On Friday 20th October 2023, Agenfor International Foundation presented, with the support of the Municipality of Turin, the jointwork of the European projects TRUST and STAND-UP at CTE NEXT, House of EmergingTechnologies, a dissemination event on hate phenomena and the public-private cooperation model.Among the speakers, the Councillor Giovanna Pentenero, Municipality Councillor AbdullahiAhmed, and RAN expert Diletta Berardinelli.
The conference was well attended, in presence as well as online, by Muslim communities inparticular, women, who are still the most affected group in Italy, but also by representatives of civilsociety associations and organisations.
The event opened with the presentation of Viviana Gullo (Junior Project Manager at AgenforInternational) on the European projects TRUST and STAND-UP, which focus is on theimplementation of a model to counter and prevent hate phenomena, based on public-private cooperation, starting from the analysis of phenomena in the online reality.
The speaker and moderator briefly presented the essentials for understanding hate crime and hatespeech, starting with the definitions of under-reporting and under-recording. It is important to startwith these definitions because discrimination, intolerance and hatred towards individuals orcommunities on the grounds of gender, ethnicity, religion, or other aspects of a person’s identity arestill widespread in our society. The limited or lack of reporting and recording of hate phenomenafoments their recurrence, “normalising hatred”. According to interviews conducted during the firstmonths of TRUST, Ms. Gullo continues, it is precisely the tolerance of Muslim women who haveexperienced discrimination, crimes and hate speech that is emphasised, i.e. the reality of consideringthe reporting or denouncing of such violations useless, which prevents the phenomena from beingcombated.
Agenfor International compiled several hate crime witnesses and victims, including those people who have been insulted or have suffered any physical or verbal aggression, destruction or damage of property, or cyber-attacks, because of their gender identity, disability, religion, sex, or other innate characteristics, through a scannable QR questionnaire.
The motto “Together we can fight and prevent the hatred” encouraged victims and witnesses to collaborate with their experiences to collect data and reports to submit to the European Commission to draft policy proposals and recommendations at the national and European levels, establishing a public authority-led investigative-preventive law enforcement model.
The project “STAND-UP: Fighting hate in the EU” held on 26 September at the Euro-Arab Foundation headquarters the Spanish training on hate crimes and hate speech, with the participation of experts from different fields commited to the fight against hatred. The course was divided in four thematic blocks: “The phenomenon of hate and under-reporting: a victim-centred approach”; “Narratives of hate in digital contexts”; “Alternative narratives from civil society”; and “Tools for social transformation”.
The STAND-UP training has been divided into two specific trainings: one held on 12 September on the use of OSINT to monitor online hate speech imparted by Lior Mordechai from Falkor and addressed exclusively to Law Enforcement Agencies, and this one aimed to all the stakeholders and focused on more areas to fight hatred.
The course was attended by professionals from the fields of education and social work, psychology, community mediation, research and the National Police Force, and with the participation of different entities such as CEAR, Save The Children, CEPAIM Foundation, Asociación Marroquí and Granada Acoge.
The director of the European Projects at FUNDEA, Javier Ruipérez Canales, welcomed the attendees and opened the training, which began with a presentation by the director of the Instituto Confucio of the University of Granada, Isabel María Balsas Ureña, and her co-director Bu Shan, on the role of the Institute and the activities they carry out to raise awareness of Chinese culture in society.
The researcher from FUNDEA, Lucía G. del Moral, was in charge of moderating the day, giving way to the first block on the phenomenon of hate and under-reporting with a focus on the victims, and the first speaker, Ismael Cortés, member of the Congress in the 14th legislature, and his conference on access to justice and the different initiatives to tackle hate crimes from a multi-stakeholder and multi-level approach.
He was followed by María Pina and Marina Dólera from Columbares with the presentation of the project “Está en tu mano” (It’s in your hand) and a wealth of data and analysis to understand in depth the current situation regarding hate crimes. The third presentation of the block was given by Bárbara Pérez Serrano, a health psychologist, expert in gender violence and coordinator of FUNCOP (Foundation for the Training and Practice of Psychology), who explained the group psychological care services for women victims of gender violence that exist in Andalusia, and how the processes of reporting and under-reporting are.
Agenda of the STAND-UP training on 26 September
The theme of the second block was the narratives of hate in digital contexts. Carmen Aguilera Carnenero, PhD from the University of Granada, shared her analysis of the power of dissemination of Islamophobic hate speech through memes. Next, the researchers from FUNDEA José Luis Salido and Lucía G. del Moral explained the monitoring of hate they carried out in the framework of the STAND-UP project on the extreme right on 20-N and Islamophobia in social networks during the World Cup in Qatar.
