On 18 June, the Mission-Driven Initiative “Enhancing multi-stakeholder responses to hate speech and hate crime”, funded by the EEA and Norway Grants and implemented by the Council of Europe, held a dedicated session during the Democracy Hackathon & No Hate Speech Week.

More than 20 participants from a diverse range of sectors (public institutions, civil society, academia) and countries (including Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic) came together to discuss what multi-stakeholder co-operation to counter hate speech means in practice.

Examples included:

• Robust collaboration between prosecutors and civil society in professional training, institutional dialogue, and victim protection.
• The use of investigative journalism materials as evidence in a high-profile hate speech case.
• The ongoing resilience required to enact change at local and community levels, especially in contexts where government-organised hate speech and smear campaigns persist.

Through country examples, presentations, personal stories and live cartoons, the session provided a valuable opportunity to exchange ideas on how to prevent and combat hate speech collaboratively.

The event also featured the presentation and discussion of a new manual on criminalised hate speech, currently being developed by the Council of Europe.