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Saudi Arabia Accuses Australia Of Being Racist In Extraordinary Speech At The UN

Saudi Arabia Accuses Australia Of Being Racist In Extraordinary Speech At The UN

Australia has also been accused of supporting the Christchurch terrorist.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

Australia has a pretty bad global reputation for being, well, a little racist.

While we have fixed up our image a bit and become a lot more progressive, there are still some people in our beautiful country that are holding onto those racist views.

It's a work in progress and we're getting there...slowly.

via GIPHY

But it's a pretty bold move for a country's representative to get up on stage at the United Nations and call Australia out for this.

That's actually what's just happened in New York City after Saudi Arabia's representative at the UN pointed the finger at the Land Down Under and accused it not only of holding racist sympathies but also of supporting the Christchurch terrorist.

It all started when Australia's ambassador to the UN, Sally Mansfield delivered a statement on behalf of 24 other countries earlier this week in Geneva, essentially accusing Saudi Arabia of human rights violations.

Mansfield told the United Nations Human Rights Council: "Civil society actors in Saudi Arabia still face persecution and intimidation. Human rights defenders, women's rights activists, journalists and dissidents remain in detention, or under threat.

Saudi Arabia Foreign Minister Ibrahim Abdulaziz Al-Assaf at the UN Climate Summit.
PA

"We are concerned at reports of torture, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, unfair trials, and harassment of individuals engaged in promoting and defending human rights, their families and colleagues."

Well, that didn't sit well with Saudi officials, so they sent ambassador Abdulaziz Alwasil to the UN in NYC to rebuke those claims and send some pointed words back, saying countries like Australia have 'racist and extremist policies' that target Muslims.

"Unfortunately, these have become popular and even accepted by some western parliaments, they are even sponsored by certain governments," Alwasil told the UN.

"We see in some countries, radicalism against Muslims, we see xenophobia, racism. And some governments sympathise with them, like Australia. Here we refer to the massacre perpetrated by Brenton Tarrant - an Australian - which was based on hate speech."

"We have listened with great surprise to the statement of Australia on behalf of a group of states. In it, there are many mistakes and misleading information against my country. The Kingdom continues its reform policies in accordance with its values and Islamic teachings, especially with regards to the rights of women."

Pretty rough to single out Australia just because we singled the Kingdom out for having a pretty bad track record of human rights inside the country.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: News, Australia