Racism, discrimination pose ‘virulent menace’: UN rights chief

In a passionate attraction, the United Nations rights chief decried on Tuesday the impression of racism, discrimination, and violence in opposition to ladies, LGBTQ individuals and different minorities world wide.

Itemizing international locations from Afghanistan and Iran to the US and Russia, Volker Turk warned “discrimination and racism are virulent threats”.

“They weaponise contempt. They humiliate and violate human rights, fuelling grievances and despair, and obstructing improvement,” he advised the UN Human Rights Council.

Delivering his first replace on human rights world wide to the highest UN rights physique since taking workplace six months in the past, Turk voiced alarm at “the scope and magnitude of discrimination in opposition to ladies and ladies”, describing it as “some of the overwhelming human rights violations worldwide”.

He highlighted the state of affairs in Afghanistan, the place the Taliban have successfully squeezed ladies out of public life since sweeping again to energy in August 2021.

“The repression of girls in Afghanistan is unparallelled,” he mentioned. “Such a tyranny should not escape accountability.”

– ‘Deeply harmful’ –

He additionally pointed to Iran, which was rocked by months of nationwide protests final yr after Mahsa Amini died in custody following her arrest for an alleged breach of Iran’s gown code for ladies.

“It’s pressing for the authorities to behave on the calls for of protestors, particularly ladies and ladies, who proceed to endure profound discrimination,” Turk mentioned.

Past nation crackdowns on ladies’s rights, Turk mentioned he was “shocked to the core by the contempt for ladies… spawned throughout the web by so-called influencers,” condoning “the pervasive commodification of girls”.

Girls and ladies are usually not the one ones focused by “vicious hate speech”, Turk mentioned, including assaults on “individuals of African descent, Jews, Muslims, LGBTIQ+ individuals, refugees, migrants and lots of different individuals from minority teams”.

He deplored “deliberate provocations… supposed to drive wedges between communities,” just like the latest Koran burning in Sweden, as “deeply harmful”.

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The UN Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights underlined how police violence in lots of international locations disproportionately impacts individuals of African descent, revealing “the deep structural hurt rooted in racial discrimination”.

He famous repeated stories from his workplace of “extreme use of drive, racial profiling and discriminatory practices by police”, in quite a few international locations, together with France, Britain and Brazil.

– ‘Very troubling’ –

In the US, the place individuals of African descent are reportedly practically 3 times extra more likely to be killed by police than white individuals, he hailed the unusually swift motion taken to prosecute officers concerned within the brutal dying of Tyre Nichols in Memphis earlier this yr.

“Within the US and all different international locations, swift and decided motion to carry perpetrators accountable in every case must be the rule, not the exception,” he mentioned.

Turk additionally voiced  concern on the “rising agitation in opposition to the rights of LGBTIQ+ people in lots of international locations,” and particularly at latest crackdowns and political rhetoric inciting hatred in opposition to them in East Africa.

He highlighted the “very troubling” so-called anti-homosexuality invoice tabled in Uganda’s parliament final week, and 24 primarily AIDS educators arrested in Burundi.

“It’s unthinkable that we face such bigotry, prejudice and discrimination within the twenty first century,” he mentioned.

Amid a broad vary of points over the state of affairs since Moscow invaded Ukraine a yr in the past, Turk additionally noticed a “troubling improvement” with the latest broadening of a regulation in Russia banning so-called “propaganda of non-traditional relationships”.

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