IOM Bulgaria, in partnership with the Association of European Journalists - Bulgaria (AEJ-Bulgaria), the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Multi Kulti Collective (MKC) organized a seminar on "Migration and Refugees - Media Coverage and Prevention of Hate Speech". The event took place on June 23 in Serdika Hall of Sofia Hotel Balkan. 

The moderator of the event was Maria Cheresheva from AEJ-Bulgaria, and among the attendees were journalists from the country, a representative of the State Agency for Refugees (SAR), representatives of non-governmental organizations dealing with migration and refugees, as well as guests from the US and Swiss embassies.  

At the beginning of the event Daniela Sinobradska from SAR gave an introductory speech and Maria Cheresheva (AEJ-Bulgaria) presented the agenda and topics of the upcoming presentations and discussions. 

Iva Parcaleva from UNHCR reviewed the current situation with refugees in Bulgaria and presented up-to-date statistics. Subsequently, lawyer Diana Radoslavova (Voice in Bulgaria Center for Legal Aid) introduced the participants to the peculiarities of refugee terminology and, through practical examples, emphasized how sound knowledge and understanding of specific definitions and terminology is essential for impartial and accurate coverage of topics and events related to migration and refugees. 

During the subsequent discussion panel, the representatives of the non-governmental sector working in the field presented and proposed for discussion the problems, challenges and solutions on issues of migration and refugees. Taking part on the panel were Ana Raykova - IOM Bulgaria, Iva Parcaleva - UNHCR, Bistra Ivanova - MKC, Ivan Cheresharov - Caritas Sofia and Anna Velikova - a refugee from Ukraine, activist and social worker. All attendees had the opportunity to actively participate in the discussion with questions and examples from their own practice and experience in the field. 

After the lunch break, the chairperson of AEJ-Bulgaria Irina Nedeva presented to the participants, using concrete examples, the professional, ethical and purely human aspects of the journalistic work in the coverage in the media of the issues related to migration and refugees in Bulgaria. 

The theme for the finale of the event was hate speech. Bistra Ivanova from MKC acquainted the attendees with the legal framework in Bulgaria, and Maria Cheresheva from AEJ Bulgaria suggested for discussion specific cases from the journalistic practice in Bulgaria. What followed was a full-bodied discussion, in which all participants had the chance to express their views and ideas for building an adequate journalistic approach and improving the overall media environment in the country on topics related to migration, refugees and vulnerable groups. 

This event was organised within the framework of the project "Raising the awareness of Bulgarian society and migrant communities in Bulgaria", funded by the National Programme of Bulgaria under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund 2014-2020.