As the world marks the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime, on December 9, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a genocide against the Congolese Tutsi is slowly unfolding.

 

The day was set by the UN's resolution 69/323 of September 29, 2015. It is an opportunity to honor victims of past genocides, while stressing the responsibility of each individual State to protect its populations from genocide, a responsibility Kinshasa is failing to fulfill.

 

Since the resurgence of fighting between the Congolese army, their allies, and the M23 rebels, hate speech and widespread attacks against Congolese Tutsi and Rwandophones flared up. The UN said the situation is deeply alarming and could erupt into a genocide.

 

By UN definition, a genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. According to academic and activist, Gregory Stanton, Genocide is a human phenomenon that can be analysed and understood, and consequently, may be prevented, and it is a process that develops in 10 stages.

 

The first stage is classification; where groups in a position of power will categorize people according to ethnicity, race, religion or nationality employing an us versus them mentality. The second stage is symbolization; people are identified, for instance as Jews or Tutsi, and made to stand out from others. The third and fourth stages are discrimination and dehumanization, respectively.

 

In the third stage, a dominant group uses laws, customs, and political power to deny the rights of other groups. The powerless group may not be granted full civil rights or even citizenship, and in the fourth, the diminished value of the discriminated group is communicated through propaganda.

 

The fifth stage is organization. Here, militia groups are formed, and the state, its army and militia design genocidal killing plans. The sixth stage is polarization followed by preparation, the seventh stage. Propaganda is employed to amplify the differences between groups, and victims are identified, separated and death lists are drawn up.

 

Stanton identified the eighth stage as persecution. In this stage, victims are identified and isolated based on their ethnic or religious identity, their death lists are drawn, their property is often expropriated, looted and destroyed. The eighth stage of genocide is now underway in eastern DRC especially. People are already being killed as the international community looks on, with indifference.

 

Emerging videos on social media show gruesome scenes of Kinyarwanda speaking Congolese Tutsi being tortured and executed, their properties destroyed and looted, and often told ‘go back home’. On several occasions, senior government and military officials have openly called upon the population to take up arms and kill their Kinyarwanda-speaking compatriots.

 

Through a November 30 statement, the United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, warned about the ongoing dissemination of hate speech and absence of independent mechanisms to address it; politicization of identity; proliferation of local militias and other armed groups across the country; widespread and systematic attacks, including sexual violence, against especially the Banyamulenge on the basis of their ethnicity.

 

She added that the current violence in eastern DRC mainly stems from the refugee crisis that resulted as many individuals involved in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda who fled to eastern DRC, forming armed groups such as FDLR which is still active there.

 

On November 22, the M23 rebels made a similar distress call; warning about the looming genocide against Congolese Tutsi in Masisi, where the Tutsi were told to go and gather at health centers. Failure to do so, would imply that they are working with the rebel group, and therefore be killed.

 

As the world marks this important day, it is an opportunity to renew the commitment to prevent the atrocities of the genocide happening in DRC.

 

Although the primary responsibility to do so rests with Kinshasa, all parties involved in the violent conflict must work urgently towards finding a political solution. And the world should not standby and watch as the Congolese army and its genocidal militia allies murder innocent Tutsi civilians.