GENEVA: Rwanda has called for a regional mechanism to combat hate speech and impunity, warning that unchecked incitement, particularly online, threatens stability across the Great Lakes region.
Speaking in Geneva on 23 February at a review of the UN’s anti-racism framework, Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe said inflammatory rhetoric, when normalised or politicised, becomes a driver of violence.
He said genocidal ideology linked to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi had reorganised beyond Rwanda’s borders, pointing to the continued presence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a UN-sanctioned armed group formed by individuals tied to the genocide.
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“Hate speech prepares the ground,” said Alice Wairimu Nderitu, the UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, noting that the 1994 killings were preceded by years of dehumanising propaganda. She recalled that the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda established that direct public incitement to genocide is a crime under international law.
Rwanda proposed forming an informal cross-regional “group of friends” to strengthen prevention, accountability and early response, particularly in digital spaces where inflammatory narratives spread rapidly.
Justice Minister Emmanuel Ugirashebuja said Rwanda has criminalised genocide ideology and denial as a preventive measure. “The purpose is to stop violence before it begins,” he said.