The Young European Ambassadors are an initiative of the European Union, that created a network for sharing skills, ideas and promote EU values and opportunities. A group of Young European Ambassadors among the 60 ones in the Western Balkans underwent a week induction training on youth activism and human rights, with a specific focus on countering hate speech and production of counternarratives.

The training got them familiar with the European Convention on Human Rights and European standards on hate speech, the No hate speech movement and its tools, as well as with the work of the Horizontal Facility programme and the “Block the hatred. Share the love” campaign in the Western Balkans. We wish them good luck, certain that their fresh ideas and communication methods will be beneficial to reinforce the messages to combat hatred being rolled out by the Horizontal Facility programme in the Western Balkans.

The “Block the hatred. Share the love” campaign is part of the action on “Promotion of diversity and equality in the Western Balkans”, in the framework of the joint European Union/Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022”, implemented by the Anti-Discrimination Department of the Council of Europe.