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Description
The project is needed to encourage civil society organizations (CSOs) to support the exercising of human rights and persuade people to disapprove of public statements expressing disapproval, hatred or violence towards minorities which have become "more widespread" according to the report of the Helsinki Committee about the state of human rights in Bulgaria. The report has established “overall deterioration” and “a turn towards denying fundamental human rights” on institutional level. The established ever more frequent statements against minorities have a strong impact on young people and pose a risk for ethnic peace in Silistra District in particular, which is disadvantaged and has a high number of minority groups. That is why since 2017 the candidate and local authorities have carried out the “Time for Tea” campaign for anti-discrimination, tolerant behaviour among youth in the city. However, it is necessary to cover the whole district and other CSOs should be mobilized. Building on the experience that has already been acquired, we will train 6 CSOs to develop and implement models for innovative, low-budget campaigns to support human rights and fight discrimination with the participation of young volunteers. Their experience will be assessed by the partnering Alliance for Regional and Civic Initiatives (ARCI) which will promote it on national level and will encourage 4 more CSOs to apply it. The project will mobilize in this way 10 CSOs in total and will include 100 young people in campaigns for protection of the disadvantaged groups of the public.
Summary of project results
The project promoter''s goal was to prepare 6 civil society organizations to develop and implement models for innovative, low-budget campaigns for the protection of human rights and against discrimination involving young volunteers. As a result of the project, as many as 10 civil society organizations (mostly community centers) involved more than 100 people in their activities, including campaigns for the protection of human rights. The end beneficiaries were young people from remote areas, populated mainly by members of ethnic minorities. They are at high risk of social isolation, incl. and the restrictive measures because of Covid-19, due to insufficient knowledge of human rights, underdeveloped language skills and limited civic education. The network of civil society organizations that emerged as a result of the project came together around a General Agreement on Cooperation and Networking for the Protection of Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination under the title "Calendar of Human Rights in the District of Silistra". In 2021, the participants in the network intend to organize campaigns for young people in defense of human rights.