Saarbrücken and Strasbourg

To celebrate the 60^th birthday of the Council of Europe the European Youth Parliament arranges a transnational conference in Germany and France. From November 18th and 22nd, 2009 we expect 80 young people from all over Europe that will discuss current questions of European policy and experience the cultural diversity of Europe. Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, has granted her patronage for the session.

The international Forum will begin in Saarbrücken and end in Strasbourg with a General Assembly in the Palace of Europe, the General Office Building of the Council of Europe. This plenary debate will be the highlight of the session. The participants will discuss their elaborated resolutions according to the rules of the European Parliament and exercise the objective dispute of different opinions and attitudes.

Force and Future: Human Rights in Europe

One major principle of the Council of Europe is the retention and implementation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Despite the progress of the 20^th century, Human Rights are still violated – even in the Europe of today. The session’s aim is to sensitise young people for the elementary importance of human rights and current grievances. They will discuss several aspects of the topic, including minority rights, torture and the fight against racism, in internationally assorted groups. The different home countries of the participants form a special enrichment during the session: young people will exchange their personal experiences about the violation of human rights in their homeland, elaborate common attitudes and become aware of their responsibility towards Europe’s future.

Process and Programme of the session

The Forum is structured in three parts: Teambuilding, Committee Work and the General Assembly.

Mutual trust, common motivation and the realisation of strengths and weaknesses form the basis of a successful team. Teamwork is a big challenge. That is why, at the beginning of the session, there will be a one-day group-dynamical communicational training (Teambuilding). During playful tasks the teenagers create basic and own rules for cooperating in an international team.

In the following Committee Work the participants will deal with one aspect of the main topic and put together the results of their discussions in a resolution in English. Instead of the repetition of commonly known positions and socially established opinions on the subject the focus lies on the deployment of own visions, ideas and concepts.

On 19 November the Opening Ceremony of the session will be held in Saarbrücken to which we will invite policymakers from the region. In an introductory penal discussion we afterwards want to give the teenagers a well-funded starting point for the Committee Work.  Opinion leaders and experts will give the participants an understanding of the current situation of Human Rights in Europe.

The following day the different committees will have the chance to discuss their acquired attitudes with well chosen and well-known experts. This shall allow the teenagers to have a direct talk with experts from the specific field.

Before the participants will present their resolutions in the General Assembly on 21 November, we will again invite policy makers and scientists to introduce their visions about the future of Human Rights with the help of keynotes.

During the General Assembly the teenagers will discuss their resolutions in an open debate in English. Every committee will defend their acquired ideas aiming at the resolution to pass.

If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact the head organiser of the session, Alexandra Posner.