The top human rights official at the United Nations on Monday called for the Trump administration to end its “zero-tolerance” policy of separating children from their parents at the border, claiming it is an abusive practice.
“The thought that any state would seek to deter parents by inflicting such abuse on children is unconscionable,” United Nations high commissioner for human rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said during an address in Geneva, the New York Times reported.
In the address, al-Hussein cited a statement from the president of the American Association of Pediatrics who called the practice of separating parents from their children “government-sanctioned child abuse,” telling BuzzFeed that it could cause permanent harm to children.
Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said this month that no one will “dictate how the United States upholds its borders,” including the United Nations.
