For a second the possibility of having the Mediation Commission composed only by one person, Damien Latacz, seemed to be reality. Although it would have been fun to imagine him arguing with himself on the Mediation Commission cases, luckily one more person stepped up. The Mediation Commission 2016-2017 is now composed by Damien Latacz and Petra Burusz. He is a polar bear from AEGEE-Aachen (and also Düsseldorf and Hamburg!). French with an engineering soul, he is in his second term as the President of Mediation Commission and he enjoys cooking, hiking and reading. Petra Burusz is a Sociology and Social Psychology student and she is writing her thesis on AEGEE. Unable to spend more than one week in her home country Hungary (she is a member of AEGEE-Budapest), because she is addicted to travelling. They work closely also with the President of the Juridical Commission, Monika Mojak (AEGEE-Lublin) and CD observer, Maarten de Groot (AEGEE-Amsterdam). What is the Mediation Commission? What do they do? We asked them these questions and much more. 

The AEGEEan: First of all, Damien, why did you decide to run for a second term?
Damien: On a personal level, I really like working in the MedCom. It is challenging, but we take our time to provide convenient help to people. I just like it. And there were still some projects and ideas I wanted to work on.

For Petra, why did you decide to run for the Commission? And why only during the Agora?
Petra: I would say the decisions are the best. Honestly, I climbed up in the ladder at the local level, but I thought I needed more challenge. According to my studies as well, I am pretty interested in solving problems, and there was the Open Call for the MedCom during the Agora. So I just made the puzzle.

Let’s pretend to explain what the Medcom is and what it does to a child. How would you describe your commission?
Damien: When two people are fighting and cannot find a solution alone, they ask us for help. We check that they both respected the rules, we talk to them until we understand them both and we try to make them understand each other. At some point, we have an understanding together and they can both continue working happily, without frustrations. That is basically what we do, at a different level of difficulty! Is that easy enough?
Petra: Imagine there is just one bar of chocolate for five children. These five children are yelling at each other, one becomes aggressive to get the whole bar of chocolate, one of them even hits the other one, a child tells this to the teacher and then the MedCom comes and speaks with all the five children separately and have conversations till they are able to find a solution that is good or acceptable according to their rules as well.

How did the Knowledge Transfer go?

Petra: Right after the elections at the Agora Chisinau we had the last dinner together with the old MedCom and the new MedCom team, and I got to know everything, really everything. First, I thought that there was too much information, but everyone was so kind and helpful to me, and all my doubts flew away. Later on, of course via Skype, we looked up everything step by step. And Damien is there to answer my questions when I need it.

What will the focus of this year be for the Medcom?
Damien: As we are working with only half a team, we had to make choices… So we will continue helping the implementation of the Data Privacy Policy Statement (the Committees are next for Enschede!), we will continue providing support to people asking for our help. We will try to give some workshops and increase the knowledge of the network. But this is already too much for only two people!

How important is the concept of the Mediation, the Conflict Management and the Conflict Resolution in AEGEE?
Damien: I think people underestimate how difficult it can be. Sure, we learn about multicultural communication, etc, but we should go one step further by trying to actively improve ourselves on these topics. I have seen conflict (at least to a small degree) in every team so far in AEGEE. Even if it is not giving damage most of the time, we do not pay enough attention to it in my opinion. It could make us much happier and much better people.
Petra: So many times we are not just able to recognise what the original problem behind is. We can be able to make something differently because the impatient world does not let us stop for a while and think through rationally. Often misunderstanding creates several issues as well and we are just making a mountain out of a molehill. So the mediation and the conflict management lead us to solve the problem and get the point out of it. It is important in AEGEE and in our personal life as well.

What is the typical week for a Medcom Member?

