IOM has launched a new campaign in Ukraine aimed at encouraging youth to overcome prejudices and stereotypes and to be more open in accepting people of other cultures.

With the message "We have more in common than we think; the colour of our skin doesn’t matter", the campaign has kicked off with the showing of three TV spots on MTV-Ukraine and the release of a song called "We are all neighbours" by popular Ukrainian singer and guitarist, Pavlo Gudimov.

The campaign, broadcast on national TV and radio, is complemented by a series of "Living Library" events, where real people, representatives of minorities and foreigners in Ukraine, act as "live books" and talk to "readers"-students of secondary schools-about their lives and experiences as a way of breaking down perceptual barriers. Among the "live books" participants is Canadian Ambassador to Ukraine, Daniel Caron, whose embassy has helped fund the campaign.

"We believe that prejudices and stereotypes can be overcome through cross cultural friendships. This is why we often work with high school and university students," says Jeff Labovitz, IOM Chief of Mission in Ukraine and co-chair of the Diversity Initiative (DI), a network of organizations working to promote the dignity and well-being of migrants, refugees and minorities in Ukraine.

IOM, UNHCR and Amnesty International established the initiative in 2007 in response to an unprecedented increase in the number of suspected racially motivated attacks. It began as an information coordination mechanism and gradually developed into the current partnership of 50 organizations from the international, civil, corporate, government and diplomatic sectors that today primarily focus on developing intercultural dialogue in Ukraine.

Videos, posters and a ring tone version of the song can be downloaded from the IOM country mission’s web-site: http://iom.org.ua/index.php?page=video for distribution among friends and school mates.

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