Multilevel Empowerment of Expert Capacities in Anti-Discrimination Domain

Ďalšie projekty

The main objective of the project is to strengthen expert capacities of lawyers and journalists through extensive antidiscrimination training (both in theory and practice) of students of law and journalism. Project participants are also engaged, under professional supervision, in antidiscrimination activities performed by the Citizen, Democracy and Accountability (the former Citizen and Democracy). We believe that once the project is completed they will further promote antidiscrimination activities at various levels and in various manners.

Additional target groups of the subproject include:

the general public – mainly through outputs published at www.diskriminacia.sk,
non-governmental organisations whose capacities should be strengthened by a newly-established group of experts with the necessary expertise on anti(discrimination),
public institutions and persons responsible for decision-making with impacts on the situation in the field of (anti)discrimination, which may benefit from the project directly (e.g. existence of new sources of information on (anti)discrimination), as well as indirectly (establishment of new expert capacities that these institutions might make use of in future).

Mapping of legal environment

The project activity is aimed at mapping the legal environment which contributes to creating conditions for the protection against discrimination, and, at the same time, at identifying legal barriers preventing or thwarting such protection. The existing institutional framework and policies designed to promote antidiscrimination agenda are also surveyed and their shortcomings indentified. In addition, key areas and issues are generated, which are than addressed by the educational and training part of the project.

The goal of this project activity is to provide room for direct interaction of a wider community of antidiscrimination actors. Its outcome is a set of identified problems and recommendations that serve as the basis for further project activities.

Media-monitoring and standard setting

The project activity focuses on the current situation in the media in relation to antidiscrimination, identifies the quality of information on (anti)discrimination, communication codes through which the information is conveyed, prejudice and stereotypes it contains, and impacts that the information and a way in which it is conveyed have on individuals, groups and the entire society.

This material also serves as the basis for the setting of standards of a discrimination-sensitive journalism. Outputs are included in a publication available at www.diskriminacia.sk.

Antidiscrimination education and practical training for university students

Several trainings will be organised under the project with the aim of:

equipping the target group with a solid theoretical background on the issues related to the right to equality and discrimination, and providing an in-depth interdisciplinary insight into the issue of (anti)discrimination,
equipping the target group with practical skills necessary in order to actively enforce the right to equality and non-discrimination, and strengthening those skills,
providing room for students to develop their expertise in areas related to antidiscrimination, realise their ideas and use their creativity in their professional life in those matters that are also issues of public concern,
enabling students to network with their colleagues of the same, as well as different professions.

Under this project activity students perform various antidiscrimination activities. Those may involve participation in antidiscrimination activities that are, or will be, performed, by the CDA, such as writing expert legal articles on (anti)discrimination, preparation of popular-scientific articles or other media releases on discrimination, identifying discrimination cases, participation in creating www.diskriminacia.sk, legal assistance to victims of discrimination, participating in legislation and public policy making on antidiscrimination, searching for and participating in antidiscrimination events, primary processing of data from media monitoring (conducted as part of this subproject), moderating online discussions on www.diskriminacia.sk, etc. They may also involve activities chosen by students themselves, e.g. contributing to expert periodicals, in print and internet media, volunteering in non-governmental organisations dealing with antidiscrimination, etc. Students’ activities are performed under our professional supervision.

Media releases

This part emphasises cooperation among law and journalism students in order to ensure that individual media releases meet the criteria of legal expertise and the relevant media standards, including the discrimination-sensitive journalism standards created under this subproject. The cooperation will also help strengthen networks established among the students during the project.

The project is co-funded under the EEA Financial Mechanism, the Norwegian Financial Mechanism, state budget of the Slovak Republic and a grant from the Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe.