6/29/2018

HUMAN RIGHTS/RACISM/STATE/UN/TRUMP PEOPLE: “A Trump administration appointee to the State Department tore into standard UN documents that condemn racism as a threat to democracy. The deputy assistant secretary for refugees and migration, a foreign service officer promoted by the White House to an unusually senior position for his rank, disputed the idea that leaders have a ‘duty’ to condemn hate speech and incitement, and repeatedly rejected use of the words nationalism, populism, and xenophobia…President Donald Trump has described himself as a nationalist. Veprek also pushed to soften language about fighting racism and about racism in politics in his proposed amendments to a UN Human Rights Council resolution titled ‘The Incompatibility between Democracy and Racism’ that is adopted without a vote, with much of the same language, every few years…The Democrats expressed concern that Veprek’s appointment was ‘another troubling sign that this administration intends to continue dismantling our nation’s already crippled refugee program.’ Veprek is just the latest Trump administration appointee to espouse hardline immigration views that seem to be shared by the President, who last week said Democrats want immigrants to ‘infest’ the US.”

Michelle Kosinski, “Exclusive: Trump appointee guts UN document on racism, says leaders don’t have duty to condemn hate speech,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, June 4:39 pm