News

On 3 December 2019, the Press Club Belarus hosted the meeting “Open dialogue on hate speech” towards refugees, forced migrants and stateless persons. The meeting was organized by the International Non–governmental Association for Scientific Research, Information and Educational Programmes «Evolutio» as part of a joint project with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in the Republic of Belarus.

The meeting was attended by journalists and representatives of the media community of Minsk and regions of the Republic of Belarus.

The events were opened by the speeches of Jean-Yves Bouchardy, UNHCR Representative in the Republic of Belarus, and Viktor Shadursky, Head of the Observation Board of the INA “Evolutio”.

The meeting was divided into two blocks - theoretical and practical. During the theoretical part, the participants got the opportunity to explore such concepts as “refugees”, “forced migrants” and “stateless persons”, and also to get acquainted with the situation with these categories of people, who are in competence of the UNHCR, in the Republic of Belarus, and to learn about the theoretical basis of the hate speech and its danger. Particular attention was paid to the experience of the State Border Committee, the International Organization for Migration, the INA “Evolutio” and the UNHCR in countering hate speech against refugees and stateless persons.

Experts in these topics were

• Timofey Solodkov, UNHCR Office in Belarus;
• Alexei Sytenkov, State Border Committee of the Republic of Belarus;
• Sergey Kassinsky, Department of Citizenship and Migration, Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus;
• Diana Ivanova, Department of Citizenship and Migration, Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus;
• Olga Borzenkova, IOM in Belarus;
• Vadin Gigin, Belarusian Union of Journalists;
• Alla Sharko, Press Club Belarus;
• Galina Malishevskaya, media agency “Notamedia group”,
• Enira Bronitskaya, “Human Constanta”;
• Victor Shadursky, INA "Evolutio".
  

During the practical block, the participants deepened their knowledge of the hate speech, and also, while working in pairs, sorted out real cases when the the hate speech against refugees and forced migrants was used.

The participants of the meeting expressed the warmest words addressed to the organizers, as well as gratitude for useful materials on topical issues. On behalf of the organizers, we thank all participants and guests and hope that such a meeting was productive and will strengthen further cooperation between the media community and UNHCR and partners.