1 December 2022. Steps national parliaments can take to ensure effective support measures for individuals and groups targeted by hate speech were discussed during the thematic session held today by the No Hate Parliamentary Alliance of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe at the Organisation’s Paris Office. 

The recently adopted Recommendation CM/Rec(2022)16 on Combating Hate Speech, was presented by Menno Ettema, Council of Europe Secretariat, as a starting point for the discussions. The Recommendation provides a calibrated set of legal and non-legal measures for member states and other key stakeholders, including specific measures to support those targeted by hate speech.

Līva Vikmane, Policy Officer at HateAid, a German NGO, shared examples of approaches to support targets of online hate speech. The NGO signposts victims towards legal assistance, emotional counselling, and other forms of support. Referring to the Recommendation on Combating Hate Speech, she invited the representatives to set-up national policy frameworks that systematically support victims of online violence, taking an intersectional approach, coordinated by a dedicated body. She also stressed the need to ensure access to justice for victims, to eliminate possible barriers, to allow online reporting, and to use court injunctions to effectively stop the spread of hate speech online.  She also clarified that hate speech comes with other forms of online violence, such as doxing, abuse of intimate images, etc. which negatively impacts on women in particular. It therefore needs an intersectional approach to use all legal avenues and tailored support measures for the victims.

The thematic session was organised by the No Hate Parliamentary Alliance, a network of parliamentarians who commit to take an open, firm and pro-active stand against racism, hatred and intolerance. The session was also attended by members of the Parliamentary Assembly’s   Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination.