UNOY in the European region

The European network of UNOY Peacebuilders consists of 16 member youth peace organisations and many affiliates. Because of the huge variety of languages spoken in the European region, the language used for communication is English. The European members are mainly involved in youth work and peacebuilding but also in human rights education as well as civil rights initiatives.

Members in Europe

YERITAC, Armenia
Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor (HCAV), Armenia
Peace Dialogue, Armenia
Azerbaijan Tafakkur Youth Association (AYTA), Azerbaijan
SCAF Youth Center, Belarus
Service Civil International, Belgium
U Move 4 Peace, Pax Christi Flanders Youth Movement, Belgium
Academy for Peace and Development, Georgia
European-Mediterranean Youth Bridge e.V. (EMYB e.V.), Germany
Human RightS Initiative, Hungary
CEIPES- Centro Internazionale per la Promozione dell Educazione e lo Sviluppo, Italy
Beyond Skin (beyondskin.net), Northern Ireland
The Peace Action Training and Research Institute of Romania (PATRIR), Romania
Fundacio Catalunya Voluntaria, Spain
Miljonkultur, Sweden
Forum of Youth Advocacy (FOYA), United Kingdom

Mission

To strengthen the network by linking up organisations and leaders.
To advocate and promote the role of European youth in peacebuilding and peace related issues.
To improve the knowledge, skills and capacities of youth peace organisations within the European region by trainings and sharing expertise.
To facilitate an exchange of experience and practice among youth leaders working in peacebuilding and strengthen their capacity to network and develop joint projects at local, national and regional levels (self-help networks).
To increase young peoples capacity to deal with the inter- and intra- personal, community and organisational, cultural, social and political dimensions of conflict and peace by sharing experiences.

Activities International Secretariat

Facilitation of the network by communicating with the members and affiliates (through e-groups for instance) and linking them up so as to share experiences and strengthen the effectiveness of their actions.
Collaboration in joint projects between UNOY and the member organisations such as the organisation of peacebuilding trainings and seminars in Europe, for example the Building Peace Skills Training Seminar which took place in June 2007, in Schoorl, the Netherlands.
Development of new partnerships with other European NGOs to expand the network and to help strengthening north-south dialogue.
Advocacy and campaigning for youth and peacebuilding, also on behalf of the European organisations and with the help of the Council of Europe (EU).

Activities of European members and affiliates, a few examples:

protection of Human Rights;
support and promotion of civil initiatives, in schools for instance;
inter-ethnic confidence building;
youth campaigns on small arms control and on banning landmines;
scientific research and assistance of young scholars;
youth projects in democratization and ethnic relations;
organisation of youth conferences;
youth mobility projects (exchanges);
creation of a resource center for young people and youth NGOs;
training and capacity building;
coordination of international voluntary projects.