European Action Week Against Racism took place between 15th and 23rd of March 2014. In this way, UNITED joined the efforts of Council of Europe regarding ”No Hate Speech Movement”.
In this frame, GEYC initiated ”USE - United, Stronger, European” campaign that had the initiative to involve various high-school and institutions from across the country in order to promote tolerance, diversity and nondiscrimination as values of a European citizen.
GEYC had the initiative to involve various high-school and institutions from across
the country in order to promote tolerance, diversity and nondiscrimination as
values of a European citizen. Consequently, high-schools and institutions
expressed their interest in developing a local event in order to raise
awareness about discrimination.
Among the institutions involved were:
Among the institutions involved were:
- "Gheorghe Asachi" High School from Botosani;
- "City Library" Public Service from Resita;
- "Miron Costin" Technical High School from Roman in partnership with Danubiana Technical High School Roman;
- "Spiru Haret" Theoretical High School from Moinesti;
- "Dimitrie Leonida" Technical High School from Petrosani;
- “Constantin Cantacuzino” National High School from Targoviste;
- "Aurel Vlaicu'' Technical High School from Galati.
The
pupils and the teachers from all these institutions proved not only their
active citizen characteristic, but also their creativity using various ways of
expressing some of the European values. Consequently, non-formal methods of
learning such as round tables, debates, discussion and role-plays were
frequently used to share opinions and knowledge about racism and
discrimination. Another common activity involved the informative aspect. There
is no doubt that people need to be informed about the effects and perils of
such attitudes towards their peers who might come from different ethnic and
cultural background. The pupils involved in the USE campaign acknowledged this
aspect and used their creativity to design informative materials, such as
flyers, posters, balloons with non-discriminative messages so as to raise awareness
towards stereotypes, prejudices and discrimination. More than that, visual
arts, dance, music and theatre were other ways of making their point.
Among
the people that are targets of discrimination, the participants brought into
question not only Roma people, but also who Romanians’ image is perceived
abroad, black people and people coming from other cultural and ethnic
background.
The
reports of all the activities developed in each institution proved the success
and the impact they had not only among the pupils, but also among civil servants, elected officials,
formal and informal Roma leaders, priests, teachers, health mediators, and
human rights activists.
Defending
human rights, in general, and youth human rights, in particular, is one of the
six major directions of GEYC and, as a consequence, for GEYC getting involved
in this international campaign through coordinating a local one was part of its
mission.
GEYC
is enthusiastic about the success that all the activities had and is looking
forward to develop other new and exciting events.