speech – Career Meaning

UN in Sudan condemns killing of West Darfur governor, raises alarm over ‘vortex of hate speech’

In a statement, UNITAMS strongly condemned the killing of Khamis Abbaker who just hours earlier on Wednesday, according to news reports, had publicly blamed the deaths of civilians caught up in the violence stemming from the military power struggle across Sudan, on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). “Compelling eyewitness accounts attribute this act to Arab militias and…

Arrests and hate speech target Baha’i minority in Yemen

OHCHR said that on 25 May, security forces stormed a peaceful meeting of Baha’is in Sana’a. Seventeen people, including five women, were taken to an unknown location, and all but one, are still being held incommunicado. The UN rights office urged the de facto Houthi authorities in Sana’a, to immediately release the detainees. Call for…

INTERVIEW: How hate speech triggered Rwandan genocide

“Every time I talk about it, I cry,” she told UN News, describing how propaganda spread messages of hate that sparked a deadly wave of unspeakable violence. She lost 60 family members and friends in the mass slaughter. Ahead of the UN General Assembly’s commemoration of the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide…

Serbia urged to uphold freedom of expression while also countering hate speech

The Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of expression said she was encouraged by the Government’s plans to reform media laws in line with international standards. However, she was also alarmed by “the toxic public discourse, from politicians or public officials and amplified by tabloids, scapegoating the media, human rights defenders, ethnic minorities, LGBTI…

Hate Speech: Turning the tide

The rise and impact of hate speech is being amplified, at an unprecedented scale, by new communications technologies, one of the most common ways of spreading divisive rhetoric on a global scale, threatening peace around the world. According to leading international human rights organization, Minority Rights Group, one analysis records a 400-fold increase in the…

Hate speech: Nations fight back

Costa Rica is known for its strong democracy, pro-human rights stance, and deep respect of the rule of law, so it was a shock when the 2018 general elections ushered in an unprecedented polarization of Costa Rican society. Allegra Baiocchi, the UN resident coordinator in Costa Rica, witnessed the unprecedented polarization of society, and the…

Hate speech: A growing, international threat

Hate speech is having a demonstrable effect on society: one of the many similarities between the January attacks on Brazil’s government buildings, and the storming of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, is that each occurred after certain groups repeatedly directed dangerous rhetoric and false claims against others. Concerns over the growing phenomenon have…

‘Urgent need’ for more accountability from social media giants to curb hate speech: UN experts

In a detailed statement, more than two dozen UN-appointed independent human rights experts – including representatives from three different working groups and multiple Special Rapporteurs – called out chief executives by name, saying that the companies they lead “must urgently address posts and activities that advocate hatred, and constitute incitement to discrimination, in line with…

Lebanese youth learn to stand up to hate speech |

21-year-old Dima El-Awar stands in front of the camera with confidence and ease. In addition to being a good speaker, a skill that every journalist attempts to master, Dima is keen on promoting positive speech and accurate information. Coming from Falougha, a small village in Mount Lebanon, Ms. El-Awar was hesitant to pursue her dream…

Violence, rhetoric, hate speech, drive atrocity crimes in Ukraine and beyond, Security Council hears |

Beginning her briefing with a wider perspective, Wairimu Nderitu said that hateful and contentious narratives that form in the wake of growing hostility, violence and discrimination, could have a “devastating impact” on societies at large. “We saw it in the lead up to the Holocaust, in Rwanda in 1994” and also in the ethnically-charged Bosnia…