Rwanda has called for the creation of regional mechanism to combat hate speech, impunity and the growing threat of online incitement that could destabilise the Great Lakes region.
The call was made by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Olivier Nduhungirehe, on February 23 during the Durban 25 session in Geneva, held under the theme "How Impunity for Hate Speech Fuels Cycles of Violence and Regional Instability.”
"Hate speech is not just speech. When it goes unchallenged, normalised or politically instrumentalised, it becomes an enabling factor for violence,” Nduhungirehe said.
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"In many contexts, it is tolerated or even exploited by political actors,” he said.
Nduhungirehe said genocidal ideology and hate speech did not disappear after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi but instead reorganised and found fertile ground in eastern DR Congo.
"The continued presence of the FDLR, a UN-sanctioned armed group formed by perpetrators of the genocide against the Tutsi, shows how impunity allows violent ideologies to persist across generations,” he said.
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He warned that when hate speech goes unchecked, exclusion becomes normalised and minority groups are portrayed as foreigners.
"Discrimination then becomes systemic, embedded in politics and security structures, and violence becomes predictable,” he said.
Nduhungirehe highlighted the crisis in eastern DR Congo, particularly South Kivu, where the Banyamulenge community faces systematic targeting and a humanitarian blockade along ethnic lines.
"These developments are clear signs of ethnic cleansing and constitute material evidence of crimes against humanity,” he said.
To counter these threats, Rwanda proposed the establishment of an informal cross-regional "group of friends” on combating hate speech and impunity to enhance cooperation on prevention, accountability and early response.
He also stressed the need to address the transnational and evolving nature of incitement, especially in digital spaces where online platforms amplify dangerous narratives.
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The UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, said the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi did not begin with physical weapons but with words through radio broadcasts, newspapers and organised propaganda that dehumanised Tutsi for decades.
She noted that the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda established a legal precedent by ruling that public speech calling for the destruction of a protected group constitutes a criminal act.
"Many people indicted for genocidal crimes remain at liberty in DR Congo and elsewhere. Some continue to propagate the same genocidal ideologies and dehumanising narratives targeting Tutsi communities beyond Rwanda’s borders,” she said.
"Hate speech prepares the ground, and genocide denial prepares for the repetition of crime. Early warning must be matched with early action.”
Former ICTR prosecutor Florida Kabasinga warned that anti-Tutsi and anti-Banyamulenge hate speech is widespread both online and on the ground in DR Congo.
She accused the Congolese government under President Félix Tshisekedi of contributing to the persecution of Congolese Tutsi and Banyamulenge, in violation of the country’s constitution, which guarantees peaceful coexistence and protection of vulnerable minorities.
The Minister of Justice, Emmanuel Ugirashebuja, warned that patterns that led to the 1994 genocide are re-emerging in the region, often compounded by international inaction.
He recalled ignored warnings in the early 1990s from UN officials that violence against Tutsi already met the legal threshold for genocide.
Ugirashebuja said Rwanda has enacted laws criminalising genocide ideology, denial and hate speech to stop violence at its earliest stage.
"The purpose is prevention—to stop genocide ideology before it escalates into violence,” he said.