Empowering Youth to Unite and Stand Up against Hate and Violence

Phenomena such as racism, xenophobia, homophobia, and other forms of intolerance, have evolved and gained momentum in recent years leading to the emergence and rising of contemporary forms of radicalism and extremism that the European Union deals with on a daily basis. Various incidents across Europe indicate that many people are harassed, threatened or assaulted verbally of physically, or experience hatred daily because of their ethnicity, skin color, religion, gender and sexuality, physical and mental (dis)abilities or other characteristics. Moreover, public discourses, including online platforms and social media, are steeped in hate speech targeting ethnic, religious, sexual, gender and other minorities. The increasing numbers of reported hate crimes make evident the need to combat bias motivations that result in hate crime and equip people with the skills and information to recognize and respond to signs of bias, prejudice and hate.Youth2Unite project addresses these needs towards the prevention of hate crime and hate speech and aims to develop training materials for youth workers todeploy effective skills to challenge “hate-motivated violence” or “hate attitudes” among young people and to increase young people’s responsibility towards bystander intervention. Participation in project activities and engagement with project’s intellectual products will empower young people who face disadvantages and belong to marginalized communities to speak for themselves and feel proud for their identities and will additionally equip youth workers with competencies to facilitate and deliver quality and innovative workshops that address hatred and promote respect and freedom of expression.