UN SECRETARY GENERAL Ban Ki-moon yesterday warned of a “politics of polarisation” emerging in Europe over immigration, and he accused some politicians of invoking “liberal values for illiberal causes”.
Addressing the European Parliament, Mr Ban noted that while immigrants in Europe suffered a “disproportionate share of ills” including unemployment and discrimination, “an even more dangerous trend is emerging, a new politics of polarisation”.
This was illustrated by those who seek to invoke “liberal values for illiberal causes” and tempt “otherwise reasonable people into being governed by fear, or falling prey to siren songs of suspicion”.
“They hide behind citizenship to accuse immigrants of violating European values, when too often it is the accusers who are subverting these values and thus the very idea of what it means to be a citizen of the union. “Europe’s darkest chapters have been written in language such as this,” he said.
Mr Ban, whose speech prompted much applause, said Muslim immigrants were the “primary targets” of such accusations.
“Europe cannot afford stereotyping that closes minds and breeds hatred. And the world cannot afford a Europe that does,” he added. The UN chief spoke about the need for “tolerance from within”. He said “a united continent has to give everyone the same chances for success, irrespective of their ethnicity”.
In a separate address to the Council of Europe, Mr Ban said “growing anxiety” over immigration and “economic hard times” was being used to “justify policies of discrimination and exclusion”.
He added: “Human rights are not a menu, from which we can pick and choose. When it comes to human rights, there should be no selectivity.” Mr Ban has been criticised for what some have described as his “mealy-mouthed” response to the awarding of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.
Asked by the Irish Times to comment on this, and reports that Chinese authorities have confined Mr Liu’s wife Liu Xia to her home since the award was announced, Mr Ban insisted his statement on the prize had “received wide support” and criticism amounted to “some very small part”.
He reprised much of his previous statement, describing the award as “a recognition of a growing international consensus for improving human rights practices and culture around the world” and noting China’s achievements in “lifting millions of people out of poverty and . . . trying to broaden political participation and steadily join the international mainstream in its adherence to recognised human rights rules, and the framework and instruments”.
Mr Ban said he hoped that “any difference on this decision” would not “detract [from] our attention and our commitment to advancing human rights” and the “high prestige and inspirational power” of the prize. He did not address the issue of the continuing house arrest of Mr Liu’s wife.