UN chief: Rule of law risks becoming `Rule of Lawlessness’

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is warning that the rule of law is at grave risk of becoming “the Rule of Lawlessness.” He pointed 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. He also cited the military takeover in Myanmar and the weak rule of law in Haiti. Guterres told the Security Council Thursday that civilians are suffering the effects of conflicts and hunger while countries continue “to flout international law with impunity,”