Statements

No crisis can be resolved without accurate and reliable information. Today, on the 3rd of May we celebrate #WorldPressFreedomDay and the fundamental principles of press freedom. Additionally, this day highlights the importance of respecting press freedom worldwide while reminding citizens that in dozens of countries, publications are censored and closed down, while journalists, editors and publishers are harassed, attacked, detained and even murdered. World Press Freedom Day was first proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 1993 following a Recommendation adopted at a UNESCO General Conference. This year’s theme of “Journalism without Fear or Favour“ sheds particular light on an [...]

Statement on the Planned Presidential Elections on behalf of AEGEE-Gdansk, AEGEE-Krakow, AEGEE-Warszawa and AEGEE-Wroclaw Democracy is at the heart of the AEGEE European Student Forum’s activity. Through our actions, both at the local and international level, we try to shape conscious citizenship attitudes among young people, hence, in the sense of social responsibility, we cannot fail to express our opposition to the situation that is currently taking place in Poland. We observe with deep concern all the steps that are being taken related to the upcoming presidential election. These steps, in the face of the developing pandemic, raise very big [...]

On the 30th of March, the Hungarian Government passed a bill that extended the power of the current Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to rule by decree for an unlimited time period, allowing him a quick promulgation of law without prior approval of the parliament. In addition, the bill suspends any elections and the referendums for the time period of the state of emergency in the country. The bill “anti-coronavirus defense law” includes imprisonment up to 5 years for cases in which false news or misinformation about COVID-19 are spread or up to 8 years, in case quarantine measures are not [...]

In the last weeks, Europe has become the new hotspot of the global COVID-19 pandemic, a public health emergency that has been already recognised as the biggest crisis hitting the continent since World War II. Each of us is being affected by these exceptional circumstances and living in a situation which we would not have even imagined a few weeks ago. Even though the whole European population is suffering from the impact of the pandemic, the most vulnerable social groups are hit the hardest. Among those, the situation of migrants and refugees in Europe is particularly dire. Refugees and migrants [...]

The International Women’s Day has its origins in the struggle for equal political and economic rights for women, and has been celebrated since the beginning of the century. The simple fact that in 2020 we still demand the same rights as in 1908 gives reasons to reflect on the persistence of gender inequality. Nowadays, European women have voting rights and enjoy formal parity in front of the law. Equality between women and men is a value enshrined in most national constitutions, as well as in the Lisbon Treaty of the European Union. In 2019, Ursula von der Leyen was appointed [...]

Zero Discrimination Day was created in 2013 by UNAIDS, (the UN program on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)) to celebrate the right of everyone to be free from discrimination. As an organisation representing European youth, AEGEE-Europe wants to raises awareness of different forms of discrimination faced by young people. Young people encounter great challenges and deepening inequalities in the fields of education, employment, housing and health services, and experience structural, institutional and social barriers in accessing existing opportunities.Young people are often stuck in short-term, underpaid jobs and other precarious forms of employment, a situation which [...]

Tonight, what seemed so far away for so long, will turn into reality. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland will definitely leave the European Union, and along with it the EU customs union, the Erasmus+ Programme, as well as other agreements, be it completely or partially. It is still unclear what the totality of its consequences will be, both for the EU and for the UK. What remains clear is that Brexit is a step in the wrong direction. Only 35 years ago, when the Schengen Agreement was not even yet signed, the mere thought of crossing [...]

The International Organization for Migration defines migration as a term “reflecting the common lay understanding of a person who moves away from his or her place of usual residence, whether within a country or across an international border, temporarily or permanently, and for a variety of reasons”. As reflected in these words, migration is a highly common phenomenon and is a fundamental part of human’s nature. From a historical perspective it has often triggered the development of cultures, technologies and knowledge. Human communities have evolved through contacts with different civilisations and societies, and migration has always brought all sorts of [...]

This week’s Plenary of the European Parliament in Strasbourg was eventful, with important highlights such as the approval of the new European Commission headed by Ursula von der Leyen, the Resolution on the climate and environment emergency, and the Resolution on the EU accession to the Istanbul Convention and other measures to combat gender-based violence, which was approved by a very large majority. On Tuesday, a statement was made on Public discrimination and hate speech against LGBTI people, including LGBTI free zones, followed by a debate. The statement was triggered by the increasingly frequent use of anti-LGBTI rhetoric in the [...]

Violence against women is an everyday reality for a very large part of the world population across the globe as well as in Europe. 33% of women in the EU have endured physical and/or sexual violence since age 15, 43% have suffered psychological violence by a current or former partner, 55% have experienced sexual harassment, and in 2016 intimate partners or family members intentionally killed more than one woman every day. Indeed, violence against women is recognised as one of the most widespread and endemic forms of human rights violation. The United Nations has designated the 25th of November as [...]