[huridocs-tech] OSCE anti-racism conference ends with calls for stronger laws against hate speech on Internet

VIENNA, 5 September 2003 - The OSCE concluded a conference on racism, 
xenophobia and discrimination today with a session that included 
contributions on the role of the media in conveying and countering 
prejudice. Many speakers focused on the electronic media and several called 
for strengthened legislation or implementation of existing conventions to 
suppress access to websites that disseminate hate-speech and racist messages.

Others felt that a legal approach was either unacceptable or unlikely to be 
as effective as enhancing the offer of sites promoting human rights and 
more positive messages, and other means of meeting the challenge "in the 
market place".

The conference, which drew almost 400 representatives from participating 
States, partner States and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), ended 
with an assurance from its Chairman, the Netherlands Ambassador Justus de 
Visser, that all contributions and recommendations voiced over the two days 
would be reflected in the final report.

The final report will be discussed at the OSCE's annual Human Dimension 
meeting in Warsaw next month, which is likely to produce recommendations 
for discussion by the Foreign Ministers of the 55 participating States, 
when they convene for their annual meeting in Maastricht on 1 December 2003.

This racism conference was the second event, after the conference on 
anti-Semitism in June, to be held by the OSCE as a follow-up to a decision 
by the Ministerial Council in Porto last December. It asked the OSCE to 
focus on the role of governments and civil society in promoting greater 
tolerance and support for the victims of prejudice and discrimination.

Gerard Kerforn, head of the long-established French NGO, Movement against 
Racism and for Friendship among Peoples, one of the Friday session's 
keynote speakers, won support for a detailed recommendation on the 
gathering of statistics to help analyse the structure of the Internet 
resources used by racists, their occurrence in "fragile" situations and the 
impact they have on inter-communal tensions.

Latest news from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe 
(OSCE) - http://www.osce.org



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