Through a subgrant aiming at local activities to combat hate speech in Montenegro, NGO Civic Alliance has just completed a four-month project raising awareness on hate speech and its dangers within the Montenegrin society. This project was supported within the framework of the joint European Union and Council of Europe action 'Promotion of diversity and equality in Montenegro'.

The project kicked off with the webinar titled "(In)effective fight against hate speech in practice" which was attended by twenty-six representatives of political parties, members of the Montenegrin Parliament, representatives of non-governmental organisations and judges, joined by the Council of Europe. During the webinar, Civic Alliance researcher presented results of the research "Ethical media reporting on vulnerable groups" while a Council of Europe expert, Sevina Sali-Terzic, spoke on the impact of hate speech on vulnerable groups. Publicly debating hate speech was continued within a round table which aimed at summing up on key messages acting as counter-narratives on combating hate speech, especially against the most vulnerable groups. Deputy Ombudsperson as well as representative of the Council of Europe Programme Office in Montenegro took part in the panel discussion.

High school students and university students were a specific target group as per the grant’s activities, some of them having a chance to speak with representatives of marginalised groups and get a first-hand insight into how complex their lives can be, due to the stigmatisation they face. They were living libraries events, with people coming from the Roma, LGBTI and people with disabilities communities. In this way, Civic Alliance tried to increase the understanding of hate speech among young people as well as the importance of anti-discrimination policies focused on diversity and tolerance. Seventy law students had a chance to better understand boundaries between freedom of speech and hate speech thanks to the lecture led by professor Branko Boskovic.

Finally, two TV shows on combating hate speech were organised in co-operation with the Montenegrin Public Broadcaster RTCG, one of them being broadcasted in prime time. The Head of Operations in the Council of Europe Programme Office in Montenegro at that time was one of the participants, as well as some of the no-hate European Young Ambassadors who were guests in the special TV show on the role of youth in fighting against this phenomena.