A/73/305 Commission on Human Rights, in its alternative report to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, 32 noted that “the use of hate speech along ethnic lines and derogatory remarks about other tribes, races and communities has become the hallmark for Kenya’s political rallies during the run-up to the [2017] elections” and that incitement to violence contributed significantly to electoral violence in that country’s 2007 and 2012/13 electoral cycles. 33 In South Africa, political leaders have engaged in nationalist populist xenophobic rhetoric, sometimes indirectly legitimizing the spread of xenophobic violence. One political leader in that country was found guilty of hate speech and incitement to violence against white South Africans. 34 In India, the election of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been linked to incidents of violence against members of Dalit, Muslim, tribal and Christian communities. Reports document the use of inflammatory remarks by BJP leaders against minority groups, and the rise of vigilantism targeting Muslims and Dalits. 35 24. In its most extreme form, the implementation of majority will with no regard for minority rights results in genocide and ethnic cleansing. In Myanmar, for example, nationalist populist rhetoric capitalizing on decades of prejudice and State -sponsored discrimination against Rohingya Muslims has led to a campaign of extreme violence against the minority, amounting to ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. 36 In 2016, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported that since the 1990s, “extremist or ultra-nationalist Buddhist organizations have actively promoted messages of hatred and intolerance against Muslims and other religious minorities. Groups including the Organization for the Protection of Race and Religion (known as MaBaTha) spread messages based on fear and hatred, compare Muslims to animals, use derogatory language and present Muslims as a threat to the ‘Buddhist State’”. 37 OHCHR also found that ultra-nationalist Buddhist organizations also targeted moderate Buddhists, interfaith activists, women’s rights activists and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar. 38 In March 2018, the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide unequivocally confirmed that “international crimes were committed in Myanmar. Rohingya Muslims have been killed, tortured, raped, burned alive and humiliated, solely because of who they are”. 39 The independent international factfinding mission on Myanmar noted in March 2018 that it had no information on any attempts by the Government to combat hate speech and other violations to protect the fundamental rights of Rohingya, including the right to life. 40 Institutionalization of structural and other forms of exclusion 25. In the light of its exclusionary anti-pluralism, nationalist populist governance can result in systemic political, social and other forms of exclusion of groups or __________________ 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 10/22 Submission to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Ibid. See South Africa, Equality Court, Afri-Forum and Another v. Malema and Others, case No. 20968/2010, judgment of 12 September 2011; see also OHCHR, “Report from OHCHR factfinding mission to Kenya, 6–28 February 2008”, available at www.ohchr.org/Documents/Press /OHCHRKenyareport.pdf. Human Rights Watch, submission to the Human Rights Council universal periodic review of India, 2016. See A/HRC/32/18. Ibid., para. 22. Ibid. Adama Dieng, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide, statement on his visit to Bangladesh to assess the situation of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, 12 March 2018. Marzuki Darusman, Chair of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, statement to the Human Rights Council at its thirty-seventh session, Geneva, March 2018. 18-12945