Credit: Gary Raynaldo /  UN Secretary-General António Guterres addresses media  following the Launch of the UN Strategy on Hate Speech and the Plan of Action at world headquarters in New York June 18, 2019. 

By Gary Raynaldo       DIPLOMATIC TIMES

UNITED NATIONS –  “Hate speech can be a trigger of some of the worst crimes that humanity has seen,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated Tuesday following the launch of the world body’s  Strategy on Hate Speech and the Plan of Action.  Guterres  explained that plan seeks to coordinate efforts across the U.N.’s far-flung system to confront hate speech and includes ways to engage governments, business, civil society and others to take action. The UN Secretary-General also blamed the leaders of certain democracies as well as dictatorships for fueling the spread of hate speech around the world, but declined to name them.  He took the high road, and said he won’t “name and shame.”  But the Secretary-General said the current times call for urgent action to be taken.

“Around the world, we see a groundswell of xenophobia, racism, and intolerance, violence misogyny, anti-Semitism and anti Muslim hatreds.”

-UN  Secretary-General António Guterres  said June 18, 2019. 

The Secretary-General noted that while hate speech has always existed, the new element today is digital communications, and specifically social media platforms. “They are making hate speech more virulent than ever, amplifying it and enabling it to move faster and faster. Hate speech content is reaching new audiences at lightning speed. And has been linked to violence and  killing from sri lanka to new Zealand and the United States. It has also been used by extremist groups to recruit and  radicalize people on line.”

Diplomatic Times Video /  UN Secretary-General António Guterres addresses media  following the Launch of the UN Strategy on Hate Speech and the Plan of Action at world headquarters in New York June 18, 2019. 

credit: Gary Raynaldo  /  UN Secretary-General Guterres with Adama Dieng, UN Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide who will help coordinate the “Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech.”

UN Secretary-General Guterres made it clear that the goal is not to suppress freedom of speech. 

“The United Nations supports freedom of expression and opinion everywhere. Addressing hate speech does not mean limiting or prohibiting freedom of speech. It means keeping hate speech from escalating into something more dangerous, particularly incitement to discrimination, hostility and violence which is prohibited under international law.”  – Secretary-General Guterres