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EUROPEANS HIGHLIGHT PROJECTS AND VOLUNTEER CONTRIBUTIONS AT YOUTH FORUM BRUSSELS, 22 May - Young people from across Europe met yesterday to showcase their projects and engage key decision-makers in a dialogue about the contributions of volunteers during this, the International Year of Volunteers 2001 (IYV2001). "Such a pan-European youth volunteer conference with the financial support of the European Commission and hosted at the EU's Economic and Social Committee has never taken place before," said Diana Perez-Buck, a Brussels-based representative of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) and a convention co-organizer. In his remarks, European Commission President Romano Prodi acknowledged the important work carried out by young volunteers at the International Youth Convention on Volunteering, organized by the European Youth Forum and UNV. The European Youth Forum welcomed Mr. Prodi's comments and the European Commission's decision to publish a white paper on youth policy and begin a consultation process with young people. The one-day European Youth Convention on Volunteering featured 12 projects. One of the projects is a youth volunteer management unit set up by the UNV programme and the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Azerbaijan to assist, for example, the elderly, disabled and street children as well as to take steps to protect the environment. The conference addressed all four IYV objectives, namely, volunteer recognition, facilitation, networking and promotion. About 100 young people represented volunteers in Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, Latvia and the United Kingdom. For its part, UNV invited participants to submit news of their experiences for a youth CD-ROM, which is to be released later this year. The CD-ROM will feature projects and resources for young persons interested in volunteer service. Among the projects presented, Germans challenged -- in a bet -- the German Environment Minister to reduce carbon dioxide emissions of their schools by 10 per cent within eight months rather than the 10-year timeframe that Germany has agreed to in the Kyoto protocol. Other schools within Europe have followed suit. The Red Cross Youth of Denmark holds role-play exercises to raise awareness of the needs of newly arrived refugees. Participants of the convention include Göke Frerichs, President of the European Economic and Social Committee (ESC), Dr. Hanna Beate Schöpp-Schilling of the Robert Bosch Foundation, Elisabeth Hardt, Vice President of Association of Voluntary Service Organizations (AVSO), Gianni Orsini of the Coordinating Committee for International Voluntary Service (CCIVS) and representatives of the European Voluntary Service (EVS). # # # For more information
on the Convention, visit: To get involved
with the Youth CD-ROM, visit: Natasha Mistry,
tel: (49 228) 815 2254 email: natasha.mistry@unv.org |
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