Tolerance and non-discrimination
Further work with social-network providers
is planned in 2011 to assess the occurrence of
hate-motivated discourse on the Internet and to
identify concrete measures governments, civil
society and those who run social-network sites
can take to tackle the problem without infringing on freedom of expression.
Responding to Anti-Semitism
ODIHR works to fight anti-Semitism in the
OSCE region in co-operation with individual governments, as well as with NGOs and
intergovernmental organizations. Educational
initiatives, such as country-specific teaching
materials ODIHR has helped develop on historical and contemporary anti-Semitism, including
the history of the persecution of Jews in Europe,
are an important element in ODIHR’s activities
in this area.
Fourteen participating States have produced
country-specific versions of these materials to
date, and 48 training sessions have been conducted for teachers on how best to use them in
the classroom. The national experts responsible for developing the teaching materials for 12
of the participating States involved in the project met in Berlin from 26 to 28 May to assess
experiences from the programme, share good
practices, and plan strategies for the further
implementation of the materials.
ODIHR also organized a meeting on 7 and 8
November for representatives of ministries of
education across the OSCE region to discuss
their experiences in the field of combating antiSemitism through education. The aim of the
meeting was to identify successful approaches,
share good practices, and discuss challenges
in this field, as well as to raise awareness of
ODIHR’s teaching materials.
The Office also participated in a trainingof-trainers event in Vilnius on 3 December,
organized jointly by the United States Embassy
in Lithuania, the Jewish Museum of Lithuania and the United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum, under the auspices of the Lithuanian Ministry of Education. The event provided
insights into combating anti-Semitism in
schools for teacher trainers in Lithuania.
Responding to Intolerance against Muslims
ODIHR initiated a partnership in 2010 with
UNESCO and the Council of Europe, aimed at
developing guidelines for educators on intolerance and discrimination against Muslims. The
purpose of this project is to assist educators in
52
ODIHR Annual Report 2010
identifying stereotypes and prejudices against
Muslims and to provide guidance on how to
confront them in schools. These guidelines, to
be published in 2011, will be complemented by
country-specific teaching materials, which will
be developed in upcoming years.
Following a referendum in Switzerland in
2009 on the banning of minarets there, ODIHR
and the Swiss Federal Commission against Racism (FCR) explored ways to promote dialogue
and co-operation between civil society representatives and government in order to combat
intolerance and discrimination against Muslims in Switzerland. One outcome of these
discussions was a roundtable event in Bern on
23 October, organized by ODIHR and FCR, at
which community leaders and representatives
of Muslim NGOs explored the possibility of creating of a Muslim umbrella organization for
Switzerland.
Promoting Freedom of Religion or Belief
Freedom of religion or belief was the topic at
one Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting held in 2010. The event in Vienna, on 9 and
10 December, provided an opportunity for 250
participants, including representatives of 90
civil society organizations, to exchange views
and experiences on local and national policies and practices related to the implementation
of OSCE commitments in this area. In addition to discussing a number of emerging issues
and challenges, participants also made recommendations aimed at protecting the freedom of
religion or belief.
The Warsaw segment of the 2010 OSCE
Review Conference also provided an important
forum for the discussion of freedom-of-religion
issues. In addition to the official session on the
topic, on 1 October, ODIHR’s Advisory Council on Freedom of Religion or Belief held a side
event that included an informal and open discussion on the current situation in the OSCE
area related to this freedom.
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