As a part of their 36th meeting, which is taking place in Strasbourg on 17-19 October, the Joint Council on Youth (CMJ) of the Council of Europe (CoE) organised a thematic debate on refugees that was held earlier today. YMCA Europe is a part of the CMJ through their representation in the Advisory Council on Youth (CCJ) of the CoE where Tinna Rós Steinsdóttir has a seat on the bureau.
The debate was moderated by representatives from the CCJ, Marko Grdosic and Carmen Fischer, and build around a panel discussion that included inputs from UNHCR’s Gert Westerveen, a young refugee from Iran named Moein Hossieni, as well as the Head of the Youth Department of the CoE, Antje Rothemund and a Head of Division of the Youth Department of the CoE, Rui Gomes, who both reported on CoE’s work on this issue. Statements were also presented from several government representatives and organisations that attended the debate.
A few highlights came up in the discussion of ways to support inclusion of refugees to their new societies – such as addressing mental health problems they might experience, the importance of proper education and training, and ensuring work opportunities. A report from the event will be issued in the next two weeks, and will be approachable at the Council of Europe website. Until then, if you are interested in learning more about what is being done within the youth world on this topic, we encourage you to look into a document (click here) from European Youth Forum’s Member Organisations network on Migration and Human Rights. It gathers best practices regarding asylum seeker’s Integration into education, vocational training and the labour market, the contribution of the youth sector and youth organisations. Also find here a Resolution on protection and integration of young refugees in Europe adopted by Youth Forum members in November 2015.
The Statement on the refugee crisis in Europe which highlighted priorities and calls for special attention to particular vulnerable groups that was adopted by the CMJ a year ago, in October 2015 can be find here.
This summer, CoE in co-operation with the Global Platform for Syrian Students and Kiron Open Higher Education and Voice of Young Refugees in Europe held a Seminar on Social inclusion on refugee students and their role in intercultural dialogue. The conclusions are available also here.
