The United Nations Secretary-General has delivered a lecture on democracy at Oxford University.
Mr Kofi Annan, on a three-day visit to the UK, has given the university's annual Cyril Foster Lecture on "Why democracy is an international issue" at the Sheldonian Theatre.
Mr Annan, the seventh Secretary General of the United Nations, outlined how the realisation of human rights should be a major concern to the international community.
Referring to racial discrimination he said: "In Europe today it is xenophobia and the political manipulation of fear of foreigners that pose the greatest threat to democracy, or at least to the quality of democracy.
"Immigrants, instead of being welcomed for the contribution they make to a productive economy and a diverse society, are too often portrayed as a threat, and procedures aimed at detecting 'bogus' asylum-seekers result in the harassment or detention of bona fide refugees.
"Sometimes they deter or prevent refugees from even approaching a country where they might be safe.
"These unpleasant phenomena have an impact on foreign as well as domestic policy - which is yet another reason why democracy is an international, and not just a domestic issue."
He noted the paradox of how the UN, in its efforts to maintain peace and security, often finds that mature democracies are unwilling to provide troops for peacekeeping operations.
He said: "Even today there is a painful paradox in the fact that the United Nations, in its efforts to maintain peace and security, often finds that mature democracies are unwilling to provide troops for peacekeeping operations.
"That paradox is all the greater when you consider how many of our peacekeeping missions over the last 15 years or so, in different parts of the world, have involved efforts to make democracy work.
"The truth is that that has happened for reasons which, for the most part, are not directly connected with international peace. They have much more to do with the domestic affairs of State, and especially with the resolution or prevention of internal conflict."