Many local authorities continue to face challenges in countering negative narratives and hate speech. This workshop, co-organised by the Council of Europe’s Intercultural Cities (ICC) Programme and ICEI, the coordinator of the Rete Italiana Citta’ del Dialogo, will bring together civil society organisations and local authority representatives to jointly deconstruct such narratives and explore effective responses. The workshop will specifically present the results of a relevant project implemented with cities in Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Poland, focusing on the co-construction of new, inclusive narratives. The experiences of participating cities will be shared through concrete case studies, highlighting key lessons learned and transferable practices.
Please sign up also for the first part of this session (workshop C1 – 17 June, 16:15-17:45)
The new toolkit on artificial intelligence and young people developed by the Youth Department of the Council of Europe will be launched during this workshop. The learning resource aims to equip youth workers and trainers with the basics of AI for Youth, providing an overview of current developments, key risks and opportunities, and the role of youth work in fostering AI literacy. It includes practical guidance for integrating AI-related considerations into youth work or professional practice.
This panel convenes, for the first time in this context, a structured discussion between intergovernmental policy-makers — spanning media, information society and AI (CDMSI, CAI/CDNET), the United Nations system, civil society, and AI innovators to examine how the Council of Europe’s new human rights-based AI governance standards — anchored in the Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence (CETS 225) and operationalised through the HUDERIA risk assessment methodology — can translate those commitments into practical tools, and what gaps remain to be addressed to facilitate the “living together”.
The session looks at the design of AI tools, exploring how online applications used for text analysis can offer an alternative to AI tools. The reflection is based on the DePresPop, Apollonis, DataPopEu and Populismus as projects implemented in Greece with large media corporations.
Textgain, UK and the Netherlands, will present their work on using AI to detect systemic risk under the DSA (trusted flaggers and non-trusted flaggers using tech to text out the DSA) and how to use bespoke AI systems to automatically detect harmful content. Furthermore, CESIE, Italy will present an analysis of their last monitoring exercise including monitoring with the use of AI and the HATEDEMICS project tools.
The session includes a presentation from the work of Viasna, the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, and the Prismatika initiative, Belarus on working with groups most affected by hate speech in a context where it is systematically used as a tool of state repression against LGBTQ+ people, political prisoners, and civic activists. Further highlights will be shared by Gender Stream, Ukraine on specific human rights risks faced by LGBTQI+ individuals living in territories of Ukraine temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation, the challenges of access to protection and justice, and the role of Ukrainian civil society in documenting violations, providing support, and advocating for accountability.
The session includes presenting the findings of the project Together Against Antigypsyism Online (TAAO), implemented by the ERGO Network. The project analyses online antigypsyism and hate narratives targeting Roma communities across several EU countries. Furthermore, practical experiences of Kali Sara – Roma information centre, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and tools from the work in countering hate speech, discrimination, and antigypsyism affecting Roma communities will also be shared.