In response to far-right social increases in Europe, the UN high commissioner for individual rights on Wednesday urged caution in the face of dehumanizing refugees and asylum applicants.
At a press conference in Geneva, Volker Turk stated to writers,” We need to be very diligent because specifically history tells us, especially in Europe, that the disparagement of the other is a forerunner for what will come,” ” It’s an alarm bell we need to ring”.
Far-right parties gained popularity in the European Parliament next fortnight, and France is holding a run-off vote this weekend to challenge its far-right National Rally’s leadership.
Turk has worked tirelessly for years to improve immigrant protections, and is almost halfway through his four-year term as the U.N. rights chief whose work it is to speak out against the complacency of freedoms.
He has recently cited a desire to prevent future horrors as one of his motivations, whose land became a hub of anti-semitism in the 1930s and participated in the Holocaust as a result of its conquest by Nazi Germany in 1938.
It’s significant that social leaders make it clear that there should be no compassion for hate speech and any attempt to disparage people, he said, noting that “in Europe we have sadly seen an increase of hate speech, an increase in unfair conversation.”
