Divisive political rhetoric a danger to the world, Amnesty says
BBC
Politicians who have used a divisive and dehumanised rhetoric are creating a more divided and dangerous world, says rights group Amnesty International, reports BBC.
Its annual report singles out President Donald Trump as an example of an angrier and more divisive politics.
But it criticises other leaders, including those of Turkey, Hungary and the Philippines, who it says have used narratives of fear, blame and division.
The group also says governments are exploiting refugees for political ends.
The report, which covers 159 countries, cited a rise in hate speech across the US and Europe targeting refugees and said the reverberations would see more attacks on people on the basis of race, gender, nationality and religion.
It criticised countries that, it said, once claimed to champion rights abroad and that were now rolling back human rights at home.
Instead of fighting for peoples rights, too many leaders have adopted a dehumanizing agenda for political expediency, Salil Shetty, secretary general of Amnesty International, said in a statement. The limits of what is acceptable have shifted. Politicians are shamelessly and actively legitimizing all sorts of hateful rhetoric and policies based on peoples identity: misogyny, racism and homophobia.
The group made special reference to Mr Trumps executive order last month that banned refugees and immigrants from seven mostly Muslim countries from entering the US.
It said Mr Trump put his hateful xenophobic pre-election rhetoric into action by signing the measure. The US president, who recently said he was the least racist and least anti-Semitic person, is expected to unveil an updated order this week.
The White House has not commented on the report.
Amnesty also mentioned Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban as leaders who were using the us versus them rhetoric.
2016 was the year when the cynical use of us vs them narratives of blame, hate and fear took on a global prominence to a level not seen since the 1930s, Mr Shetty added, citing the year when Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany.
A new world order where human rights are portrayed as a barrier to national interests makes the ability to tackle mass atrocities dangerously low, leaving the door open to abuses reminiscent of the darkest times of human history.
Kate Allen, director of Amnesty UK, criticised as shameful the recent decision by the British government to halt the scheme which allowed the entry of unaccompanied refugee children already in Europe, estimated to be 90,000.
The group also cited in its report:
That 36 countries violated international law last year by unlawfully sending refugees back to a country where their rights were at risk
The international community failed to share responsibility for the Syrian refugee crisis
Crises with little political will to address them including in Syria, Yemen, Libya, Afghanistan, Central America, Central African Republic, Burundi, Iraq, South Sudan and Sudan
