Flashmob Video

Watch the video of the solidarity action for Yolanda Oquelí, the Guatemalan Human Rights Defender.

Visit to the UN 

Finally the day has arrived! Today we had our UN visit. To be more exact we were at the OHCHR – Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights – where we heard four speeches/lectures regarding the Indigenous Peoples and Minorities Section- Research and Right to Development Division.

But to start from the beginning, today we haven't had a collective breakfast and since we had to be at the UN building not before 9:30 we all could sleep in. After Roy's birthday party from the night before, most of us were quite happy about that.

The day started with several presentations from Belén Rodriguez de Alba, Michèle Buteau, Ana de Souza and Aleksandra Plesko about the rights of indigenous peoples and their opportunities of fellowships at the OHCHR. We learned so much, thank you again to Mrs. Rodriguez de Alba for organizing this.

Because of that visit we also gained access to publications of the UN, which we all thankfully accepted; some of us actually took a huge pile of books with them.

To finish off this great morning, we went to the international conference center to get some real good lunch. 

In the afternoon we had, for the first time this week, some time off to visit the city or spend some more time at the UN – two of us Swiss participants have chosen to visit the Palais des Nations and had the most pleasant time since our badges from the morning still counted and they got access to several areas which a guided tour would not have visited.

At four o'clock p.m. we all met again at "la Maison des Associations" to learn more about the GIMUN. This NGO, as well the height of their Finance & Fundraising Director, impressed all of us. Maeva Cherpillod and Aleksandar Stojanov told us how every student can get involved at GIMUN and especially at the annual conference. They showed us a little bit about the problems of starting a project, which we will learn more about in the upcoming days; looking forward to that.

In the end Madlen Kobi from INCOMINDIOS told us what they were doing and their involvement in projects with indigenous people.

Since Roy will be leaving on Friday morning, we all met at the end of the day for dinner outside “la Maison”. Another perfect day has passed by so quickly. 

Project Management (with Nicole Cornu)

UN visit (Palais des Nations) & briefing on the UN system by Vita de Waal

4 Romanians speaking about Switzerland

When you are in Geneva, the time flies. You wake up early in the morning and without knowing, soon it's going to be night. But let's speak about the time between the beginnings and the endings of the day. I shall start my story speaking about tuesday (the 3rd day of our training). 

First of all, it is compulsory to present you the theme discussed: political participation and human rights. By the starting hour, we have talked about the general frame of human rights. Our trainers - Bianca and Roy - have introduced us into the universe of minorities and the way in which human rights are observed in different regions of the world. 

The day was divided in two parts: the theoretical chapter and the practical issues. In the morning, we were presented with details about types of human rights violations, countries where people are denied rights because of their race or ethnicity, organizations which are fighting for human rights and about the political systems from countries participating at the Incomindios training (Romania, Italy, Switzerland, Finland, Sweden and Norway). 

For example, in the afternoon, participants coming from the countries mentioned had to prepare a presentation about the way in which their political system works. 

In the case of Romania, we spoke about the following:

• From 1866 to 1948, Romania was a constitutional monarchy and after that a communist regime was installed;
• In 1989, the Romanian people revolted against the communist rule in order to have a state where the Rule of Law is respected and people are not oppressed anymore;
• Since the Constitution of 1991, Romania is a democratic country, where legal powers (executive, legislative, judicial) are separated, freedoms are respected and the market economy functions normally;
• Romania is divided into 41 counties plus the capital (Bucharest) and from this year it will be divided into different regions;
• The rights of the citizens are protected by the Ombudsman and special institutions;
• We also have advocacy organizations that watch over the politicians actions (watchdog organizations).

We also found out the following from our colleagues:

• Italy has about 900 Members of Parliament and they will organize elections for the Prime-Minister next week;
• The Swiss usually vote for 4 times/year in referendums and public consultations;
• Norway has one of the best social systems in the world, due to the fact that taxes are paid accordingly to the revenues of the citizens;
• The Finnish National Parliament is called Eduskunta, is unicameral and has about 200 members;
• Sweden has the world's 8th highest per capita income;

Another interesting activity from yesterday was connected to a cultural game. We have been divided in three teams and each group had his own customs and beliefs. Of course that meant communicating with people totally different from you, just like it happens in real life. For example, the Blue Team was a really friendly one (they were trying all the time to hug the people they've talked to and look in their eyes) contrary to other cultures which were more personal and tradition-oriented. 

At the end of the day, the participants had to give feedback. Each one has chosen a Dixit game card which expressed their feelings and attitudes about the current day. It was nice hearing people from different parts of Europe talking in a positive way about how this training contributed to their general knowledge and how eager they are to know better their colleagues. 

Free hugs from 4 enthusiastic Romanians!

Flashmob for Yolanda Oquelí

Here are some pictures of the solidarity action for Yolanda Oquelí, the Guatemalan Human Rights Defender.

Idle No More and Human Rights Defenders

Last summer Niila, Saara-Maria and Aslak visited Zürich, Switzerland to plan a Youth in Action program. Now, 7 months from that our hard work paid off and we can now see the results. 27 youngsters from Sweden, Norway, Finland, Italy and Romania (and of course Switzerland and Germany) gathered together for a week long training on several issues considering human rights. In our group we have people from various youth organizations but also students.

Our second training day was quite full of activities, for example we learned about the ongoing struggle of Native Americans of Canada when our trainer Roy came to tell us about Idle No More. This was of course especially interesting for our several Sámi participants since many Sámi had their own Idle No More support events.
We were reminded how much media can affect public opinion and how important it is to think with your own brain. We learned also about the backgrounds of the movement, and that it is not ”just an Indian thing”, but a movement concearning human rights in general.

We also had two human rights activists telling us about the most well-known human rights organization, Amnesty International.  Victoria and Andri told us a brief history and then we got to do some actual ”field work”,  when we organized our own flash mob in support of Yolanda Oquelí, Guatemalan woman who was attacked because of her activism against gold-mining companies. We will post pictures and a video from the flash mob later on.

All in all, our day was hard but very rewarding. If we go on like this, it is going to be a perfect week!

Some first impressions of Youth in Action 2013