The U.N. human rights chief on Monday warned that a system of global protections built in the decades after World War Two has never before been under so much strain, calling for an effort to reinforce it or risk suffering the atrocities of the past.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres says human rights are being “suffocated” around the world. He lashed out at voices of division and anger who see human rights as a barrier to their quest for power and profit.

Warmongers and authoritarians are “suffocating” human rights across the world, the chief of the United Nations has warned. Speaking at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres depicted a world where human rights were “on the ropes and being pummelled hard”.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres says human rights are being “suffocated” around the world, lashing out at voices of division and anger who see them as a barrier to their quest