On August 22-25, 2024, Warsaw hosted a working meeting “Countering Hate Speech in Times of War and Political Crisis”.

During the meeting, experts from various fields, including education, law, psychology, social communications and journalism, discussed the phenomenon of hate speech, its causes and consequences in the context of war and political crises in the Eastern Partnership region.

Key sessions of the working meeting:

– The phenomenon of hate speech and its features – a session on the analysis of hate speech in various fields, including human rights, psychology and media.

– Hate speech in wartime – the impact of hate speech on society during the war and the tools of information aggression were discussed.

– Hate speech and political crises – discussions about the role of hate speech in political processes in countries experiencing crises.

– Practices of counteracting hate speech – participants shared their experience of how to counteract hate speech through educational programs and civic initiatives.

In total, 21 experts took part in the meeting, 16 of whom worked in person in Warsaw and 5 joined online. This mixed format of the meeting helped to attract experts despite their ability to travel.

The working meeting ended with the development of practical recommendations for civil society professionals, which will soon be published and available for use in further work on countering hate speech.

The working meeting was held within the framework of the project ‘Countering Hate Speech in the Times of War and Political Crisis through Civic Education’, which is developed and implemented by a consortium of experts of EENCE – Eastern European Network for Citizenship Education, funded by the Federal Agency for Civic Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (bpb) with funding from the German Federal Foreign Office under the programme ‘Enhancing Cooperation with Civil Society in the Eastern Partnership Countries’. The project is coordinated by the Democratic Initiatives Incubator (Ukraine).