Flanders will also leave its mark on the Belgian presidency. For Flanders, this presidency will be coordinated by the Flanders Department of Foreign Affairs (DiV).

Within the Human Rights component, three specific events will be (co-)organised.

To emphasise the importance of children’s rights and youth work, the Youth Department of the Flemish Agency for Socio-Cultural Work for Youth and Adults (ASCW) will (co-)organise two events:

On the one hand, it will organise, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and in collaboration with the French Community and the FPS Justice and with the support of the Council of Europe (Children’s Rights programme), a ‘European Conference on the interests of the child: a dialogue between theory and practice. Focus on family matters’. The objective is to increase understanding and the application of the complex and ambiguous concept of ‘the interests of the child’ (9-10 December 2014, Egmont Palace, Brussels).

On the other hand, the agency will co-organise – exactly five years after the Ghent declaration – the ‘second European Convention on Youth Work’. The text of the (final) declaration of this Convention will be used as content for the development of ‘a resolution or recommendation on the value and the importance of youth work in Europe’ adopted via the statutory youth bodies of the Council of Europe and approved by the Committee of Ministers. The declaration also contains a powerful message in favour of the further development of youth work, addressed to the Member States, youth work organisations, the EU and the Council of Europe. (27-30 April 2015, the EGG, Brussels)

In addition, the Flanders Department of Foreign Affairs, in collaboration with the Youth Department of ASCW, the Integration team of the Flemish Agency for Internal Affairs (ABB) and numerous civil society organisations, is organising an information and discussion event under the title ‘Inclusion  of Roma youth in policies’  (28 November 2014, Huis van het Nederlands, Brussels).

In the area of education, the Education and Training Department will be working together with the French Community to organise the meeting of the informal Steering Committee for Education Policy and Practice (CDPPE) of the Council of Europe (18 December, partly in the Flemish Parliament), followed by the formal celebration of the 60th anniversary of the European Cultural Convention on 19 December in the Egmont Palace.

Also in the cultural area, the General Delegation of the Flemish Government in France will be promoting Flemish film during the Flemish Film Week (24-27 March 2015, Cinéma Star, Strasbourg). The Delegation will also be working for the promotion of Flemish literature (Les Médiatheques, 28 March) and Flemish theatre (Maillon-Wacken theatre).

Finally, the Flemish Agency for Internal Affairs is actively participating in the organisation of the meeting of the Bureau of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (1 December 2014, Brussels Parliament, Brussels).