For the Equal Rights Working Group Coordinator we have Viola Bianchetti from AEGEE-Heidelberg as a candidate. She is a person that sees a bright future for this WG, has some well defined plans already in mind and is passionate about it. Below, you can read why she wants to be the coordinator for the Equal Rights WG.

The AEGEEan: Viola, can you describe yourself in five words?

Viola: Curious, passionate, diligent, sincere, AEGEE-addicted.

Why do you think that this position fits you best and how will the knowledge that you gathered in your AEGEE and non-AEGEE experience help you in coordinating this Working Group?

In my view, a good Working Group Coordinator should master project as well as team management skills. I see the Coordinator as the person who should guide the activities of the Working Group, ensure efficiency and performance, but also build a healthy and productive team environment. I developed the first set of skills starting from my European Voluntary Service in the field of project management, and then inside the Your Vision for EUrope project. On the other hand, I acquired good team management skills while I was responsible for the photoblog Faces of Europe, where I had to coordinate a large number of team members and reporters. In regard to my knowledge about the topic, a Bachelor in Political Science and a Master (in progress) in Politics and Economics of South Asia provided me with a very good understanding of issues related to equal rights, not only in Europe but in a global perspective.

In your programme you mentioned that “Working Group could cooperate with AEGEE projects”. How exactly do you see this for the Equal Rights Working Group?

The most obvious example is Summer University: the ERWG could provide content to locals willing to organise a SU with a focus on equality and non-discrimination. I would also love to collaborate with the next edition of Europe on Track, which could be dedicated to the topic of equal rights, in its broader sense. Also, in case a new Yvote Project would be launched, the ERWG could cooperate on a conference on gender equality and/or LGBT+ rights in Europe.

How do you think that you will manage to engage locals in organising events related to Equal Rights Working Group?

First of all, I believe there is a general interest in the topic over the Network (otherwise the Interest Groups wouldn’t be so active and the Focus Area wouldn’t have been approved). I don’t think my task is that of forcing locals to organise events on a certain issue, but rather to empower them to do so if they want to. Nevertheless, I think some points are important:

a. Give visibility to the ERWG (e.g. during NWMs and Statutory Events, but also online, with an active Facebook page).

b. Inform locals about specific events or initiatives related to equal rights in their city or region, where they could participate or also cooperate.

c. Provide content for the locals, ranging from small workshops and fun activities which can be integrated in local trainings or events, to content support for conferences or bigger events. For the latter, involve also European partners to ensure high quality.

d. Help locals develop partnerships in their cities with associations dealing with discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation, nationality and race (within the limits of the geographical and linguistic competences of myself and my team).

How do you see the evolution of the Gender Equality Interest Group and LGBT+ Interest Group in relation with the Equal Rights Working Group?

In my understanding, the Interest Groups have different aims and objectives than the Working Group, and they should not change their nature but just start cooperating with a new actor, i.e. the Working Group. The Interest Groups have the task of fostering discussion and of keeping our Network informed and aware, being in this respect an important ally of the Working Group. Interest Groups and Working Group could promote each other, pool resources (e.g. workshop outlines and toolkits), cooperate on specific initiatives, and in short form an alliance which would benefit both.

What will be the first thing that you will do in case you get elected?

Start recruiting the team!

Tell us the most relevant aspects of your candidature and why should people vote for you.

The two main points of my programme are: focusing on internal education and making the most out of internal and external opportunities. Concerning the first point, as the Focus Area and the Working Group are new, I would like to concentrate on informing our members and raising awareness about the topic. Concerning the second point, I think I have a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of thematic work in AEGEE, and I can take advantage of the former and minimise the latter. On the one hand, it is important to cooperate with other AEGEE bodies and truly involve the whole organisation in this Focus Area. On the other hand, we need to reach out to external partners in order to educate ourselves, obtain (training) resources and gain more visibility. Only with the help of other NGOs committed to equal rights we can achieve a high quality level in our activities.

You can read her full candidature here.

