The external work of our association is as important as the internal one. Since the number of international organisation is very high, AEGEE-Europe has appointed some members, called Liaison Officers to maintain a link between AEGEE and the international organisations they work with. Currently AEGEE has six Liaison Officers, namely Diego Antončić, Liaison Officer towards the Committee of the Regions (CoR) and the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC); Marije Arentze, Liaison Officer towards the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe); Burcu Unluturk, Liaison Officer towards the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); Alba Laguna, Liaison Officer towards the United Nations’ Environment Programme (UNEP); Adela-Mihaela Militaru, Liaison Officer towards The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and Paul Smits, Liaison Officer towards European Youth Forum (YFJ). We asked some questions to Marije, Burcu and Diego to better understand their work.

Please, describe yourself.

 
Diego: My name is Diego Antončić and I have been a member of the AEGEE family since December 2013. I am 22 years old and I am studying European Studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences in Ljubljana. As a member of AEGEE I participated in numerous events and conferences organised by our organisation. I am very communicative and I can easily adjust to new situations. I love to travel and to learn about different cultures. Besides that, I love reading and I enjoy sports.

Marije Arentze, Liaison Officer towards the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe)

Marije: ​My name is Marije Arentze and I have been a member of AEGEE-Leiden for six years. I am studying Eastern-European studies in Amsterdam, with a main focus on transitional societies in former Yugoslavia. My number one hobby is travelling and I also love music and literature. My AEGEE history includes a few very active years within AEGEE-Leiden and my work as Content Manager for European Boards’ Meeting (EBM) Lublin 2014. At this moment I spend the major part of my free time with AEGEE Election Observation, the project I am part of for over a year and a half now, and where I fulfill the position of External Relations manager. It gives me a great deal of inspiration every day!

Burcu:  I am Burcu Ünlütürk from AEGEE-Ankara, currently trying to survive living around -30 degrees in northern Sweden where I am doing my masters degree in mining engineering and working on sustainable use of natural resources.

 
Which is the international organisation you are responsible for? And what is its main purpose?
Diego: I am a Liaison Officer towards the Committee of the Regions (CoR) and the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) in the EU. This is my second mandate as the Liaison Officer towards the CoR and my first mandate towards EESC. The CoR is the European Union’s Assembly of Regional and Local Representatives, which gathers 350 members from 28 member states of the EU. The CoR is an advisory body of the EU and it must be consulted by the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU throughout the EU decision-making process on the issues that are relevant for cities and regions. The CoR members prepare and present opinions about the new European legislative proposals. One of the main functions of the CoR is to represent interest of regions and cities in the EU and to support better communication between them. In order to promote better cooperation on regional and local level, the CoR hosts numerous conferences, events and workshops, which are organised by local and regional associations. The EESC is a consultative body of the European Union that gives representatives of European civil society and economic interest groups a formal platform to express their opinions on the current EU issues. Like the CoR, the EESC can issue an opinion regarding a certain topic and it needs to be consulted by central EU institutions. The committee’s main goal is to strengthen the democratic legitimacy and effectiveness of the European Union by enabling and encouraging participation of civil organisations from the Member States in the processes taking place at the European level.

Marije: I am the Liaision Officer towards the OSCE, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. ​It is the world’s largest intergovernmental organisation with a mandate to secure arms control, human rights, fair and free elections, and other issues that are central to free and democratic states. It was founded during the Cold War and is mainly occupied with conflict prevention and post-conflict rehabilitation in its member states. As part of this they have permanent offices or missions in Ukraine, Kosovo, Tajikistan and Armenia to name just a few. The OSCE Chairmanship changes every six months to a new member state, just like the chairmanship of the European Union. As of January 2016, the presidency is occupied by Germany. Our main focus lies with OSCE’s sub-division ODIHR (Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights), which works on the so-called “human dimension” of security; free elections and democratization, minority issues, hate speech prevention, etc. 40% of ODIHR’s annual budget goes to the Elections department, which organises Election Observation Missions and which is seen as the “golden standard” for election observation methodology in the world.

Burcu: I am the Liaison Officer towards the Organisation for Economic Cooperation And Development (OECD). Its mission is to promote policies which will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.

Why did you apply to cover such a position?

Diego Antončić, Liaison Officer towards the Committee of the Regions (CoR) and the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC).

Diego: My academic experiences and different events, in which the topics regarding the European Union and AEGEE were discussed, shaped my ideals and my main interests, which I want to realize in my personal career. As a student of European studies and an AEGEE member, I am a great supporter of the processes, which are taking part in the united Europe and I am very motivated to give my contribution to the improvement of our multicultural continent. I applied to cover such a position, since I wanted to make a contribution to the functioning of our AEGEE community and since I was quite familiar with the structure of the CoR and the EESC. I am honored to be the Liaison Officer towards the CoR and the EESC and I am proud to be a part of our beautiful AEGEE story.
Marije: ​My first thought was that it would make a lot of sense for me to succeed Julia Krebs as Liaison Officer because of my position as External Relations of AEGEE Election Observation. Our project has generated quite some interest within the OSCE over the past two years, so it would be mutually beneficial for both AEGEE-Europe and AEGEE Election Observation to combine these two images towards the OSCE. Next to that I realised that an inside look into the OSCE would be complementary to my academic field of interest, namely post-conflict societies.

