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Enhancing Media’s Capacity to Counter Hate Speech in Ukraine

The Council of Europe organised a two-day training course for media professionals on addressing hate speech in public discourse. The course took place on 15–16 September in Lviv and was co-organised with the National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine.

The training brought together 30 participants from regional media outlets and journalism associations. They enhanced their understanding of the manifestations and risks of hate speech, with a focus on its impact in the Ukrainian context, as well as ways to promote responsible journalism and human rights–based narratives.

The programme introduced the Council of Europe’s standards and tools on combating hate speech, including the 2022 Committee of Ministers Recommendation, which highlights the importance of non-legal measures such as education and awareness-raising, as well as ECRI’s General Policy Recommendation No. 15 (GPR 15), which provides guidance on both preventive and reactive measures to combat hate speech.

As a follow-up, the training will contribute to strengthening professional capacity of Ukrainian media to recognise and address hate speech, and to foster ethical and inclusive communication in line with European standards.

The training is part of the Council of Europe programme Supporting the reform of the national minority legal framework and the resilience of national minorities and Roma in Ukraine and the PGGIII project on combating hate speech in Ukraine. 

KYIV, UKRAINE 19 SEPTEMBER 2025
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The project contributes to reinforcing national remedies against hate speech and strengthening of the capacities of the state authorities, civil society organisations and other relevant stakeholders to respond and combat discrimination and hate speech, in line with the European standards.

This project is implemented within the third Phase of the joint programme of the European Union and the Council of Europe Partnership for Good Governance (PGG). It builds on the results of the previous phases of the PGG in the field of promoting equality and non-discrimination (Phase I 2015-2018 and Phase II 2019-2023).

The project activities are based on the European Convention on Human Rights, case-law of the European Court of Human Rights, monitoring findings and standards of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), the recent Recommendation of the  Committee of Ministers on Combating Hate Speech (CM/REC(2022)16), but also on the Council of Europe’s Action Plan for the Ukraine (2023-2026) and the European Commission’s opinion on the country’s application for EU membership relating to the candidate status, a new European perspective for Ukraine (2022).

What is the goal and objective of the project?
  • The objective of the project is to strengthen capacities of relevant stakeholders to prevent and combat hate speech in Ukraine and ensure better protection of vulnerable groups, more accessible redress mechanisms - in line with European standards and the best practices.
Who benefits from the project?
  • Office of Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights
  • Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, Coordinating Centre for Legal Aid Providing
  • Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, National Police of Ukraine
  • State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience
  • Office of the Prosecutor General, Prosecutor's Training Center of Ukraine
  • National School of Judges of Ukraine
  • National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council of Ukraine
  • Commission of journalistic ethic 
  • Civil society organisations
  • General public
     
How does the project work?
  • Through a combination of tailored policy/legislative review, capacity-building and awareness raising actions, peer-to- peer activities and networking.
What do we expect to achieve?
  • Ukrainian institutions improve co-ordination and quality of data collection regarding hate speech based on common understanding of hate speech.
  • Build capacity of public sector involved in monitoring and redress of hate speech based on ECRI GPR No. 15 and the Recommendation on combatting hate speech CM/Rec(2022)16.
  • Relevant stakeholders (state and non-state actors) build common understanding of hate speech and the role of educational and awareness-rising tools to respond to it.
  • Civil society organisations and groups targeted by hate speech are supported to respond using counter narratives and raising awareness activities towards the general public.
What is the budget of the project?
  • The total budget of the project is 370 000 Euros.
How to get more information?
About the Partnership for Good Governance

The “Partnership for Good Governance” (PGG) is a joint initiative of the European Union and the Council of Europe for strengthening good governance in the Eastern Partnership region.

PGG provides tailor-made support to Eastern Partnership countries to bring their legislation and practice closer to European standards in the fields of human rights, rule of law and democracy. It supports, in particular, Eastern Partnership countries’ domestic reforms to strengthen justice, counter economic crime, promote equality and non-discrimination, advance women’s access to justice and combat violence against women.