The third block dealt with the alternative narratives proposed by civil society. Vanesa Martín, head of projects and new narratives at Fundación Por Causa, explained how they generate new narrative frameworks on migration that connect with audiences and change public debate. Javier Vaquero, artist and LGTBI+ activist, presented the initiative ‘La Intersección’, a research and digital strategy team dedicated to creating collective narratives and tools to stop hate on social networks.
The last block was dedicated to tools for social transformation. Óscar Negredo, coordinator of the Community Mediation service of the Llobregat City Council of Hospitalet, where they apply multi-agency strategies for the prevention of violent extremism, creating spaces to promote understanding between groups and communities, took part in it. The National Police Inspector and Delegate for Citizen Participation of the Provincial Police Station of Granada, María José Ramírez Campos, also spoke about the promotion and awareness-raising work they carry out to prevent hate crimes in this specialised unit. The last presentation was given by Jero Varas, project technician of the Melilla Acoge Association, on the project ‘OWO: Defending the space of coexistence’ focused on the prevention of attitudes and behaviours that encourage hate speech and hate crimes.
The day ended with the presentation of the book ‘The Moon is in Douala: And my destiny in knowledge‘ in the form of a dialogue between its author Sani M. Ladan and Daniel F. Pérez, researcher at the Euro-Arab Foundation. During the conversation, they highlighted the prejudices and ignorance of European society about migratory phenomena, the lack of human quality that can be found in reception centres, the importance of having racialised references, the lack of protection of migrant children who are often used as a political tool, and the pan-African identity, among other interesting reflections.
The researcher Daniel F. Pérez and the writer, activist and international analyst Sani Ladan in the presentation of his book ‘The moon is in Douala’.
On 25th September 2023, the Granada-based Euro-Arab Foundation held the International Conference against Hate Crimes and Underreporting. The Government Delegate, Inmaculada López Calahorro; the Director of Columbares, Rosa Cano Molina, and the Director of Projects and Research at Euro-Arab Foundation, Javier Ruipérez Canales, participated in the opening ceremony. The one-day conference was organized by COLUMBARES with funding from the Ministry of Social Rights and Agenda 2030, and the collaboration of the Euro-Arab Foundation, the University of Murcia, and the European project STAND-UP.
Throughout the day, a multidisciplinary analysis of hate speech in our societies was carried out by expert speakers from universities, the Civil Guard, NGOs, associations, and social activists. Needs that currently exist to address these crimes were analyzed such as, among other topics, the role played by the media and social networks, the response given to this kind of crimes by associations and social organizations, as well as the approach and actions carried out by activists. The institutional attention given to these crimes by the Guardia Civil was also addressed and the Spanish Network against Hate Crimes and Infradenuncia, REDOI, was presented to the public.
Among the speakers were María Pina Castillo, coordinator of the project ‘Está en tu mano-Actúa’ (It’s on your hands: Act!); the MP Ismael Cortés Gómez, researcher in international Peace and Conflict Studies; the lecturer at the University of Granada, Carmen Aguilera Carnerero, expert in Islamophobia; the activists Sani Ladan, international analyst and migration expert; Xaby and Raffa, LGTBIQ+ activists, and Ignacio Paredero Huerta; Organizing Secretary of the LGTBI+ Spain Federation. Other speakers were the lieutenant of the Civil Guard, Benjamín Salas, and the psychologist, Mª Carmen Filigrana García, from the Federation of Gypsy Women’s Associations FAKALI; the researchers from the Euro-Arab Foundation, Lucía García del Moral, Daniel Pérez and Jose Luis Salido; the social educator María Ibáñez Palazón, from the project ‘Está en tu mano-Actúa’ and the journalist and social communicator, Natalia Díez from ‘Maldita.es’.
In 2022 there was an increase of almost 4%
In terms of the data collected by the Ministry of the Interior on an annual basis, in 2022 there was an increase of 3.7% in hate crimes compared to those recorded in 2020 and 2021. With 1869 hate crimes reported in the last year, those motivated by racism and xenophobia, sexual orientation, gender identity, and ideology stand out for their abundance.
Why are these crimes not always reported?
Considering the above data, we cannot forget the high percentage of under-reporting. According to the study carried out by Columbares in 2022, victims do not report for various reasons, including being in an irregular administrative situation, having limited financial resources, not repairing the damage, ignorance of the process, not disclosing sexual orientation, and lack of trust in the system.
