UNOY in the European region

Due to the restructuring process of UNOY that has been implemented since October 2006, the European part of the UNOY Peacebuilders now consists of 13 member youth peace organisations and many affiliates. Most of the member organisations are located in Eastern Europe (Romania, Ukraine, Belarus, and also conflict areas such as Kosovo and Armenia) and two are in the Western part of Europe (Belgium). 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
SCAF Youth Center, Belarus
Service Civil International, Belgium
U Move 4 Peace, Pax Christi Flanders Youth Movement, Belgium
European-Mediterranean Youth Bridge e.V. (EMYB e.V.), Germany
NGO Initiative for Peace, UNMIK/Kosovo
Life Youth Foundation, Romania
The Peace Action Training and Research Institute of Romania (PATRIR), Romania
Youth Diplomacy for Democracy, Ukraine
Forum of Youth Advocacy (FOYA), United Kingdom
Azerbaijan Tafakkur Youth Association (AYTA), Azerbaijan
Beyond Skin (beyondskin.net), Northern Ireland

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.