Approach

If you contact us, we will usually arrange an in-person meetup. We have a room available where we can have confidential conversations. We can go there, but if you prefer to talk somewhere else, that is also possible. Of course, you can also come to us with an accompanying person.

You can recognize us by our bright purple badges.

During the conversation, we usually start by asking you what has happened and what you need right now. You may already have specific ideas about what we can do. Depending on what you want, we can, for example:

• offer you a quiet space where you can retreat (alone or with us) and process what you have experienced.
• contact your friends and acquaintances.
• try to clarify a stressful situation (as far as possible) (e.g. also by trying to explain to transgressors why their actions were transgressive).
• try to find out together with you what could help you best.
• come along and mediate in conflict situations at the event.
• accompany you to the arbitration board if you decide to seek arbitration.

It is always up to you to decide what is best for you - we will not do anything without your consent. It’s okay if you don’t want to or can’t talk about something. Any reaction, whether sadness, anger, despair, speechlessness, … is okay.

If you don’t feel comfortable with the team you are in contact with - or with one of the two people on the team - you can definitely say so. One of our standards is that we always work in pairs where possible. We then try to find another person - or two. This also applies if you know a person and therefore don’t want them to be there.

Cooperation with security, CERT, c3auti #

We work closely with the CrewCrew - the FLINTA security team - and the CERT medical and fire emergency response team, as well as with c3auti and the accessibility team. This means that we can also call in a person from one of these teams if necessary. We are also happy to accompany you to CERT or c3auti if you wish. Or meet with the current CrewCrew shift so that you can get an idea of who to call in an emergency.

Exclusion from the event #

We cannot decide whether a person should be expelled from the event or anything similar. This is often the case with other awareness teams. For Congress and Camp there is an arbitration board for this. If you want a person to be excluded from the event (or to stop approaching you), the arbitration board is responsible. We will be happy to accompany you or help you prepare your discussion with the arbitration board. You can find more information about the procedure at help.ccc.de. We will support you regardless of whether the arbitration board is the right point of contact for your concerns. For example, we can work with you to find other ways to make you feel safer at the event.

The Arbitration Board was created a few years ago as the result of a lengthy internal discussion and development process. Our attitudes and perspectives differ at various points, but we also recognize similar problems and gaps. We described these, for example, at 37C3 in the joint talk. There are currently no good processes or structures for situations in which an exclusion could be appropriate but the arbitration board is not the right point of contact. In order to develop these, we are involved in the development of new processes.