INCITING VIOLENCE AND PROPAGATING HATE THROUGH THE MEDIA: RWANDA AND THE LIMITS OF INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW

Abstract

The media played a significant role during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Media messages took two forms: incitement to kill (or “incitement to violence”), and hate propaganda (or “hate speech”). In 2003, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) convicted three media leaders of, amongst others, genocide and incitement to commit genocide. This contribution is an attempt to find out whether these convictions are based on the speech and responsibility for speech through the media − distinct from other actions including utterances outside the context of the media − of the accused. If any of these convictions are in fact based on mediamessages, does “incitement to violence” or “hate speech” constitute the basis for such convictions? Conceding the difficulties of disentangling these different forms of speech, the conclusion is that the convictions are based on “incitement to violence”, and not on “hate speech” as such.