No HATE BG: For a consolidated response towards minority protection and hate crimes’ prevention in Bulgaria

Organisation

The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (Български хелзинкски комитет, БХК) implemented the project in cooperation with the Amalipe Center for Interethnic Dialogue and Tolerance (Център за междуетнически диалог и толерантност Амалипе) and the Swedish non-governmental organisation Civil Rights Defenders.

Start and end date

Start date:

1 November 2018.

End date:

28 February 2020.

Scope

National.

Target group(s)

• Ethnic minorities (with a specific focus on the Roma community), religious minorities, migrants and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex people.
• The general public.

Funding

The European Commission, the Directorate-General for Justice and the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme of the EU 2014–2020.

Objectives

• Increase the visibility of the impact of hate crimes and provoke discussion on hate crime prevention and effective protection mechanisms for those from minority groups who are victims of hate crime.
• Share best practices on preventing crimes motivated by prejudice, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance.
• Promote cooperation and increase mutual trust between the state, civil society and the affected communities.

Outputs

• Public awareness-raising campaign.
• Video documentary.
• Campaign infographics.
• Art installations.
• Eleven regional dialogue roundtables and one national forum with international participation.
• Review of international recommendations.
• Analysis of case law and country overview report.
• Capacity-building study trip to Sweden of 10 stakeholders involved in combating hate crimes
• Photo gallery.
• Voyvodinovo 360° virtual reality: ‘Being in Ganka’s shoes’.
• Social media campaign on Twitter.
• Social media campaign on Facebook.
• Social media campaign on Instagram.
• Documentary theatre.
• Advocacy video.

Description

The aims of the project were to provoke an in-depth discussion on the need for effective mechanisms for better protection of minorities, with an emphasis on the prevention of hate crimes, strengthen the capacity of public authorities and non-governmental organisations to combat hate crime and share best practices on preventing hate crime motivated by prejudice, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance. The project also aimed to promote cooperation and increase mutual trust between the state, civil society and the affected communities, and to increase intolerance to hate crimes by making them more visible to society.

The project included, in addition to the analysis of hate crime in Bulgaria and the exchange of best practices with other countries, a large-scale awareness-raising campaign. The campaign consisted of public discussions that took place in 11 cities across the country; urban art interventions in Plovdiv, Sofia and Veliko Tarnovo; dissemination of awareness-raising materials in the subway in Sofia, such as the Love and Hate magazine, which was distributed free of charge; a documentary theatrical performance; and a video documentary that was presented using virtual reality technology.

Critical success factors

• Use of art and innovative methods to raise awareness and reach the target audience.
• Participatory approach that involved the target group in the design and implementation of the practice.

Actors involved in the design and implementation of the practice

• The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (Български хелзинкски комитет, БХК) in cooperation with the Amalipe Center for Interethnic Dialogue and Tolerance (Център за междуетнически диалог и толерантност Амалипе) and the Swedish non-governmental organisation Civil Rights Defenders.

Monitoring and evaluation

No monitoring mechanism was available.

Publicly available contact details

Bulgarian Helsinki Committee

Email: bhc@bghelsinki.org