Written by Raluca Radu, AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca

One of the four points of Strategic plan 2014-2017 is the Youth Employment, and with the Working Group reform passed during Spring Agora Asturias 2015, there is a specific body dealing with it: the Youth Employment Working Group. The group right now consists of five active members and several supporters, the first generation of working groups. We talked with Kristóf Papp, YEWG coordinator, and he spoke about the work they have done so far and their future project. 

The AEGEEan: What are the main aims and tasks of YEWG? Who are the members?

Kristóf: The YEWG is working hard on fulfilling the Action Agenda 2015/2016 and providing members and locals with the essential toolkits and knowledge for organising events related to the Youth Employment with a special focus on job-seeking and entrepreneurial skills. We also aim to organise an advocacy event to help the dialogue between the young people, decision-makers and actors involved such as universities and employers. Sebastiaan Rood is the Policy Officer on Youth Employment who is responsible for the realisation of the event. I, Kristóf Papp, am the Working Group Coordinator. Our job is supported by excellent members such as Kateryna Radochyn, Theodora Giakoumelou and Jorge Sánchez Hernández.

 How do you feel, considering your Working Group was born a little time ago and it was your turn to break the ice?

It is a great honor, but also a huge responsibility with a heavy burden. The system is not perfect yet, there are barriers that we have to overcome and some problems we or the future generations will have to tackle. However, I must admit the idea behind the Working Groups is great. These think-tanks can operate perfectly in the future with the proper amount of resources and a working supporting structure. Something candidates for Comité Directeur should also keep in mind![he winks, ed.]

What kind of work do the Policy Officer and the Coordinator do?

The Coordinator supports the work of the Working Group, coordinates its every day work, the distribution of the tasks and ensure the communication within the Working Group, and also between the Working Group and the external bodies, such as the CD. The Policy Officer is an essential part of the Working Group. His tasks are to monitor the external and internal news related to youth employment; to inform the Network about the external happenings related to youth employment and start discussions about it within the Network; gather the opinion of the Network, and based on that, to develop policy and position papers.

 Do you help Antennas with organising any Summer University?

None of the locals has approached us asking for help organising SUs, yet.

  What is your idea of Youth Employment?

Youth Employment is a complex question and personally I don’t think there is enough space here to answer your question, specially since I wrote a thesis on the topic [he smiles, ed.] To narrow it down, the Youth Employment can be tackled only by a strong cooperation between the education providers, the employers, the decision makers and the young people.

    How can you get involved in YEWG? How can an AEGEE member contribute?

We welcome all the feedbacks and initiatives. We encourage everyone to express their opinions on the Action Agenda 2016/17 on the Forum. Also, if any of the members wish to contact us, feel free to write to me from kristof.papp@aegee.org. 

    Which are the activities you have carried on until today?

Most of activities so far have covered representation on the statutory events, and other local events. It has also been a huge task for us to establish the Working Group with a full membership and tackle the problems coming from operation.

What are your future plans?

As I’ve mentioned, we are going to organise a conference on youth employment with the contribution of different related actors. We are also encouraging the locals to organise similar advocacy events, and if they need any support or material, please approach us. One of our other tasks is to recruit new members for the Working Group, so if you feel the eager to get involved, step up!

Do you have a Facebook or Twitter page in order to follow your work?

Not yet, but we really hope it will be launched soon.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

The Civic Education Working Group is a team that deals with all the plans of AEGEE’s Action Agenda related to Civic Edication, such as being present in Network Meetings and defining AEGEE’s position on civic education for the policy paper. We have spoken with Joanna Pankowska, who told us about the main aims and tasks of her Working Group and how an AEGEE member can get involved in CEWG.

 
The Civic Education Working Group (CEWG) has got the same aim as that of AEGEE in general, namely achieving the objectives of the Action Agenda. Its Focus Area is a bit more tricky because the members have two big aims (in opposition to one for each of the other Working Groups). One of their aims is focused on the non-formal aspect of civic education and particularly AEGEEans, while the other one is about formal education and so trying to lobby for more civic education in schools. In order to achieve it the CEWG has to convince politicians it’s a good idea.
The team consists of six members (Andrea, David, Joanna, Jorge, Paul and Sien) who started working in August and will finish their term next year in August. Also, a task force is working on starting the European Citizens’ Initiative.

