On 12 April 2018, under the joint regional project “Reinforcing Judicial Expertise on Freedom of Expression and the Media in South-East Europe (JUFREX),” co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe, in cooperation with the national Agency for audio and audio-visual media services, the Council of Europe supported in Skopje the promotion of its regional publication “Media regulatory authorities and hate speech”, recently developed under JUFREX with the contribution of relevant media regulatory authorities of the JUFREX countries/locations as well as Croatia.

Ms Asja Roksa Zubcevic and Mr Stanislav Bender, representatives of the media regulatory authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, who assisted in developing the publication, participated at the event and exchanged with participants related information, including on means for combating hate speech in the media in their respective countries. After subsequent presentations by representatives of two out of the most vulnerable groups in the country in regards to hate speech in the media, namely the Roma and LGBTI community, a lively debate took place, showing the importance of preventing and addressing hate speech in media.

“The views expressed therein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union”