HIGHLIGHTS OF RESULTS
ND5
Principles and practices effectively counter
discrimination and hate speech in the
digital space.
The High Commissioner and the Deputy High Commissioner raised their concerns about
the pushback on women’s rights and gender equality, including in online attacks, misogyny
and hate speech in several high-level discussions, including at the Commission on the Status
of Women, which was held in New York, in March; at the Women Deliver 2019 Conference,
which was held in Vancouver, in June; and at the twenty-fifth anniversary of the International
Conference on Population and Development, which was held in Nairobi, in November. The
Office also contributed to the Doha Forum’s panel on “New Models for Online Content
Governance,” during which panellists explored issues such as current and proposed efforts
to monitor, regulate and curate online content; who should define what constitutes
misinformation, hatred and violence on digital platforms; and risks associated with private
actors developing their own decision-making frameworks for the removal of content. To this
end, OHCHR developed a joint project with UN Global Pulse for monitoring online hate speech
and incitement.
In the context of the rampant discourse emanating from religious and political groups opposing
gender equality, UN Human Rights implemented activities aimed at countering the prevalence
of hate speech and negative stereotyping directed towards women, LGBTI persons and groups
that are frequently subject to discrimination. For instance, within the context of Human Rights
Day, the Regional Office for Central America and Panama’s Museum of Contemporary Arts
co-organized a digital arts exhibition, which included a specific segment emphasizing the need
to combat the use of harmful stereotyping and its negative impact on the enjoyment of human
rights of discriminated persons and groups.
ND6
The human rights of all migrants, particularly
those in vulnerable situations, are protected.
OHCHR supported selected State institutions and programmes in the Middle East and North
Africa to significantly improve their compliance with international human rights norms and
standards on migration. The Office translated into Arabic the Recommended Principles and
Guidelines on Human Rights at International Borders and widely disseminated this document
during capacity-building activities and discussions with governmental and non-governmental
partners in the region. OHCHR also organized a training programme on these guidelines and
conducted training sessions on the protection of migrants across borders for the Lebanese
General Security (GS). As a result of the programme, 150 GS Officers were trained on human
rights principles and guidelines for border management, trafficking and due process in border
management. The programme allowed UN Human Rights to further engage with GS and
relevant UN entities to uphold the rights of people on the move.
In 2019, concluding observations issued by CMW in relation to Argentina, Colombia and
Guatemala addressed frontier issues, such as mixed migratory movements, and in particular,
migrations known as the “migrant caravans.” The Committee also highlighted the human rights
of women and children on the move in the context of the massive migration of Venezuelan
citizens, including in relation to citizenship for Venezuelan children born in Argentina and
Colombia, family reunification, border management capacities and the lack of infrastructure
at border crossing points. The Committee expressed its concern about the persistence of
xenophobic attacks and hate speech against migrants from the media. In addition, CRPD issued
recommendations concerning people’s displacement and movement, particularly migrants,
asylum seekers and refugees with disabilities, in 15 out of 18 concluding observations and
recommendations that were issued during the year.
44 UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2019
Shifts:
Global Constituency
Prevention
Civic Space
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents