Newsletter N° 52, December 2016

10 December is a day to celebrate the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the achievements since 1949 towards equality and the protection of human dignity for all. It is also an opportunity to further
promote and educate for Human Rights and solidarity, especially in new and developing areas such as the Internet.

Learning about our human rights and how to apply them in our daily life is a lifelong project as societies develop and communities change. The Internet has accelerated this process giving more information about the world
around us, allowing us to come together and express our thoughts easier and quicker. However, also hate speech can easily spread and undermine human values. Hate speech is not a constructive contribution to the public
debate. As the campaign in Germany points out: ‘Hate is not an opinion’. It is essential to denounce hate speech and express solidarity. The Action Day on 10 December therefore
supports the call of the UN to ‘Stand up for everybody’s Rights Today!’, and campaigns to raise awareness and educate for Human Rights online through human rights
education under the moto ‘Learning equality, living dignity’. Read more about the Action Day for Human Rights online and join the proposed actions.

The recently launched website ‘Examples of practices of Human Rights Education with and by young people’ portrays good practices of human
rights education in a variety of forms, with children and young people at the centre. The site is designed to inspire the reader and support them in accessing these good practices in order that they can be reproduced
by groups, organisation and institutions across Europe and beyond. The practices are from partners of the Human Rights Education youth programme of
the Youth Department of the Council of Europe.

Representatives of the campaign in Portugal and Mexico are participating in the 2016 Internet Governance Forum (IGF): ‘Enabling Inclusive and Sustainable Growth’,
6-9 December 2016 in Guadalajara, Mexico. Most workshops and sessions in the programme can be followed online and through social media. The Council of Europe is a partner in the IGF, seeking cooperation in its work to promotion and protects Human Rights and Democracy online.

On 3 December the campaign gave visibility to the challenges young people with a disability face in regards to hate speech and hate crime in support of the International Day for Persons with Disabilities . Marijeta posted a personal testimony of her experience with hate speech and bullying after becoming disabled. On 2 December the Norwegian
campaign participated in the conference ‘Hate Speech towards People with Disability’ organised by the Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs. New Research found that 1 out of 3 disabled in Norway have experienced hate speech. Videos from the “Think Different, Think Equal” Campaign of the European Network for Independent Living (ENIL) were posted. The videos were produced at the study session on multiple discrimination at the European Youth Centre Strasbourg in
2015.

The Global Kids Online project aims to build a global network of researchers investigating the risks and opportunities of child internet use. Pilot studies in Argentina, the Philippines,
Serbia and South Africa show that children are gaining a range of online opportunities including learning, health information, social connections and new digital skills, but also have harmful or hurtful experiences
including internet scams, harassment and bullying. Their Research Synthesis Report 2015-2016 calls for more education for children and parents and better policies
that balance children’s rights to participation, provision and protection online.

The youth organisations of 22 political parties in ‘The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’ signed on 15 October the Declaration for free, fair and democratic elections  organised by the OHRID Institute for Economic Strategies and International Affairs.
The young politicians pledged to actively influence and contribute to minimize and eliminate hate speech both online and offline and commit to leading honourable and fair media campaign and continue to work to improve
the political dialogue. Read the full story online

On 28-30 October LOJIQ - International Youth Offices of Quebec - and the International Youth Office (BIJ) of the French speaking community of Belgium
organised a youth seminar that hosted 40 youngsters, representatives of various local youth NGOs, in Quebec City, Canada. Participants developed strategies for responding to cyberbullying, exchanged good practices in human rights education,
and drafted work plans for their further involvement in the campaign. The video message of the participants is online. The seminar preceded the Québec-UNESCO Conference "
Internet and the radicalization of young people: preventing, acting and living together" which saw the adoption of the Québec Call. To
endorse the work conducted by young people in the field of combating on-line hate speech, Omar Naga and Nadège Nandou Djirau-Bie, were invited to be signatories of the document on behalf of the seminar participants.

The regional training course on combating hate speech online through human rights education has held 14-18 November. The 25 participants from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine and different
regions of the Russian Federation gained insights in the key concepts and values which are connected with human rights and the No Hate Speech Movement campaign. A pool of multipliers was created to support the work
of their national campaign committees.

On 22-23 November about 250 students from Larissa, Greece, participated in workshops on the risks of hate speech and students from the technical high school EPAL Tyrnavou performed a theatrical play about hate speech. The events were covered by National TV and local news.

