On 16-17 June 2026, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) contributed to several Council of Europe discussions in the context of the 2026 edition of the Council of Europe’s annual Democracy Hackathon and No Hate Speech Week (“Hack the Hate, renew Democracy”), in Strasbourg, warning about the growing need to prevent and combat racist and anti-LGBTI hate speech, including online, across member states.

On 16 June, at the 13^th meeting of the Steering Committee on Anti-Discrimination, Diversity and Inclusion (CDADI), a Council of Europe’s intergovernmental standard-setting body, Cristian Jura, ECRI Bureau member and ECRI representative in CDADI, presented ECRI’s recently published annual report and the main trends that ECRI observed since January 2025 when it comes to hate speech and action against it. In his presentation to CDADI members, Cristian Jura highlighted that racist and anti-LGBTI forms of hate speech remain at alarming levels across Europe. He underlined that the scale of the phenomenon is accompanied by a growing tendency to trivialise hate speech, both online and offline. He also recalled that hate speech discourages civic participation. He also considered that action against hate speech in the political sphere, especially during election periods, and in the digital space, including online hate against children of concern to ECRI, are major challenges.

On 17 June, ECRI held a workshop entitled “Major Trends in Racist and Anti-LGBTI Hate Speech”. Jens Vedsted-Hansen, ECRI Bureau member, presented ECRI’s most recent annual report. In his intervention, Jens Vedsted-Hansen stressed that the growing trivialisation of hate speech is a major warning for democratic societies. He also recalled that a proportionate, rights-based response to hate speech must fully respect the right to freedom of expression. The workshop also addressed the need for stronger legal frameworks, more effective reporting systems, more accessible remedies, as well as properly funded policies developed in consultation with affected communities. Jens Vedsted-Hansen emphasised that preventing hate speech requires a major investment in education and awareness-raising, counter-speech and positive narratives.

From left to right: Jens Vedsted-Hansen,ECRI (Bureau) member in respect of Denmark and Johan Friestedt, Executive Secretary of ECRI

On the same day, Jens Vedsted-Hansen participated in the Colloquium entitled “How to Eradicate Racism?”, organised by the CDADI. In his intervention, he reflected on the root causes of racism and on ECRI’s country monitoring work. Referring to historical and contemporary forms of racism, he highlighted the persistence of antigypsyism, anti-Muslim racism and antisemitism, as well as the need to offer better protection to Roma, Muslims, Jews, LGBTI persons and other targeted communities. He also stressed the importance of human rights education and media literacy as structural interventions in how the next generation learns to see the world.

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Earlier, on 28 May 2026, on the day of the publication of ECRI’s annual report, Bertil Cottier, Chair of ECRI, held an exchange of views with the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe at the 1561^st meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies. The text of his intervention is available here.