World peace threatened

By Sardar Khan Niazi
Hate speech is on the rise worldwide, which undermines social cohesion and tolerance and creates violence through the spread of xenophobia, racism, Islamophobia, hatred, and other forms of intolerance and discrimination across the globe.
Unquestionably, it incites violence, undermines diversity and national unity, and threatens the common values and principles that bind humankind together.
History has made known to us that massacres and other brutal crimes begin with words. It is a collective responsibility to address hate speech in the present day to prevent extra violence in the future.
In the event concerning the first-ever International Day for Countering Hate Speech, Pakistan has powerfully spoken against the hate speech and stressed that it is a threat to everyone and that fighting it is a collective responsibility of the global community.
The international community needs to build unanimity on the necessities to reinforce education, which is an influential instrument to counter hate speech, and set out tangible recommendations to limit and eliminate this growing threat from the world.
The UN Secretary-General in his message on the eve of the International Day for Countering Hate Speech has said that hate speech incites violence, undermines diversity and social cohesion, and threatens the common values and principles that bind us together.
Hate speech gives birth to racism, chauvinism creates hatred, and incites violence between different sections of society, ethnicities, religions, and geographical zones of the world.
Islamophobia is a manifestation of hate speech and a religiously-motivated crime against Muslims due to their beliefs, religious attire, physical appearance, culture, and traditions.
Hate speech and hate crimes based on people’s ethnicity and religious beliefs have increased quickly in the United States, Europe, India, Burma, and the Far East Asian countries in recent years.
There has been an upsurge in the racial hate crimes against Asian Americans after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. According to a report by the FBI about hate crimes against religious minorities and people of color, about 8263 criminal incidents and 11,129 related offenses were reported to Police across the United States in 2020.
According to media reports, there have been a series of ill-motivated incidents against Muslims aimed at hurting their religious beliefs by targeting their religion or religious personalities, particularly in Europe, India, Myanmar, and other countries in the recent past.
These incidents largely disturbed the Muslims from corner to corner of the world.
What is more, right-wing political parties and groups in some western countries have tried to exploit the general unawareness and unfounded fear of Islam in their societies for electoral gains.
The UN Secretary-General has also admitted the growing anti-Muslim bigotry and rebirth of ethnonationalism, neo-Nazism, humiliation, and hate speech targeting vulnerable populations including Muslims in various parts of the world.
Modi’s India has become the most insecure place for the Muslims where RSS and BJP goons have squeezed Indian soil for the Muslim population through limitless harassment, torture, and insult of Muslim men and women in the streets, bazaars, schools, and other public places across the country.
The international community has acknowledged the threat of growing racism, Islamophobia, and religious-based violence in various countries and urged the world to combat this menace through dialogue, education, and strict legislation.
However, the global community must act swiftly against the States supporting religious and ethnic violence for political reasons and compel them to fulfill their obligations, so the minorities can prosper in the world. Social media companies also need to review their policies to regulate hate speech and disinformation online.
Under the umbrella of the UN Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech, measures must be taken to respond to inflammatory narratives stoking hate speech.