Our members’ projects in 2019

Training migrant and refugee communities against hate crime – Greek Forum of Migrants, Greece

The Greek Forum of Migrants “Against Hate Crime” project aimed to empower and build capacity of migrant and refugee communities to support victims of racist crime and enhance public visibility of racist crime incidents.

GFM conducted a needs assessment within 20 communities in the network which identified three issues to address: a) identification of racist crime; b) lack of information about hate crime reporting; c) the lack of trust towards institutions and the outcomes of reporting such incidents.

They organised workshops with the Greece Anti-Racist Police Department and the Racist Violence Reporting Network on reporting hate crime including police violence.

GFM also published guidelines for reporting hate crimes, translated into 11 languages.

They will now distribute the guidelines within their network of 40 migrant and refugee communities and provide support to their members when they report hate crime incidents.

Documenting anti-Muslim hate speech in Slovakia – Islamic Foundation in Slovakia

This project aimed to monitor and document all cases of anti-Muslim hate speech by politicians, and in particular by candidates during all election campaigns in Slovakia in 2019.

The Islamic Foundation in Slovakia published an annual report on Islamophobia, and the findings were continuously published on their website and Facebook page.

Overcoming the culture of hate – Ljubljana Pride Parade Association, Slovenia

This project aimed to provide a critical and mobilising perspective to Slovenian civil society on standing against hate (with a focus on hate speech) towards all marginalised and/or minority groups, with special emphasis on racialised groups and those facing LGBTIQ+ hate and intersectional discrimination.

The Ljubljana Pride Parade Association organised capacity building activities including a DecontRamination workshop on making pride banners. They also organised a seminar and public discussion Overcoming the Culture of Hate Speech, as well as a training on anti-racism.

These activities enabled them to build coalitions and mobilise different communities in the field of anti-racism work and addressing hate speech.

In 2020, they will continue their DecontRamination project, reporting and transforming hate speech in public spaces.

Legal aid and education to support groups at risk of racism – Centre for Peace Studies (CMS), Croatia

This project aimed to educate citizens on combating racism and discrimination with the concrete aim of supporting refugees and migrants; and to create a network of individuals who would provide legal aid to groups at risk of racism and advocate for policy change.

CMS organised a Peace Studies non-formal education programme with 25 participants. They formed a group of 10 volunteers, students of law, who offered free legal aid and information to people at risk of racism, mainly asylum seekers.

The Nkyinkyim Project: Documenting Afriphobia, Structural and Institutional Racism – Africa Centre Ireland & IDPAD Coalition UK

Two ENAR members in Ireland and the United Kingdom teamed up to document institutional racism in these two countries, in particular Afriphobia.

The ‘No to Brain Waste Campaign’ by Africa Centre Ireland campaigned to stop the underemployment of skilled and qualified professionals and workers of migrant and in particular of African descent.

The IDPAD Coalition UK held roundtable meetings in Middlesbrough, Bristol, Northampton, Brighton and London, during which participants discussed their experience of Afriphobia, structural and institutional racism.

The two organisations launched a report defining Afriphobia, drawing on contributions from the roundtable meetings, and putting forward recommendations for change in December. 21 Organisations and 79 individuals have so far endorsed the definition.

In 2020, they will launch a “Call it by its Name Afriphobia” campaign targeting African descent communities and continue joint work to tackle sructural and institutional racism.

Conference “Afrophobia & Intersectionality – Social Cohesion” – European Network of Women of African Descent (ENWAD), Spain

The European Network of Women of African Descent (ENWAD) organised a conference on Afrophobia in Barcelona to raise awareness on the situation of people of African descent in Spain.

For the first time, ENWAD was able to gather a large number of women and young adolescents of African descent who were able to give their own accounts of what it is like to be black in Spain to a wider audience – creating awareness on the racism, racial discrimination and exclusion they face. Several youth organisations tackling Islamophobia also participated in the conference.

Get into the Game Again: EU Elections 2019 – Aequitas, Cyprus

This project aimed to raise awareness among the Cyprus population (in particular young people) of who are the candidates in the European elections and what values they stand for, in an online, easily accessible and youth-friendly way.

Aequitas interviewed 21 candidates for the EU elections, including the majority of young candidates. The videos of the candidates were watched by thousands of people through social media and their website.

Muslim Youth Act Up – Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organisations (FEMYSO)

This project aimed to increase the percentage of (young) Muslims in the voter turnout of the European Elections in 2019, by giving them tools to hold Members of the European Parliament accountable and by giving them insights into the European institutions and political processes.

FEMYSO produced a toolkit tailored to Muslim youth and students in the EU to guide them on what the European Parliament is, what the Elections are, why it is important for them to vote, and organised a roundtable in Brussels.

They published 12 films that had thousands of views and engagements, as part of a social media campaign, and wrote pieces on Medium. They organised several grassroots mobilisation events across Europe as part of this campaign: in Cologne, Limoges, Poland, Mannheim, Vienna.

Quotes of Resistance – European Race and Imagery Foundation (ERIF)

ERIF designed and produced postcards with quotes from their Stories of Resistance Conference in 2016 and launched an Instagram campaign for dissemination. This project enabled a reconnection with many of the participants of the conference in 2016, and has strengthened ties between ERIF and anti-racism campaigners. The project has broadened awareness and dissemination of important anti-racism activism, scholarship and powerful thoughts.

The online campaign will continue in 2020, and ERIF hope to print 10 additional quotes as a follow-up.

European Forum for Muslim Women Vision 2021

EFOMW organised an advocacy training for civil society which aimed to enhance Muslim women civil society organisations’ knowledge of advocacy and tools that can be used to challenge and fight the intersectional discrimination they face. The event gave experts in the field of Islamophobia, advocacy and intersectionality the opportunity to present their work and approaches, as well as to take stock of good practices and challenges.

Follow-up training sessions will take place in 2020 for EFOMW member organisations at national level.