate this alarming trend. He expressed profound outrage at the four-year war in Ukraine, where over 15,000 civilian deaths have been recorded, demanding an immediate end to the bloodshed. With particular urgency, Guterres condemned what he described as ‘blatant violations of human rights, human dignity and international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,’ warning that the two-state solution is being deliberately dismantled in plain sight and insisting the international community must prevent this outcome.
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk echoed these concerns, identifying a ‘deeply worrying trend’ where domination and supremacy ideologies are resurgent. He characterized the current global landscape as experiencing an intensity of power competition unseen in eight decades, with force becoming normalized for resolving disputes both between and within nations.
The address further connected multiple global crises to the deterioration of human rights protections. Guterres pointed to rapidly widening inequalities, accelerating climate chaos, and the weaponization of technology—particularly artificial intelligence—which he said suppresses rights, deepens discrimination, and targets marginalized communities both online and offline.
Both leaders criticized powerful nations that operate with impunity, with Turk lambasting leaders who act as if ‘above the law and above the UN Charter,’ employing economic leverage as a weapon and spreading disinformation to silence opposition. The speech catalogued vulnerable groups suffering from this erosion: migrants facing harassment and expulsion, refugees becoming scapegoats, LGBTIQ+ communities being vilified, and minorities and indigenous peoples targeted.
Guterres concluded with an urgent call to action, appealing to the international community not to allow the powerful to write a new rulebook where ‘the vulnerable have no rights and the powerful have no limits.’