LONDON/GENEVA: The UN’s human rights chief has accused Britain’s tabloid newspapers of hate speech against immigrants.

The official urged London to crack down on those newspapers that are inciting racial hatred, after a columnist for The Sun called migrants “cockroaches.”

In a hard-hitting statement, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein, said on Friday that an article in The Sun comparing migrants to cockroaches used language similar to that employed by the instigators of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.

The April 17 column by Katie Hopkins, a former contestant on TV show “The Apprentice,” has caused controversy in Britain. Hopkins said gunboats should be used against migrant boats in the Mediterranean, and called immigrants “feral humans.”

Zeid said the column “was simply one of the more extreme examples of thousands of anti-foreigner articles that have appeared in UK tabloids over the past two decades.”

He urged British media, authorities and regulators to curb incitement to hatred.

The UN official said the April 17 article in Britain’s best-selling paper was reflective of a “nasty underbelly of racism that is characterising the migration debate in an increasing number of EU countries.”

This was also “sapping compassion for the thousands of people fleeing conflict, human rights violations and economic deprivation who are drowning in the Mediterranean,” he said. The article came as migrant boat tragedies in the Mediterranean escalated.

Already, more than 1,750 people have died this year making the perilous sea crossing to try to reach Europe — 30 times higher than the same period in 2014.

Zeid asked British authorities, media, and regulatory bodies to take immediate steps to stop racial and inflammatory articles.

“This vicious verbal assault on migrants and asylum seekers in the UK tabloid press has continued unchallenged under the law for far too long,” he said.

“The Sun’s editors took an editorial decision to publish this article, and, if it is found in breach of the law, should be held responsible along with the author.”

The high commissioner said the Hopkins piece was “simply one of the more extreme examples of thousands of anti-foreigner articles that have appeared in UK tabloids over the past two decades.”

He also asked all European countries to take a firmer line on racism and xenophobia.

Hopkins, in an article titled “Rescue boats? I’d use gunships to stop migrants”, said the sight of dead floating bodies, coffins and “skinny people looking sad” left her cold.

“Make no mistake, these migrants are like cockroaches,” she wrote.

“They might look like ‘Bob Geldof’s Ethiopia circa 1984’ but they are built to survive a nuclear bomb.”

The columnist also said Europe should adopt a hardline approach to clandestine immigration like Australia by using navy ships to turn back boats carrying asylum seekers. “Britain is not El Dorado,” Hopkins said. “Some of our towns are festering sores, plagued by swarms of migrants and asylum seekers, shelling out benefits like Monopoly money.”

Zeid said provocative articles could trigger dangerous reactions.

“It is extraordinary and deeply shameful to see these types of tactics being used in a variety of countries, simply because racism and xenophobia are so easy to arouse in order to win votes or sell newspapers.”