Five webinars will be organised between June and August on combating discrimination and working with victims. The aim of the webinars is to build attendees’ understanding of key discrimination areas and issue, and also share good practices from the Eastern Partnership region (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine).

Webinars are organised in the framework of the regional project “Strengthening access to justice through non-judicial redress mechanisms for victims of discrimination, hate crime and hate speech in Eastern Partnership countries”, financed by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe in their Partnership for Good Governance phase II.

Webinars are live discussions in English and Russian, with interpretation, for a maximum length of 2 hours. In each webinar, there will be expert speakers and presenters of good practice.

The main target group for the webinars are public institutions’ representatives, equality bodies/Ombudsoffices, NGOs involved in equality work. The webinars are offered primarily to the participants of the regional online HELP course “Fighting racism, xenophobia, homophobia and transphobia”. For other attendees, the viewer link is shared below.

Webinar links will be available on this page progressively, one week before the webinar.

It is advisable that interested attendees open the link to webinars from Google Chrome.

Themes and schedule of upcoming webinars:

23 June, 15.00 – 17.00 CET

The role of Euorpean Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) and the European Court of Human Rights in the prevention and fight with racism, xenophobia, homophobia and transphobia

Expert input: George Tugushi, former ECRI member and Public Defender of Georgia

Good practice: Nvard Philiposyan (Armenia), Equality Council (Republic of Moldova)

Link to webinar room: https://live.kudoway.com/br/110117367441

9 July, 15.00 – 17.00 CET

Roma rights and equality

Expert input: Margareta Matache

Margareta (Magda) Matache is a justice activist and scholar from Romania, director of the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights’ Roma Program, and a Harvard instructor. From 2005 to 2012, Dr. Matache was the Executive Director of Romani CRISS, a leading Roma rights organization that defends the rights of Roma. In 2012, she was awarded a Hauser postdoctoral fellowship at the FXB Center, where she founded the University’s first and only Roma Program. In 2017, with Jacqueline Bhabha and Andrzej Mirga, she co-edited Realizing Roma Rights, an investigation of anti-Roma racism in Europe. Also, along with Jacqueline Bhabha, Caroline Elkins, and Walter Johnson, Dr. Matache is the co-editor of Time for reparation? Addressing state responsibility for collective injustice, a forthcoming volume exploring the issue of reparations across a broad range of historical and geographic contexts and academic disciplines. Her other publications and research have ranged from the rights and agency of Romani children and adolescents to early childhood development, anti-Roma racism, reparations, segregation in education, and participatory action research. She completed her Master’s in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and her doctoral degree in Political Sciences from the Faculty of Political Sciences at the University of Bucharest. She also holds a master’s degree in European Social Policies.

Good practice presenters:

Yulian Kondur – Roma Women Fund Chiricli (Ukraine)

Radu Marian – Member of Parliament, Republic of Moldova

30 July, 15.00 – 17.00 CET

Fighting homophobia and transphobia

More information coming soon

6 August, 15.00 – 17.00

Intersectionality and disability

More information coming soon

Past webinars

11 June, 15.00 – 17.00 CET

Understanding hate speech and effective ways to combat it

Expert input: Jeremy McBride, Barrister, Monckton Chambers, London;. Visiting Professor, Central European University; President of the Expert Council on NGO Law of the Council of Europe's Conference on INGOs (2008-); Consultant to the ECRI on the adoption of General Policy Recommendation No. 15 Combating Hate Speech, together with its Explanatory Memorandum; co-founder and Chair of INTERIGHTS (the International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights).

Good practice: Irina Corobcenco, PROMO – Lex (Republic of Moldova) and Tamar Kintsurashvili - Media Development Foundation (Georgia)