Muslims in India & Sri Lanka targeted with stigma and hate speech during pandemic: UN Rights Chief

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet express concerns over members of the Muslim minority being targeted by stigma and hate speech associating them with COVID-19 in Sri Lanka and India.

"I am dismayed by reports indicating that in many countries, members of minority communities and migrants face increasing stigmatisation – including, in some cases, by officials. In Sri Lanka and India, members of the Muslim minority are being targeted by stigma and hate speech associating them with COVID-19," Ms Bachelet noted in her Global update on human rights and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic at 44th session of the Human Rights Council held this week.

She noted that six months after the first cases were detected, it is clear that this epidemic threatens both peace and development – and that it calls for more civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, not less.

"The pandemic should spur us to adopt strong, transformative measures to heighten the powerful protections that human rights based-policies can provide – by promoting public health, public confidence in official guidance, and greater social and economic resilience."

It urgently calls for leadership grounded in clarity, evidence and principle to protect the most vulnerable members of society, and to address the profound inequalities that are accelerating the pandemic's incidence and impact, High Commissioner Bachelet added.