The United Nations(UN) observed the first ever annual International Day for Countering Hate Speech on 18th June 2022. The day aims to highlight the exponential spread and proliferation of hate speech across the globe.
Background:
i.The United Nations General Assembly(UNGA) adopted the resolution A/RES/75/309 on 21st July 2021 and proclaimed the 18th June of every year as the International Day for Countering Hate Speech.
ii.The resolution also aims to promote interreligious and intercultural dialogue and tolerance in countering hate speech.
Origin:
i.International Day of Countering Hate Speech is an initiative that builds on the UN Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech launched on 18th June 2019.
ii.This first UN system-wide initiative, designed to tackle hate speech, provides an essential framework on how the UN can support and complement the efforts of the countries to tackle hate speech.
Hate Speech:
According to the UN, any kind of communication in speech, writing or behaviour, that attacks or uses pejorative or discriminatory language with reference to a person or a group on the basis of who they are (based on their religion, ethnicity, nationality, race, colour, descent, gender or other identity factors) is considered hate speech.
Events:
- On 20 June 2022, Abdulla Shahid, President of the UNGA, held an informal high-level event to commemorate the first International Day for Countering Hate Speech.
- On 17th June 2022, the Kingdom of Morocco and the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention organised a High-Level Event Commemorating the first International Day for Countering Hate Speech with the theme “Role of education to address the root causes of hate speech and advance inclusion, non-discrimination, and peace”.
- On 16th June 2022, the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI), jointly with the Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme and the United Nations Outreach Programme on the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Slavery, and the Outreach Programme on the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda have organised a virtual event: Fighting Hate Speech: Global Perspectives, to recognize the role of higher education and academics, in the global efforts to promote human dignity and inclusion in times when the dissemination of hatred is alarming and rising.
