--- title: Donald Trump: United Nations Human Rights Official Speech description: The United Nations top official on human rights harshly criticized Donald Trump in a speech this week. canonical: https://time.com/4481911/donald-trump-united-nations-speech/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-07T14:15:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T00:26:23.813Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read U.N. Human Rights Chief's Speech Criticizing Trump og:description: "History has taught them how bigotry can be weaponized." og:url: https://time.com/4481911/donald-trump-united-nations-speech/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8fbb34d8198b5456/6988a50a2dce0181e79ea919/gettyimages-509149476-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein leaves after addressing a press conference in Colombo on February 9, 2016. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read U.N. Human Rights Chief's Speech Criticizing Trump twitter:description: "History has taught them how bigotry can be weaponized." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8fbb34d8198b5456/6988a50a2dce0181e79ea919/gettyimages-509149476-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read U.N. Human Rights Chief's Speech Criticizing Donald Trump by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Sep 7, 2016 2:15 PM UTC  United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein leaves after addressing a press conference in Colombo on February 9, 2016. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein leaves after addressing a press conference in Colombo on February 9, 2016.LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI—AFP/Getty Images by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Sep 7, 2016 2:15 PM UTC The United Nations top official on human rights harshly criticized Donald Trump and other “populists, demagogues and political fantasists” in a speech this week. At a gala in The Hague Monday, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein argued that Dutch politician Geert Wilders and others were misleading voters with visions of ethnic purity. While the speech was mainly directed at Wilders, Al Hussein included Trump, French conservative leader Marine Le Pen and British leader Nigel Farage, among others, in his targets for criticism, comparing them to the Islamic State. He also noted that Wilders attended the Republican national convention in Cleveland. “All seek in varying degrees to recover a past, halcyon and so pure in form, where sunlit fields are settled by peoples united by ethnicity or religion–living peacefully in isolation, pilots of their fate, free of crime, foreign influence and war,” he said. “A past that most certainly, in reality, did not exist anywhere, ever.” Read a full transcript of the speech below. --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4481911/donald-trump-united-nations-speech/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4481911/donald-trump-united-nations-speech/"},"headline":"Read U.N. 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