At the 23rd Annual Conference of the European Society of Criminología, which took place in Florence from September 6-9, 2023, the Greek National Commission for Human Rights (GNCHR) was represented by scientific collaborators Eva Tzavala, Katerina Charokopou, and Anastasia Chalkia. In their presentation, GNCHR representatives delved into the role of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) as crucial in monitoring and preventing hate crimes in the digital era, particularly highlighting the efforts and achievements within the framework of the STAND UP programme.
On 26th September 2023, the Euro-Arab Foundation held the presentation of the book: The Moon is in Duala and My Destiny in the Knowledge (2023, Plaza y Janes Ed.)with the participation of the author, Sani Ladan, and Daniel Pérez García, researcher at the Foundation. The event was organized in the framework of the European project STAND-UP.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Imagine that you live in a country that does not allow you to pursue the studies you need to develop as an individual. Imagine that you have no greater dream than precisely that. Try to imagine now that, at the age of fifteen, with the cold, awakened mind of the adult you project yourself to be and the heart full of the secrets and illusions of the child you still are, you run away from home with no other aim than to achieve a purpose that starts to become truncated and violent and dehumanizing from the first stop along the way.
This story, as real as the injustice in the world we live in, is mine.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sani Ladan is an African of Cameroonian origin and anti-racist and human rights activist. He has been raising awareness and working closely with the reality of migration on the southern border of Europe for almost ten years, a phenomenon that he has experienced as a person, having gone through the same migration process from Cameroon to Spain.
He is a graduate of International Relations from the Loyola University of Andalusia, an analyst of International Relations with a focus on Africa, a Social Educator, an intercultural trainer, and president of the association Elín, in Ceuta. He collaborates as an international analyst with the television channel France 24 in Spanish. He has run a home for migrants for the Espacios Berakah Association in Seville and has created the podcast Africa in 1 click.
For several years, he has been giving lectures on migration and geopolitics in Africa at various universities, anti-racist circles, and human rights organizations. He has participated as a researcher in the elaboration of several reports on migration and in 2019 he was a speaker at TEDxTarragona.
The Covid-19 pandemic has shown a wide escalation on hate phenomena.
This is the case of the Australian doctor Lisa-Maria Kellermayr, who committed suicide in July 2022 as a result of virtual harassment by people supporting anti-vaccine theories and far-right ideology.
Read the article “Hate speech: not all victims are survivors” written by Viviana Gullo from Agenfor International Foundation. The article analyses the essential elements that define the hate phenomena in the online environment, in order to have the necessary tools to understand and address it properly.
After the training held in June 2023 on the specificities of the hate phenomena, the survivor-centered approach and the technologically advanced tools, AGF gathered interested and committed individuals from private entities (namely, NGOs and associations) to start the pilot phase, focusing on online hate speech monitoring, together with the project coordinator, TNJudPol.
The participants discussed the hate climate and, in line with their expertise, chose a topic and drafted a short report. TNJudPol worked on the monitoring and analysis of the hate wave during the Dolomiti Pride (Trentino region), supported by Clara Raffaele Addamo, lawyer in the areas of Rovereto and Trento, specialized in migration.
Murilo Cambruzzi, Researcher at the Antisemitism Observatory of the CDEC Foundation (Centro di Documentazione Ebraica Contemporanea – Centre for Contemporary Jewish Documentation), drafted his report on the antisemitic episodes in the soccer environment.
Maryna Manchenko, Project Manager and Researcher at CESIE – European Centre of Studies and Initiatives, focused on the homophobic climate in Italy, more precisely on the peak of hate reached during the summer pride parades.
Viviana Gullo drafted a paper after the referral from the Muslim community on the annulment of the Bahja Pool Party in July 2023, due to the Islamophobic climate in Italy.
STAND-UP Newsletter No. 4 was released in July 2023 with information about the training courses on improving competence and technological skills to combat hate phenomena in Italy and Greece. In Spain, the project reached a couple of Andalusian universities with the presentation of the online monitoring of islamophobia and extreme right-wing Besides, the Victim Support Handbook was introduced at ALDA’s General Assembly in Brussels, and it was held the third project consortium meeting at the European Public Law Organization in Athens.
The third STAND-UP Newsletter was released in March 2023. There you can find all the information about the OSINT analysis on regional case studies: xenophobia in Greece, right-wing extremism and islamophobia in Spain and right-wing extremism and antisemitism in Italy. These reports were exposed at regional webinars celebrated in each region. Moreover, you can read about the Victims Support Handbook and an avance on the trainings courses.
About the events, you will find information about the Brussels Event held at the European Parliament, the Kick-off meeting in Trento, and STAND-UP’s participation in the RAN Mental Health Working group meeting: ‘The ‘how’ and ‘why’ of hate crimes and the implications for mental health practitioners’.
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