Guterres calls on intl community to step up response to check hate speech

With digital technology providing new channels for hate speech to grow and reach to wider audiences at lightning speed, UN chief Antonio Guterres has called on the international community to step up its response to combat acts of hatred and xenophobia.

The UN secretary-general was speaking on Tuesday during the launch of the United Nations Strategy and Plan of Action aimed at enhancing global efforts to address the root causes of hate speech and enabling the world body to effectively respond to its impact on societies.

Voicing deep concern about growing xenophobia, racism, intolerance, violent misogyny, anti-semitism and anti-Muslim hatred around the world, he asserted that over the past 75 years, hate speech has been the precursor to crimes like Easter Sunday blasts in Sri Lanka, attacks in New Zealand, the US and incidents of genocide in countries like Rwanda, Bosnia and Cambodia.

"Governments and technology companies alike are struggling to prevent and respond to orchestrated online hate, he said.

Guterres called on the international community to control hate speech as new channels for it are reaching wider audiences than ever at lightning speed.

While digital technology has provided new areas in which hate speech can thrive, it can also help to monitor activity, target our response and build support for counter-narratives, he said, adding that the recent emergence of volunteer groups that are organising to counter harassment and hate online shows the potential for collaboration.

The proposals set out last week by the High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation can play a part. New forms of self-policing by social media platforms and the commitments included in the Christchurch Call, are another welcome development, he said.

Talking about the "ambitious programme", he said it is an initiative to coordinate efforts across the UN system to "identify, prevent and confront hate speech, using all the means in our power."
On naming political leaders encouraging hate speech, he said, my objective today is not to name or shame any individual, because, unfortunately, we are dealing with something that has spread very widely, and I think we need to be conscious that we are facing a massive phenomenon,"