The Centre for Monitoring and Research CeMI organized a two-day training entitled "Information Society and Digital Literacy: Training on the Protection of Rights in the Online Space", on June 28 and 29, 2022, at the Hotel "Bianca" in Kolašin.

With the development of technology and online media, we are witnessing the increasingly frequent occurrence of hate speech and online violence. This phenomenon affects all members of society, and women have been a special target in recent years, who are often the focus of hate speech and inappropriate comments on the Internet and social networks. In suppressing these phenomena, it is first necessary to raise awareness about their existence and peculiarities, and the aim of this training is to educate women about digital security and rights, forms of violence caused by the development of new technologies and mechanisms for protecting rights in the online space.

This training is a new education module and a continuation of the previously successfully conducted training organized by CeMI, during which more than 50 women from political and public life, state authorities and institutions, the NGO sector, the media, academia, were educated on the topic of gender-based misinformation and online violence against women in politics in Montenegro. You can find more about the held training here.

The program director of CeMI, Mrs. Teodora Gilić gave an introduction to the issue of digital gender-based hate speech and violence, while the lecturers were Mr. Jakša Backović, head of the High-Tech Crime Prevention Group of the Department for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption, Police Administration of Montenegro, and Mrs. Nerma Dobardžić, Deputy Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms of Montenegro.

The two-day training was divided into four sessions. The first two training sessions enabled the participants to become familiar with the concept of digital security and types of online violence, as well as international standards and best practices in the field of rights protection in the digital space. The final sessions were dedicated to discrimination on the Internet and social networks, with a special focus on gender-based hate speech and violence in Montenegro, and how to react if such cases occur.

The participants in the training were representatives of political parties, state bodies and NGOs.

The training was organized within the project "A step towards gender equality: Combating digital gender-based hate speech and violence", which is financially supported by the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights.