Combating Intolerance and Discrimination against Migrants and Refugees: Importance of Alliances and Consolidated Approaches

Abstract

In recent years, migrants and refugees have increasingly become targeted by intolerance, hate speech, harassment and incitement to violence, off- and online. Rapid spread of hateful content is often exacerbated by technical possibilities provided by social media platforms. Such content may have dangerous societal effects by lowering the threshold of acceptance of racist and white supremacist theories and can lead to condoning of real-life violence. Organized on the occasion of the International Migrants Day, this event is the fourth and closing meeting in a series of webinars on migration-related issues co-organised by the OSCE Secretariat and institutions and UNHCR this year. The issues discussed in previous events included the shaping of positive public perceptions and attitudes towards migrants and refugees in host societies, including through social media, and access to and use of media by refugees and migrants. This event will serve as a wider platform to present the issues discussed throughout the year and ideas brought forward to the OSCE’s 57 participating States and its Asian and Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation. It shall also help to collect feedback and identify specific issues and themes to be addressed in similar future events. Different tools and good practices identified in the OSCE region to mitigate the increasing negative narratives surrounding migration and forced displacement will be presented, including ODIHR’s recent guidance "Shaping Balanced Political Discourse and Constructive Narratives on Migration" [https://www.osce.org/odihr/shaping_balanced_migration_narratives]. Moreover, the event shall help to assess the potential for aligning key messages, possible synergies and, thereby, enhance co-operation between the OSCE and UNHCR at the field and headquarter levels.

The event was conducted in English with Russian simultaneous interpretation.