Migrants in Europe, the United States and many other parts of the world are subjected to(遭受) the worst forms of racial discrimination(种族歧视) and xenophobia(对外国人的憎恶或恐惧), a U.N. independent investigator said Monday.
Githu Muigai, a Kenyan lawyer, said many other groups are also victims including ethnic minorities(少数民族) attacked because of their minority status(身份，地位), individuals stopped and searched because of their perceived religious or ethnic(种族的，部落的) background, and soccer players insulted because of their color.
He reiterated(反复述说，重申) his opposition to Arizona's controversial immigration law because it compromises(危害) basic international human rights that migrants are entitled to(享有).
Muigai, the U.N. Human Rights Council's special investigator on racism(种族主义), racial discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance(偏狭), spoke to reporters after presenting reports to the General Assembly(会员大会) on efforts to eliminate(消除) these practices.
"If I have found any specific group of people to be the subject of the most insidious(隐伏的) contemporary forms of racial discrimination, those are migrants," he said. "And I think in many parts of the world today, immigrants bear the brunt of(首当其冲) xenophobic intolerance — and this is true of the United States, and it is of Europe, and it is of many parts of the world."
Muigai said international law doesn't prevent any country from enforcing "a fair, open, transparent(透明的) migration policy." And he said he appreciates the need for countries, especially in southern Europe, to deal with immigrants arriving illegally(不法地) by sea from Africa and other parts of the world.
"All I have been saying in my reports is that we need to develop systems, structures, and policies in an international legal environment in which we can address(应对) the legitimate(合情合理的，合法的) concerns of the receiving states while being able to safeguard(保护，保卫) the fundamental humanity, in my judgment, of the immigrants," he said.
Muigai said he is concerned that the Arizona law, now been challenged in a federal appeals court, "does not respond to minimum human rights standards."
The law targeting(瞄准) illegal immigration requires police enforcing another law to question a person about his or her immigration status, if there is "reasonable suspicion" that the person is in the United States illegally. It also makes it a state crime(触犯州法律) to be in the country illegally.