This team consists of ten people (Domen, Esther, Joanna, Kabir, Matthijs, Pablo, Paul, Richard, Stefania and Tessa) and their work will surpass the term of the working group. In the Working Group there are also the Policy Officer and the Coordinator. The Policy Officer, Jorge, supports their work in many aspects (often with his academic knowledge) but he focuses his energy mostly on policy work. Very soon he will release the survey which will be the basis for the policy paper on civic education which will be voted during the Agora Bergamo. Paul coordinates their work, but he is also the representative towards external partners, besides being the IT amateur-expert when it comes to ECI servers.

The main subject of the Working Group, Civic Education, includes gainig the competencies, i.e. skills, knowledge and attitudes, required to be an active, democratic and responsible citizen. Its ultimate goal is to educate the population on democratic citizenship and make them aware of their rights and responsibilities, but this is a very Eurocentric definition and civic education can have many other meanings in different parts of the world. Joanna appreciates the challenge of being the first generation of Working Groups in the new format. “The framework developed by previous Comité Directeur was quite clear and it did not cost us much time to figure out our place in the organisation. But, because we do not want to be the new kids in the block, getting much attention now but being forgotten very soon, we put extra effort in making sure that there will be a next generation of Working Group members”.

About the contribution in organising SUs, Joanna says: “We did actively seek locals willing to cooperate with us in organising a SU that matters. Many emails and informal talks later we have ten locals who are formally cooperating with us and with which we are in touch, but the total of the locals which chose one of the four topics (Human Rights, Environmental Sustainability, Active Citizenship, or Intercultural Communication) is 19! It is still too early to open up the champagne because we still have to make sure that the topics are to be properly executed during the Summer University but we think it is safe to say that the ten percent will be more than achieved. Note that the content of Summer University “Get Civic, Get Educated” in Warszawa will be 100% done by us and is a perfect place to be for future working group members”.

Paul Smits’ Working Group choose a “C” with an hand as official symbol but there was not a real reason for that choice. The idea was to look for something that symbolises active, democratic and responsible citizen and raising the hands is a good start. The logo has been created by Gerardo García Díaz.
Every AEGEE member can get involved in CEWG by signing up for its monthly newsletter to stay updated with all the possibilities to contribute, like organising a discussion about civic education matters in their local. In some of the NWMs, there will be a session about civic education. Every person can also fill in and help to distribute the survey for the policy paper. Moreover, everybody can also participate in the online discussion which we organise regularly in Skype or Google Hangouts. But the best possible way is to candidate for the next CEWG coordinator position on the upcoming Agora or to apply as a member of the WG around next June.

Written by Matteo Lai, AEGEE-Cagliari.

On the weekend of the 23rd and 24th of January, Youth Mobility Working Group had a meeting in Brussels. They discussed their future activities and planned the next steps for the second half of their term, but most importantly, they bonded! The AEGEEan asked them what they have done so far and what they are preparing for the upcoming semester. Find out more below…

The AEGEEan: Who is in the team? What are their tasks?
Youth Mobility Working Group: The members of our team are directly connected to the objectives of our Focus Area, so we have: Natalia Ivleva (AEGEE-Voronezh), responsible for Objective 1 – Establishing and managing a group of visa supporters; Suzan Dilara Tokac (AEGEE-Eskişehir), responsible for Objective 2 – Training members on youth mobility programs and grant opportunities; Anastasiia Dzhulai (AEGEE-Kyïv), responsible for Objective 3 – Establishing long-term discount agreements with mobility service providers; and Lia Georgieva (AEGEE-Berlin) as the Public Relations responsible of our Working Group. The team is coordinated by Antonis Triantafyllakis and our appointed CD member is Maryana Semenyak.