Burcu: I have experience in representing the organisation, creating positive public image and establishing cooperation with possible partners. Also, since my current academic work requires me to do research on OECD’s reports, I am acquainted with the work of OECD and want to learn more, which , in my opinion, will enable me to widen the communication bridge between the organisaton and AEGEE. I am strongly motivated to work as Liaison Officer and contribute as much as I can to AEGEE.

What are your main tasks? 
Diego: I represent a link between AEGEE and the CoR and the EESC and I inform the Comité Directeur and the whole Network about new opportunities and events offered by these two committees. I endeavor to involve our AEGEE members in different happenings of the CoR and the EESC in order to encourage political participation. I exhaustively analyzed the CoR’s and the EESC’s goals, policies, tasks, structure and activities, which helped me to gain deep understanding of their role and their importance for the EU. Occasionally, I follow (plenary) sessions of the committees to stay informed about the latest happenings. In addition, I am continuously up-to-date with all CoR’s news and events and I subscribed to the CoR’s newsletter.

Burcu Ünlütürk, Liaison Officer towards the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

Marije: ​According to the CIA (AEGEE-Europe’s legal framework) it is my task to “maintain a constant flow of communication” between AEGEE-Europe and the OSCE and to represent AEGEE-Europe towards the organisation. ​​In practice, it is my ambition to raise interest within AEGEE-Europe for this organisation, as I see it becoming more and more relevant in European geopolitics in the coming years. AEGEE could benefit much more from the OSCE, and especially ODIHR, because they are working on a lot of issues we are dealing with as well. I am seeking ways to connect certain thematic “bodies” of AEGEE-Europe (in absence of a better word) to relevant ODIHR departments. For AEGEE Election Observation’s project team meeting, I visited ODIHR’s office in Warsaw in January, and I hope that AEGEE as a whole can benefit from the good relations we made there with ODIHR.

Burcu: LOs main tasks are to build, to continue and to ensure the relationship with the organisations and to manage the communication between them. I am the person who is responsible with Comite Directeur to secure this relation while figuring out where AEGEEs priorities and initiatives overlap with OECD and where close cooperation can be established.

 
Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

For most young people, internships are the first step towards the labour market during or right after their degree. It is counted to be around four and a half million interns in the EU per year, from which -and this is the most striking part- 59% are unpaid, 40% have no contract (meaning, short social protection and no clarity of the tasks to be carried) and 30% have no learning content, whereas internships are acknowledged to be a crucial learning experience instead.

Youth organisations such as the European Youth Forum (YFJ in their acronym) have been advocating for long on youth rights and on quality internships. Some influential publications on the topic have been released so far, such as the booklet Quality jobs for young people and, more recently, the European Quality Charter on Internships and Apprenticeships, a charter with the basic guidelines for internships that are of quality and valuable for young people. Moreover, with the help of several partner organisations, the YFJ organised the first Europe Interns’ Day, taking place on July 18th in Brussels and which gathered over 200 people, according to the official figures by the YFJ.

Protesting under sunny Brussels for quality internships

Hence, the day started with interns and members from the European Youth Forum’s member organisations took over Place Luxembourg (the square right next to the European Parliament, also known as ‘Plux’ by the euro-bubble inhabitants) to protest against unpaid and unfair internships as a “modern way of slavery and exploitation”.

Under the (mostly unexpected) Brussels’ sun, the protesters could hear the voices of representatives of several youth organisations, such as InternsGoPro, Generation Europe and also AEGEE, which was represented by our Projects Director, Miguel Gallardo Albajar. We could also hear the words from the leaders of Génération Précaire, a French youth organisation that successfully pushed for changes in the law for internships and apprenticeships in France.

The discussion moved forward to the European Parliament, with a panel discussion that was firstly welcomed by Léa Hannaoui-Saulais, member of AEGEE-Lille and the Eastern Partnership Project who also presides EPSA, the European Parliament Stagiaires Association, which aims to empower the interns at the EP. “I have done five internships; four of them have been unpaid. I had done this because I was sure that would be useful for further professional experience”, she aknowledged, and she pointed that unpaid internships are indeed undervalued in tasks and salary and increases the risk of labour abuse. “We should start believing in ourselves”, she said, “but also companies must play their part”.

 Commissioner Vassiliou: “interns are not to meant make coffees”

One of the highlights of the day was the address of the Commissioner on Education and Youth, Androulla Vassiliou. She was clear on the role internships play on an individual’s learning process: “internships are a learning experience, but not in an abstract way. Interns are not volunteers”, she said. “And, foremost, interns are not there to make coffees”.

She recognised internships as “more than just a supplement to formal education” and that a quality assurance is needed in order to make a good transition towards the job market. Commissioner Vassiliou also stressed the role of internships in order to gain “soft and interpersonal skills”.

In the question round, the Commissioner was asked about her term in office, which will soon come to an end, and the legacy that she has left to her successor. “My legacy will be built on the transition to the labour market”, she stated. “I did my best in order to bridge the gap between education and employment and between skills mismatch”. Her successor, Vassiliou said, “will build their work on that”.

The launching of the European Label of Quality Internships

The importance of taking fair internships with a strong learning content was stressed throughout the event, but is there any method that can be used to evaluate the quality of internships? Well, one of the aims of the event was actually the launch of the European Label of Quality Internships by the organisation InternsGoPro. With this rating method, InternsGoPro enable interns to rate their company’s practices according to a specific criteria, and also gives visibility to the best employers that ensure that their internships bring an added value to their interns.

