The ethnic violence, mass killings and property destructions that "continue unabated" in DR Congo could plunge the country into genocide, says Alice Wairimu Nderitu, the United Nations Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide.
Nderitu gave the warning on Tuesday, July 4, during her briefing to the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council. Her briefing focused on the human rights situation and hate speech across the world, from the Balkans to Indonesia, Brazil to Libya, and from the Sahel region to Sudan and DR Congo.
"The failure to promptly respond to warning signs allows genocides to happen," she said, noting "an exponential spread of online hate speech, often instrumentalized for political gain."
"In the Democratic Republic of Congo, multiple attacks against civilians along ethnic lines, as well as of mass killings, sexual violence, abductions, destruction of property and attacks, including against IDP camps perpetrated by the numerous armed groups continue unabated," Nderitu said.
"My Office has consistently identified risk factors for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in the [DR Congo]."
This is not her first warning of genocidal violence in DR Congo. On different occasions since late in 2022, Nderitu said the escalation of violence in the country's east is a warning sign in a region where the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi happened.
She noted in November 2022 that the FDLR, a militia founded by perpetrators of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, was active in eastern DR Congo and its presence contributed to the spread of hate speech against Congolese Tutsi communities.
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She commended the regional efforts including by the African Union and the East African Community to end the violent conflict in eastern DR Congo.
The International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) of which DR Congo is a member, requires its member states to take action to prevent and punish genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and all forms of discrimination, she said.
"My Office worked closely with the ICGLR to support the establishment and activities of a regional committee and national mechanisms that if supported can implement this protocol which can ensure that responses developed at the national or regional level are closely aligned with local needs," Nderitu said.
Although the UN International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and Yugoslavia helped in bringing forward evidence for the denial of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda and the Srebrenica Genocide, Nderitu said it is "unacceptable that the survivors of these genocides are themselves at risk, from the denialists, once again."
Echoing the UN Strategy and Plan for Action on Hate Speech, Nderitu noted that hate speech was a precursor to genocide in Rwanda and Bosnia Herzegovina.