The third Romanian Youth Gala was organized by the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Romania, on 13 November 2016 in Timişoara. In
the presence of the Ministery of Youth and Sports, Ms. Elisabeta Lipă, the Advisor to the Romanian President, Ms. Ligia Deca, and other distinguished guests, 13 projects were awarded. The special No Hate prize went
to ’Go Free – Association for the Support of Civil Society’ for their project “Community Journalists for Social Solidarity: StReEt”. The prize was handed out by the
National campaign coordinator of No Hate Speech Movement Romania.

The hospitality centre for young people ‘Il Paguro’ in Casapesenna, Italy, is setting up an information centre and library on countering Hate Speech and about the campaign.
The centre hosts international youth exchanges, local youth initiatives and will organise human rights educations workshops during the action day of 10 December. The centre is housed in a property confiscated from organised
crime network. Follow their actions for 10 December on Facebook

Online activists from Centro Internet Segura in Portugal produced a series of online videos "Net com Consciência" to raise awareness and educate about the importance
of safer internet and the effects of the online hate speech.

Alternativi International Bulgaria organised an international youth exchange ‘ART vs hate’  gathering 36 young people from Bulgaria, Estonia, ‘The
former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’, Spain, Turkey and United Kingdom, 8-16 November in Bansko, Bulgaria.

The Norwegian Equality and Anti- Discrimination Ombudsperson hosted the conference on 9 November in Oslo to review the implementation of the general policy recommendation
nr 15 on Hate Speech of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI). At the occasion Olemic Thommessen, President of the Norwegian Parliament,
repeated his support for establishing 22 July as the day for victims of hate crime. Tamarin spoke about her experiences being the first person with a disability to file a hate crime complaint in Norway. Paul Giannasi,
representative of the Justice Department and coordinator of the campaign in the United Kingdom, highlighted that many states have laws on hate crime targeting disabled persons, but their implementation is weak.

The training held 21-25 November in Zhytomyr, Ukraine, addressed discrimination and hate speech through human rights education based on Bookmarks with a special focus on reconciliation process and conflict transformation
among young people from different parts of Ukraine. The training was organized with support of the European Youth Foundation (EYF) and the Ministry
of Youth and Sports of Ukraine.

In Serbia, youth workers and young online activists created a network called “Conflict TransformersNET” to develop online tools on conflict transformation. For photo impressions
visit the Facebook page of LIBERO. The project was supported by the EYF.

For 10 December Action Day campaign partner UNITED will publish on their Facebook page and
website a collection of inspiring stories of historical people that stood up for human rights and people in our society today that speak out against hate.

In support of the United Nations International Day of Tolerance on 16 November, the Better Internet for Kids (BIK) portal in cooperation with the Insafe network of Safer Internet Centres published articles on initiatives that promote tolerance
online, including an overview article on the involvement of the Safer Internet Centres in the No Hate Speech Movement across
Europe.

The campaign was presented at the CCIVS Open Conference on the Role of the International Volunteer Service movement in the context of violent extremism and ideologies, in Bouznika, Morocco
on 25 November. The local campaign representative discussed the frustration of young people with lacking access to full and equal social, political and economic participation in society. The campaign in Morocco was
presented as an example of seeking ways to engage in constructive dialogue, involving civil society, government and academic partners.

Various events will be organised to promote Human Rights online across Romania from 7-10 December. Events include the 7th edition of Café Journalism for Justice in Cluj Napoca; thematic No Hate classes for high school
pupils and the launch of an exhibition in Botoşani; Thematic sessions on discrimination and education for Human Rights in 2 secondary schools and 5 high schools in Laşi; and a PATRIR Film Night Series in Cluj Napoca.
Details on all events are in the Blog post.

On the occasion of the Action Day a group of activists from UK decided to launch a Thunderclap in order to raise awareness about the importance of Human
Rights Education and promote the activities of the No Hate Speech Movement in the country. The event aims to increase the online outreach of the campaign among young people.

The Luxembourg Consultative Commission on Human Rights ‘Commission Consultative des Droits de l’Homme’ will hold a conference on the impact of being forcefully displaced at Cercle Cité, Luxembourg-City.

The 2016 edition of the European Youth Centre Budapest’s annual Human Rights Forum & Fair will put the topic of education for human
rights and democratic citizenship in Hungary into the spotlight. Find online the programme and how to register.

The Portuguese translation of Bookmarks will be launched at the training for facilitators on promoting human rights online, 15-17 December in Lisbon. The translated
manual will already be used by campaign partners for the Action Day of 10 December. For example by the Portuguese red Cross in Braga in educational activities on Hate
Speech with a group of young people living in a children's home in Braga.