Petra: Our week is from Monday through Sunday. We are both studying and working as well but when we receive a mail, we start dealing with it as soon as possible. But those e-mails are literally unexpected so you never know. Our schedule is also flexible because of it. Furthermore, this year we are trying to attend more events and training so we wake the interest up about this field.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

As any experienced AEGEE member might know, the Mediation Commission (MedCom) of AEGEE-Europe, besides mediating in disputes within our network, also acts as an ombudsman when it comes to data privacy. As for many people this might seem quite faraway from their daily AEGEE life and perspectives, or it might be difficult to grasp all the technical details of it, we thought it is time to explain the most recent ins-and-outs regarding data privacy in AEGEE, and finally explain what it means for YOU. For this we will let our readers ask some questions to the Medcom!
Agora Patra: data privacy statement
During Spring Agora Patra in 2014, we modified the “Data Privacy Policy Statement” – from this point referred to as DPPS – which was first adopted at Spring Agora Alicante in 2011. The purpose of this statement was to secure the right to privacy of AEGEE members with regard to the gathering and automatic processing of personal data relating to them, and information and all relevant data about the Association, its work and its members. Certainly in nowadays situation, with a lot of AEGEE work being done by online means and a lot of different data being stored this way, it is of the utmost importance to secure this. The statement outlined that all data should from that point on be classified in different categories:
– External data or data accessible for all;
– Internal data or data accessible only for AEGEE members (subject to exceptions granted by the ombudsman);
– Internal confidential data or data accessible only for certain AEGEE members holding an official position in the Association and responsible for information which they deal with and/or have access to for as long their term lasts.

Besides this, it was agreed that all data and AEGEE work shall be stored and presented through certain official tools meant for storing and spreading information accordingly. A list of approved data communication tools and a separate list of data storage tools according to the levels of protection would be made by the MedCom as the ombudsman for data privacy.

Implementing the data privacy statement
Since Agora Patra, the MedCom has worked to implement all aspects of the data privacy statement. It has started a big research, contacting all AEGEE bodies to find out exactly what kind of data is being used by different bodies, and what possible privacy risks could there be. This way, it would be possible for the MedCom to ensure the best possible compliance with the policy from all affected bodies and individuals. At the last Agora in Asturias, the MedCom finally came up with an annex to the data privacy policy statement, which was presented to the Network. To explain in a simple way, it basically consists out of three parts:

The first part categorises all data in the categories of external, internal or internal confidential data. For example, the Corpus Iuridicum Aegeense (CIA) is also available for externals, activity plans are internal data, but financial reports of locals are internal confidential data (avaliable only for the audit and the Financial Director of AEGEE-Europe). The second part, consists of approved communication tools according to the types of data. For example, The AEGEEan is for external use, so any data labelled “for internal use only” should not be communicated through The AEGEEan. The third part, lists which data storage tools are allowed for what kind of data. Of course, the demands that are set for internal confidential matters are much higher than those for external data.
For those who want to read the full annex with all listed types of data, you can view it here.

Right now, the MedCom is working on the last details analysing all data streams, and fully implementing all findings according to the DPPS and the DPPS annex. Of course, as always, this can only be done with the full cooperation of the network. So far, European bodies have all helped out listing the different types of data they touch. But in the next few months, more help is needed, mainly in the form of your awareness towards data privacy as a whole, and to the specifics being implemented.

As this is a case that concerns every AEGEE member, we let some active AEGEE members ask some (anonymous) questions.

Do you think the members actually care how their data is stored?
MedCom: Well, as the Agora approved the Data Privacy Policy Statement, it means they do care about it. Besides that, in nowadays society, we can clearly see a rising awareness towards our own privacy. For example, how many of you have friends on Facebook who made anonymous profile names, or to a lesser extent in guarding privacy, make sure to only make posts and pictures available towards friends, and not public? So if you do care about your privacy using tools like Facebook, we are sure our members also care about the privacy of their AEGEE data – even if it might seem harder to grasp than your Facebook privacy.

Do you encrypt every file in the mediation commission?
In the future, according to the DPPS, all data marked as internal confidential will be encrypted. But we have yet to work on how to implement this.

What does this mean for the locals?
For the locals, not so much will change, as the DPPS outlines data within AEGEE-Europe, thus it mainly affects European bodies that have to abide by it. Every local can have their own power how they regulate their own data towards the public and their members, only when it concerns official AEGEE communications and data, every local (and individual AEGEE member) should follow the guidelines being set. But it also works the other way around in this: any information a local has to send to AEGEE-Europe will now be classified in a certain way protecting the privacy of the data of your local. For example, the financial report your local has to send will be marked as “internal confidential” data only visible for the Financial Director and the audit, and not for anyone else!

On a final note, we would like to thank everyone for their cooperation regarding data privacy, and would like to note we are always open towards any input or questions you might have – you can email us at medcom@aegee.org!

Written by the Mediation Commission

You can follow the discussion on the DPPS on the forum here.