Great Lakes states unite to tackle online gendered hate speech
Experts from the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) member states—Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, and the Central African Republic—gather in Nairobi for three days, effective on May 26, to co-develop a multilingual lexicon and AI-powered tools to detect, monitor, and combat gendered hate speech across borders. PHOTO | COURTESY
What you need to know:
- It follows growing concern that women, youth, and ethnic minorities continue to experience disproportionate levels of online harassment and abuse.
Nairobi. Experts from Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, and the Central African Republic convened in Nairobi. Kenya to co-develop a multilingual lexicon and AI-powered tools to detect, monitor, and curb gendered hate speech across borders.
The three-day workshop, which began on May 26, is being held under the auspices of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), with support from the German government through the Deutsche GIZ.
The initiative aims to tackle online hate speech in the Great Lakes Region by building a comprehensive catalogue of offensive words, slurs, insinuations, and even memes and emojis commonly used to target women and other vulnerable groups online.
It follows growing concern that women, youth, and ethnic minorities continue to experience disproportionate levels of online harassment and abuse.
Speaking at the launch, ICGLR Director of the Gender, Women and Children Programme, Ms Flaviana Mayutta, said an AI-powered social media monitoring platform is being rolled out.
She said the tool features a real-time dashboard capable of tracking hate speech across multiple languages and digital platforms.
“This initiative is being implemented in phases, beginning with five ICGLR member states—Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, and the Central African Republic—before being extended to all twelve member states,” she said.
Ms Mayutta explained that the initiative involves developing and regularly updating a database of offensive language, slurs, and symbols used to harass women and marginalised communities online.
“Language evolves constantly. We will, therefore, establish a protocol for continuous crowdsourced updates and appoint national focal points in each country to keep the lexicon current throughout the project’s lifecycle,” she said.
She added that the project seeks to dismantle one of the key barriers to women’s full participation in peacebuilding and public life.
“We are building one of the first regional lexicons on gendered hate speech—a model other regions can emulate. In doing so, we are sending a clear message: there will be no haven for those who spread hate,” she said.
Levy Mwanawasa Regional Centre (LMRC) Regional Director, Dr Jean Kimonyo, emphasised that hate speech has long been a driver of conflict in the region.
“Hate speech fuels conflict and silences women. It often resurfaces during elections and lingers even in times of peace,” he noted.
Dr Kimonyo said the workshop marks a major step towards addressing online hate in its linguistic and cultural dimensions.
GIZ representative, Mr Emery Ntaneza, underscored the importance of collaboration with journalists, researchers, and social media influencers in tackling hate speech.
“Together, we are laying the foundation for a safer, more inclusive region and anchored in equality,” he said.
The participating countries will serve as pilot states. The project will work to agree on a common taxonomy, refine lexicons by language group, test them against real-time social media data, and validate Version 1.0 for integration into the AI-powered monitoring platform.
