Retour Civil society supported to prevent and counter hate speech

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Civil society supported to prevent and counter hate speech

In the framework of the call for small grants to co-fund local and national initiatives that strengthen responses to hate speech in Ukraine, five projects were funded to develop non-legal measures, including counter and alternative narratives and human rights education to counter hate speech. 

The grants supported local initiatives implemented by the following civil society organisations:

  • NGO Democratic Initiatives Incubator
  • TENET Centre for Social Transformations
  • Education 360 (UA Education Platform)
  • Vinnytsia Regional Association of Local Self-Government Bodies (VOAOMS)
  • Centre for Euroinitiatives

The supported initiatives use various approaches to counter hate speech, such as educational trainings and workshops for youth, educators and local stakeholders, peer-to-peer activities aimed at raising awareness and fostering critical thinking, development of creative counter-narratives, including support tools, public events, exhibitions and dissemination activities and development of educational and methodological resources.

The grants were provided as part of the joint European Union and Council of Europe programme Partnership for Good Governance, co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe, and implemented by the Council of Europe, in the framework of the project “Combating hate speech in Ukraine”.

 

STRASBOURG, FRANCE OCTOBER-DECEMBER 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).

  • 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.
  • 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
     
  • Through a combination of tailored policy/legislative review, capacity-building and awareness raising actions, peer-to- peer activities and networking.
  • 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.
  • The total budget of the project is 370 000 Euros.

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.