UN rights experts urge US to “unequivocally” condemn racist hate

GENEVA REUTERS Aug 23- U.N. human rights experts called on the United States and its leadership on Wednesday to “unequivocally and unconditionally” condemn racist hate speech and crimes and to carry out investigations.  

 The statement issued by the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) stopped short of criticising U.S. President Donald Trump by name. But it said CERD was “disturbed by the failure at the highest political level of the United States of America to unequivocally reject and condemn the racist violent events and demonstrations”.  

 Trump revved up supporters on Tuesday with a defence of his response to a white supremacist-organized rally in Virginia . “We are alarmed by the racist demonstrations, with overtly racist slogans, chants and salutes by white nationalists, neo-Nazis, and the Ku Klux Klan, promoting white supremacy and inciting racial discrimination and hatred,” said Anastasia Crickley, who chairs the U.N. panel of 18 independent experts.