UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Friday that the novel coronavirus pandemic is inciting a wave of "hate and xenophobia, scapegoating and scare-mongering.”
He said “anti-foreigner sentiment has surged online and in the streets, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories have spread, and COVID-19-related anti-Muslim attacks have occurred.”
The UN chief also noted that migrants and refugees “have been vilified as a source of the virus -- and then denied access to medical treatment,” further calling for "an all-out effort to end hate speech globally.”
“With older persons among the most vulnerable, contemptible memes have emerged suggesting they are also the most expendable,” he said, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
“Journalists, whistleblowers, health professionals, aid workers and human rights defenders are being targeted simply for doing their jobs.”
He called on the media, especially social media, to “remove racist, misogynist and other harmful content,” on civil society to strengthen their outreach to vulnerable people, and on religious figures to serve as “models of mutual respect.”
Also, the secretary-general called on political leaders to show solidarity with all people, on educational institutions to focus on “digital literacy” at a time when “extremists are seeking to prey on captive and potentially despairing audiences.”
“And I ask everyone, everywhere, to stand up against hate, treat each other with dignity and take every opportunity to spread kindness,” Guterres stressed.
The secretary-general said that COVID-19 “does not care who we are, where we live, what we believe or about any other distinction.”
According to AP, his global appeal to address and counter COVID-19-related hate speech follows his April 23 message calling the coronarivus pandemic “a human crisis that is fast becoming a human rights crisis.”