The label rates which are the best employers by the following seven criteria: Learning content, Remuneration, Supervision & Mentorship, Contract & Clarity of Tasks, Networking, Working Atmosphere and Career development. Each criterion corresponds to a certain number of points which determine whether an internship offer is eligible for a Label. Furthermore, there are three types of labels according to the  punctuation: Gold, Diamond and Platinum.

Therefore, not only interns themselves can benefit from checking which are the best places to take up an apprenticeship, but also employers and companies are interested. Acording to Régis Pradal, co-founder of InternsGoPro, this is a label that “can give high visibility and reputation”, through employer branding, e-recruitment of new talents and consulting.

Through bottom-up initiatives like this, the partner organisations believe that a light will be shed on the conditions under which many interns are, “a modern way of work exploitation” as it was mentioned in Place Luxembourg’s protests. If you wish to take a look at InternsGoPro’s project and even rate your own internship, you can check their website.

Written by Anna Gumbau, AEGEE-Barcelona

Pictures by the European Youth Forum and Project 668

You might have heard of them quite often in our Network. The Liaison Officers are the contact people of AEGEE-Europe towards different institutions and organizations. However, you might be wondering: who are they and which are the organizations they are dealing with? The Liaison Officers are introducing themselves and their work in the following article.

The Liaison Officers towards the United Nations

The UN is interesting for AEGEE, because they have a lot of initiatives related to youth (participation). Very often the UN is asking NGO’s for their opinion on youth issues or offering opportunities for youth participation that can be interesting for our members. The purposes of the United Nations, as set forth in the Charter, are to maintain international peace and security; to develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of people; to cooperate in solving international economic, social, cultural and humanitarian problems and in promoting respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and to be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in attaining these ends. The Charter established six principal organs of the United Nations, which are: General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council ECOSOC, Trusteeship Council, International Court of Justice and Secretariat. The United Nations family, however, is much larger, encompassing fifteen agencies and several programmes and bodies.

The Liaison Officers Team of AEGEE-Europe towards the UN is working with the following UN bodies:

• ECOSOC, UN Youth Delegates Programme, Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth: Alin-Florin Calin (alin-florin.calin@aegee.org)
• UNEP, UNESCO, UN Education First: Andrew Bartolo: (andrew.bartolo@aegee.org)
• UN HABITAT, UN Volunteers Programme, UN WOMEN: Laia Garcia (laia.garcia.montufo@aegee.org)
• UNDP, UN and Civil Society, UNDEF: Álvaro Espinosa (alvaro.espinosa@aegee.org)
• WHO, UNAIDS, UNFPA: Sygrit Andringa (sygrit.andringa@aegee.org).

If you want to know more about this team, read this article published in The AEGEEan, where part of the team was introduced in detail.

Fenia Megremi – Liaison Officer towards the OECD

My name is Fenia Megremi, I’m studying International and European Relations and I’m currently a member of AEGEE-Paris. Recently I became Liaison Officer towards the OECD, a significant partner organization of AEGEE.

What is the OECD? 

Its acronym stands for the Organization for the Economic Co-operation and Development. It brings together 34 countries with the aim of developing better policies for better lives. In fact, in the OECD, the governments co-operate, share experiences and seek solutions to common problems that affect the lives of ordinary people around the world directly.

Bram Houterman – Liaison Officer towards the World Bank

My name is Bram Houterman, from AEGEE-Amsterdam. I am now finishing my studies in International Economics and Political Science in Amsterdam. People who wrote a thesis already know what a delightful process I am facing at the moment. I have served in several positions within AEGEE and I feel honoured to be selected as Liaison Officer towards the World Bank.

I think the World Bank (WB) could be of key value for our network. The core operation of the Bank is to provide loans to less developed parts of the world with the goal of reducing poverty. The loans come with a lot of conditionality, therefore the Bank enables and stimulates transition in many areas of the society. Lending also takes place in Europe as the Bank provides many loans in Eastern Europe.

For students from over the whole continent the Bank may be interesting because of its large database and interesting studies that are conducted. The Bank also organizes many events related to youth and participation, which may be very relevant for our members. An example is the annual Global Youth Summit in October.

I will keep you updated on interesting events that are organized, but also on other topics such as essay competitions and interesting research. In case you want to have more information about this institution (or about other international financial institutions such as IMF, EBRD, EIB), please do not hesitate to contact me (bram.houterman@aegee.org).

Marko Grdosic – Liaison Officer towards the European Youth Forum

I’m Marko from AEGEE-Zagreb and this will be my second mandate as the Liaison Officer towards the European Youth Forum. My interest in the organisation started even before my year in the Comite Directeur, and during that period the work done and connections developed gave a good background to further develop the cooperation between AEGEE and YFJ.

The European Youth Forum (YFJ) is the platform of youth organisations in Europe. Representing 99 youth organisations, both National Youth Councils and International Non-Governmental Youth Organisations, we believe youth organisations are the tool through which we empower, encourage, involve, represent, reach out and support young people. The Youth Forum brings together tens of millions of young people from all over Europe, organised in order to represent their common interests.

Ermanno Napolitano – Liaison Officer towards the OSCE

I’m the new Liaison Officer towards OSCE (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe). I have covered many positions in AEGEE-Europe, such as President of the Juridical Commission and Mediation Commissioner, but this new position gives me a different experience, because my task is also to build and mantain external relation with this important organization.

