GENEVA, March 4, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - The pernicious "'great replacement' conspiracy theories" spreading in many countries are "delusional" and racist and are directly spurring violence, the United Nations rights chief warned on Monday.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk also took aim at the "war on woke", which he stressed was "really a war on inclusion".

Speaking before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Turk insisted that racially mixed and multicultural societies were not something to fear but should be seen as a benefit to people everywhere.

"In many countries -- including in Europe and North America -- I am concerned by the apparently growing influence of so-called 'great replacement' conspiracy theories, based on the false notion that Jews, Muslims, non-white people and migrants seek to 'replace' or suppress countries' cultures and peoples," he said. 

"These delusional and deeply racist ideas have directly influenced many perpetrators of violence."

The UN rights chief cautioned that "together with the so-called 'war on woke', which is really a war on inclusion, these ideas aim to exclude racial minorities -- particularly women from racial minorities -- and LGBTQ+ people from full equality.

"Multiculturalism is not a threat. It is the history of humanity and deeply beneficial to us all."

Turk said he deplored escalating attacks on LGBTQ people and their rights.

He regretted the fact that discriminatory legislation and policies were spreading. 

They have recently been expanded, adopted or are under consideration in Belarus, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Lebanon, Niger, Nigeria, Russia and several US states.

"Recognising the rights of LGBTQ+ people goes to the meaning of equality, and the right of everyone to live free from violence and discrimination," he said.
Turk meanwhile commended the decriminalisation of consensual same-sex relations in Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Mauritius, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Singapore in the past two years.