Published On 11/6/2026
On Thursday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, expressed his shock at the recent wave of violence that broke out in various regions of Britain, at a time when the Vatican called on world leaders for greater humane treatment of migrants fleeing poverty and war.
In a statement issued today, Thursday, Turk said that various parties took advantage of these attacks – which recently broke out in Britain – to promote divisive rhetoric against certain communities on the basis of race and ethnicity, with the aim of fueling hatred and violence.
Turk added in his statement: “Taking others as scapegoats and stripping them of their humanity is completely unacceptable. Violence against individuals, burning homes, vandalizing property, and deliberately intimidating these groups are practices that are condemned and rejected.”
The High Commissioner stressed that politicians and leaders bear a double responsibility to refrain from adopting rhetoric that inflames tensions or attaches stigma to specific communities.
Britain is in trouble
The UN commissioner’s reaction comes after violence broke out on Tuesday, in which rioters in Northern Ireland for two nights in a row targeted ethnic minorities and foreign residents by burning homes and vehicles in response to a knife attack in which a Sudanese man was charged with attempted murder.
In parallel, video footage was also published via cameras installed on the bodies of police officers of an attack that occurred last December in the English city of Southampton.
The Belfast attack raised immediate questions about the suspect’s immigration status, including from some politicians, with Gavin Robinson, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, calling on authorities to curb “uncontrolled migration”, while Ryan Henderson, Northern Ireland’s assistant chief constable, said the attack sent “shock waves through society, causing real concern”.
The officials’ reactions highlight the increase in anti-immigrant sentiment in Britain, with more than one far-right march taking place in recent weeks to call for tightening restrictions on immigration and the expulsion of irregular immigrants, at a time when populist parties believe that Britain’s asylum policy has allowed dangerous people to enter the country.
Earlier in June, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer denounced the violent protests that erupted in connection with the case of an 18-year-old man who was handcuffed as he lay dying after his killer falsely said he had been subjected to a racist attack, and said that exploiting this issue to stir up tension was “unforgivable.”
While mass drowning incidents of migrants across the English Channel and in the Mediterranean are frequent, and fans from several countries are prevented from entering the United States to watch World Cup matches, Britain, the rest of the European Union countries, and the administration of US President Donald Trump continue their policies of tightening immigration restrictions and freedom of movement across the world.
“Human dignity has no nationality”
During his visit to the Spanish Canary Islands, one of the regions in Europe that receives the most migrants, Pope Leo of the Vatican called on world leaders to treat migrants with greater humanity, warning that history would condemn those who allowed those fleeing war or poverty to suffer.
In what he described as an “appeal to the conscience” of politicians in Europe and the international community, the Pope, who is the first American to assume the papacy, said that “human dignity has no nationality, and does not lose its value when crossing any border between countries,” warning in the port of Argenigen on the island of Gran Canaria, against getting used to watching people’s suffering and counting the dead.
Relief organizations had called the port the “Pier of Shame” after about a thousand migrants were stranded in miserable conditions there during the first months of the “Covid-19” pandemic.
Pope Leo, who has adopted a more assertive tone in his opposition to global leadership trends over the past few months, angered US President Donald Trump after harshly criticizing his hard-line anti-immigrant policies.
The Pope is visiting the Spanish archipelago off the west coast of Africa, as part of a week-long tour in Spain, where he is scheduled to meet about a thousand migrants on Friday.
These islands are a destination for migrants who risk their lives to cross the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, often on board small, rickety and overcrowded boats, which leads to deaths and people missing at sea.
“Legal and safe paths”
Official data showed that the Canary Islands, which are more than a thousand kilometers from mainland Spain, received a record number of 46,843 illegal immigrants in 2024, compared to less than a thousand immigrants in 2015. According to the non-governmental organization Caminando Fronteras, more than three thousand people died in 2025 while trying to reach the islands.
Pope Leo told the Spanish parliament on Monday that failure to provide assistance to the world’s migrants represented a challenge to “the moral foundation of the international order.” On Thursday, he called for finding “legal and safe paths” for migration and for international community cooperation to combat human trafficking, and to provide funding to rescue migrants facing danger at sea.
He added that the world must make more efforts to eliminate poverty, wars, corruption and other factors that push people to flee their countries.
Juan Carlos Lorenzo, coordinator of the Spanish Committee for Refugees in the Canary Islands, said that Pope Leo’s visit to the Canary Islands represents “an important milestone, and a strong affirmation of the defense of human rights, respect and dignity that all people deserve, regardless of their origins.”
