ROME/GENEVA, JANUARY 20 – the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, today spoke to the Italian Senate’s Extraordinary Commission against intolerance, racism, anti-Semitism and incitement to hatred and violence.
In her address to the special Commission of the Italian Senate chaired by Holocaust survivor Liliana Segre, Bachelet recommended specific reforms to build policies and narratives that emphasise common humanity and rights.
She said that antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice appear to be growing across Europe, and highlighted a survey by the Fundamental Rights Agency’s showing that 89% of respondents felt that antisemitism had increased in their country.
According to Ms. Bachelet, political movements that profit from hatred have gathered strength in many countries.“By heightening the emotions of their supporters through campaigns of misinformation and disinformation, they gain media attention, and votes – but they also drive deep, violent and profoundly damaging wedges through societies”, she warned. The Human Rights chief also remembered a quote from Primo Levi, a renowned Italian writer and Jewish Holocaust survivor, who said: “It happened, so it could happen again”.
Bachelet added that “the trend of hatred that was around the world has been exacerbated with the arrival of Covid, to the point that it now threatens the values of justice, freedom, respect for rights, and leads us to further conflict.” Citing fears growing among women of African descent in Italy who have the perception that they may be discriminated against both at work and in access to services, the High Commissioner told the Italian Senate that, “while it is true that Covid does not discriminate, its impact affects more those who were already discriminated against.” (@OnuItalia)
