Statement by Amb. Hope Tumukunde Gasatura, the Ambassador of Rwanda to the Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and Permanent Representative to the African Union At the Headquarters of the African Union, during the Kwibuka28 symposium

Hope Tumukunde Gasatura, the Ambassador of Rwanda to the Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and Permanent Representative to the African Union At the Headquarters of the African Union, during the Kwibuka28 symposium 16th June 2022 Excellency Amb. [...] Fana Gebresenbet, The Interim Director, Institute for Peace and Security Studies, Addis Ababa University; Excellencies Ambassadors and all the members of the diplomatic corps; Distinguished Speakers of our symposium, those here inside the hall and those joining virtually, Members of the Academia; Civil Society Organizations; AU Staff here present; Rwanda Community present; Students; Distinguished. [...] We were together on the 7th April in this same hall, some of you joined the AU Peace and Security council on the 7th June for their annual session on fighting the ideology of hate, genocide and hate crimes, and you are here still with us today and we don’t take your presence for granted. [...] ➢ Particularly, the UN Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech of 2019 that seeks to strengthen the UN response to the global phenomenon of hate speech and placing specific emphasis on the role of education as a tool for addressing and countering hate speech, while at the same time upholding legitimate freedom of expression and access to information. [...] ➢ This symposium is therefore organized in order to reach out to the diverse strata of the academia and diplomats so that exchanges of experiences and research can also help to spread the word about the dangers of hate speech, Genocide ideologies and expressions of social intolerance.