Description
This project aims to inform, support, record and address the phenomenon of discrimination in vulnerable social groups regardless of their particular characteristics. This will be achieved through the operation of three Offices of Information and Support for issues of discrimination and racist behavior in Athens, Thessaloniki and Patras. Also, a Hot Line will operate providing Information and Support for individuals that have faced discrimination. Some of the areas that we will focus will relate inter alia to issues of discrimination in health, work, public administration, and in extreme forms of racial discrimination and violent behaviors. The project is designed in such a way so that the proposed actions to address and protect human rights of any minority who experience discrimination at any aspect and to collect data, both from the offices and the Hot Line in order to be processed and used for policy making.
Summary of project results
Over the last years in Greece, there is an increasing tendency of incidents of racism, hate speech and discriminations, according to the reports of the Racist Violence Recording Network and of The Greek Ombudsman. REACT Project came as a supplement of the actions which already take place, by emphasizing on incidents of discrimination that often weren’t recorded. The goals of the project were the recording of cases of discrimination, the legal and psychosocial support of the people that faced such types of behavior and the support of their rights. All data that was collected through the recordings, was elaborated by a scientific research team. The results of this study served as the basis for the policy making proposals for the matter of discriminations. During the implementation of the project, cases of discrimination were recorded in the three Bureaus of Information and Support for Discrimination Issues that functioned in Athens, Thessaloniki and Patra. Additionally, there was a telephone line for information and submission of complaints that received calls from all over Greece. The incidents that were reported in REACT had to do mainly with discrimination cases in the fields of work due to legal status, race and age. Individual and group sessions took place in order to inform, support and empower victims of discrimination. Actions of advocacy and legal support also took place as well as a research study about discrimination as it was reflected during the implementation of the project. During the implementation of REACT 2605 sessions of psychosocial support and 2009 sessions of legal support took place, for the 598 cases that were recorded to the project’s bureaus or through the telephone hotline. 14 formal complaints were submitted and 15 actions of legal support and advocacy also were made. In addition, 24 group sessions for workers and beneficiaries of civil society organizations in Athens, Patra and Thessaloniki and 2 workshops were held, aiming at the information and empowerment of people who belong to vulnerable groups.
Summary of bilateral results