As delivered

First, it’s wonderful to see the young people we have here with us today. I certainly hope that Congress Sessions continue to host the young political leaders of the future.

I would like to take this opportunity to warmly congratulate Andreas Kiefer on his re-election.

I would also like to thank the Congress for inviting me to present the No Hate Speech Campaign. Just a glance through your agenda for this Session is a reminder of the continuous energy that the Congress brings to promoting tolerance and inclusion – the values at the heart of the campaign.

I know that in your “Congress Strategy to Combat Radicalisation at Grass-roots Level” you propose co-operation with the Parliamentary Assembly’s No-Hate Parliamentary Alliance. In the resolution on radicalisation which you will debate later on this afternoon you also propose that a specific strategy concerning youth be developed and that young people be systematically involved in the work of the cities and regions to fight discrimination and exclusion, drawing on Congress Resolution 346 (2012) on the changing face of youth political engagement and on the Council of Europe campaign on No Hate Speech;  I thoroughly encourage such co-operation and you can count on my support.

For me, the defining characteristic of the No Hate Speech Campaign is that it belongs to our young people. They thought of it, they have driven it and their efforts fills it with life.

Its genesis was in October 2011, when young men and women from the Council of Europe’s Joint Council on Youth proposed setting up a campaign against online hate speech.  They were shocked and horrified at the tragic killings in Oslo and Utøya a few months beforehand.

The idea was developed and in March 2013 the Council of Europe officially launched the No Hate Speech Movement. Its aim is to reduce online hate speech in all its forms, including those that most affect young people, such as cyber-bullying and cyber-hate, racism and other types of discrimination. The campaign is based on human rights education, youth participation and media literacy.

Perhaps the easiest way to think of it is as a network: the Council of Europe co-ordinates from the centre, but member States run national campaigns to reflect their own contexts. Some 37 member States are now on board and, outside of Europe, Mexico and Morocco have launched campaigns. Belarus and the state of Québec are currently planning the same. So you can see that it is very much an organic, bottom up campaign which has taken on a life of its own.

And it came not a moment too soon, given the growing populism, xenophobia and extremism now on the march across much of the continent. Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, Anti-Gypsism, homophobia – we increasingly feel their presence. And while the Internet is fundamentally a liberating and empowering force, it also provides a new platform for prejudice.

So, in my view, the campaign’s key strength is that it is taking the fight to the virtual spaces in which these expressions of hate are most prolific and least challenged. In this way it seeks combat the spreading, inciting, promoting or justifying of hatred.

Of course, our young activists cannot do this alone. They need the support of public authorities and public figures.  The European Court of Human Rights has clarified the limits of hate speech online, and the European Commissioner for Human Rights has called for support for the Campaign, as did the Parliamentary Assembly in its Recommendations 2032 and 2052  (2014).

The Parliamentary Assembly has, as you know, also created the No Hate Parliamentary Alliance – the members of which, among other things, commit to supporting and participating in the work of the national campaign committees of the No Hate movement. This kind of backing is essential and it sends an important message to people: that their elected law-makers are striving for a better Internet and a better society too.

The two-year No Hate Speech campaign will come to an end in its current form on 31 March 2015. But this is not the end of the story. As part of the Council of Europe Action Plan to combat extremism and radicalisation leading to terrorism, we would now like to extend the Campaign.

We will continue supporting existing and new National – or indeed Local – Campaign Committees, providing institutional support and practical tools for national and local authorities wishing to train educators, youth and social workers and law enforcement staff, in order to prepare them to interact online in an effective manner. We will also continue to produce materials to support the Campaign.

The next stage of the campaign could, we envisage, advocate a “zero tolerance” approach to Hate Speech, involving all citizens with a universal “call to act” and with young people leading the charge. We also believe that there is potential to extend it to Hate Speech off-line. This is an area where local and regional authorities could be particularly active. The Council of Europe stands ready to offer its support – and I would draw your attention to the various materials which are available on the web site of the No Hate Speech Movement.

More broadly, the Council of Europe will continue to put a big emphasis on the role of education in combatting intolerance and lack of respect. Nowhere is this more important than in our classrooms and other places where young people meet, learn and work.

The training manual “Bookmarks” is set to become a new best seller – it is being translated into many languages and training programmes are being organised, with an emphasis on training at a regional level. It will be a useful tool in fighting hate speech through human rights education, both in formal and non-formal education and training.

And we are even more ambitious: the Council of Europe is now defining a set of competences to help Europe’s educators teach children about what it means to be a democratic citizen and how to live peacefully in diverse societies. These will, of course, need to be adapted to suit the needs of different nations and schools. However, cultural sensitivity must not stop us from promoting the skills that all democratic citizens should possess – irrespective of their beliefs.

Finally, let me mention that ECRI, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, is currently working on a new General Policy Recommendation on Hate Speech, which should be adopted by the end of this year and which will need your support for its effective dissemination and implementation.

So, to end, I hope I have given you a sense of the nature of the No Hate speech campaign – the way in which it has grown and our hopes for its future. I also hope it is clear that the Council of Europe attaches real importance to using education to foster tolerance in Europe, particularly in these turbulent times. I urge all of you to continue this good work you have started in your own countries by associating yourselves to the national campaigns or by creating initiatives at the local and regional government level.

The No Hate Movement has been driven by young people who want to live in a Europe where we treat each other with respect. Now you can join them in their efforts and enthusiasm and in doing so the No Hate Speech Campaign will belong to you as well.