CO-OPERATIVE EMPOWERMENT OF RIGHTS ACTIVATION IN YOUNG ADULTS (REFUGEES/ASYLUM SEEKERS) AND THEIR COMMUNITIES TO TACKLE HATE SPEECH AND DISCRIMINATION IN MEDIA AND PRESS

<< Background >>According to figures provided by UNHCR, there are 79.5 million refugees in the world today with different legal status. Turkey has become the country hosting more refugees than any other country in the world. Syria and Afghanistan are the most common countries of origin for those arriving in Greece. In Italy and Ireland, arrivals come mostly from African countries. A recent report indicates that in Turkey, there are specific social anxieties and concerns due to the millions of Syrians who have entered the country since 2014 and currently the refugees from Afghanistan are looking for shelters in partners countries. Based on this report, the media and governments could not sufficiently communicate the crisis facing the refugees to European societies, hence feeding into the universal anxiety permeating the community.The volume and intensity of hate speech and discrimination in media is on the rise, however the existing ways of handling it do not address the root cause. Refugees and asylum seekers are often discriminated against in housing, education, health, work or social security. It is a global issue affecting the countries of origin, the countries of transit and the countries of arrival (OHCHR). Migrants in an irregular situation tend to be disproportionately vulnerable to discrimination in media, often afraid to complain and remain silent actors. It is not enough to rely on protection enshrined in national and European policies, refugees need to become more involved in ensuring their rights are respected and supported to the same extent that the rights of the majority. There is strong evidence to support the existence of direct and institutional discrimination toward refugees and asylum seekers in all four countries, Turkey, Ireland, Italy and Greece. While there are a number of resources and training programmes for members of hosting countries, the training tools to support inclusion and visibility of refugees and asylum seekers in the media remain unexplored.This project will prioritise tackling discrimination and hate speech against refugees and promoting sustainable social inclusion in the European community. The project will directly involve young refugees, for the development of tools and resources that will increase their visibility, self-representation, and advocacy skills and ultimately will shape them into spokespersons and media consultants for their communities. This transnational project will concentrate on the OHCHR objectives of promoting integration for refugees and enhancing their contribution to tackle hate speech and discrimination in the media. The project will use the creative mediums of documentary theatre, drama, applied drama, performing arts in combination with ICT tool (Newsgames), and activate participants’ civic engagement in order to counter harmful media content, promote equality, and reinforce cooperation between refugees, media agencies and the host community, all of which are key objectives of the EU Commission youth strategy (2019-2027).<< Objectives >>The project aims to develop a non-formal, youth led programme to empower young refugees and migrants as agents of change who can contribute their expertise to the inclusion process and promote their self-representation and diversity in the media. In line with the principles of the EU Council for the youth sector (2019-2027) and “Guidelines working with young refugees and migrant” (2019), the project will develop synergies between different sectors supporting the cooperative empowerment of rights activation, inclusion, and active participation of young refugees and migrants in newsrooms and social processes affecting their lives.The objective behind our efforts is to provide refugees, asylum seekers, journalists, media professionals and social activists with valuable competences to face editorial challenges like fake news/alternative facts, infomercials vs. information, freedom of speech and hate speech and help them to develop diversity and pluralism in media.StoryCo-Op aims to bring about fundamental change in a number of ways:1. Knowledge and skills: On one hand, young refugees will acquire new skills to become confident communicators, and representatives of their communities while dealing with media organisations. The youth-led development of outputs will create an opportunity for them to grow personally and professionally, learning from other professionals—in turn leading to maturational growth.2. Behaviour and attitudes: Media professionals will see and hear real experiences reported in the documentary theatre developed, and learn how cooperation between refugees and media can improve the quality of news concerning vulnerable minorities. Young migrants themselves have a better understanding than anyone else of the challenges they encounter First-hand knowledge of young migrants brings new perspectives with which to challenge dominant discourses and narratives about migrants in media, the public and political spheres.3. Systems: At a European level, it will increase self-representation of young people with lived experiences as refugees in the media, especially at international and high levels of visibility. Bridging the gap between policy and reality, StoryCo-Op aims at reconnecting policymakers with the migrants who are affected by these policies.4.Ways of Thinking: It will contribute to the change in the way young refugees perceive themselves within the European and communities’ context. Media professionals will hear from their peers how “Lack of knowledge fuels the bitter curse of discrimination”. It will bring perspective to media professionals as seen above and ultimately, change ways of thinking of the wider public on refugees and migrants and benefit their inclusion.