05 Aug Hate in the Western Balkan region

The “Block the hatred. Share the love!” regional campaign aimed to address the phenomenon of hate speech, thus raise awareness among the general public about the imminent danger of hate speech and its negative effects in the Western Balkans societies moves forward. The newly released series of factsheets identify the most common forms of hate in the Western Balkan region. Each factsheet provides statistics of groups and individuals affected; it highlights persisting challenges and good practices, including references to relevant and applicable European standards; and provides hints on the ways forward.

Some examples of issues addressed in the factsheets: do you know that hate towards and among certain groups of youngsters is quite widespread in the Western Balkans? This is called bullying, which nowadays is usually happening online and is complex to counter. Both kids who are bullied and who bully others may have serious, lasting problems, as an academic article found out. Every and each one of us can do better and convey messages of tolerance and respect that will provide counter narratives to hate speech, as well as try to encourage victims to report hate incidents to competent authorities.

Beside hate against LGBTI persons and youngsters, factsheets will help identifying facts and figures on the following recurrent forms of hatred targeting vulnerable group in the region: against the Roma community, religious groups, persons with disabilities, migrants, women and girls.

The campaign is implemented within the action on “Promotion of diversity and equality in the Western Balkans”, that is a part of the joint European Union/Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022”, implemented by the Anti-Discrimination Department of the Council of Europe.

Here you can find all factsheets:

https://www.coe.int/en/web/pristina/-/hate-at-glance-in-the-western-balkans-region

Reference from the official website of the Council of Europe