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United Nations Guidance Note on Addressing and Countering COVID-19 related Hate Speech May 2020 (English | French)
Detailed Guidance on Implementation of the UN Strategy and Plan of Action for United Nations Field Presences September 2020
In response to current alarming trends of growing xenophobia, racism and intolerance, violent misogyny, anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim hatred around the world, on 18 June, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres launched the United Nations Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech. The strategy recognizes that over the past 75 years, hate speech has been a precursor to atrocity crimes, including genocide, from Rwanda to Bosnia to Cambodia. As noted by the Secretary-General at the launch:
Hate speech is in itself an attack on tolerance, inclusion, diversity and the very essence of our human rights norms and principles. More broadly, it undermines social cohesion, erodes shared values, and can lay the foundation for violence, setting back the cause of peace, stability, sustainable development and the fulfillment of human rights for all.
The Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech sets out strategic guidance for the United Nations system to address hate speech at the national and global level. It also includes ways the United Nations Secretariat can support the work of the United Nations Resident Coordinators in addressing and countering hate speech.
Its objectives are twofold: first, to enhance United Nations efforts to address root causes and drivers of hate speech; and second, to enable effective United Nations responses to the impact of hate speech on societies.
The Strategy and Plan of Action consists of 13 commitments for action by the United Nations system and is grounded on four key principles: