Working to secure the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples
Minority Rights Group International campaigns worldwide with around 130 partners in over 60 countries to ensure that disadvantaged minorities and indigenous peoples, often the poorest of the poor, can make their voices heard.
This information pack has been produced with the support of E4D.
With limited online reach the Roma National Council (RNV) had to approach this project more creatively.
RNV stated in their campaign plan, ‘it is our firm conviction that the campaign in order to be effective (according to different criteria) cannot be targeted at the general public. Changes in this conviction can only come about if we get partnership and support from some larger media organizations such as television with national frequency.’
This is because of RNV’s belief that the root cause of hate speech against Roma is formulated in news media and thus can only be solved via news media, focusing on a narrative of anti-fake news.
RNV proceeded to cooperate with popular TV programmes, Croatian news portals and the Nova Television Network to maximize the impact of their campaign.
Not only did this succeed in delivering their message to the online audience, but it also addressed the challenge of reaching non-internet users by interviewing people directly on the street, giving the project a physical presence amongst the population.
One of their most popular videos even features Miroslav Blažević, former coach of the Croatian national football team, who just happened to pass by at the time of filming (video in Croatian):
By using a classic street interviewing tactic, RNV managed to provide an insight into the Croatian public’s thinking on discrimination and racism against Roma people. By using these interviews and persuading popular TV channels to collaborate with them, they managed to transcend their limited social media following and reach a wide audience across Croatia.
Having a high profile person speaking out about the issue, such as the former coach of the national football team, also helped RNV to reach audiences their message would not normally reach.
