Overcoming of stereotypes among young people about xenophobia and discrimination, the possibility of combating discrimination and to defend their rights by youth

This training we usually give to regional students, especially in Crimea, Odessa, Uzhgorod, but this year we have decided to keep it for interns in Kiev. The topic was quite broad and up-to-date, moreover, we have seen these things, when authorities called people at Maidan as extremists, fascists, etc..

Why topic is relevant? During 2012, in Ukraine, despite the emergence of legislative initiatives to combat discrimination, which is a positive development, there was not conducted systematic government policy to combat discrimination against various minority groups. On September 6, 2012 the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed the Law of Ukraine On Prevention and combating of discrimination in Ukraine" After of the law have been passed , even after the hypothetical amendments to the law in Ukrainian society, government institutions, there is a lack of understanding of the problem, the needs of the target groups, lack of positive support measures for vulnerable groups. According to sociological surveys, among young people become more often demonstration of the emergence of xenophobia, discriminatory practices against minorities youth (such as LGBT). That’s why it’s important to draw the attention of society and especially younger audiences to the problems of existence in Ukraine of discrimination on various grounds, the absence of effective policies to prevent it, the lack of knowledge and skills of youth to protect their rights.

Accents: Special attention was paid to language issues and development of hostility by the authorities on this basis among the various regions of Ukraine, and also we tried to see the difference between young people from Eastern and Western Ukraine, perceptions stereotypes propagated by media and government.

Ukrainian language