Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein singled out Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders, saying he used bigotry as a political weapon.
He said he and others, including US Republican Donald Trump and Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage, used the same tactics as so-called Islamic State.
Mr Hussein was addressing a security conference in The Hague.
In an election manifesto published last month, Mr Wilders said that if elected he would close all mosques and ban the Koran and Muslim immigrants.
