Conference
“Tackling hate speech: Living together online”
Draft programme

Budapest, 27-28 November 2012
European Youth Centre

Tuesday 27 November 2012

12:00 Registration of participants and lunch

13.15 Press conference

14:00 Opening of the conference

Welcoming words, NN

Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe

Cecilia Malmström, European Commissioner for Home Affairs

Session 1 Reality on the ground - status today

14:30 Presentations from four different viewpoints

Chaired by Snežana Samardžić-Marković, Director General of Democracy, Council of Europe

1. Research

Speaker: Jamie Bartlett, Head of the Violence and Extremism Programme, Demos, United Kingdom

2. A hate crime victim and blogger activist against hate speech

Speaker: Louiza Louhibi, Newspaper columnist, Norwegian Labour Party’s Gender Equality Committee, Norway

3. A Europe-wide Roma rights advocacy NGO

Speaker: Dezideriu Gergely, Executive Director, European Roma Rights Centre, Hungary (tbc)

4. The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights reporting on hate crime across Europe

Speaker: Henri Nickels, Programme Manager -Social Research, Equality and Citizens’ Rights Department, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights

Discussion

16:00 Coffee break

Session 2 Self-regulatory aspects, moderation approaches and ‘Tech Business’ perspective

16:20 Panel discussion

Moderator Nick Higham, BBC, United Kingdom

Speakers

1. Gabriella Cseh, Head of Policy CEE, Facebook

2. Jacek Żakowski, Journalist, POLITYKA weekly, Poland

3. Ronald Eissens, Board member, International Network Against Cyber Hate , The Netherlands

4. Stefan Glaser, Deputy Director, Jugendschutz.Net, Germany

5. Frank La Rue, UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression

Discussion

18:30 End of first day

Cocktail reception and dinner

Wednesday 28 November 2012

Session 3 Looking ahead- what can be done?

9:30 Possible next steps and recommendations for action

Chaired by Stine Andresen, Director, Financial mechanism office, EEA and Norway Grants

Speakers

1. Jenö Kaltenbach, Chair, European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, Council of Europe

2. Benjamin Ward, Deputy Director, Europe and Central Asia Division,Human Rights Watch

3. Blogger reporting on the conclusions and recommendations of the training session of young bloggers on how to combat hate speech online (tbc)

4. Representative of the Advisory Council on Youth and of the follow-up Group of the Council of Europe project “Young People Combating Hate Speech Online”(tbc)

Discussion

11:30 Coffee break

12:00 Closing session

Rapporteur: Robin Wilson, Researcher and policy analyst, United Kingdom

Closing remarks

Christos Giakoumopoulos, Director, Directorate of Human Rights, Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law, Council of Europe

Torgeir Larsen, State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway

13:00 Lunch

Note from the organisers: Meals and accommodation will be provided by the organisers during the conference.

Programme proposed by the Council of Europe, EEA and Norway Grants and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in co-operation with the conference reference group consisting of:
Jan Egeland, Europe Director and Deputy Executive Director, Human Rights Watch
Ronald Eissens, Board member, International Network Against Cyber Hate (INACH)
Bjørn Engesland, Secretary General, Norwegian Helsinki Committee
Heather Grabbe, Director, Open Society Institute- Brussels
Laura McVeigh, Chief Executive, PEN International
Henri Nickels, Programme Manager- Social Research, EU Agency for Fundamental Rights
Veronica Scognamiglio, EU campaign coordinator on discrimination, European Institutions Office, Amnesty International
Benjamin Ward, Deputy Director, Europe and Central Asia Division, Human Rights Watch