Joint Seminar on Cyberspace as a Means to Decrease Terrorism and Increase the Peace Index: The role of Freedom of Religion and Belief (FoRB), Youth Perspectives from the EU and the Kingdom of Bahrain
The seminar took place in Brussels from 7-9 February. Spyridoula attended as a representative of EYCE and was joined by friends from WSCF-E. The seminar included a visit to the European Parliament and a talk from a Member of the European Parliament, who gave an overview of their work and the role of the various European institutions based in Brussels. We as participants were introduced to the topic and given different issues to work on and draft policy recommendations. The next day we shared these recommendations face to face with policymakers.
As a personal reflection, the seminar was eye opening to learn about the perspectives of young people from the Kingdom of Bahrain and the EU on the issues of FoRB. It was also fascinating to learn about the policy process within the EU and the differences in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Second EU-Bahrain Conference on Freedom of Religion and Belief in May in Manama/Bahrain
Five young people from Norway, Germany, Finland and Spain participated early this month in the second conference and were as EYCE's delegation part of an around 40-people-strong delegation of youth from Europe, representing almost all of the 27 EU-member-states and beyond.
In course of the conference it got clear once more that the struggle for Freedom of Religion and Belief is not an easy one and ongoing. It was a great chance to connect the forces with others around Europe and the Gulf region to continue in this issue.