OSCE-wide event on countering hate speech
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Hateful and aggressive rhetoric has always been a very destructive force in our societies. In the last decades, the digital transformation of the media landscape, which has radically increased both the magnitude and outreach of hateful narratives, has proven to be a game changer.
Hate speech entails various types of harmful discourse that is negative towards individuals or groups with one or more protected characteristics, with the potential to seriously undermine social cohesion and peaceful co-existence in diverse societies. Acting against hate speech is a necessary pre-condition for ensuring equality. At the same time, legal responses to hate speech should be carefully balanced and should not unduly limit open democratic discussion on sensitive or controversial issues of public interest.
The OSCE-wide event on countering hate speech will provide an opportunity for the OSCE participating States, representatives of academia, civil society and media to discuss possible mechanisms of countering hate speech in line with the international standards and OSCE commitments on freedom of expression and freedom of the media.
The event will be hosted jointly by the Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media (RFoM), OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), and Office of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM). It will take stock of trends and challenges related to hate speech proliferation across the OSCE area and discuss existing and forthcoming regulatory practices as well as litigation in hate speech cases. Next, it will highlight initiatives by civil society and media actors aimed at countering hate speech.
The event will be opened by Heads of the co-organizing autonomous OSCE Institutions (Representative on Freedom of the Media, Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, and the High Commissioner on National Minorities) to be followed by three panel sessions. The sessions will comprise experts’ presentations and interventions from the floor.
The event will take place on Monday, 12 December, 10:00-16:00 (CET) and will be livestreamed here.