This training was hosted at the London Headquarters of Amnesty International.

We aimed to work with people who are working with refugees and who are concerned with exposure to online hate speech.

Through Solidarity With Refugees, we were able to bring together a large group of professionals working in a variety of different roles and organisations, all of them supporting refugees and asylum seekers.

The training element of the meeting was delivered by Arun Devasia of Hope Not Hate, based on his Difficult Conversations  suite of training. This training is to help individuals develop techniques for engaging with hateful discourse:

• People who have formed irrational views based on emotive factors are unlikely to shift their thinking when presented with rational arguments. Instead, Difficult Conversations provides you with techniques for engaging with individuals using a combination of empathetic listening and Socratic questioning, proven to be "particularly effective in persuading people to change their thinking." 
• For an article on the principles behind Arun's training, click here: http://charity.hopenothate.org.uk/blog/the-secret-to-having-difficult-conversations-5220       

Difficult Conversations was originally developed for face-to-face conversations, but Arun adapted the training to be relevant to online interactions.

Arun will be developing an online tool based on his training which can be share electronically.

The training is part of Coalition of Positive Messengers to Counter Online Hate Speech and was in partnership with Hope Not Hate and Solidarity With Refugees.