This week the European Youth Centre in Strasbourg is hosting two events for young people whose lives have been changed by the conflict and violence.
The Youth Peace Camp is bringing together young people from conflict-affected regions: South Caucasus, the Russian Federation, Ukraine (Luhansk, Donetsk and border regions), as well as from Kosovo*. They will share personal experiences of conflict and violence and discuss strategies to cope with the trauma within oneself, and also within one’s community. The participants will engage in the activities aimed at conflict transformation, intercultural learning and dialogue, human rights education; they will prepare dialogue-based peace-building projects with other young people.
Refugee students and their social inclusion and the role in intercultural dialogue will be the focus of the other event. This joint initiative by the Youth Department of the Council of Europe and the Global Platform for Syrian Students is gathering participants from youth and refugees organisations across Europe to discuss the challenges that refugee students face in Europe and elsewhere, and ways of addressing them.
“Fuelled in large part by the ongoing civil war in Syria, the refugee crisis poses great challenges for Europe, testing our solidarity as well as our commitment to our values,” - said Deputy Secretary General Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni, addressing participants of the events on 11 July. “Here in Strasbourg we are clear that we cannot, as a continent, be indifferent to the plight of hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and persecution. We have a responsibility to them, as human beings. And we have been encouraged and inspired by the millions of European citizens who have given their time and support to these efforts. Their generosity of spirit should be a lesson to all governments.”
On 12 July, Pedro Agramunt, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and Nawel Rafik-Elmrini, Deputy Mayor of Strasbourg, addressed the events participants.
- Full speech by the Deputy Secretary General
- Conclusions of the Seminar on Social inclusion of refugee students and their role in intercultural dialogue
(*) All reference to Kosovo, whether to the territory, institutions or population, in this text shall be understood in full compliance with the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 and without prejudice to the status of Kosovo.