International Network against Cyber Hate and ROMEA hold conference on antigypsyism and online hate in Czech capital

The International Network against Cyber Hate (INACH) is holding its annual conference in Prague this year. The conference will take place on 30 October 2019 at the Hotel Belvedere.

The conference will be on antigypsyism and hate speech in the online environment. INACH is organizing the event in association with ROMEA o. p. s.

During 2006, INACH worked together with the Contact Point for Roma and Sinti during the OSCE Human Dimension Implementation meeting in Warsaw in order to give voice to Roma and Sinti in the OSCE area through the Internet, to channel their advocacy and public diplomacy towards the OSCE participating states, and to put the problem of online antigypsyism on the agenda. Sadly, 13 years later, the situation has not improved.

Dehumanization of Roma and Sinti, online hate, slander, insults and incitement to violence and murder are a daily occurrence online. Since antigypsyism is still considered socially acceptable, it is very difficult to combat it.

During the conference, INACH and ROMEA aim to map the level of online antigypsyism and its relationship to hate in the offline world. The conference will also review the policy impacts of international bodies and options for effectively curbing online antigypsyism.

INACH was founded in 2002 to unite and empower international, national and local organizations, as well as individuals active in the implementation of human rights on the Internet. The organization's mission is to promote online respect, responsibility and citizenship by countering cyber hate, extremism and incitement to violence and by raising awareness about online discrimination.

The network actively reinforces human rights and mutual respect for the rights and reputations of all Internet users in order to secure an Internet  that is safe. INACH has a longstanding relationship with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), first putting the subject of cyber hate firmly on the OSCE agenda in 2002, resulting in the High Level OSCE Paris summit in June 2004 on the relationship between racist, xenophobic and anti-Semitic propaganda on the Internet and the commission of hate crimes.

The ROMEA organization runs news server Romea.cz, which publishes information about events in the Romani world, and is currently the most-visited Romani news server in the Czech Republic. Unlike other news servers, Romea.cz does not just report about events concerning Romani people, but also gives as much room as possible to Romani people themselves to express their perspectives.

Romea.cz targets Czech and English-reading journalists, introducing Romani people to them from different perspectives than those currently predominant in most media. The aim of the news server is to increase mutual awareness of common issues among both the majority society and Romani people to improve relations.

ROMEA joined INACH in 2018 as a member and is co-hosting the INACH Annual Conference 2019. To register to attend the conference, please complete the form available for download here.

CONFERENCE PROGRAM

 9:00 – 09:30 Registration

 9:30 – 09:45 Conference Opening and Dedication: Remembering Valery Novoselsky by Suzette Bronkhorst and Ronald Eissens, secretary general and general director, International Network Against Cyber Hate, INACH

 9:45 – 10:00 Welcome from ROMEA and INACH by Zdeněk Ryšavý, director of ROMEA & Philippe Schmidt, INACH chair

10:00 - 10:20 Keynote: Jamen Gabriela Hrabáňová, director, European Roma Grassroots Organisations Network, (ERGO), Brussels 

10:20 – 10:40 Presentation - Roma Civil Monitor: findings on antigypsyist hate speech online (research run by Central European University, 90 Roma NGOs involved throughout the EU, antigypsyism including its online forms was investigated). Presenter: Jelena Jovanovic, Researcher, ERGO

Q&A

10:40 – 10:45 Introduction to the workshops / directions (conference moderator)

10:45 – 11:00 Coffee Break

11:00 – 12:30 Workshops

Workshop 1: The European Commission, Antigypsyism and Hate Speech: Policy Impacts

Speakers:

Anastasia Crickley, Chairperson, Pavee Point Traveller and Roma Centre, Ireland

Ivan Ivanov, director, European Roma Information Office (ERIO), Brussels

moderator: Julia Mozer, Communication Officer & Hate Speech Adviser at CEJI - A Jewish Contribution to an Inclusive Europe, Brussels

rapporteur: Angela Evenhuis

Workshop 2: Connections between Offline and Online Antigypsyist Violence

Speakers:

Isabela Mihalache, researcher, European Network against Racism (ENAR), Brussels

Jonathan Mack, political adviser, Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, Germany

Jonathan Lee, Expert on Roma Rights and antigypsyism, European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), Brussels / Budapest

moderator: Javier Sáez, Senior Expert on equality and non-discrimination, Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG), Spain

rapporteur: Claudia Schäfer

12:30 – 14:00 Lunch

14:00 Summary of the Workshops by rapporteurs

14:30 – 14:45 Introduction to the plenary: Dan Pavel Doghi, chief of the ODIHR Contact Point for Roma and Sinti Issues, OSCE, Warsaw

14:45 – 15:45 Plenary discussion: How to Eliminate Antigypsyism from Online Discourse - closing remarks by Klara Kalibová, director, In IUSTITIA, Prague. Moderation by Gwendolyn Albert

15:45 – 16:00 Closing session - wrap up, farewell and outlook