A/HRC/14/43 “Greater Albania” were used by both sides to manipulate national consciousness and to incite the two communities to hatred and violence. Such political manipulation played a key role in the tragic events that affected the region. 23. The Special Rapporteur would like to underline that members of the political elite on both sides were able to engage in such manipulation due to the existing structural conditions, which facilitated an effective impact of the nationalist ideology that was propagated before and during the conflict. The Special Rapporteur thereby emphasizes that an effective response to political manipulation of racist or national ideology which may lead to conflict must encompass a broad range of issues. Indeed, such a response should include the means for members of minorities to ensure their political participation in governmental institutions. It should provide for the respect of the rule of law, equality before the law and equal access to economic, social and cultural rights for everyone, and should guarantee a great variety of media, indicating that freedom of expression is respected. III. Racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in situations of conflict 24. In the Durban Declaration, States had urged “people, particularly in conflict situations, to desist from racist incitement, derogatory language and negative stereotyping”.14 Taking the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action as the point of departure for this chapter, the Special Rapporteur examines how hate speech may exacerbate and aggravate violence perpetrated against certain individuals or groups of individuals in situations of conflict. For the purpose of the present report, hate speech shall be understood as public and direct incitement to violence targeting certain persons or groups of persons on the grounds of their so-called race, colour, descent, ethnicity or nationality. 25. Racist ideology tends to refer to history from a specific perspective, so as to define insiders and outsiders and to remind people about past grievances or humiliations that remain to be redressed. Thus, racist ideology tends to create a culture of victimization and to help mobilize members of a group, who perceive themselves as victims, around a common cause. As such, in situations of conflict, victimization becomes a useful tool to incite people to commit acts of violence against the outsiders. Once a person feels like a victim, it may indeed be easier for him or her to become a perpetrator of human rights violations, including killings. In addition to instilling a feeling of victimhood, racist ideology may also be resorted to in order to dehumanize those who are believed to be less equal. As such, once a person can be treated as being inferior, violence and killing may be perceived as justified, necessary or even noble in some cases. 26. As it relies on victimization and dehumanization, hate speech may, in its most extreme form, be used to incite people to commit genocide. In the view of the Special Rapporteur, examples of this can be found in the Rwandan genocide, where hate speech was used to incite people to commit acts of violence targeting members of certain groups of the population, significantly contributing to the mass killings perpetrated from April to July 1994. During the genocide, hate speech was used effectively by the Hutus to play upon memories of real and perceived past domination by the Tutsis in order to create enemies to be annihilated. 14 10 Durban Declaration, para. 62. GE.10-12566