PRESTIGIOUS AWARD FOR ‘NEVER AGAIN’ AT ANTI-CYBER HATE SUMMIT

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association has been awarded the prestigious Ronald Eissens and Suzette Bronkhorst Award for ‘exceptional work in combating online hate and promoting human rights’.

The award commemorates Ronald Eissens and Suzette Bronkhorst who were pioneers in the struggle against online hate speech, founders of the Magenta Foundation, the Dutch complaints bureau for discrimination on Internet (MDI), and the International Network Against Cyber Hate (INACH) in 2002. The first award went to Jean-Hubert Bondo and his organization Africa Sans Haine (Africa Without Hate) from the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2021.

– ‘Your long-standing efforts to fight antisemitism, racism, and xenophobia through education and advocacy have been truly remarkable. The NEVER AGAIN Association’s impact in Poland and globally, especially through initiatives promoting tolerance and peace, has made a significant difference in the fight for human dignity’ – wrote Brieuc-Yves Mellouki Cadat-Lampe, the chair of the Magenta Foundation and chair of the Award Jury, in his letter to the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association.

The award ceremony took place during the INACH’s Anti-Cyber Hate Summit on Artificial Intelligence and the Changing Legal Climate held in Budapest, Hungary on 27 September 2024. The award was presented by Panayote Dimitras, the 2023 laureate, a veteran human rights activist and founder of the Greek Helsinki Monitor. This year’s award was shared by the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association and Fighting Online Antisemitism (FOA), an organization dedicated to combating rising online antisemitism.

-‘It is a real honour for us to be awarded the prize named after Ronald and Suzette. For more than two decades, their commitment and passion in the struggle against hate speech has had a major impact on the activity of the NEVER AGAIN Association’ – said Rafal Pankowski, ‘NEVER AGAIN’s cofounder, during the ceremony.

In September 2024, ‘NEVER AGAIN’ published its most recent report ‘The Twitter Standards of Hate’ about the prevalence of hate speech on Elon Musk’s platform. In the same month, the activities and experiences of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association were presented by Rafal Pankowski during the International Workshop on Right-Wing Extremism organized by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Project on Countering the Far Right and Nueva Sociedad in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an independent civil society organization founded in Warsaw in 1996. It has campaigned against discrimination, racism and xenophobia both in Poland and internationally. It has actively participated in civil society networks, including the Global Alliance Against Digital Hate and Extremism (GAADHE), the International Network Against Cyber Hate (INACH) and the Alliance Against Genocide. It takes part in international projects to counter hate speech, Get The Trolls Out and SafeNet: Monitoring and Reporting for Safer Online Environments.

For more information:

www.neveragainassociation.org

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