Workshop on

12 June 2023

“Together against discrimination and prejudice”,

held in Vidin on 8-9 June

NGO "Organization Drom" organized a seminar in the city of Vidin on June 8-9 under the project "Strengthening the role of civil organizations of vulnerable communities in Bulgaria to counter discrimination, intolerance, hate speech and prejudice crimes", co-financed by the program of European Union "Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values" (2021 - 2027). The project is implemented by a consortium, coordinated by the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee.

More than 30 representatives of the local and state authorities, teachers from the region, experts related to the topics of the meeting, psychologists and lawyers from the Vidin Bar Association took part in the seminar. Speakers at the seminar included Dr. Krasimir Kanev (Chairman of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee), who presented the topic of prejudice crimes and mechanisms to combat them, as well as the topic of reporting hate speech and hate crimes.

At the center of the event was the presentation of Tanya Kaltseva (legal expert at "Organization Drom") on the report "Regional assessment of the specific challenges faced by vulnerable groups and communities in relation to discrimination, intolerance, hate speech and prejudice crimes", which our organization published at the end of April 2023.

During the workshop, Assoc. Prof. Ivo Indjov (expert at Organization Drom), complemented by Mr. Rumyan Rusinov (political scientist and expert at Organization Drom), presented the results of a study, conducted under the project, of the coverage of vulnerable groups in the Bulgarian media between January and February 2023, which sparked an interesting discussion.

Among the speakers were also Mr. Radoslav Stoyanov (expert at the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee), who presented the topic of discrimination as a concept and forms of manifestation, and who also introduced the platform for reporting incidents of hatred and prejudice. And last but not least, Mr. Dimitar Todorov (former expert at the Commission for Protection against Discrimination - Vidin) gave an overview of countermeasures against manifestations of intolerance in Vidin.

Ms. Mariela Savkova served as moderator of the event and she skillfully steered the workshop towards moderate discussion.

TV reportage (in Bulgarian), here „Заедно срещу дискриминацията и предразсъдъците” – Телевизия Видин (vidin.tv)