SOCIETY
YOUTH PEACE CAMP: PROMOTING DIALOGUE AMONG YOUNG LEADERS FROM CONFLICT REGIONS AT EUROPA PARK
Baku, June 30 (AZERTAC). Fifty-four young people from conflict and post-conflict zones, including Israel and the territories under Palestinian Authority, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the Kosovo Serb and Albanian communities, will attend a one-week training course to promote dialogue and to strenghten common understanding.
The programme provides participants with an opportunity to deal with inter-community conflict and hatred through face-to-face interaction: a series of practical exercises aiming at building mutual trust, and dissipating prejudice and stereotypes.
The leisure park Europapark will host this unique event for the seventh year in a row, giving young leaders and activists the chance to work in an atmosphere different from inter-community mistrust, hatred and violent conflict.
The seminar gives an opportunity to youth leaders belonging to antagonistic communities to tell their stories in a safe environment, and to prepare inter-community networks and partnerships.
The course leader Michael Raphael, intercultural trainer, will moderate the team-building sessions with the “multiperspectivity” of six different communities sharing cultural and narrative activities, and learning from each other`s situations.
Background information: The Youth Peace Camp, organised since 2004, is one of the most audacious and innovative youth projects created by the Council of Europe. The annual flagship event is a contribution to the democratic development in conflict or post-conflict regions in need of support. By familiarising young people with approaches of non-formal peer education for democracy and human rights, participants meet for the first time in their life with colleagues from “across the community divide” in a peaceful, protected yet open stage at the Europa Park.