The Congress of National Communities of Ukraine is currently implementing a project to explore the situation with antisemitism and romophobia in Ukraine as well as to develop mechanisms that would counteract these forms of xenophobia. This project will involve an analysis of the factors that may influence manifestations of antisemitism and romophobia, focusing on active legislation, media policy, social processes, the current state of implementation of existing strategies and programs, as well as practices aimed at effective prevention and reaction to incidents. The project will demonstrate the true scope of existing antisemitism and romophobia in Ukraine as well as make the problem visible both to the government and the public at large. It will focus on covering the facts and developing concrete and effective recommendations for various target groups that have real inflluence on solving the problem.

Tasks will include a detailed analysis of Ukrainian legislation aimed at counteracting discrimination and xenophobia, including discrimination against members of the Jewish and Roma communities; collection of materials on antisemitism, romophobia and the prevention of both; an in-depth secondary analysis of existing studies, strategies, projects and programs dealing with these issues; analysis of hate speech in the media; questionnaires and in-depth interviews with leaders and activists of the Jewish and Roma communities, as well as of experts, researchers, and representatives of field-specific NGOs.

The results of the monitoring will be used to develop recommendations for government bodies, law-enforcement bodies, educational institutions, NGOs, the media, the professional journalist community, human rights activists, and donor organizations. A preliminary discussion of the results of the monitoring program and the recommendations is to be held in September 2017. The discussion forums will be located in Lviv, Kharkiv and Kyiv, and will involve experts and community representatives. Feedback from these discussions will be taken into account to improve the recommendations, which will then be published in a final report, scheduled to be published in December 2017.

The project’s partners include the “Resonance” Regional Charity Foundation (Lviv) and the “Public Alternative” Kharkiv Oblast Foundation (Kharkiv). It is financially supported by the EVZ Foundation - Erinnerung, Verantwortgung, Zukunft (Germany) and is taking place in five countries simultaneously, including Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Lithuania.