‘All genocides start with hate speech’: The United Nations’ Adama Dieng on Genocide Prevention Day
‘We have to bear in mind that words kill.’
“Genocide is a process. The Holocaust did not start with the gas chambers. It started with hate speech.”
— United Nations (@UN) December 8, 2019
-- @UN_GP_RtoP's Adama Dieng on the dangers of hate speech and intolerance on Monday's #PreventGenocide Day. https://t.co/lwgBpXHHxN pic.twitter.com/K5Z3MFP5vd
Speaking ahead of the Genocide Prevention Day that was observed on December 9, Adama Dieng of the United Nations’ Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect enlisted the dangers of hate speech and intolerance and how they have led to genocides in the past.
A video of Dieng’s statement was posted by the United Nations on Twitter.
“Today, what we are witnessing around this world, with the rise of extremists...when we see the growing number of neo-Nazi groups, neo-fascist groups, when we see the way migrants and refugees are being vilified, we need (therefore) to make every effort to address this hate speech,” Dieng said in the video.
December 9 was declared as the annual International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime in September 2015.