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data quality en News Projects

Launch of DATA EQUALITY, a project that will fight against discrimination based on data

DATA EQUALITY, a European project that seeks to join forces to combat data-based discrimination, was launched at an online event on 20 September. The Euro-Arab Foundation, together with the Court of Appeal of Venice (coordinator of the project), the Agenfor International Foundation, the Municipality of Murcia, Kentro Merimnas Oikogeneaias Kai Paidiou, Hellenic Police, Keshilli i Larte i Prokurorise, Associazione Nazionale Comuni Italiani Emilia Romagna and Kentro Meleton Asfaleias, will develop a common methodology that will allow different actors to cooperate in the identification and prevention of this problem.

The project targets professionals active in the collection, analysis, use and dissemination of data belonging to the two macro-sectors on which the project focuses: public authorities, in particular local law enforcement agencies and judicial bodies, and civil society organisations (CSOs).

The project will train law enforcement officials, judicial bodies as well as members of CSOs in the use of the new methodology, including its impartial OSINT component and in line with the EU General Data Protection Regulation. The students will come from the countries participating in the project: Greece, Italy, Spain and Albania.


The role of the Euro-Arab Foundation

The Euro-Arab Foundation will undertake the task of comprehensively assessing the current methodologies employed in the collection, management, analysis and dissemination of discrimination-related data. The aim is to identify the main shortcomings, omissions and existing demands, as well as best practices to be incorporated into a new methodology. It will also explore the possibilities offered by artificial intelligence and open source tools (OSINT) to detect inherent biases in data.

This will require cooperation between public and private bodies, in particular between CSOs and local and judicial authorities, as well as surveys and interviews with law enforcement and judicial professionals and civil society organisations to understand their perspectives, needs and challenges in relation to data collection, management, analysis and sharing.

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EN Hatedemics News Projects

The Euro-Arab Foundation in the meeting of the European Commission’s DG JUST

On 16 and 17 April, the European Commission is bringing together in Brussels the coordinators of projects funded by the Directorate-General for Justice (DG JUST), the department responsible for EU policies on justice, consumer rights and gender equality. The more than 100 people invited to the event will receive information on the new rules for funding and justification of expenditure, as well as guidelines for the quarterly review of each project to be submitted to the Commission.

The Euro-Arab Foundation’s Director of Research and International Projects, Javier Ruipérez, together with Euro-Arab researcher, Daniel Pérez, are participating in the event as coordinators of VicTory and as partners of the Data Equality project, both funded by DG JUST. The first one is focused on preventing discrimination in the use of data and the latter on improving the application of restorative justice for victims of hate and extremism.

In addition to the training sessions, the event serves as an opportunity for the different entities to develop synergies and establish contacts to create networks, which is essential in this type of projects focused on promoting cooperation between justice professionals, victim support workers, victims themselves, researchers and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs). Participants will also receive workshops on gender mainstreaming or how to include a gender perspective in all their work.

The meeting will also address the call of the CERV (Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values) programme which, together with the Justice programme, is part of the European Commission’s new Justice, Rights and Values funds. One of the projects funded by CERV is ReBel, of which the Euro-Arab Foundation is a member. It aims to foster social understanding of migrants and improve migration policies by working closely with migrant women. Another ongoing CERV project, in which the Foundation is involved, is HATEDEMICS, which aims to empower NGOs/CSOs, journalists, youth or public authorities against hate speech rooted in misinformation and targeting vulnerable groups.