<< Implementation >>The StoryCo-Op project uses an innovative methodology for knowledge transfer and will contribute new perspectives to contemporary debates on the potential for participation and self-representation of young refugees in media and high-level consultations to effectively tackle discrimination and hate in media. This cross-sectoral cooperation (in the non-formal training and youth field) and target-group involvement will allow for greater synergies across different areas of actions that matter for this target group. The innovative approaches of digital tools, drama, applied drama, performing arts and volunteering values will enhance young people's potential, allow them to discover their own voices, enhance critical thinking, deepen their civic and social participation at local, regional, national, European and global level, grow in confidence, and ultimately become spokespersons and media consultants.The activities of implementation will include:- Research led by partners and a toolkit on ethics to inform media ethics and respond to gaps identified by the research (O1) – to inform (O2)- Three-month internships in media agencies for 2 young refugees, working with a mentor – with pre- and post- interviews to inform (O2)- The production and recording of a Documentary Theatre play (O2) – informed by the stories of the interns and their mentors- Three-day ‘Train the Trainer’ for 8 practitioners working with young refugees and asylum seekers- The Handbook for Professionals (O3)- Rollout of the programme – to be fully evaluated and findings to be published in O5- The testing of Newsgame by minimum 50 users (refugees from each country) with feedbackEach output and activities will be informed and tested by the Steering Committees (SC) of 12 young people in each country as well as being reviewed by peers (external experts) whose feedback will inform the project.<< Results >>The rise of self-representation in media aims to reduce prejudice and discriminatory attitudes against refugees and promote cultural diversity in the hosting countries. The project will create novel tools and approaches for refugees, media professionals, and societies:-The “Press It” best practices e-publication will allow media professionals to explore how refugees and asylum seekers are reported on in other countries where they are no longer solely depicted as the “others”, spoken about and represented in image as silent actors, victims or criminals. This e-resource will highlight rights-based journalism practices. -“Press Play” documentary theatre will portray cooperation between refugees and media professionals. This catalyst of change can reduce fear on both sides: the fear inside hosting societies who imagine masses of strangers entering their countries and do not acknowledge the refugees’ experiences and culture, and the fear among asylum seekers and refugees who face the dangers of arriving voiceless. It will represent its actors in a frank and unique way that attracts the media’s and public’s attention in order to create a discussion regarding concepts of representation and cohabitation in the new era of media. -“Press Ups” training for young refugees will provide non-formal learning opportunities for refugees and asylum seekers to speak for themselves instead of being represented by others. They will be better engaged with media and will form the network of professionally trained spokespersons and media consultants for their communities.-In order to avoid the oversimplification of refugees' experiences, cast on refugees and asylum seekers experiences, the Storyco-op will develop innovative, alternative and transformative newsgame “Press On” for refugees and asylum seekers to know how to explain the complexity of their lives while being interviewed by media-“Press Forward” from practice to policy will include a compilation of recommendations for youth led organisations, NGOs working with the target group and media professionals, with an eye toward a next iteration in preparation and implementation of the project results The main results expected will be the development of training programmes and ICT tools providing young refugees (18-30s) with skills in media self-representation, interview skills and knowledge of their rights, empowering them to protect themselves and their communities from hate and discrimination speech in media, thus creating a network of professionally trained young spokespersons/ media consultants advocating for their communities.