EASTERN CONGO GENOCIDE VIRTUAL MEMORIAL
Who we are
For decades, the Eastern Congo region covering South Kivu, North Kivu and Ituri has experienced persistent and widespread violence and armed conflicts. However, there has been scanty research that has documented mass atrocities and genocide targeting minorities…
What we do
Evidence gathered throughout years tend to corroborate that killings that have targeted some ethnic groups including the Banyamulenge in South Kivu, the Hema in Ituri and other ethnic minorities in Eastern Congo have specific features involving processes of genocide. However, these killings have mostly been understood within the broad analysis of intercommunal …
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We intend to be an inclusive genocide memorial that would help to uncover some wraps of slow genocide processes. The Eastern Congo Genocide Research Centre is open to collaboration with other national, regional or community memorials, research centres and universities across…
The Eastern Congo Genocide Research Centre Inspiration
The Eastern Congo Genocide Research Centre (ECGRC) is a non-profit organisation (under the process of registration) with the prime mission of documenting mass atrocities and genocidal processes in Eastern Congo. The organisation manages the Genocide Memorial and carries out other research and dissemination tasks aiming to contribute to the understanding of slow genocide processes. It resulted from debates and discussions on the ongoing systematic killings targeting ethnic minorities including the Banyamulenge, Hema community, Tutsi and the Batwa. ECGRC intends to fill the gap of this ignored or neglected social phenomenon which has engulfed the eastern Congo into cycles of violence while taking thousands of human lives.
Founders of ECGRC Centre believe that one the challenges to prevent genocide against minorities is the lack of research-based information which in end opens rooms to manipulated stories. From a general point of view, the centre aims to analyse root causes, preparation, and executions of the ongoing genocide against minorities and other crimes against the humanity of which certain ethnic groups are victims of in eastern Congo. Running genocide memorials is one the core mandate and missions of the ECGRC. In a particular way, the centre carries out scientific research, organises conferences, seminars, and workshops, invites guest speakers to share their experience, supports reconciliation initiatives.
HATE SPEECH
In Eastern Congo, ethnic minorities have been specifically targeted by armed attacks but also, there has been a growing phenomenon of hate speech and online campaigns calling for their physical elimination. In the past, political figures and influential actors within the civil society arena have mobilized the mass to get rid of the Banyamulenge, Tutsi and Hema as the Batwa were kicked to the tertiary level in terms of access to rights. Nowadays, the influence and the proliferation of social media and access to technologies have worsened the situation of minorities. Despite this growing phenomenon, there has been limited research on the role that social media plays in driving violence and the ways these campaigns are directly linked with physical violence.
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