This phenomenon has become increasingly important internationally and is the subject of particular attention by PACE, which has expressed great concern about its intensification and related instances of hate speech in the political context with direct reference to migration. Several reports and other documents drawn up by the PACE have increasingly addressed the issue of the instrumentalisation of migration and the right to asylum in election campaigns, highlighting the resulting risks to democratic cohesion and the protection of fundamental rights. These documents raise awareness that there is a widespread tendency to present migrants and refugees exclusively as threats to security, economic stability or cultural identity, through stigmatising and dehumanising language which is likely to reinforce discrimination against people belonging to these groups. Furthermore, the work of the PACE stresses that the issue of migration should not be limited to security and emergency alone, but rather be treated in an objective and pluralistic manner, in order to allow for its comprehensive understanding. Particular concern was expressed with regard to the spread of “hate speech” in the political sphere.6 PACE notes that this phenomenon has a twofold corrosive effect: on the one hand, it undermines social cohesion and legitimises systemic forms of intolerance; on the other hand, it makes political debate less inclusive and pluralistic, limiting the public space of those who publicly defend migrants and making civil society actors more vulnerable.