On 4 December in Strasbourg, General Representative Dries Willems signed the YOUTH.TOGETHER agreement on behalf of Flanders with the Council of Europe. For the implementation of YOUTH.TOGETHER, the project for social inclusion of young refugees, Minister-President Bourgeois grants 80.000 euros.
The focus of the YOUTH.TOGETHER project is on long-term training and support for youth workers and young refugees. 35 participants from different member states of the Council of Europe will develop local projects in the coming year for the participation of young refugees in local community life. Attention is explicitly paid to human rights education, protection of the rights of young refugees and the fight against discrimination. In Flanders a project will be developed with the NGO Partners In Integration.
After the signing, Representative Willems organized the presentation of the book "Herboren" (reborn) by journalist Majd Khalifeh. He shared his own experience about the importance of the youth movement for his integration process and talked about the added value of newcomers to society.
With the support for the YOUGH.TOGETHER project and the cooperation with the Council of Europe, the Government of Flanders wants to contribute to better compliance with human rights for a democratic, peaceful and safe society. And to highlight the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10th. In his opening speech, Representative Willems emphasized that “for Flanders, human rights are not only a legal and moral obligation towards our citizens, but also an important guideline for our foreign policy.”