The UN human rights chief is blasting US President Donald Trump, accusing him of inciting violence against the media, and speaking out against racism and anti-Semitism on display in Virginia earlier this month.
In a broad condemnation of Trump’s conduct in office, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein says the president “is driving the bus of humanity and we are careening down a mountain pass and, in taking these measures, at least from a human rights perspective it seems to be reckless driving.”
Zeid, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, voices alarm over Trump’s verbal assaults on CNN, the New York Times and Washington Post.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein gestures as he delivers a press conference on a report on Venezuela at the UN Offices in Geneva on August 30, 2017. (AFP/ Fabrice COFFRINI)
“To call these news organizations ‘fake’ does tremendous damage and to refer to individual journalists in this way, I have to ask the question, is this not an incitement for others to attack journalists?”
He adds that Trump’s assault on the media has emboldened other countries to crack down on press freedoms.
“The demonization of the press is poisonous because it has consequences elsewhere,” Zeid said.
Zeid also denounces the racist and anti-Semitic actions of neo-Nazi and white supremacists demonstrators in Charlottesville, Virginia, as “an abomination” and “a nightmare.”
— AFP
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