What is each taskforce’s aim? Are there still open positions?
There is a taskforce required in order to fulfil each of our three objectives. In brief, the taskforce members will take care of researching visa issues and locals’ Erasmus+ applications, support us in writing guidelines for visa applications and applying for funds, provide info on national and international regulations and agreements, fundraise for travel discounts and more, all of which you can see in detail in our open calls here.
And, yes, the open calls will remain open for as long as taskforce members are needed, so… APPLY!
By the way, we’re also looking for a Policy Officer! So, if any AEGEEan feel they can present the opinion of the network on youth mobility with their awesome writing skills, here is where to look.

What have you done so far?
We’ve had a couple of open google hangouts on visa issues and Erasmus+, a cool workshop on Erasmus+ in NWM Kraków, an open session in NWM Berlin and very nice discussions during the workshop in Agora Kyïv. We have also started collaborating with various European bodies in AEGEE, gave the first tasks to our task force members (we need more people!) and, of course, have created a website and an active facebook page, but I think the future lies ahead of us!

What are your future plans? Any upcoming activities in the near future?
Too many to mention in just a few lines, but we are planning on collaborating with embassies as well as preparing detailed and easy-to-follow guidelines and infographics for visa and Erasmus+ applications, suggestions for the upcoming Action Agenda, a training course on Erasmus+, resources for easy travelling within Europe and beyond and big plans for collaborating with both European bodies of AEGEE and active AEGEEans! Of course we need more taskforce members to support us in the process, but be prepared to see a lot more of us in the second half of our term. See you at the EPM, Spring NWMs, Agora Bergamo and, generally, see you somewhere in Europe!

You just had a meeting in Brussels. Who was there? What did you discuss?
The whole team was there! That was the meeting where we basically developed a concrete, detailed plan in order to fulfil our objectives for the second half of our term, as described in the current Action Agenda, as well as our contributions to the next Action Agenda. Perhaps more importantly though, this meeting helped us get much closer to each other and develop this bond that is not only essential to keep the motivation in voluntary work such as ours, but also, as we’re developing strong international friendships, it is also a real life practice of what we aim for in AEGEE, our common vision for a borderless Europe!

Anything to add?
Many people might think that the refugee crisis, however important, is still something outside of us, where we should of course do our best to help, but it is not really affecting the inter-European relationships themselves. But take a look at borders being raised again in Europe, both physically, in the form of fences, and mentally, in the form of the Schengen zone being suspended, border controls being re-instated and visa requirements put in place of visa-free regimes, like Russia and Turkey and you may perceive that AEGEE’s vision of a borderless Europe might be at stake… Come to our workshop at the EPM and we can have a fruitful discussion about that.

Written by Lia Tuska, AEGEE-Kastoria/Sofia

What happens if you are LGBT and you live or you decide to visit Russia? In both cases you may end up in jail! If you are a visitor you may be in jail for two weeks and then you will be deported!

Putin and Kremlin believe that the youngsters must be protected from “bad” homosexuality so they banned any “homosexual” behavior inside the country. Last year, Moscow’s Top Court banned Gay Pride for a hundred years. According to the Russian LGBT Network, homophobic violence increased after the Russian anti-gay law passed, because the attackers are not afraid of legal reprisals. These attacks are mostly motivated by right-wing activists. All of this is happening while Russia prepares the Winter Olympics 2014 in Sochi where many LGBT people are expected to arrive, among them are athletes, officials, volunteers and visitors.

The Winter Olympics have been called for boycott due to the ‘anti gay’ legislation. Picture: Raul Pacheco-Vega

With the adoption of the new laws, many people proposed to boycott Russian products, like vodka. In addition, there are pages on Facebook calling on people to boycot the Olympic Games. Among the voices against anti-gay legislation is also the singer Cher. As she revealed in her interview in the Canadian magazine Maclean’s, she turned down the proposal for being an ambassador for the Games and she said no to opening the show.

On the other hand Blake Skjellerup, ice-skater from New Zealand, said that he will wear a rainbow pin to show his support for LGBT people in Russia. Also Elton John stated in The Guardian that he feels like he needs to perform in Russia in order to help gay people.

A big share of the international media turned against the Russian authorities for these laws, paying special attention to the reaction of public figures as well as NGOs and citizens across the world.

