UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres has called for an "all-out effort to end hate speech globally" amid what he called a "tsunami of hate and xenophobia, scapegoating and scare-mongering" unleashed during the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr Guterres added that “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”.
He said on Friday that migrants and refugees have been demonised as sources of the virus and denied medical treatment.
Mr Guterres went on: “With older persons among the most vulnerable, contemptible memes have emerged suggesting they are also the most expendable,” he said.
“And journalists, whistleblowers, health professionals, aid workers and human rights defenders are being targeted simply for doing their jobs.”
Mr Guterres begged political leaders to step in and asked civil society bodies to help people develop "digital literacy" to deal with a time when “extremists are seeking to prey on captive and potentially despairing audiences”.
The media and social media organisations should "remove racist, misogynist and other harmful content" from their output, he added.
Mr Guterres also said that everyone should stand up against hate speech "and take every opportunity to spread kindness."
The UN secretary-general warned in April that the coronavirus was "fast becoming a human rights crisis," with "structural inequalities" blocking access to public services for some.
His words come after it was revealed that hate crimes against people of Chinese background had risen nearly threefold in the first three months of 2020.
Hate crimes against the Chinese community numbered 267 between January and March this year, nearly three times as many as in the same period in 2019 and 2018, a Sky News Freedom of Information request to British police forces found.
