A/HRC/28/64 as a possible precursor to serious human rights violations, including potential genocide.6 In March 2014, the United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide alerted the media that Muslims were being “deliberately and systematically targeted by the antiBalaka” in attacks referred to as “cleansing operations”. He referred to reports of hate speech by anti-Balaka (Christian armed groups) on public media referring to Muslims as “rotten potatoes” and public justification of their actions. 40. On 2 July 2014, the Special Rapporteur called on Sri Lanka to stop racial and faithbased hatred and violence directed at Muslim and Christian communities by Buddhist groups with extremist views, and to bring perpetrators to justice.7 Various statements have promoted extremist views, proclaiming the racial superiority of Sinhala Buddhists and alleging that statues of Buddha are being bulldozed by religious minorities or that evangelical Christians are forcibly converting vulnerable people. Those statements reportedly contributed to over 350 violent attacks against Muslims and over 150 attacks against Christians in the past two years. 41. Social media is a fertile ground for radical and terrorist groups to spread hateful messages. ISIL uses online platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Youtube, to deliver updates on their actions as well as to reach out to potential donors and recruits, including posting videos and graphic material. The misuse of social media by ISIL has been described by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights as “the product of a perverse and lethal marriage of a new form of nihilism with the digital age”.8 42. Social media platforms have also been used to disseminate hate speech content against groups, which has fuelled intercommunal tensions and led, in some cases, to violent clashes among communities. Following a country visit in July 2014, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar expressed her concern over the spread of misinformation, hate speech and incitement to violence, discrimination and hostility in the media and Internet, particularly targeted against Muslim communities.9 C. International legal framework 43. The Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities establishes that “States shall protect the existence and the national or ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic identity of minorities within their respective territories and shall encourage conditions for the promotion of that identity” and requires that States adopt appropriate legislative and other measures to achieve those ends (art. 1). The Declaration also emphasizes that persons belonging to minorities “have the right to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practise their own religion, and to use their language, in private and in public, freely and without interference or any form of discrimination” (art. 2.1). The commentary on the Declaration10 encourages States to adopt laws protecting against acts or incitement to acts which physically threaten the existence of groups or threaten their identity. 44. The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide recognizes that genocide is an international crime, which entails the national and international responsibility of individual persons and States. According to article 3 of the 6 7 8 9 10 See www.unmultimedia.org/radio/english/2014/03/hate-speech-in-the-central-african-republic-maybe-precursor-to-genocide/. See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=14812&LangID=E. See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=15173&LangID=E. See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=14910&LangID=E. See www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/minorities/group/11session.htm. 9