GENEVA: Progress in combating racism is hitting a point at which it may be reversed, the UN rights chief warned on Saturday, saying hate speech was spreading unchecked.
Hatemongers have notched successes in sowing distrust among societies, Volker Turk said on the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
From the adoption of global frameworks to combat racism to national anti-discrimination laws to the acknowledgement of historical injustices, “we have made progress on the long road toward a more just society,” Turk said in a statement.
“But we are approaching a checkpoint — a moment when this progress is being questioned, delayed, and even reversed.
“This checkpoint was set up by those who thrive on division and polarization. It is reinforced by discriminatory structures and sustained by the corrosive logic of dehumanization.