Do you know what OSCE is? Here is a small introduction:

OSCE has a comprehensive approach to security that encompasses political-military, economic, environmental and  human aspects. It therefore addresses a wide range of security-related concerns, including arms control, confidence- and security-building measures, human rights, national minorities, democratization, policing strategies, counter-terrorism and economic and environmental activities.

All 57 participating states enjoy an equal status, and decisions are taken by consensus on a politically, but not legally binding basis.

Security touches on many aspects of the way we live and are governed. The OSCE’s comprehensive view of security covers three “dimensions”: the political-military; the economic and environmental; and the human dimension.

The OSCE’s activities cover all three of these areas, from “hard” security issues such as conflict prevention to fostering economic development, ensuring the sustainable use of natural resources and promoting the full respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Here is the complete list of what OSCE covers:  arms control, border managment, combatting human trafficing, combatting terrorism, conflict prevention and resolution,  economic activities, education, elections, environmental activities,  gender equality, good governance, human rights, media freedom and development, military reform and cooperation, minority rights, policing, roma and sinti, rule of law, tolerance and non-discrimination.

Why would OSCE be interesting for a student? As you can see OSCE covers an impressive number of thematics, there are a lot of opportunities to develop new projects and ask OSCE support, or to participate in OSCE  projects and conferences.

Furthermore this year the Human Dimention Implementation Meeting (HDMI) will be organized again, which you can read about in this article published by The AEGEEan.

Whoever is interested to participate at HDIM or in general to some project related to OSCE please don’t hesitate to contact me at ermanno.napolitano@gmail.com

Ante Sellis & Nina Gustafsson – Liaison Officers towards the Committee of Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee

Nina Gustafsson

This year, our Comité Directeur decided it was time to incorporate two other European organisations, namely the Committee of the Regions (CoR) and the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), to the already very impressive record of organisation dealed with by the Liaison Officers-team of AEGEE-Europe. Since both of these organisations are official advisory bodies of the European Union and both increasingly touching upon subjects, which are relevant for all AEGEEans, it was obvious for the CD to appoint two Liaison Officers to these organisations.

The Committee of the Regions (CoR) is the EU’s Assembly of Regional and Local Representatives, giving a voice to the regions and cities across EU member states. The CoR is a political assembly counting 353 members from 28 member states who are regionally or locally elected representatives, for example mayors or municipal council members. The CoR is an advisory body of the EU and must be consulted by the European Commission, the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament throughout the EU decision-making process on issues that are relevant for cities and regions.

The 353 members sit in one or more of the six Commissions within the CoR, where they prepare opinions based on the European Commission’s legislative proposals and bring out the perspective of cities and regions on a certain issues. The Commission where AEGEE has most interest in is the Education, Culture, Youth and Research (EDUC) Commission, although it will also be of interest to follow the developments in other Commissions, for example in the fields of employment, equal opportunities, environment, citizenship and fundamental rights. If the CoR feels that a certain issue needs further action or should be paid attention to by the other EU institutions, it can also issue an own-initiative opinion. Another important task of the CoR is consultation with stakeholders across the EU, such as local and regional authorities, associations, non-profit organisations, and networks.

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) calls itself the bridge between Europe and organised civil society, which means that its basic task is to enable the civil society of Europe to be heard at the European level. Since this organisation is an official advisory body of the EU, the EESC must be consulted by the EU institutions on certain issues. In addition, like the CoR, it can also issue an opinion towards these institutions on its own initiative.

The EESC currently consists of 353 members, which are selected from various economic and social interests groups in the member states. Furthermore, the EESC has six different sections that cover more specified issues. The Employment, Social Affairs and Citizens (SOC)-section will be the section where AEGEE has most interest in as it is covering topics such as employment, education, health, gender equality, culture, and citizenship.

As said before, this year two Liaison Officers will work closely together to cover both organisations. These Liaison Officers-teamies are Nina Gustafsson and Ante Sellis. Nina is a 25-year-old recent graduate in Public Policy from the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance, and also holds a Bachelor’s degree in European Studies from Maastricht University. She was an active member of AEGEE-Maastricht between September 2007 and August 2012, and President of the XXIInd Board of AEGEE-Maastricht in 2010-2011. Currently, Nina is a member of AEGEE-Brussels and recently finished a traineeship at the Joint Directorate for Translation of the CoR & EESC in Brussels. Ante is a 23-year-old master student in International Relations and a member of AEGEE-Groningen since August 2009. After being active in several committees on local level, she was Secretary of the XXIVth board of AEGEE-Groningen in 2011-2012. This year she also became active on European level by being a proofreader for the ‘Key to Europe’.

Written by the Liaison Office of AEGEE-Europe

From November 11th to the 13th, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD or OCDE in French) headquarters in Paris hosted the Youth Summit on Youth Employment, which took place parallel to the Paris Intergovernmental Summit of the EU Members States on the same issue.

As member of the Comité Directeur of AEGEE-Europe, I was able to represent our organization at this summit thanks to the invitation issued by the European Youth Forum (YFJ). Unfortunately, no members from our Youth (un)Employment project could come, because at the same time, preparations for the Y-Vote convention on Youth Employment were taking place in Agrigento.

The Youth Summit in Paris was special since, for the first time, it brought the two main non-governmental actors in the field of employment for young people together: trade unions and national youth councils. Why they had not managed to sit down to draft a common strategy, when the destruction of jobs in Europe is a problem for several years already, is still a mystery to me.

