Background
The Youth Peace Camp is the flagship activity of the Council of Europe youth sector onThe Youth Peace Camp project was born in 2003 in the framework the programme of the Council of Europe’s confidence-building measures and has been providing a unique opportunity for young people from conflict- stricken regions to meet and understand the process of transforming conflicts.promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies
During the camp the participants follow an experiential learning process and acquired competences in the fields of peacebuilding, intercultural learning, dialogue and conflict transformation, within a human rights framework.The Youth Peace Camp unique approach is the possibility for young people to better understand conflicts and their transformation by listening to and living together with young people affected by other conflicts elsewhere. The European Youth Centre provides an adequate environment for the young people from different conflict-stricken regions to learn together about conflict, to share their experiences in approaching them with other young people and to build their capacity to engage and/or develop future conflict transformation projects and initiatives.
In 2022, the Youth Peace Camp was replaced by the Youth Peace Camp Conference, held in the framework of the Youth Action Week – Democracy Now!. The Call for Action prepared by the participants of the Week has a chapter with various expectations, including that, “the Council of Europe and its member States must commit firmly to and advocate for action to address all conflicts through peacebuilding and non-violent conflict transformation”. The participants also underlined the close interconnection between democracy and non-violent resolution of conflicts.
In 2023 the camp will take place in Strasbourg and its programme will be designed in line with the review of the Youth Peace Camp methodology based on the outcomes of the consultative meeting on Renewing Peace Education in intercultural activities which took place in January 2023. The consultative meeting put emphasis on ensuring peace education with a holistic approach that encompasses attitudes, knowledge, and skills related to tackling conflict and violence. The need of including practical steps in peacebuilding and peace education was also underlined, such as engaging young people in peace processes, advocacy, promoting diversity, and building alliances through international collaboration.
Rationale of the Youth Peace Camp
Young people growing up in regions affected by armed conflicts, being exposed to and/or enduring the consequences of physical, cultural and structural violence, are often confronted with dramatic life forming experiences, emotions and challenges. Such experiences may strongly influence their views and behaviour towards their own and other communities, their relation to conflict and peace and to their identity. Many young people choose to engage in constructive initiatives and dialogue instead of becoming themselves multipliers of hatred, violence, and discrimination. When supported and recognised in their role, these young people may become peer leaders and educators and, in turn, raise awareness of and involve other young people in dialogue, mediation, conflict transformation and peace work projects.
In their role as peer leaders and in learning about conflict and peace, it is important for them to be able to relate to and to be confronted with, the life stories, experiences, and aspirations of young people from other conflict regions. The Youth Peace Camp builds on these experiences and applies it to its participants.
Learning about peace, violence and its root-causes at the Youth Peace Camp is organised in line with the approaches of human rights education and intercultural learning. Intercultural learning became understood as representing the essence of the Youth Department’s educational approach: recognising and addressing prejudice, combating aggressive and exclusive forms of nationalism, identifying the competences necessary for youth workers active in inter/multi-cultural environments. Intercultural learning is understood to be a natural part of the educational approach towards intercultural dialogue and, together with human rights education, provides useful approaches to some of the dilemmas resulting from violent, structural and cultural conflicts.
Attention to peace, intercultural dialogue, violence prevention and conflict transformation is deeply rooted in the history of the youth sector and remains a top priority by the persistence of several “frozen” and active conflicts. The ongoing aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine has been a brutal reminder of the devastating impact of war and conflict on the culture of human rights that supports peaceful and inclusive societies.
The adoption by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe of the Resolution on Strengthening the role of young people in the prevention and resolution of conflicts (Resolution 2378 (2021) confirmed the political relevance of these approaches, adding to their proven educational suitability. The Resolution calls upon regarding young people and youth organisations as indispensable partners in any peace or political processes, as well as to foster continuous intercommunity dialogue and co-operation among young people from different communities, and to introduce democratic citizenship and peace education into the formal school curriculum from an early age. The Resolution emphasises also that democratic citizenship and peace education should include, but not be limited to, relationships and team working, empathy, critical thinking, media literacy, conflict transformation, reconciliation, human rights education, peaceful political participation and intercultural dialogue, so that young people may be better equipped to understand the root causes of violence, support peace and ensure respect for diversity in multicultural societies.
