"Our world is becoming less safe by the day," U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Monday during an address to the U.N.'s Human Rights Council.
"After decades of stable power relations, we are transitioning into an era of multipolarity, thus creating new opportunities for leadership and justice on the international stage. But multipolarity without strong multilateral institutions is a recipe for chaos."
As "world leaders" continue to turn a blind eye to international law, Guterres highlighted conflicts in Congo, Gaza, Myanmar, Ukraine, and Sudan, pleading for greater respect for human rights and peace in the world.
"Our world is changing at warp speed," he told the Human Rights Council.
"The multiplication of conflicts is causing unprecedented suffering. But human rights are a constant."
Quoted by The Associated Press, the U.N. chief noted that attacks on human rights can take many forms. He reiterated his frequent calls for debt relief for some of the world's poorest countries and better spending to fight climate change.
Guterres defended UNRWA, the agency for Palestinian refugees, as the "backbone" of aid efforts at a time when Israel has ramped up its most deadly assault on Gaza. Top Israeli authorities are also refusing permission for food or medical aid into Gaza at the height of a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk also lashed out at "attempts to undermine the legitimacy and work" of the U.N. and its affiliates.
"The U.N. has become a lightning rod for manipulative propaganda and a scapegoat for policy failures," he said. "This is profoundly destructive of the common good and callously betrays the many people whose lives rely on it."
UN Council Kicks Off Six-Week Session:
According to an article by The Hill, the remarks come just months after Guterres invoked Article 99 of the U.N. charter for the first time in early December when he warned of a "severe risk of collapse" of the humanitarian system in Gaza.
"Nothing can justify [Hamas's] deliberate killing, injuring, torturing and kidnapping of civilians, the use of sexual violence - or the indiscriminate launching of rockets towards Israel," Guterres said.
"But nothing justifies the collective punishment of the Palestinian people."