The discussions covered different fields, among which a big highlight was an update on implementation of the Youth Guarantee Scheme established by the European Union. The Youth Guarantee aims to provide all young Europeans with a job, a traineeship or an education opportunity within the next four months after ending studies or finishing their contract. Even if far from the estimation of 21 billion Euros that are needed for the scheme, the 6 billion Euros provided by the EU can have a big impact as a first step. Therefore, it was quite disheartening to see that the preparations are quite behind schedule in many member states, specially among those with higher youth unemployment rates. They are supposed to be ready by the end of December.

When implementing the Scheme, we saw how some countries clearly modify the target groups and risk to subvert the actual spirit of the proposal. The youth organisation has always claimed a role in deciding and monitoring the implementation of the Youth Guarantee; but this co-decision power has seldom been granted, and in many countries the implementation plan will be prepared last-minute, in a closed office without input from the affected groups.

The French minister of Employment, addressing the participants of the Youth Summit.

Another issue of the summit was the importance of focusing attention on inclusion of the NEETs (people who are Not in Education, Employment or Training) which is a population in great risk of social exclusion. The percentage of NEETs in society vary enormously from country to country, but because most countries do not include them in Unemployment statistics, they are a hidden group in big risk of exclusion.

At the same time at the summit, the presidents of most EU-countries met in Paris receiving huge media coverage, but little results. The fact that this extraordinary meeting had been called, seems a very effective way to present to the public opinion how “much” the governments care about one of the most pressing problems in Europe. But the participants at the summit would have liked to see more tangible results than front-page pictures of shaking hands, press releases, and the scheduling of a next meeting in Rome for Spring. A call for less talk and more action was the common message of almost all interventions and during the street action that was held on Tuesday.

EU Commissioner László Andor updated the participants on the outcome of the Intergovernmental Summit.

At least our Youth Summit is the start of a new period of collaboration among youth stakeholders. And we will keep ourselves working to improve the problem of youth employment. At the same time we will try to ensure that from now until the next Summit in Rome, advancements are made and no more time is lost. The next summit will take place in Spring, in the middle of the campaign for the EU elections. Political leaders will definitely plan to stage themselves carefully to the media, in order to take political advantage. But we will also make sure to use the media coverage to make our voices heard and denounce any failure in using all the available resources to fight the Youth Unemployment crisis.

Once I was back in Brussels, I went to the European Parliament to attend a Round Table Discussion on the quality of internships, which is a very relevant issue in Europe and especially in Brussels, which has a big population of interns. The issue of unpaid internships (which is an opportunity only available to those who have enough money to cover some months without income), and the intern positions that don’t provide enough learning and training (just providing employers with low-waged workers), were among the most mentioned problems of the current situation.

Both events’ information was sent regularly to Agrigento, where it fed into the discussions of the Y-Vote convention, and where they were transformed into recommendations that will be passed to the new European Parliament to be elected in May 2014. Moreover, it gave me some ideas to reboot our Youth (un)Employment project that has been dormant in the last few months. If you are motivated to contribute to solving one of the biggest challenges in Europe nowadays, why not join the project? Please contact the team at yue@aegee.org, or answer to the Open Call that will be launched soon on the ANNOUNCE-L mailing list.

Written by: Miguel Gallardo Albajar, member of the Comité Directeur

Last week, some really good news came to all the AEGEEans. It was during the COMEM (Council of Members) of the European Youth Forum (YFJ, which stands for ‘Youth Forum Jeunesse‘) in Brussels.

AEGEE-Europe had just been elected to be one of the 30 organizations inside the Advisory Council (AC) on Youth of the Council of Europe, representing the European Youth Forum Member Organizations.

A great privilege, but also a big challenge. This is a big step forward for AEGEE in order to advocate for youth rights, and The AEGEEan team has spoken to Marko Grdosic, Liaison Officer towards the European Youth Forum, Luis Alvarado Martínez, President of AEGEE-Europe, and Mirosław Krzanik, Board member of the European Youth Forum, in order to know their priorities and expectations after the election.

Luis Alvarado and Marko Grdosic during the Spring COMEM in Brussels

What does it mean for AEGEE to be representing the European Youth Forum in the Council of Europe, and how can it benefit?

Marko Grdosic: AEGEE members should see our newest enrolment within the Advisory Council as a great privilege but as well as a big task. Given the perfect example of co-management Council of Europe gives to Youth through the Advisory Council, this shows the great role it has and how much it can actually influence policies of the CoE.

Having its seat in the AC, AEGEE will directly represent all the members, same as the members of other youth organizations, member organizations of the European Youth Forum. Therefore, AEGEE will now be able to strongly advocate for democracy, human rights and educational policies within the work of the Council of Europe.

Luis Alvarado Martínez: It means that AEGEE-Europe will be one of the 30 organizations inside the Advisory Council on Youth of the Council of Europe (CoE). This Advisory Council has co-decision or co-management power inside the Council of Europe to all the initiatives and policies related to youth. We will make sure the needs and interest not only of AEGEE, but of all the Member Organizations of the European Youth Forum are always taken into account.

Mirosław Krzanik: First of all we can directly influence priorities and decisions of the Council of Europe in the field of youth. At the same time let’s not think only about how AEGEE can benefit from it but let’s be happy that we can contribute and help in developing new policies, strategies and projects!

What are the main issues and priorities that AEGEE-Europe is going to deal with?

Marko: This of course will depend on the agenda that is in our world changing very often. If we are to talk nowadays, it will for sure be human rights, as a follow-up of the event organised by AEGEE this week in Strasbourg. Of course, education is as well an ongoing focus.

