In light of far-right political successes in Europe, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called for vigilance on Wednesday, noting myths that dehumanize migrants and asylum seekers, according to Reuters.
Volker Turk told reporters during a Geneva press conference, "We need to be very vigilant because especially history tells us, in particular in Europe, that the vilification of the other, that the denigration of the other, is a harbinger for what's to come." "It's an alarm bell we need to ring."
The European Parliament saw developments by far-right parties last month, and this weekend, France will host a run-off election in which opponents of the country's far-right, anti-immigrant National Rally hope to unseat them.
Turk, the UN rights chief, whose job it is to speak out against the erosion of freedoms, is almost halfway through his four-year term. Turk has spent years advocating for increased protections for refugees.
He was inspired by the desire to stop horrors in the future, as he has said before. Austria was an anti-Semitic hotspot in the 1930s and took part in the Holocaust after being annexed by Nazi Germany in 1938.
"In Europe, we have unfortunately seen an increase in hate speech, an increase in discriminatory speech and it's important that political leaders are very clear that there should be zero tolerance for hate speech and for any attempt to denigrate others," he stated.
