Are you an online activist? Young and concerned with the respect of human rights online? Would you like to take action against racism and discrimination? Then this call is for you! Apply to be a participant in the new training course for online activists and be part of the campaign against hate speech online of the Council of Europe! Join the NO HATE SPEECH MOVEMENT!

The Council of Europe Youth Department invites all young online activists concerned by human rights violations, hate speech online, discrimination and racism to apply for the training course taking place between February 2013 and March 2014, comprising of a residential seminar between 6-14 April 2013 in the European Youth Centre Budapest, e-learning based training and initiatives to support the campaign against hate speech online of the Youth Department of the Council of Europe.

The training course aims to develop competences of 30 online activists to take action against hate speech online and to promote and defend human rights online. The training course also aims to empower them to develop initiatives and take an active role in the No Hate Speech Movement initiated by the Council of Europe.

The course objectives are:

• To develop participant’s knowledge, skills and attitudes needed for the promotion and protection of human rights in online environments;
• To understand and analyse the causes, manifestations, consequences and impact of racism and discrimination in their online form;
• To learn how hate speech constitutes a human rights violation;
• To learn about and experiment, analyse and evaluate approaches and tools of online activism for human rights;
• To motivate and empower participants to take actions against hate speech online;
• To support participants in defining their role, developing and implementing initiatives within the European youth online campaign against hate speech;
• To support the development of the network of young activists and youth organizations within the campaign.

The training course is based on blended learning, combining a residential training seminar with distance online learning.The training seminar is based on principles of non-formal education, being learner-centred and highly participatory.

The training course is designed for participants who are:

• aged between 18 and 30 years, exceptions can be made if justified;
• residents of states party to the European Cultural Convention and Kosovo, a limited places might be offered for participants from the Mediterranean area; already young online activists (including here: bloggers, social media activists, community managers, moderators, etc.);
• have proven capacity to mobilise young people online around issues of their concern, but particularly related with freedom of expression, human rights, ant-racism and anti-discrimination, online campaigning and activism.
• committed to values of human rights and be interested to further take action against racism and discrimination in online environments;
• motivated to take active part in all phases of the training course;
• expected to support the campaign online and develop and implement at least one initiative in the framework of the campaign;
• have at least a medium level of digital competence; able to work autonomously in the English language both written and spoken;
• are either supported by a youth organisation and/or an informal group of activists or community online.

Application, procedure and selection of participants

All candidates must apply on-line, completing the application form under this link: http://youthapplications.coe.int/

Applications must be submitted by 7 February 2013 . The team of trainers will select 30 participants on the basis of the profile outlined above. The selection will also take into account balance between sexes, geographical regions, different types of experience, cultural backgrounds and organisations, institutions and projects. A waiting list may be established. Candidates will be informed about whether their application has been accepted or rejected, and if they have been put on the waiting list, by 15 February 2013.

Further information about the project, the training course and the application process can be found in the attached document and at http://act4hre.coe.int.

For further information concerning the programme and different elements of the course, please contact eyc.programme@coe.int.

For technical inquiries regarding the application form, please contact Ms. Zita Hasenauer at zita.hasenauer@coe.int; Anca-Ruxandra Pandea, anca-ruxandra.pandea@coe.int