UN rights chief 'troubled' by 'heavy-handed' steps against US student protesters

The UN human rights chief on Tuesday said he was "troubled" by a series of "heavy-handed" steps taken to disperse and dismantle protests across university campuses in the US in support of Palestine.

"Freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly are fundamental to society-particularly when there is sharp disagreement on major issues, as there are in relation to the conflict in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel," Volker Turk said in a statement.

Any actions taken by university authorities and law enforcement officials to restrict such expression must be "carefully scrutinized" to ensure that they go no further than what is demonstrably necessary to protect the rights and freedoms of others, Turk said.

He said such restrictions may be permissible for another legitimate purpose, such as maintenance of public health or order, adding: "I am concerned that some of law enforcement actions across a series of universities appear disproportionate in their impacts."

Turk stressed that incitement to violence or hatred on grounds of identity or viewpoints "must be strongly repudiated."

"Such conduct can, and must be, addressed individually, rather than through sweeping measures that impute to all members of a protest the unacceptable viewpoints of a few," the human rights chief said. "Here, as elsewhere, responses by universities and law enforcement need to be guided by human rights law, allowing vibrant debate and protecting safe spaces for all."

"It must be clear that legitimate exercises of the freedom of expression cannot be conflated with incitement to violence and hatred," he concluded.

Protests are sweeping college campuses in the US following a police attempt to clear a pro-Palestine encampment at New York's Columbia University, resulting in the arrest of over 100 students.

The demonstrators are demanding their schools to financially divest from Israel, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas incursion which claimed 1,200 lives.