EFHR took part in international youth exchange ‘Let’s stop hate speech’

On days 21-29 of April in Wierzchosławice administrative district an international youth exchange ‘Let’s stop hate speech’ took place. Representatives of Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Romania and Bulgaria participated in it. One of the aims was to answer the question, where is the border between freedom of speech and hate speech and how tolerant are we to distinct views.

Representative of EFHR was Leszek Jankowski, who for 2 years now has been fighting hate speech in Lithuania. Hosts, appreciating the knowledge in this area, invited representative of EFHR to participate in discussion ‘Hate speech and youth’. Leszek Jankowski introduced the situation of hate speech in Lithuania and gave examples of people getting criminal responsibility. Other discussion gave opportunity to listen to examples of hate speech in other countries and ways of fighting it.

The participants of the project also had a chance to meet kids attending Jan Paweł II gimnazjum in Wierzchosławice. They spoke about hate speech in school environment.

One of the most touching moments was a trip to concentration camp in Auschwitz where everyone could see the consequences of hate speech. Second part of the day was dedicated to seeing one of the most beautiful cities in Europe – Cracow.

Key moment of the exchange was preparing a poster, video and sculpture of people promoting tolerance and who fight hate speech, by 6 different groups.

The project means a lot to EFHR, because it has been a great opportunity to meet new people and gained knowledge undoubtedly will help me indicate problems of hate speech and pass my knowledge on the trainings organized by EFHR.