U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein cited Trump’s views on vulnerable communities including minorities and his talk of authorizing torture in interrogations, banned under international law, as “deeply unsettling and disturbing”.
Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein told a news briefing in Geneva “If Donald Trump is elected on the basis of what he has said already – and unless that changes – I think it is without any doubt that he would be dangerous from an international point of view,”
Donald Trump has said he would immediately re-authorize the waterboarding of suspected militants if elected on Nov. 8, contending that “torture works”.
Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein said that he would rather not interfere in political campaigns. But when a candidate’s comments pointed to a potential use of torture, prohibited under the Convention against Torture, a pact ratified by Washington, or to vulnerable groups possibly losing their basic rights, he had to speak out.
In a speech in The Hague last month, Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein accused Trump of spreading “humiliating racial and religious prejudice” and warned of a rise of populist politics that could turn violent.” Then last Wednesdy said, “I always believe that it’s incumbent on leaders to lead and to lead in a way that is ethical and moral,” when asked about Trump. “The use of half-truths is a very clever political device. Because as every propagandist knows, you allow the listener to fill in the rest.”
“We have to be on guard to see that in the end vulnerable populations, populations at risk do not again see their rights deprived because of a view that is in the ascendancy based on false premises,”
What has become of American politics…. smh