On 24 October 2024, the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Bjørn Berge, opened the conference “Digital resilience: Young people against racism and xenophobia on the digital sphere”, together with the Deputy Prime Minister for Foreign and European Affairs of Montenegro, Ervin Ibrahimović, and the Minister of Human and Minority Rights of Montenegro, Fatmir Gjeka.
The conference, organised by the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe with the support of the joint initiative of the European Union and the Council of Europe, CyberSouth+ implemented by the Cybercrime Programme Office of the Council of Europe (C-PROC) gathered experts from 30 countries, from North and South, to exchange knowledge and practice on how to best combine legal frameworks and social initiatives engaging young people, to provide sustainable solutions to counter racist and xenophobic crimes committed online.
With the Convention on Cybercrime (Budapest Convention) as a reference, and building on the conclusions of the study presented on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of its First Additional Protocol concerning the criminalisation of acts of racist and xenophobic nature committed through computer systems, the participants agreed on the Kotor declaration which provides a set of recommendations for future youth initiatives on combatting racism and xenophobia in the digital space.
CyberSouth+ project webpage
Convention on Cybercrime (Budapest Convention)
First Additional Protocol to the Convention on Cybercrime, concerning the criminalisation of acts of a racist and xenophobic nature committed through computer systems
20th anniversary of its First Additional Protocol
Cybercrime Programme Office of the Council of Europe (C-PROC)