Rights chief decries prejudice

Departing United Nations human rights chief Louise Arbour spoke out against mistreatment of women and gays in many countries and called for equal condemnation of rights violations wherever they happen.

In a farewell speech to the U.N. Human Rights Council, she also urged it to condemn anti-Semitism as well as Islamophobia, and to speak out against abuse of minorities, immigrants and people from perceived lower castes.

The “perpetuation of prejudices continues to deny equal rights and dignity to millions worldwide on the basis of nothing more innocuous than their sexual identity or orientation, or their ancestry in the case of caste discrimination,” she said.