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The Sun Katie Hopkins

UN human rights chief calls out the Sun over Katie Hopkins 'cockroaches' column

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By Gillian West | Social media manager

April 26, 2015 | 1 min read

Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, the UN's human rights chief, has criticised the Sun for allowing Katie Hopkins to describe migrants as 'cockroaches' in a recent column in the newspaper.

The UN high commissioner for human rights pointed out that both the Nazis and those behind the genocide in Rwanda had also used the word 'cockroaches' before and asked for the UK government, media and regulators to show greater respect for national and international laws on curbing incitement to hatred.

He said to the press that Hopkins' language was "clearly inflammatory and unacceptable especially in a national newspaper" adding that the Sun's editors who had made the decision to publish the article, if found in breach of the law, would be as responsible as Hopkins.

Hopkins article, he said, was typical of "decades of sustained anti-foreigner abuse, misinformation and distortion" in terms of the British media's reporting of migrant and refugee issues.

The Independent Press Standards Organisation, IPSO, confirmed it had received more than 300 complaints about Hopkins article and was investigating whether it breached the Editors' code.

The Sun Katie Hopkins

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