Anti-Muslim comments by US officials unacceptable: UN

UN officials have slammed as “unacceptable” remarks by US politicians against Muslims, deploring any “blatant manifestations of hatred and intolerance” under the pretext of fighting terrorism.

In a joint statement on Tuesday, UN special adviser on the prevention of genocide, Adama Dieng, and UN special adviser on the responsibility to protect civilians, Jennifer Welsh, censured “the deliberate and dangerous spread of misinformation and the manipulation of people’s fears and concerns for political gain.”

Condemning the extremist attacks across the worlds, the two UN officials underlined that linking such attacks to followers of Islam has resulted in discrimination.

Any “advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence” is prohibited by international human rights law and laws in many countries, they said.
They further dismissed as “unacceptable” and “an affront to our common humanity” recent calls by certain US politicians to ban Muslims from entering the country.

The statement apparently refers to controversial Islamophobic comments by US Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, who called for barring Muslims from entering the US in response to the mass shootings in San Bernardino, California, last week.