Human Rights International

East and Southeast Europe – “Promoting Tolerance” – against hatred and antisemitism, for tolerance and human rights

After the fall of the Iron Curtain, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom and the American Jewish Committee jointly formed the “Promoting Tolerance” programme. After the decades-long separation of East and West, it was clear that people needed to be given opportunities to interact and exchange views and experiences.Since 1992, young political leaders from east and southeast Europe, as well as from the former Soviet states, have been meeting every year to
network, exchange information and learn about ways to fight for tolerance and against racism and xenophobia. Over the past 25 years, the annual workshops and study trips in Europe and the USA have brought together 320 participants from 25 countries. Many of them have become notable politicians and thought leaders in their countries.Rabbi Andrew Baker of the American Jewish Committee, one of the programme’s founding fathers, praised the successful partnership with the Friedrich
Naumann Foundation for Freedom. “We have achieved a lot since the programme’s inception 25 years ago, as shown by the prominent positions many alumni hold in society. As thought leaders, they play an important role in their respective countries.”Although the beginnings of the programme filled many participants with hope, recent democratic and legal crises in Poland and Hungary, as well as growing polarisation in many established European and American democracies, have given cause for concern and mean that the programme is now more important than ever.