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UN Human Rights Boss Whose Country Locks Up Reporters Attacks Trump Over Press Freedom

The United Nations is like Woodstock for hypocrisy. Every horrible dictatorship can send its representative to lecture the United States and Israel about human rights. I’m only surprised that ISIS still hasn’t shown up to be elected to a panel on gay rights and fighting sex trafficking. So we’ll have to settle for the next best thing. A member of the royal family from a terror state lecturing us on press freedoms.

Donald Trump’s anti-press rhetoric is “very close to incitement to violence” that would lead to journalists censoring themselves or being attacked, the outgoing UN human rights commissioner has said.

Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, a Jordanian prince and diplomat, is stepping down this month as UN high commissioner for human rights after deciding not to stand for a second four-year term, in the face of a waning commitment among world powers to fighting abuses.

Zeid said the Trump administration’s lack of concern about human rights marked a distinct break with previous administrations, and that Trump’s own rhetoric aimed at minorities and at the press was redolent of two of the worst eras of the 20th century, the run-up to the two world wars.

In an interview with the Guardian, he singled out the US president’s repeated designation of the press as “the enemy of the people”.

“We began to see a campaign against the media … that could have potentially, and still can, set in motion a chain of events which could quite easily lead to harm being inflicted on journalists just going about their work and potentially some self-censorship,” Zeid said. “And in that context, it’s getting very close to incitement to violence.”

Read the full story from Front Page Mag


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