Mirek: That depends strongly on the people who will directly represent AEGEE in the Advisory Council and on the decisions of the CD and the members.

Luis: We as AEGEE have always showed a particular focus on Non Formal Education, its recognition, validation etc., but lately we have also done a lot regarding Youth Rights and Youth Participation. These topics will be in a core focus, as well as promoting the co-management power which exists in the Council of Europe in other institutions.

Miroslaw Krzanik is currently Board Member of the European Youth Forum

And which are the expectations you are holding?

Marko: I wish to see a strong AEGEE inside the Advisory Council, AEGEE with a good input, making sure to respond to all the challenges this role might bring. It would also be interesting to see if the experience we gain from this co-management system can give us a push when advocating for the same with the EU Institutions.

Luis: We expect to bring AEGEE to a whole new level of expertise, and advocacy action as well as much more involved in the work of the Council of Europe. AEGEE will develop very much and will use all the potential of this new position.

Mirek: I hope the AC will continue its strong focus on developing youth-related policies and advocating for youth rights in particular in regions where the European Union is not present, in Eastern Europe, the Balkans, etc. This way the Council of Europe can complement the actions which are taken by the European Union and strengthen the presence of youth in political discourse in those countries.

As members of the Advisory Council on Youth, and after your experience striving for youth rights and representing students in Europe, what does it mean for you to advocate for young people, and how do you work on it?

Marko: Youth has always been the most unrepresented group and this makes the advocacy work much harder. In general, what is important is to know people, be in a good time on a good place, network and promote. Also, the agenda of the relevant stakeholders has to be followed. In order to create the biggest impact, we always have to act in time with the institutions and mobilize other civil society colleagues to increase the visibility.  In the end, a good advocate has to be trained, social, a great spokesperson.

Luis: Well now there is a much bigger responsibility. Before we were only representing AEGEE-Europe (which is also not the easiest task, but we have some common values and ideas). Now we have to represent all the Member Organizations of the Youth Forum, without forgetting all the points of views and needs of all the organizations.

Mirek: I guess it is very important for the entire Network of AEGEE to get actively involved in creating expertise inside the organization. For now a lot of ideas, experience and knowledge are gathered in the CD and around it, among people closely cooperating with them. The challenge is to make more members interested in political issues. First steps have been made, Policy Officers are developing our internal knowledge and continue inviting more and more members to join them, but the more events are organized, the more opportunities to discuss policies and politics are created, the stronger our voice will be. And I guess it has to come from the members directly, without waiting for an incentive from the CD. Whenever you have an idea of what should be changed, what can be improved or developed, simply try to invite other people who share the idea, discuss it and write a summary, share it with the CD and others in AEGEE. This is how the first steps are made in order to inspire others!

At the same time, when you think about inviting external guests you can make a great use of the fact that AEGEE is now present in the European Youth Forum and soon will be in the Advisory Council! Put in your promo materials; use it as an argument for external guests to join your conferences, meetings, trainings!

So, what comes next? Which are the next goals of AEGEE-Europe in terms of advocacy?

Marko: This depends of course on the Comité Directeur, as they are the ones setting up the political agenda of the organization. However, thinking of next steps here in Brussels, it is prominent that we will all be putting our strenghts into stronger funding for youth, co-management questions, development of education area, unemployment and innovation as a key to development.

Luis: This week we are present in Strasbourg first to attend the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and on Wednesday we also start our event in the European Youth Center also here in Strasbourg. During this event we bring members of 15 different International Youth NGOs and together with them we draft the Youth Rights Campaign which we will launch soon. This campaign is a follow-up of the 9^th Council of Ministers of the Council of Europe in Saint Petersburg, Russia, were AEGEE was present and protesting for the lack of youth rights and freedom of speech for young people.

After this we will have a conference in Brussels in June, calling the European Union to implement a co-management structure inside the EU for the youth sector. We want the EU also to take the example of the Council of Europe and give a co-decisive power to the youth organizations.

Mirek: I hope that the next step to follow will look back to the membership of AEGEE. Now we are present externally, we are good at it, let’s try all together to use it in our internal growth.

Written by Cosmina Bisboaca, AEGEE-Torino, and Anna Gumbau Martínez, AEGEE-Barcelona

Pictures by the European Youth Forum (flickr)

A few days ago the ICPD Global Youth Forum took place in Bali, Indonesia, where 1000 young activists from all over the world gathered to propose concrete recommendations to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon related to youth needs worldwide.

Luis Alvarado Martinez, President of AEGEE-Europe,  participated on behalf of AEGEE-Europe, and he answered a few questions to tell us what happened in Bali and why it has been important for AEGEE to be there.

The AEGEEan: What is the ICPD Global Youth Forum? What does it represent?

Luis Alvarado: The United Nations organized an International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, in 1994. One of the results of this conference was the creation of  the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Around 20,000 delegates from various governments, UN agencies, NGOs, and the media gathered for a discussion of many population issues, including immigration, infant mortality, birth control, family planning, the education of women, education, youth participation and protection for women from unsafe abortion services.

ICPD stands for the International Conference on Population and Development Beyond 2014. The ICPD is an initiative of the UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) as a follow-up of all the work done from Cairo in 1994 onwards. It is also a preparation conference for the next conference which will happen in 2014 in Cairo again.

