More than 40 religious and community leaders and actors came to Addis Ababa to discuss practical actions they can take to help their communities become more resistant to “hate speech”, especially hate speech that constitutes incitement to violence and targets people because of who they are – because of their religious beliefs their ethnicity or other form of identity.

The meeting, which was co-organised by the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect, the International Dialogue Centre (KAICIID), the World Council of Churches, and the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers, brought together religious leaders and actors from countries across Africa, including Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.