Strengthening community, national and regional capacities to prevent genocide and related crimes (war crimes and crimes against humanity)
Other partners: African Union (AU), International Conference for the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), Republic of Zambia, DRC, Nigeria and Iraq, selected universities in Universities in the Americas, Africa and Middle East.
Middle East: Iraq.
AMERICAS: selected countries.
Synopsis
Objectives
The project aims to enhance community and national actors to identify and take timely action to prevent and address risks of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity based on good practices and concrete guidance and support.
Components
The project supports the development of national legislation to implement the Genocide Convention and assists national committees in updating and implementing action plans based on their specific priorities. Project activities include workshops for women to prevent incitement to violence, the launch of an award recognizing women combating hate speech, and the completion of a training of trainers’ curriculum for women in this field. The project also supports the creation of a handbook and an online UN-accredited course for media professionals, conducts media training workshops across five continents, and helps UN Country Teams develop context-specific action plans. Additional outputs include a compendium of tools and approaches, a public certificate course on hate speech prevention, and the roll-out of the policy guidance “Making the Case for Prevention of Genocide and Related Crimes.”
Main achievements
In February 2025, the project launched the “Introductory Course on the UN Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech”, developed in collaboration with the Department of Information Technology, Human Rights Education Associates, and the United Nations System Staff College. The free course, available to all UN staff, includes three modules covering the legal and policy framework on hate speech, the UN Strategy and Plan of Action, and the 13 UN commitments to counter hate speech.
The project initiated contact with the Uganda National Committee for the Prevention of Genocide and other national stakeholders to organize a workshop ahead of the February 2026 general elections, focused on preventing violence that could lead to atrocity crimes, for the Uganda National Committee, the National Human Rights Commission, government officials from ministries of Justice, Internal Affairs, Police, Foreign Affairs, Atrocities Watch Africa, Law and Human Rights Foundation and Academia (King Ceasor University, Makerere University).
In June 2025, a training manual was developed for women engaged in countering hate speech and preventing incitement to violence. The project also engaged with the African Union Special Envoys on Women and on the Prevention of Genocide to plan a workshop for implementing the “Napoli Women in Communities Plan of Action” in 2025.
Additionally, the project has engaged with UN Country Teams in Malawi, Tunisia, and Syria to support the development of context-specific action plans and a compendium of knowledge, tools, and approaches to counter hate speech.
Impact
The project strengthens local and national prevention and mitigation capacities to the risk factors of genocide and other atrocity crimes.