The ICPD Beyond 2014 provides a once-in-a-generation chance to define what needs to be done for a more equal, more sustainable world for the 7 billion people – and more – who share it. It identifies progress and achievements towards the goals set out in the landmark International Conference on Population and Development, when 179 governments committed to a 20 year Programme of Action to deliver human rights based development.

Evidence of what has worked and where challenges remain will be collected from governments, civil society organisations and partners using the ICPD Global Survey, civil society consultations and a series of thematic conferences.

The Beyond 2014 Review process will engage world leaders from governments and civil society and create a renewed consensus and global commitment to create a more equal and more sustainable world.

The Global Youth Forum as such is a conference which took place in Bali, Indonesia, gathering around 1000 high level youth leaders to draft concrete recommendations to be sent to the Secretary General of UN, Ban Ki Boon, and to Member States on the policies related and which affect young people.

How is/can AEGEE be involved?

It is necessary that our members can see the whole picture. Europe is only the first step. But there is a whole new and big world outside. This is why it is so important to encourage our members also to get involved and participate on a UN Global Level, taking their expertise and knowledge one step further.

We in AEGEE-Europe already count with an NGO consultative status inside UN. This means that we are often asked to give our input in several topics such as participation, civil society, education etc. But this is not enough. Our members must be more involved in UN activities by participating in the different conferences and initiatives organized throughout the year.

What has been AEGEE role in the conference?

AEGEE participated in the drafting of the final recommendations. It is an extraordinary document. They are the recommendations of the world’s youth towards national governments which tackle topics like Education, Health, Family and Sexuality, Employment, and Participation of Young people.

Even though we had lots of pressure from several national governments during the conference, specially the very religious ones, when drafting recommendations about the right to a safe abortion or against imposed marriages, finally we managed to get all the recommendations to pass through. A great job done by all the youth delegates.

Was there a preparation phase before? And what will be the follow up?

There were a set of consultations before the conference as a preparation phase. Now that the document has been approved, it will be sent to the Secretary General of United Nations, Ban Ki Moon himself. As you know, he has set Youth as one of his permanent priorities for the next years. After this, he will present this document to the General Assembly of the United Nations to be adopted and sent to all Member States.

Why was the participation of AEGEE granted by you and not the LO for the UN or a Policy Officer?

The Global Youth Forum is a high level youth meeting. I got an invitation as President to apply for the Conference. After discussing it with the CD we decided that it was appropriate and necessary for AEGEE to get involved further on the global level and influence even more.

There were very few delegates from Europe compared to the numbers from Africa, Latin America and Asia.

Together with the European Youth Forum and organizations like IFMSA (International Federation for Medical Students Association), EFIL (European Federation for Intercultural Learning), with whom we cooperate often in Brussels , I think we did a great job advocating and pushing for the rights of young Europeans.

Did this trip considerably affect the budget of AEGEE-Europe?

It is the policy of the UNFPA to cover the costs of this kind of events for all delegates, so participation on this event did not have an impact on the AEGEE-Europe budget. If we had needed to cover the costs from AEGEE-Europe budget, we would have declined to participate in spite of how relevant the participation can be. We receive plenty of open calls and we always evaluate the cost/benefits of attending each one of them, in terms of economical and time investment.

Did the participation in the event open up for new opportunities / ideas to develop as AEGEE?

Of course. As you can imagine, being a global platform with activists from all over the world gives you possibility to meet a lot of people and brainstorm about many ideas on future cooperation. After this I definitely see the need of AEGEE to get involved not only on the high European level, but also on a more global scale and United Nations level. There are many things which we can influence, as we did during Bali. If you check the recommendations you will see a lot of influence of AEGEE and the European Youth Forum who advocated very much for the presence in the document on things such as Non-Formal Education (NFE), recognition of the role of civil society and youth organizations, youth guarantees, improvements of education systems, co-management structures in governments and institutions for young people, more accessible and inclusive democratic processes for young people to participate, strengthening and supporting financially the National Youth Councils (NYCs) and International Non-Governmental Youth Organizations (INGYOs) like AEGEE and a very long etc.

The European Youth Delegation was very much prepared and experienced to this kind of consultation/conference. This allowed us to be much more efficient in our ideas and proposals.

Written by Alfredo Sellitti, AEGEE-Salerno

During the last General Assembly held in Maribor, Slovenia, the European Youth Forum (YFJ) elected the new board to lead the platform for the upcoming two years. In the new team there is also Miroslaw Krzanik, experienced member of AEGEE and former member of the Comité Directeur!

Together with the best congratulations for the great success, the AEGEEan interviewed Miroslaw (better known as Mirek) to get to know a bit more about him and his experience.

The AEGEEan: What has been your experience with YFJ? How did you get there?

Mirek: The first time I came across the European Youth Forum YFJ myself was in June 2010 when I attended the 1st European Convention on Youth Work that was organised by the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. After that, already as a CD Member, I was working with YFJ on multiple occasions. In the beginning of 2011 I was also selected to be a member of an Expert Group on Youth in Action. That was the first time I became a member of any working structure of the Forum and also when I became familiar with all the processes and most of opportunities that are provided by the platform. For the past two and a half years I have been working on different issues and contributing to different processes. Most significantly I was involved in the new Youth programme debate, education, volunteering and the Structured Dialogue. But the first and most important aim was to increase visibility of AEGEE in the Youth Forum, and I guess we managed!

What does it mean for you being a YFJ Board member?

