EFHR on trainings in Finland

On 12-17 November 2012 in Finland, a conference was held titled “Wake Up Europe: It’s Time to Act! Creative approaches to tackle discrimination”. The aim of this conference was to share the latest strategies and practices in the “European movement against discrimination”.

The conference included the plenary sessions, working in groups, lectures, workshops, presentations, debates, open forums and other interactive methods of solving problems of discrimination, anti-racism, anti-fascism, refugees, migrants, volunteering, human rights and minorities. The subject of the discussion was the difficult situation of the Roma minority, possible alternative methods of fighting against discrimination, such as art, and the widespread hatred among young people and students.

Over 90 participants represented organizations from different countries of the Council of Europe. The European Foundation Of Human Rights (EFHR) was able not only to present its activities, achievements and values to other participants, but also to cooperate with other organizations of similar character.

The Foundation took part in the group discussions on the topic of volunteering. For five days, they discussed issues related to the management of volunteers, opportunities, benefits, and effectiveness of voluntary work in the activities of NGOs. This knowledge will enable the EFHR to use this form of support in even more rational way; only this year, the Foundation has worked with more than 100 volunteers from around the world.

From the point of view of the Foundations, the aspect of online hatred (hate speech) was also important. This group discussed not only the existing problem, but also the possible methods of fighting against this form of discrimination and projects on this topic. The EFHR is very successful in this field and was able to share its experience.

The European Foundation of Human Rights is pleased that the next conference on intolerance in Europe, organized by the UNITED, will take place in the spring of 2013 in Lithuania.

The European Foundation Of Human Rights