UN chief: Rule of law risks becoming ‘rule of lawlessness’

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Thursday that the rule of law is at grave risk of becoming "the rule of lawlessness," pointing to a host of unlawful actions across the globe from Russia's invasion of Ukraine and coups in Africa's Sahel region to North Korea's illegal nuclear weapons program and Afghanistan's unprecedented attacks on women's and girls' rights.

The UN chief also cited as examples the breakdown of the rule of law in Myanmar since the military ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021 leading to "a cycle of violence, repression and severe human rights violations," and the weak rule of law in Haiti which is beset by widespread rights abuses, soaring crime rates, corruption and transnational crime.

"From the smallest village to the global stage, the rule of law is all that stands between peace and stability and a brutal...