World faces most intense competition for power since World War Two, UN human rights chief says

The world faces the most intense competition for power and resources since World War Two amid widespread rights violations in conflicts in Sudan, Gaza, Myanmar and Ukraine, the United Nations human rights chief said on Monday.

Olivia Le Poidevin/Reuters

February 23, 2026

World faces most intense competition for power since World War Two, UN human rights chief says

Palestinians walk past the rubble of residential buildings destroyed during the two-year Israeli offensives, in Gaza City, February 17, 2026.

Mahmoud Issa/Reuters

GENEVA - The world faces the most intense competition for power and resources since World War Two amid widespread rights violations in conflicts in Sudan, Gaza, Myanmar and Ukraine, the United Nations human rights chief said on Monday.

"A fierce competition for power, control and resources is playing out on the world stage at a rate and intensity unseen for the past 80 years," said the U.N's high commissioner for the office of human rights at the opening of the Human Rights Council.

Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin; Editing by Ludwig Burger/Reuters