The No Hate Speech Movement Youth Campaign 2012-2017

The No Hate Speech Movement youth campaign of the Council of Europe was officially launched in March 2013 to combat hate speech by mobilising young people to speak up for human rights and democracy online. By the end of 2017, the movement had been launched in 45 countries.

National campaigns, online activists and partner organisations will continue the movement in 2018 and beyond through human rights education and awareness-raising that empowers youth to report and denounce hate speech.

Council of Europe Youth Campaign

The No Hate Speech Movement youth campaign was launched by the Council of Europe in 2013. The campaign was extended until the end of 2017 as part of the Council of Europe Action Plan on the Fight against Violent Extremism and Radicalisation Leading to Terrorism. In addition, the campaign contributed to the Action Plan for Building Inclusive Societies and the Council of Europe Strategy on Internet Governance, which promotes an open, inclusive, safe and enabling online environment.

The project was based on youth participation and co-management by young people, with the support of governmental youth institutions. It was initiated by the youth representatives in the Joint Council on Youth. This council brings together youth leaders from the Advisory Council on Youth and the governmental youth representatives of the European Steering Committee on Youth.

The campaign objectives were to:

• support human rights education activities for action against hate speech and the risks it poses to democracy and the well-being of young people
• develop and disseminate tools and mechanisms for reporting hate speech, especially online, including at national level
• mobilise national and European partners to prevent and counter hate speech and intolerance online and offline
• promote media literacy and digital citizenship, and support young people’s participation in Internet governance.

Specific objectives, programme activities and guidelines for national campaigns were set by the Joint Council on Youth for both the first phase 2012-2015 and the second phase 2016-2017.

National campaigns, activists and partners

The campaign was run by the Youth Department of the Council of Europe, under the authority of the Joint Council on Youth, which tasked a Follow-up Group with guiding, supporting and monitoring the implementation of the campaign.

National campaigns

• Under the Council of Europe umbrella campaign, national and local campaigns were set up. The national campaigns made it possible to reach out better to young people and to reflect on all the specific issues and cultural and linguistic realities of Council of Europe regions. Following the end of co-ordination at the European level by the Council of Europe, in December 2017, most of the national campaigns will continue to function in 2018 and beyond.

Online activists

• The online campaign was implemented with the support of a dedicated group of volunteers from the whole of Europe. National co-ordinators or European campaign partners who have been trained by the Youth Department of the Council of Europe form an active online community dedicated to the campaign.

Campaign partners

• Regional, European or international organisations or networks have joined as campaign partners organising projects to reduce hate speech, and promote human rights online. The European Youth Card Association, EEA Norway Grants and the European Youth Information and Counselling Agency were among the first campaign partners, in addition to the youth organisations represented in the Advisory Council on Youth.

Achievements of the Youth Campaign

The No Hate Speech Movement youth campaign produced series of reports of seminars and conferences.

Other tools, resources and publications were developed by national campaigns and European partners and can be found in the Compendium.