E-Paper
Fact check: Did the United Nations really call Trump ‘racist’? Putting viral claims in context
Posts claim UN called Trump ‘racist’, but a Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination report only criticized “racist hate speech” by US leaders.
Social media accounts critical of Trump are posting claims that the United Nations has called President Donald Trump a "racist."
The posts, usually shared from accounts critical of Trump, have picked up millions of views, leaving many pondering as to whether the agency was indeed so aggressive against the POTUS. However, though are not entirely untrue, they have been shared out of context.
The United Nations did not call Trump racist, contrary to what the posts claim. It originated from a report by the UN ‘s committee on the elimination of racial discrimination (CERD) which flagged "racist hate speech" used by Trump and other GOP leaders in the United States. The watchdog claimed that the speech, along with recent immigration crackdowns, were a “grave human rights violations.”
The CERD report was put out of context by social media handles which claimed that the United Nations called Trump "a racist." For instance, here's one post that does so.
What The UN CERD Report Really Said
The report by the UN panel flagged the United States, which is a member of the committee, and called on it to uphold the obligations to protect citizens against racial discrimination. The CERD comprises 18 independent experts and Gay McDougall, a Biden appointee, represents the United States on it.
Though the report did not explicitly call Trump racist, it did single out the 79-year-old's comments specifically over its alleged racist undertones.
The report stated that portraying immigration detainees "as criminals or as a burden, by politicians and influential public figures at the highest level, particularly the president, may incite racial discrimination and hate crimes."
It also accused the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection of "systematic use of racial profiling and arbitrary identity checks." The report claimed that it has led discrimination of "refugees, asylum seekers and migrants" of "Hispanic/Latino, African or Asian origin."
White House Accuses UN Of 'Extreme Bias'
In response to the CERD report, the White House accused the UN's CERD of "extreme bias." In a emailed statement to Axios, White House spokesperson Olivia Wales slammed that UN saying that "no one takes them seriously."
The statement read: "President Trump is delivering on his promise to make our country safe again: the murder rate has plummeted to a 125-year low, with last year marking the biggest one-year drop in recorded history, crime categories are dropping across the board, and we have the most secure border in history.
"No one cares what the biased United Nations' so-called 'experts' think, because Americans are living in a safer, stronger country than ever before."
