Anti-immigrant rhetoric around the world is increasingly “worrying,” a UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders said on Tuesday, and when some governments begin labelling migrants “terrorists”, advocates for their rights “need to find ways to protect them.”

Independent rights expert, Michel Forst, also says defenders themselves often face attacks from local officials, and are at the center of a narrative deeming them “enemies of the state.”

Mr. Forst explained that countries resisting immigration, fear an influx of migrants will change the nature of the country, and taint national values.

He spoke with Elena Vapnitchnaia of UN News’s Russian Unit, about how defamation of immigrants and their defenders impacts local social climates.