Prohibition of discrimination and hate speech in the educational context in Serbia

Abstract

The right to education, as one of the rights inherent to all human beings, necessarily implies an educational process that takes place in an institution that does not tolerate discrimination or hate speech. During the previous decades, both at the European and global level, relevant standards have been established in order to obtain an educational system that adequately opposes the phenomenon of discrimination, while nurturing a climate and culture conducive to the full development of students' personal potential. Having in mind the importance of preventing discrimination and hate speech in educational context, the authors have conducted a study aimed at the comparative analysis of the international and Serbian anti-discriminatory regulatory framework in the educational settings. Normative-dogmatic and comparative methods have been applied, with the focus on the systematic interpretation of the meaning and content of the studied norms. The key results of the research indicate that the domestic national framework corresponds with the relevant international standards. However, national regulations, contrary to internationally accepted paradigms, do not pay adequate attention to the intercultural elements of the educational process, because they are focused on prohibitions and post festum interventions on discrimination and hate speech.