UN Human Rights Commissioner calls on UK to curb tabloid hate speech against migrants and refugees

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, today issued a strongly-worded statement calling on the UK authorities, media and regulatory bodies to take steps to curb hate speech against migrants and refugees by British tabloid newspapers.

The call comes in the wake of a recent column by Katie Hopkins published in The Sun in which migrants were called "feral humans", compared to "a novovirus" and were said to be like "cockroaches".

Image credit: un.org The Human Rights Commissioner said such language was reminiscent of that used in the run up to the Rwandan genocide and that used by the Nazi media during the 1930s: "The Nazi media described people their masters wanted to eliminate as rats and cockroaches. This type of language is clearly inflammatory and unacceptable, especially in a national newspaper."

Zeid said: "This vicious verbal assault on migrants and asylum seekers in the UK tabloid press has continued unchallenged under the law for far too long. I am an unswerving advocate of freedom of expression, which is guaranteed under Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), but it is not absolute. Article 20 of the same Covenant says 'Any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law'."

Zeid accused British tabloids of "decades of sustained and unrestrained anti-foreigner abuse, misinformation and distortion."

"To give just one glimpse of the scale of the problem, back in 2003 the Daily Express ran 22 negative front pages stories about asylum seekers and refugees in a single 31-day period. Asylum seekers and migrants have, day after day, for years on end, been linked to rape, murder, diseases such as HIV and TB, theft, and almost every conceivable crime and misdemeanour imaginable in front-page articles and two-page spreads, in cartoons, editorials, even on the sports pages of almost all the UK's national tabloid newspapers … Many of these stories have been grossly distorted and some have been outright fabrications. Elsewhere in Europe, as well as in other countries, there has been a similar process of demonization taking place, but usually led by extremist political parties or demagogues rather than extremist media."

The High Commissioner warned that such language is "sapping compassion" for the thousands of people fleeing conflict, human rights violations and economic deprivation who are drowning in the Mediterranean.

"The nasty underbelly of racism that is characterizing the migration debate in an increasing number of EU countries, has skewed the EU response to the crisis, which as we see in the results of the EU Council deliberations yesterday focuses on deterrence and on preventing movement at all costs, risks making the crisis even worse, and could sadly result in further massive loss of life," he said.

Zeid acknowledged that migration and refugee issues are "completely valid topics for public debate", but said "it is imperative that migration policy decisions that affect people's lives and fundamental human rights should be made on the basis of fact -- not fiction, exaggeration or blatant xenophobia. History has shown us time and again the dangers of demonizing foreigners and minorities, and it is extraordinary and deeply shameful to see these types of tactics being used in a variety of countries, simply because racism and xenophobia are so easy to arouse in order to win votes or sell newspapers."