The Regional Director for Youth announced in Ponta Delgada that the Government of the Azores will move forward with a new programme to combat discrimination.
Lúcio Rodrigues spoke Monday at the end of the "Before You Discriminate Me, Know Me" campaign, an initiative also supported by the Regional Directorates for Social Solidarity and Education.
"This campaign has reached more than 64 thousand young people from the nine islands of the Azores during its six years of implementation," Lúcio Rodrigues said, adding that "the acquired skills and experiences should be used as tools to combat all types of discrimination."
In this regard, the government official added that a new project is under preparation to be implemented in the first quarter of 2019."
The Regional Director emphasised that, "although these efforts will be carried out on, they will take a different shape, with young people being the main partners."
Lúcio Rodrigues highlighted the importance of young people and children in "passing on a message to combat multi-discrimination, all kinds of violence and bullying."
"While there is a person suffering from discrimination, the work is not done," the government official said, considering that "it is necessary to value those who, in recent years, had the courage to leave the anonymity in order to raise the awareness for this social problem."
According to the Regional Director for Youth, it is the "courage of these people that stimulates us to continue this work, naturally through new ways, because society is constantly changing."
The "Before You Discriminate Me, Know Me" campaign, now concluded, highlighted the importance of implementing dynamic awareness-raising activities against all forms of discrimination, domestic violence and bullying in the archipelago of the Azores.
The initiative was developed in a partnership between Novo Dia - Association for Social Inclusion with the Regional Government of the Azores, through the Regional Directorate for Youth.