Russia’s law depicts homosexuality as something bad and immoral that young people should be protected from. These laws violate the right to non-discrimination, and by silencing all LGBT issues it protects people who commit violence against homosexual people. Moreover, it creates a difficult situation for people who want to visit Russia. This affects AEGEE as well since we promote human rights and the mobility of young people.

There are governments that reacted to those laws. For example, when Putin visited the Netherlands, Amsterdam was decorated in rainbow flags. But it needs to be something more efficient from official organizations like International Olympics Committee, European Union and United Nations because after the passing of the laws, the crimes against homosexuals increased and they remained unpunished by the local courts.

The anti-LGBT laws also has the support of the more conservative sector of society. The Russian Orthodox Church and Christianity have a lot of influence in Russia and, as we could read in The Huffington Post, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill said the following about equal marriage: “This is a very dangerous apocalyptic symptom, and we must do everything in our power to ensure that sin is never sanctioned in Russia by state law, because that would mean that the nation has embarked on a path of self-destruction”. However, homosexuality was removed from the list of mental disorders in 1990 (according to the World Health Organization).

Those laws remind us of the communist era in Russia when homosexuals used to end up in Gulag labour camps. They remind us of the Second World War, when homosexuals were arrested and went to concentration camps where they had to wear pink triangles, and where many of them got raped and died. They remind us of the Middle East where many people keep on murdering or forcing sex reassignment surgery to homosexuals, using the Shari’a as an excuse.

Now a European country acts like these regimes that remind us of the darkest pages in history and official international organizations keep silent, not only for Russia, but for every homophobe law in every country of the world.

Written by Dimitra P. Amorgianou, AEGEE-Kastoria

Established 25 years ago and awarded each year by the European Parliament, the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought has finally announced the list of nominees for this year. The seven finalists were announced on September 16th in Brussels, including Malala Yousafzai and Edward Snowden.

Named after Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, the prize was set up in 1988 aiming to honour individuals or organisations that have exceptionally fought to defend human rights and the freedom of thought. The nominations made by political groups (or Members of the European Parliament – MEPs) are followed by a selection process; Foreign Affairs and Development committees choose and shortlist the three finalists, and the final selection of the Laureate is made by the Conference of Presidents in Strasbourg, France.

The European Parliament organises an annual ceremony around December 10th (Human Rights Day) in Strasbourg, to award the human rights prize plus a monetary grant of €50,000.

Among the historical winners are Nelson Mandela and Anatoly Marchenko, the first awardees (1988), as well as Nobel Peace Prize Winner Aung San Suu Kyi (1990). Some organisations, such as Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo (1992), ¡Basta Ya! (2000), Ladies in White (2005) and Memorial (2009) have also seen their work recognized.

This year, the seven shortlisted finalists are:

• Pakistani Malala Yousoufzai, a 16-year-old girl who was shot in the neck by Taliban forces for advocating for girls’ education. You can read about her story in this article from The AEGEEan magazine.
• Former CIA and NSA contractor Edward Snowden, an American computer specialist who leaked details about mass surveillance programs held by the top-secret United States and British government.
• Ethiopian journalists Reeyot Alemu and Eskinder Nega, who are serving prison term on terrorism charges after writing critical articles about their government.
• Former Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, considered a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. Khodorkovsky was sentenced in 2005 for fraud after his company, Yukos, collapsed and had its shares frozen by Vladimir Putin’s government.
• Belorussian activist Ales Bialatski, head of Viasna Human Rights Centre and vice-president of the International Federation for Human Rights.
• The “Standing Man” protesters from Turkey, a peaceful form of protest initiated by Erdem Gündüz during the Gezi demonstrations in Istanbul.
• The “CNN Freedom Project: Ending Modern-Day Slavery”, a 2011 report that exposed modern-day slavery and initiated a global campaign against human trafficking and child labour.

In October, the Conference of Presidents will decide the final Laureate for the Sakharov Prize in the European Parliament. The award ceremony may take place at the Plenary Session of the Parliament, in November.

Written by Human Rights Working Group

Featured picture from the European Parliament‘s Flickr