National measures key in combating xenophobic discrimination and violence
A foreign national holds a knife following clashes between a group of locals and police in Durban, South Africa on April 14, 2015 amidst ongoing violence against foreign nationals living in the city. PHOTO | AFP
What you need to know:
- Xenophobia has now become currency with which political elite seeks to purchase popular appeal and ticket to political power.
In every part of the world, there are worrying examples of “mainstreaming” of hatred by politicians including those running for highest political positions.
On September 19, 2016, world leaders gathered in New York for the United Nations Summit on Refugees and Migrants. The summit was held against the shadow of increased xenophobic rhetoric by political leaders in many parts of the world that presents a serious and urgent challenge to human rights and open democracies. From Europe to the Americas to the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, xenophobia has now become the currency with which the political elite seeks to purchase popular appeal and a ticket to political power.
The increasing movement of refugees and migrants from the Middle East to Europe has fanned the embers of latent xenophobia and racism into the flames of abuse and in some cases violence. Those fleeing wars in Syria, Libya, Somalia, and other regions have found themselves the unwanted guests in a world that views them with suspicion on account of their nationality and status as foreigners. So have those migrants who have made perilous journeys in search of a better life.
Fears over terrorism as well as economic pressures have provided the context easily exploited by those keen on casting refugees and migrants as security threats, their culture and religion as incompatible with liberal values, and their numbers as a drain on the economies of the host countries. This misrepresentation as well as scapegoating of whole groups threatens the system of values and norms on which the international human rights system is built and the pillars of diversity and inclusion that keep open and democratic states standing.
Thousands of refugees and migrants cross borders in the hope that the values of compassion common to all cultures and religion will bridge the divide established by state borders. They also carry with them the belief that the system of international law that all states of the world have built since the end of the Second World War recognises and protects their humanity. In many places and in many countries, however, their faith and hopes have been met with hostility, prejudice, and even violence.
MANY PARTS
Extremist groups and political movements promoting xenophobia and racism appear to be growing in many parts of the world. Some of these groups have succeeded in winning seats to local assemblies, national legislatures, and in the case of Europe, even to the continental parliaments. Beyond these political movements, there are many other smaller groups organised around racial and xenophobic platforms who have found the anonymity and global reach of the internet a handy and effective tool for recruitment and mobilisation.
More worrying is the growing embrace of xenophobic movements and platforms by leaders of mainstream political parties. In every part of the world, there are worrying examples of this “mainstreaming” of hatred by politicians including those running for the highest political positions.
The picture is not all bleak though. In some countries, political leaders have shown moral strength in denouncing the rhetoric of those who seek to slur every foreigner, refugee, or migrant as a closet terrorist, unworthy of welcome and undeserving of the human rights protections that the current system of international human rights law extends. In many small towns, mayors have put in place policies and programmes that provide basic services to their new citizens irrespective of their colour or religion. Ordinary citizens have also led governments in demonstrating that today’s strangers are tomorrow’s friends, neighbours, and fellow citizens.
BUILDING BLOCKS
These national and local examples are the building blocks for a more cosmopolitan world envisaged by the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Bills of Rights in the constitutions of many states, and the values of all religions of the world. National measures such as hate crime legislation and effective prosecutions are a key tool in combating xenophobic discrimination and violence. Local and properly contextualised diagnoses of the problem are necessary for the design and implementation of policies and programmes that promote diversity and inclusion.
Xenophobia, racism, and the attendant practices of discrimination and violence can only be prevented and eradicated when political leaders rediscover the morality and vision that has driven the rights revolution of the 20th and 21st centuries. That revolution is why we have erected many monuments to the shame of the holocaust, slavery, apartheid, and the world wars – to be lighthouses to help leaders steer away from the politics and violence of racial and ethnic hatred, discrimination and violence.
Mutuma Ruteere is United Nations special rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
