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With presentation of the peer educator Berina Alickovic, a student of the Department of Philological Sciences at the State University in Novi Pazar, held in the premises of the NGO “Svetionik” in Novi Pazar, December 30, is finished project “Capacity building the of youth in the field of combating hate speech in electronic media and social networks in southwestern Serbia”. The project was realised by CSO “Monitor” from Novi Pazar with the financial support of the United States Embassy in Serbia , begining from October month of this year, at the area of ​​Novi Pazar, Sjenica, Tutin, Nova Varos, Prijepolje and Priboj.
We recall that the aforementioned project was aimed at creating a network of peer educators in the field of youth security culture in the field of hate speech in electronic media and social networks in southwestern Serbia through a set of presentations in Novi Pazar, Tutin, Sjenica, Prijepolje, Priboj and Nova Varos with the aim to increases the level of knowledge and awareness among young people (members of local youth offices, secondary school students, graduate and master students, active members of civil society organizations (CSOs) and members of youth political parties under the age of 25) in relation to security culture and speech hatred in electronic media and on social networks.

In accordance with the stated goal of the Project after the seminar for peer educators in Vrnjacka Banja in the period from November 8-11, 2018, a network of 21 peer educators from this area was created in the area of ​​the mentioned cities. In the period from December 3 to the present day, peer educators held 21 presentations in organizations or institutions at the places where they live and in this way address the issue of hate speech in the electronic media and on social networks in this region and at the same time increase the capacity of young people to better understand the causes, manifestations and consequences of hate speech on the Internet, as well as possible ways of reporting cases of hate speech to competent authorities. The above-mentioned presentations were attended by more than 300 young people.

On behalf of the project team and the network of peer educators, we thank all the young people who responded to our invitation and contributed to the successful implementation of this project by participating in the presentations. We also thank all institutes and organizations from Novi Pazar, Sjenica, Tutin, Nova Varos, Prijepolje and Priboj which helped us in the realization of peer educators’ presentations.

At the end on behalf of the organization Monitor, we would like to publicly thank the American Embassy in Serbia, which with its financial means helped the realization of this project.