Statement | Reintroducing Border Controls | Borderless Europe
Last Monday, September 16th, Germany reestablished border checks on its borders with Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Denmark. This move is not an isolated event; in fact, it marks the fourth instance in just six months that Germany has given notice of temporarily reintroducing border controls. In addition to Germany - Austria, Slovenia, Italy, Norway, Sweden and France have all implemented such measures over the past six months [1], citing concerns over security, migration control and public safety as reasons for these actions [1]. All these facts combined signal a growing trend that indicates a significant shift in European mobility [...]
Statement | Two Years Since the Russian Invasion of Ukraine
On 24th February 2022, exactly two years ago, Russia launched its unprovoked and unjustifiable full scale invasion of Ukraine. This full scale attack was a further escalation of the ongoing conflict since February 2014, when Russia illegally occupied and annexed Crimea, later supporting separatists in the regions of Donbas and Luhansk, where the fighting was ongoing for 8 years before the escalation. The full scale invasion has led to immense human suffering, the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives, including tens of thousands of civilian casualties. Since the escalation of the war, nearly 1 800 children have been killed. [...]
Statement | COP28
Sustainability is part of AEGEE's core values and it is part of our strategic plan to work towards a society that respects planetary boundaries in the fight against climate change. In this statement we want to highlight the agreements that have been reached during the 28th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties, COP 28, that was held in Dubai from November 30th to December 12th of 2023 and to raise awareness on the decisions that affect the future on Earth and whose effects might be irreversible. Thereby, we think it is important to express our opinion with regards [...]
Statement | Migratory Law
AEGEE-Europe is deeply concerned about the recent reports at the European borders. On June 14, 2023, a fishing boat that departed Libya and was carrying hundreds of migrants sank near the coast of Greece. This tragedy, which resulted in the death of almost everyone on board, happened in a context where both FRONTEX, the EU’s border control agency, and the Greek authorities made no rescue attempts (International Rescue Committee, 2023). More recently, another tragedy occured on August 3, and to this date, only 4 survivors were rescued by a merchant vessel near Lampedusa, while 41 people are still missing (United [...]
Statement | Inclusion of people with disabilities
Approximately 15% of the world’s population experience a form of disability (World Bank, 2023) and are most likely to face discrimination and socioeconomic exclusion than people without disabilities. Poverty, restrictive access to adequate health services, education or employment represent just some of the challenges that people with disabilities experience anywhere in the world. Among the barriers that facilitate this climate of exclusion are inaccessible physical environments, existing policies and legal framework, social barriers related to employment, education and personal safety, communication barriers which affect reading, writing, hearing, speaking and understanding, stereotypes, stigma, prejudice and discrimination towards people with disabilities; We, [...]
Statement | One month since the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam
On June 6th at 02:50, the Russian military destroyed the Nova Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro River in Kherson Oblast of Ukraine. The intentional explosion caused the structure to fail and release the water in the reservoir that was stored up to a record high of 18 m, which resulted in a catastrophic flood, releasing 18 trillion litres of water. This is a humanitarian and ecological catastrophe. Thousands of people had to be evacuated from the area already. The evacuations have been impeded by continued shelling by the Russian army. The Ukrainian authorities estimate that approximately 40.000 people are [...]
Statement | One Year Since Russia’s 2022 Invasion of Ukraine
Exactly 12 months ago, on 24 February 2022 Russia launched a full scale invasion in its ongoing war against Ukraine. After one year, this war has cost the lives of tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians, including almost five-hundred children, and brought unspeakable suffering upon the Ukrainian people. It has caused the biggest refugee crisis in European history since the end of World War II, displacing more than 8 million people from their homes. This is worsened by the continuous missile attacks and air attacks against civilian targets across Ukrainian cities. This is a war of choice. Russia decided to [...]
UN Climate Change Conference 2021 #COP26
This November the UN came together for the latest ‘Conference of the Parties’ (COPs), which have been happening for nearly three decades. COP26 aimed to unite world leaders from all parties to secure global net zero by mid-century and keep 1.5 degrees within reach, adapt to protect communities and natural habitats and mobilise finance, all these by working together. The actions needed to make these goals happen have not been established. The statements our world leaders end up being left as empty promises that keep occurring year after year. In addition to this, COP26 has shown serious issues of transparency [...]
World Refugee Day 2021
The 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees defines refugees as people who are unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion (1). It was signed into law by 146 countries including all European countries (except San Marino and Andorra) and protects the legal status of refugees and commits signatories to ensuring their safety and basic rights such as the right to family unification and the right to non-refoulement (protection [...]
Statement on International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia 2021
Today, we celebrate the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOBIT). IDAHOBIT was established in order to raise awareness about the discrimination, violence and other forms of oppression LGBTQI+ people face on a daily basis around the world and to motivate people to take action against such kinds of behavior. On the 17th of May 1990, the World Health Organization (WHO) decided to remove homosexuality from the International Classification of Diseases and thus taking an imporant step towards addressing the stigma and inequalities LGBTQI+ people have been historically facing. The increasingly worrying trend against LGBTQI+ that individual European member [...]