Thread: UN human rights chief accuses British tabloids of hate speech against migrants

UN human rights chief accuses British tabloids of hate speech against migrants

FILE - In this file photo dated Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2013, Zeid Raad Zeid Al Hussein speaks to the media during the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The United Nations' human rights chief Zeid Raad Zeid Al Hussein on Friday April 24, 2015, accused Britain's tabloid newspapers of what he called hate speech against immigrants, and urged the British media and regulators to curb incitement to hatred. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, FILE)

Associated Press
April 24, 2015 | 10:42 a.m. EDT+ More

LONDON (AP) — The United Nations' human rights chief on Friday accused Britain's tabloid newspapers of hate speech against immigrants.

Zeid Raad al-Hussein, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said that an article in The Sun comparing migrants to cockroaches used language similar to that employed by the instigators of Rwanda's 1994 genocide.

The April 17 column by Katie Hopkins, a former contestant on TV show "The Apprentice," has caused controversy in Britain.

Hopkins said gunboats should be used against migrant boats in the Mediterranean, and called immigrants "feral humans."
Zeid urged British media, authorities and regulators to curb incitement to hatred.

"The Nazi media described people their masters wanted to eliminate as rats and cockroaches," he said. "This type of language is clearly inflammatory and unacceptable, especially in a national newspaper."

Zeid said the column "was simply one of the more extreme examples of thousands of anti-foreigner articles that have appeared in U.K. tabloids over the past two decades."

He said the "nasty underbelly of racism" in Europe's immigration debate was warping the European Union response to the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean.

The Sun declined to comment. In a column for the newspaper Friday, Hopkins said the response to her remarks had reminded her to be "aware of the dangers which lurk in the depths of our vocabulary."

http://www.usnews.com/news/world/art...of-hate-speech

Pre-cursor to the language police? If this is to add to world peace for our world, it has proven to be dismal failure. They may succeed in shutting some up, but they will never succeed at eliminating free thought, I don't think.

Excuse me, MORON, but racism is attacking someone because of their race. Migrants are not judged by their race, they are judged by what they do and the harm they cause. Name-calling people doing bad things that hurt other people is and will always be a fair and rightful action of the free world. Comparing that to Nazi Germany or Rwanda proves you're just another IDIOT PH.D living in a Fantasy World, a common affliction of Royalty.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Zeid_bin_Ra%27ad

Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein (born 26 January 1964 in Amman, Jordan) is the current United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, having taken up this post in September 2014.^[1] He is the son of Prince Ra'ad bin Zeid, Lord Chamberlain of Jordan, and his Swedish-born wife Margaretha Inga Elisabeth Lind, subsequently known as Majda Raad. Previously, he was Jordan's Permanent Representative to the United Nations. From 2007-2010 he served as Jordan's Ambassador to the United States and non-resident Ambassador to Mexico. Zeid played a central role in the establishment of the International Criminal Court, and was elected the first president of the Assembly of State Parties of the International Criminal Court in September 2002. He also served as a political affairs officer in UNPROFOR, in the former Yugoslavia, from 1994 to 1996.

His father:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra%27ad_bin_Zeid

Prince Ra'ad bin Zeid (Arabic: الأمير رعد بن زيد‎) (born 18 February 1936 in Berlin where his father was Iraqi ambassador at the time) is the son of Prince Zeid of the Hashemite House and Princess Fahrelnissa Zeid (Fakhr un-nisa), a Turkish noblewoman. Upon the death of his father on October 18, 1970, he inherited the position as head of the Royal Houses of Iraq and Syria. Ra'ad has lived in London and Paris. The Kingdom of Jordan has confirmed his style as His Royal Highness and Prince.

Prince Raad is an agnatic grandson of the late king Hussein of Hejaz, his father prince Zeid being king Hussein's youngest son. As such he is a first cousin of late kings Talal of Jordan and Ghazi of Iraq.

Raad's paternal first cousin once removed was Faisal II, the last king of Iraq, who was killed in a bloody coup d'état on 14 July 1958 (Crown Prince Abd-al-Illah was also killed). Following the regicide, Prince Zeid, Raad's father, took the representation of Iraqi monarchy as the next heir, and was recognized as the Head of the Royal House of Iraq by his remaining agnatic co-heirs of Jordan. They continued to live in London, where the family resided during the coup, as Zeid was the Iraqi ambassador there.

Raad himself succeeded his father as all such at the latter's death in 1970 in exile in France.

It seems his whole Iraqi Royal Family has been here, there and yonder.