In his inaugural address to the UN General Assembly's 59th session on Tuesday, he said the most fundamental of laws, that enjoin respect for innocent lives of children and of prisoners of war, were being shamelessly disregarded.

"To mention only a few topical examples, in Iraq we see civilians massacred in cold blood, and prisoners disgracefully abused while relief workers, journalists and other non-combatants are taken hostage and put to death in most barbarous fashion," he said.

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Annan devoted a large part of his address to the rule of law and the need to uphold it at all levels, and said that all over the world, people were being incited to violence through hate propaganda directed against Jews, Muslims, and in fact against anyone who is different from one's own group.

His message was that only by vigorously upholding international law and by introducing the rule of law could one help rebuild societies shattered by conflict. The Secretary General's focus on the rule of law as opposed to the rule of might was interesting, in that it came just ahead of the scheduled address of US President George Bush, who is widely expected to use the forum to defend his decision to attack Iraq despite the lack of support from the UN and from key allies.