Înapoi Education and awareness responses to hate speech in Georgia

Education and awareness responses to hate speech in Georgia

Representatives of the Public Defender’s office, Prosecutor’s office, Central election commission, education and training practitioners, various human rights, and minority civil society organisations in Georgia, participated in a roundtable that focused on the role of awareness-raising, counter-speech, and education in combatting hate speech. During the meeting, participants exchanged on the recommendations and proposals made in the systematic mapping report of national responses to hate speech in Georgia.

The report shows that the primary source of discrimination and hate speech, is the lack of respect for fundamental rights, the principles of equality, lack of respect for diversity, deeply rooted stereotypes, misinformation, and related factors. Georgian legislation ensures that the learning environment in public schools shall be non-discriminatory and religiously neutral. Despite this, the stakeholders participating in the mapping process raise concerns about frequent violations of these principles and the stereotypical perceptions held by public-school teachers.

Participants to this round table, discussed ways on how Georgian stakeholders can apply awareness-raising, counter and alternative narratives, media literacy and education to combat hate speech and intolerance. The key to addressing hate speech is that all stakeholders (the government, media, and the civil society) should take their part of the responsibility and unite efforts to:  

  1. spread counter speech,
  2. fight misinformation,
  3. raise awareness among the population and
  4. implement joint educational activities.

This activity was organised in the framework of the regional project “Strengthening access to justice through non-judicial redress mechanisms for victims of discrimination, hate speech and hate crimes in the Eastern Partnership,” funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe, implemented by the Council of Europe in their Partnership for Good Governance II 2019-2022.

 The systematic mapping report of national responses to hate speech in Georgia [English] [Georgian]

Georgia 20 September 2022
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Strasbourg, France Strasbourg, 1-2 July 2024
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Addressing hate speech and hate crime: regional gathering of the network of Equality Bodies from the Western Balkans and the Eastern Partnership Region

A two-day workshop on addressing hate speech and hate crime took place at the premises of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, involving Equality bodies from the Western Balkans and the Eastern Partnership regions.  The event supported by the EU and Council of Europe, gathered 50 representatives from both regions who discussed and exchanged on the best practices, measures and common challenges when addressing hate speech and hate crime. Through monitoring and reporting, policy advocacy, raising awareness and supporting victims equality bodies play a fundamental role in protecting human rights and ensuring that all individuals are treated equally.

In her opening remarks, Angela Longo, Head of Anti-discrimination Co-operation Unit, Council of Europe, underlined the significant progress in engaging with Equality Bodies through this network, regularly exchanging best practices and addressing the challenges of hatred and intolerance in societies. She highlighted that this new chapter of discussion delves into the grey area between hate speech and hate crime, addressing issues of incitement and biases,

Representatives from Equality Bodies had the opportunity to discuss and enhance their knowledge on the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers Recommendation to member States on combating hate crime, adopted on 7th May 2024, as well as gain a clearer understanding of EU standards in the field of hate crime. Moreover, participants engaged in exchanges with peers from the Spanish Observatory on Racism and Xenophobia (OBERAXE), who shared insights on addressing hate speech in the public discourse. The National Office Against Racial Discrimination (UNAR) in Italy provided practical examples for developing counter-narratives and raising awareness initiatives.

They also explored opportunities to advocate for legislative reform, foster multisectoral co-operation, enhance data collection, and overall improve national mechanisms to counter hate crimes.

This seminar was organised within the action “Promoting equality and combating racism and intolerance in the Western Balkans” and the project “Promoting equality and non-discrimination: towards more resilient and inclusive societies” – co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe, and implemented by the Council of Europe  under the joint Programmes “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye” and “Partnership for Good Governance”.

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