Following the invitation of Romanian Prime Minister and World Jewish Congress, Commissioner for Protection of Equality Brankica Jankovic attended the two-day meeting “A Perspective to a Future Strategy to Prevent and Combat Anti-Semitism, Racism, Xenophobia, Radicalization and Hate Speech” which was opened by Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila and World Jewish Congress Commissioner for Combating Anti-Semitism Julius Meinl. Congress participants exchanged their views and experiences on the most efficient strategies for combatting the radical phenomenon, while special attention was dedicated to preventing the hate speech, primarily through contemporary communication channels. It was pointed out that Anti-Semitism is not only Jewish problem, that it relates to the whole community and we all need mutual support in order to fight against the common enemy – those who are spreading the Anti-Semitism. Prime Minister Dancila said that during the Romanian Presidency of the Council of EU, Romania have demonstrated great dedication to the protecting of human rights, including the improvement of the position of Jewish community in combatting Anti-Semitism, which was greatly contributed by numerous conferences, such this one, which were organized during their presidency.
During her speech, Commissioner Jankovic presented Serbia as a good example and stressed that it is important that there was no rise of Anti-Semitism and discrimination of Jews. Commissioner for Protection of Equality, as the central state institution, has not received any complaint for discrimination on this grounds. Nevertheless, recognizing the importance of suppression and prevention of hate speech, particularly on social media, we sent a general recommendation to informative portals to monitor, control and remove comments that are not allowed, especially the hate speech. Majority of portals act in accordance with this recommendation, which is encouraging, said Jankovic, adding that the institution publicly condemns individual cases of Anti-Semitism, xenophobia, racism and any type of hate speech.
Commissioner attended the working dinner, organized by Romanian Prime Minister, where it was discussed about how much are xenophobia and hate speech have influenced the political climate in Europe in the previous period. Jankovic and Dancila discussed the possible ways to suppress the hate speech and mutual combat for the equality, as well as the role of women in important decision making and significance of gender equality for development of our societies. Dancila is the first woman Prime Minister in Romania.
Among other participants at the conference were also the Vice-President of World Jewish Congress Robert Singer, Director ODIHR Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir, Director of International Affairs at USA Memorial Holocaust Museum Paul Shapiro and Director at Simon Wiesenthal Center Mark Weitzman.
