An inaugural meeting of the National Coordination Committee of the Council of Europe’s campaign “No Hate Speech Movement“ 2016-2017 took place on 28-29 January 2016 in Stara Zagora. The Bulgarian Safer Internet Centre joined the initiative and became a member of the Coordination Committee.
The meeting was hosted by the International Youth Centre Stara Zagora, the Stara Zagora municipality and the Human Resources Development Centre. The participants included representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science, numerous non-governmental and youth organisations (Applied Research and Communication Fund, Association Parents, Open Society Institute, Eurodesk Network, Infinite Opportunities Association, Association World Without Borders, Youth Centres Dobrich, Vratsa and Plovdiv, YMCA Gabrovo, Bilitis Resource Centre Foundation, Association for Support of the Academic Society and others), as well as Menno Ettema, coordinator of the Council of Europe’s campaign “No Hate Speech Movement.“
All participating institutions and organisations actively work to prevent and counteract hate speech among the young people in Bulgaria. By joining their efforts in the National Coordination Committee, they will have the opportunity to discuss and plan common initiatives in the future.
During the first day of the meeting, Mr. Ettema presented the initiative “No Hate Speech Movement“ in the 2014-2015 period. He quoted an online study, conducted by the Council of Europe’s Youth Department in 2015, which established that 83% of respondents have encountered hate speech online. The most common targets were the young people from LGBT community, Muslims, women and immigrants. These results show that the problem of hate speech is today more pressing than ever. According to Mr. Ettema, Recommendation No. R (97) 20 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on “Hate Speech” from 1997 needs to be urgently updated to include also hate speech in the Internet. Mr. Ettema also highlighted the priorities of the campaign for the 2016-2017 period. The campaign entitled “Young People for Human Rights Online” will employ the following main instruments: education; reporting and denouncing; and taking action together.
During the afternoon session of the first day, the participants presented their own good practices. They also discussed possibilities for cooperation and proposed topics and activities the assembled organisations would be interested to participate in.
On the second day, the participants discussed and adopted the framework agreement for establishment of the National Coordination Committee. They also debated the funding possibilities (for example the European Youth Foundation), as well as the volunteer initiatives and resources each organization could contribute to the campaign. The Open Society Institute offered the Committee members free access to all materials and resources of the Council of Europe. The four Youth Centres offered their premises to be used for trainings and work meetings at minimal cost.
An Annual Work Plan of the National Coordination Committee was also adopted. Regular meetings will take place every three months – the next one is planned for June in Sofia. Joint event and initiatives are also planned on the occasion of the forthcoming Action Day on Combatting Sexist Hate Speech – 8 March.