On personal level I can say that it is some sort of a final step in my life-long journey through different youth organisations. On the other hand, hard work only starts now and for the next two years, because my mandate will last for 24 month, I will have to do a lot to prove that the support I received in Maribor was what I deserved. On a more professional level it is a chance to achieve my political agenda which I drafted over the past months. YFJ provides a wide range of opportunities to lobby for young people. My plan is, first of all, to focus on mobility issues, most importantly, visas and residence permits for young volunteers, pupils, students or trainees coming to the European Union. I hope that together with my colleagues from the Youth Forum and Member Organisations we will manage to convince politicians and policy-makers that young people deserve better! Secondly, I would like to work on education, both modes of it, meaning formal and non-formal, and also everything that is in between them. Thirdly, I wish to happily conclude the process of establishing a new Youth programme for the years 2014-2020. All in all, it is a challenge but also a chance to achieve a lot.

What will be your tasks?

As a Board Member I will be working on the political agenda of the Youth Forum. Unlike in AEGEE, in YFJ functions of the Secretariat and the Board are separated. Thus, Board Members are focused on setting up an agenda, preparing political ground, representing the whole platform and making sure that the Workplan is implemented. Precise tasks will be assigned to each one of us only in the beginning of the mandate, which starts on the 1st of January.

What can be the benefits for AEGEE?

First of all AEGEE can become more visible and what bothers us, would be also delivered to a higher level. I hope also that by having me in the Board of the Youth Forum we will rise a little bit awareness of the political importance of our work and maybe more  people will become interested in it. It is also important that what I strive for in the Board of YFJ is directly linked to my experience in AEGEE. All the problems with visas are particularly visible in our network which reaches far beyond boundaries of the European Union. Similarly, the Youth programme is crucial for our existence and provides us with a significant part of our income. I hope that through delivering these issues to YFJ and further to politicians, I will manage to improve environment in which AEGEE and similar organisations function.

How can AEGEE members support your work in there?

In the Youth Forum we will be working in the next two years on many issues that AEGEE deals with, including mobility, formal and non-formal education, employment, next EU Parliamentary elections and so on. I hope that we will remain active in those fields as an organisation! Furthermore, I hope that AEGEE will become an expert in those domains and I will be able to relay on the knowledge of our members whenever I need some more in-field information!

You have been on the stage at the Agorae presenting yourself several times: is there any difference in doing the same on the stage of a General Assembly of YFJ?

I think AEGEE is friendlier. In the Youth Forum there are a lot of political discussions happening behind the scene and each time you take the floor you need to be aware of them and careful of what you say to make sure you would receive necessary support for your claims. In AEGEE we know each other better, we all share the same story and only rarely somebody has a completely different stand on an issue. But the stress associated with public speaking is just the same…

Thanks to the European Youth Forum & Léa Charlet, AEGEE-Paris for the photos.

Written by Alfredo Sellitti, AEGEE-Salerno

European Youth Forum’s Member Organisations, which AEGEE-Europe is a part of, gathers twice a year for statutory meetings. Once in every two years a General Assembly is organised, while all the remaining meetings are called Council of Members (or in short COMEM). The last one took place in November 2011 in Braga, Portugal, the European Youth Capital 2011. AEGEE couldn’t miss it so the Liaison Officer towards YFJ together with the President of AEGEE-Europe went there to present the position of our association and make sure that everything works in order.

During the meeting a set of various happenings took place. The most significant for the entire network of YFJ was definitely work on policies and policy statements that would represent a joint position of the Youth Forum towards external partners. From AEGEE’s perspective, two or three of them were especially important. Representatives of the member Organisations decided on three significant policy documents.

The first one is a reaction to the proposed changes in Youth in Action. According to the newest proposal of the European Commission in the upcoming Multiannual Financial Framework, the programme would be merged with, among others, Erasmus Programme and create a single big programme for mobility, education and youth. In a process of broad consultations and following the previous position paper of YFJ on the future of Youth in Action we disagreed with the idea of such a merger.  A new strong position representing our negative opinion was released. The process of developing a new youth programme and all the relevant documents of the Youth Forum can be found at http://www.whereareyouthgoing.eu/ , where you can also support the work of YFJ and express your opinion on the youth programme.

Further on, an extensive discussion was concluded with a new position paper of YFJ on key demands preventing young people from becoming the main victims of the crisis. Thirdly, the Youth started preparations for the upcoming Rio+20 conference, about which you might have heard recently from Mathieu (Environmental Working Group) and Andrea (Liaison Officer towards the United Nations). In that document an opinion on which direction would be the most desired for young people from Europe was expressed. The original of these documents can be found in the Youth Policy Watch section on the website of YFJ.

No less important was the decision by COMEM on supporting and approving the decision of the Board of YFJ to appoint Giuseppe Porcaro for the second mandate as the Secretary General of YFJ. This means that his term will expire in two years and until then he will run the office in Brussels. A very important point of the agenda was the election of the new Advisory Council which will work with the European Youth Foundation and distribute grants from them. The Council is composed of representatives of International Nongovernmental Youth Organisations and National Youth Councils elected from among Member Organisations of YFJ and other organisations.

All in all, Braga’s COMEM was quite intensive and full of work but certainly allowed YFJ to clarify its position on some hot and recently very urging topics. The next COMEM will take place in Spring in Belgium, most probably in Brussels.
In case you would like to know more about what is going on in YFJ, I strongly encourage you to visit the website http://youthforum.org/ and subscribe to our mailing list YOUTHFORUM-NEWS-L where more information will be posted.

Written by Miroslaw Krzanik, Liasion Officer of YFJ