A/HRC/59/63
Costa Rica
16.
Costa Rica provided a copy of its National Strategy to Prevent and Address Hate
Speech and Discrimination, launched in March 2024. Costa Rica reported that the strategy
was led by the Government of Costa Rica, with technical support from the United Nations.
Costa Rica reported that it was the first country in the region with a national strategy to
prevent and address hate speech and discrimination.
17.
Costa Rica reported that by 2023, hate speech on social networks in Costa Rica had
increased by 50 per cent compared to 2022, and by 255 per cent compared to 2021. Costa
Rica reported that its National Strategy was aimed at providing tools for prevention, attention
and action to guide the State and its institutions, with the objective of generating peace,
equality and inclusion. The National Strategy is based on five areas: recognizing, respecting
and guaranteeing human rights; education; a culture of peace; access to research, and the
effective use of data; and access to justice and accountability.
Cuba
18.
Cuba provided information about the constitutional, legislative and policy measures
it had taken to ensure the right to non-discrimination. Cuba reported that there were no
recorded demonstrations or activities by racist or xenophobic movements or ideologies or
extremist or neo-Nazi groups, and that Cuba had adopted laws and policies to combat any
remaining signs of racism, racial prejudice and racial discrimination. The National
Programme Against Racism and Racial Discrimination (Color Cubano) reportedly monitors
actions in order to combat and eliminate the vestiges of racism, racial prejudice and racial
discrimination that persist in Cuba.
19.
Cuba reported a disturbing wave of racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia at
the international level, which it said had created an environment conducive to the spread of
ideologies such as Nazism and neo-Nazism, promoted through social networks and other
forms of communication. Cuba reported that some political parties and leaders in developed
countries had spread hate speech that blamed the ills of society on migrants and other
minorities, and that this further exposed the unjust international order which for decades had
made the poor, people of African descent and migrants the object of discrimination.
Guatemala
20.
Guatemala reported a global resurgence in hatred and exclusion, which included the
use of far-reaching technology to polarize society; disinformation about minorities; the
spread of nationalism, populism and cross-border hate speech exploiting crises or social
discontent; and the growth of extremist groups. Such groups were reportedly expanding
targets of violence to include women, LGBTQ+ persons, religious minorities and migrants.
Guatemala also reported foreign-funded State actors spreading hate, ongoing conservatism
that enables extremism, criticisms of the inclusion of minority groups in workplaces, and
environmental racism.
21.
Guatemala reported that discrimination, intolerance and racist and xenophobic
violence was rooted in historical exclusion of Indigenous Peoples. Guatemala reported that
the dissemination of hate messages through social networks exacerbated these problems, and
that migration generated xenophobic attitudes towards people of other nationalities,
particularly Central American migrants. Online platforms had reportedly been used in recent
years to distort cultural expressions of Indigenous Peoples, including traditional health
systems.
22.
Guatemala outlined its laws and measures to prevent and combat discrimination.
Lebanon
23.
Lebanon reported that its general legal framework criminalized all forms of racism,
violence and discrimination against any group on Lebanese territory, whether national or
foreign, in accordance with the principle of equality stipulated in its Constitution, which
reportedly ensured non-discrimination among all individuals residing in Lebanon, regardless
of citizenship status. Lebanon reported that Lebanese society was based on openness,
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