UN / HATE SPEECH

STORY: UN / HATE SPEECH
TRT: 1:56
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: English/NATS

DATELINE: 20 JUNE 2022, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

SHOTLIST:

RECENT – NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior, United Nations Headquarters

20 JUNE 2021, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, General Assembly
3. Med shot, General Assembly
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Abdulla Shahid, President of the 76th Session of the General Assembly, United Nations:
“Although this trend is not new, cyberspace and social media together with the proliferation of disinformation and fake news have aggravated the effects of hate speech to unprecedented heights. This dangerous trend only serves to divide us at a time when we need unity more than ever.”
5. Med shot, General Assembly
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Abdulla Shahid, President of the 76th Session of the General Assembly, United Nations:
“To address this challenge in a comprehensive manner, we must cultivate our global cooperation and stand united – embracing the collective spirit that this great institution was designed to foster, and that Hate Speech seeks to undermine. Hate Speech is an inherent threat to our values and principles.”
7. Close up, Security Council president
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Alice Wairimu Nderitu, Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, United Nations:
“Words can be weaponized and cause physical harm. The escalation from hate speech to violence has played a significant role in the most horrific and tragic crimes of the modern age, from the antisemitism driving the Holocaust, to the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.”
7. Close up, Security Council president
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Alice Wairimu Nderitu, Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, United Nations:
“The internet and social media have turbocharged hate speech, enabling it to spread like wildfire across borders. The spread of hate speech against minorities during the COVID-19 pandemic provides further evidence that many societies are highly vulnerable to the stigma, discrimination and conspiracies it promotes.”
9. Wide shot, General Assembly

STORYLINE:

The President of the 76th Session of the General Assembly, Abdulla Shahid, said that “cyberspace and social media together with the proliferation of disinformation and fake news have aggravated the effects of hate speech to unprecedented heights.”

Addressing Member States on Monday (20 June) on a special session of the Assembly marking International Day for Countering Hate Speech, Shahid added that “this dangerous trend only serves to divide us at a time when we need unity more than ever.”

According to the president, to address this challenge in a comprehensive manner, the international community “must cultivate our global cooperation and stand united – embracing the collective spirit that this great institution was designed to foster, and that Hate Speech seeks to undermine. Hate Speech is an inherent threat to our values and principles.”


Alice Wairimu Nderitu, the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, read a message from the Secretary-General.

Nderitu noted that “words can be weaponized and cause physical harm”, adding that “the escalation from hate speech to violence has played a significant role in the most horrific and tragic crimes of the modern age, from the antisemitism driving the Holocaust, to the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.”

The Special Advisor also said that “the internet and social media have turbocharged hate speech, enabling it to spread like wildfire across borders.”

“The spread of hate speech against minorities during the COVID-19 pandemic provides further evidence that many societies are highly vulnerable to the stigma, discrimination and conspiracies it promotes,” Nderitu concluded.