The Youth Peace Camp enables the youth sector of the Council of Europe to identify and document challenges faced by young people in conflict regions and to improve its ability to support youth projects in those regions. The project promotes and supports the role of young people in peacebuilding activities that contribute to living together in dignity and dialogue and bring in the perspective that youth work and youth policy can bring to peacebuilding processes in Europe, especially through its preventive and educational nature.
In 2023, the activity is organised in cooperation with Directorate of Political Affairs and External Relations (DPAER) of the Council of Europe in the framework of its Confidence Building Measures.
Aims and objectives
The Youth Peace Camp engages young people and youth organisations from conflict affected regions in dialogue and peacebuilding activities based on human rights education and intercultural learning during and after the camp.
The objectives of the 2023 Youth Peace Camp are:
• To develop awareness and basic competences (knowledge, skills and attitude) of participants in human rights education, peacebuilding and intercultural learning to enable them to engage in dialogue and confidence-building initiatives with other young people affected by conflict;
• To support mutual learning from experiences of conflict and coping strategies;
• To foster relationship building as a foundation for peacebuilding and dialogue;
• To introduce and share existing youth work practices and experiences of young people working on dialogue and conflict transformation in their home communities
• To motivate and support participants in their role as multipliers and peer leaders in peacebuilding activities with young people encouraging them to implement follow-up initiatives;
• To strengthen the role of the Council of Europe, in particular through its Youth for Democracy programme, in peacebuilding and intercultural dialogue with young people and to support the approaches of the UN Security Council Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security and the Sustainable Development Goals.
All participants must:
• be aged between 18 and 25 years (with possible exceptions up to 30 years old);
• be able to work in English;
• be available and fully committed to take part in the Youth Peace Camp;
• be curious, open-minded, appreciate diversity and ready to learn about each other’s
realities;
be motivated to learn and to apply the values and approaches of the Youth Peace Camp, notably human rights, democracy and peacebuilding;
• be motivated to implement youth initiatives for peacebuilding following the camp;
• possess a sense of responsibility for one’s own actions, a commitment to personal and community development and continue the engagement with other participants;
• preferably be involved in an organisation or network, institution, formal and/or informal group that is ready to support them throughout the project duration and
afterwards when implementing youth initiatives for peace building.
The group of participants should be balanced and reflect the diversity of their communities. The total number of participants and facilitators expected will be 40-50, with an average of 4- 5 persons from each community present.
The Council of Europe welcomes applications from all candidates who fulfil the profile above, irrespective of gender, disability, marital or parental status, racial, ethnic or social origin, colour, religion, belief or sexual orientation.
Financial and practical conditions
Dates: Participants are expected to arrive on 3 July to the European Youth Centre, Strasbourg and depart on 12 July.
Travel expenses: Travel expenses and visa fees for accessing Strasbourg will be reimbursed according to the rules of the Council of Europe. Only the participants who attend the entire Youth Peace Camp can be reimbursed.
Accommodation: Full board and lodging for the Youth Peace Camp will be provided and paid for by the Council of Europe at the European Youth Centre. The European Youth Centres are accessible to people with disabilities and can take measures to accommodate for any specific needs of participants in this respect. Please provide all the necessary information in your application form.
Application procedure and selection of participants
Applications must be submitted by Wednesday, 1 April 2023, 23:59 CET by completing
the online application form available at: https://youthapplications.coe.int
A letter of support from their sending organisation or institution can be uploaded on the platform or sent separately by e-mail, to express support offered throughout the project to the participant and their initiatives. Participants who are member of an informal network or youth group can supply a letter of support from their fellow members in the informal network or group expressing their support for the participants’ application.
Further inquiries
For more information about the activity and for technical assistance with the application form uploaded at the Council of Europe Youth Department platform, please address: eyc.programme@coe.int
Resource and Apply : Click Here
