UN officials ‘sickened’ by hatred against Muslims

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Wednesday 16 Dec 2015 - 13:32 Makkah mean time-5-3-1437 New York, (IINA) - Two senior UN officials said on Monday that they are “sickened by blatant manifestations of hatred and intolerance” by public figures and others, particularly against Muslims, in response to recent extremist attacks, Arab News reported. Adama Dieng, special adviser on the prevention of genocide, and Jennifer Welsh, the special adviser on the responsibility to protect civilians, said that any “advocacy of national, racial, or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence” is prohibited by international human rights law as well as laws in many countries. In a joint statement, they denounced “the deliberate and dangerous spread of misinformation and the manipulation of people’s fears and concerns for political gain”. Dieng and Welsh strongly condemned terrorist attacks, and they stressed that linking such attacks to Muslims has resulted in discrimination and targeting. They said that calls by US political figures for Muslims to be banned from entering the United States, to be registered in a national database or to be forced to carry identification that would highlight their religion are “unacceptable” and “an affront to our common humanity”. An anti-Muslim sentiment was already building in the US after the deadly Paris attacks, with most Republican state governors saying they opposed resettling refugees from Syria’s civil war in their states. It intensified after 14 people were killed December 2 in a massacre at a disability center in San Bernardino, California, carried out by an extremist couple. Investigators say that were inspired at least in part by the ISIS group. At a time when the world is facing complex challenges including confronting violent extremist groups, the special advisers urged governments and other “leading actors” to “counter lies, prejudice and fear” and respect international and national laws. AG/IINA