UN chief decries global rise of 'rule of force'

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers a speech at the opening of the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council at the United Nations office in Geneva on February 23, 2026. [AFP]

The United Nations leader warned Monday that "the rule of force" was spreading, as the powerful trample on international law and wield artificial intelligence and other technologies to attack human rights.

 "Human rights are under a full-scale attack around the world," Antonio Guterres told the opening of the UN Human Rights Council's annual session in Geneva.