The conference was attended by representatives of immigrant groups, foreign collaborating missions, health care providers as well as excellent collaborators from the academic and journalistic fields .

The Norwegian Ambassador, Mr. Sjur Larsen, as the Embassy in Greece is a central supporter of the Institute’s campaign against xenophobia an d rasism.

The President of the Institute Mr. Kounas Theodoros explained that The “Youth Leadership – The Exelixis Institute” aims to mobilize the new generation of leaders, to involve young people and to create a network of partners between young and future leaders from different social sectors and with a variety of political visions through designed programs.

For his part, Mr. Dimitris Anastasopoulos, Lawyer - President of the Union of Greek Lawers e-Themis - "Anti-racism legislation and cyberbullying", accurately described both the European and the Greek legislative framework covering the issues of racism and cyber violence. He pointed out that there are still several initiatives left by the Greek legislator to create a society with equality, solidarity and respect for diversity.

Mr. George Kypraios, Assistant Professor of the University of Peloponnese, referred to cases of racist behavior in the field of sports worldwide, emphasizing the debt that our country has as a "mother" of noble rivalry to pioneer in favor of combating discrimination.

Also Dr. Stamatis Poulakidakos, analyzed the attitude of the Greek media towards the incidents of racist behavior, such as, for example, the extent they gave to the issue as well as the commentary made by Greek journalists. He particularly pointed that the media with their communication management have the power to greatly influence public opinion, often intensifying xenophobia.

Also, Mr. Pavlos Papathanassiou, Journalist - Correspondent developed how xenophobia is transmitted in the Europe of the crisis. As he said, among other things, "the issues of racism and xenophobia are interrelated with the issues of protection of national, religious and other minorities, because if the homeland of each of us is our home, then the minorities are our roommates and immigrants are our guests.. According to this logic, if we have not accepted our roommates, it will be almost impossible to accept our guests. Mr. Papathanassiou explained the reasons for the rise of xenophobic parties in Europe while at the same time underlining the great responsibility of the media in terms of combating racism, calling for: a) the establishment of an independent observatory for media hate speech, b) legislation for the operation of websites and c) the promotion of programs to achieve the familiarization of Greek society with the image of the other ".

The President of the Cultural Association of Greece-Pakistan, Syed Mohammad Jamil and Mr. Emmanuelle, President of the Nigerian Diaspora of Greece also spoke at the event, thanking their "second home" for the hospitality and expressing their support for the Greek people who are being tested.

From the Press and Communication Office