UN panel says racist hate speech by Trump and other US leaders has led to human rights vio

UN panel says racist hate speech by Trump and other US leaders has led to human rights violations


GENEVA (AP) — A U.N.-backed panel of independent experts focusing on racial discrimination says racist hate speech by U.S. President Donald Trump and other American political leaders, along with a crackdown on immigration in the United States, have led to “grave human rights violations.”

The Geneva-based Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination issued its decision Wednesday and urged the U.S. to suspend immigration enforcement operations at, and near, schools, hospitals, and faith-based institutions.

The decision, made under the committee's early warning protocol, is not legally binding but seeks to hold a country — in this case, the U.S. — to its own international commitments.

The committee said it also was “deeply disturbed” by the use of derogatory and dehumanizing language around migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. Committee members attributed a reported rise in racial discrimination to “racist hate speech” targeting those groups but did not point to any specific data. Besides speech, there is also concern about the impact of politicians and other public figures weaponizing stereotypes to incite hate crimes and discrimination.

“Portraying them as criminals or as a burden, by politicians and influential public figures at the highest level, particularly the President,” the committee said in a news release, “may incite racial discrimination and hate crimes.”

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