Call for Participants
HREYN Study Session - 2016 March 13th- 20th
Building Peace in Europe - The Role of Civil Society and Young People
Background information
Human Rights Education Youth Network (HREYN) was created to contribute to the development of human rights education with young people in order to promote mutual understanding, peace, friendship, respect for human dignity and human rights, non-violence and non-discrimination and act against persistent violations of human rights through awareness raising, campaigning, prevention and education in formal and non-formal settings.
HREYN understands that human rights education impact is to diminish the level of human rights violations and to empower young people to exercise, enjoy and defend their rights. This implies the translation of values and attitudes developed through human rights education into daily behaviours, but also the competence to use various tools and instruments for defence of human rights, often associated with activism.
There is a great need to strengthen the role of the network in empowering its member organisations to take concrete action for human rights, namely addressing human rights violations happening in their own environment and in neighbouring environments.
The member organisations of the network consist mainly of young people who are educators, trainers, activists or human rights defenders. This study session will look further into educational strategies on how to train these young human rights educators, activists and defenders in dealing with various human rights violations, including armed conflict, which is happening in Europe.
This study session proposal laid its groundwork in the strategic directions adopted during the last General Assembly, which has raised attention to the recent conflicts in Eastern Europe and the growing interest of members in further developing competences in dealing with human rights issues in conflict areas. Moreover, the network has explored new tools for understanding and addressing hate speech in Europe, as an outcome of the No Hate Speech Movement promoted by the Council of Europe (CoE).
On these topics, the network has organised the following international training projects:
- “Non-violent approach to Peace Building and Democracy” – training course in Bakuriani, Georgia;
- “Responding to Hate - Learning to protect Human Rights online” - Study Session in co-operation with the European Youth Centre Strasbourg;
- “Dialogue against the Fist - Understanding instead of fear” – training course in Bakuriani, Georgia.
Objectives of the study session
- Deepen participants’ understanding of key concepts of Conflict Transformation and Peace Building;
- Familiarize the participants with concepts and approaches of non-violent actions;
- Enable participants to share good practices and adapt it to local contexts and realities in order to promote peace building;
- Motivate participants to advocate for non-violent actions;
- Review and enhance participants’ competences in working as activists, multipliers and trainers on peace building, namely through non-formal education;
- Enable participants to develop activities and programmes for multipliers in conflict transformation and non-violent actions, at international, national or local level;
- Facilitate networking between participants and HREYN member organisations, with a special emphasis on acting upon recent conflicts in Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and other Eastern European countries;
- Create a HREYN strategy that allows member organizations to cooperate in fostering peace building in European armed conflict areas, with a special focus on Russia-Ukraine current conflict.
Methodology of the study session
The methodological approach relies on Non-Formal Education, thus it is learner-centred and participatory. We will make use of plenary sessions, workshops, discussion-groups and role-playing, aiming at promoting interaction, cooperative learning, self-initiative and creativity. Throughout the programme, young leaders and youth workers will be invited to discuss the significant role of youth participation in peace building processes, and will be invited to reflect and construct their role in wide civil society, as well as to place themselves in relation to their own local contexts.
Intercultural learning is therefore a transversal pillar of the programme, as it will be a key element through which all sessions will be conducted, as well as a learning output, as intercultural dialogue will be presented as a tool for understanding conflict and promote conflict transformation in European societies.
Furthermore, the programme will focus on concrete, practical tools and resources for non-violent actions using Council of Europe’s publications and other relevant publications and best practices.
Profile of participants
The study session seeks to bring together youth workers and youth leaders directly interested or concerned by the topic of the event (Human Rights activists, multipliers, youth leaders, peer educators).
All participants should:
- have experience in the topic of the study session;
- be highly motivated to participate and contribute to the event and to implementation of its results;
- be ready and able to work as multipliers;
- be preferably aged between 18 and 30;
- be able to attend the full duration of the study-session;
- be able to work in English;
- reside in a Council of Europe Member State.
Dates and venue
Arrival day: Sunday, 13 March 2016.
Departure day: Sunday, 20 March 2016.
EYCB - European Youth Centre, Budapest
Working language
Travel reimbursement & Enrolment fee
Travel and visa expenses will be fully reimbursed. An enrolment fee of 50 Euros is payable by each participant. This amount will be deducted from the amount to be reimbursed for travel expenses. For participants with travel costs lower than 50 Euros, the difference needs to be paid to the Council of Europe at the EYCB during the course.
Selected participants will be requested to buy the less expensive travel tickets according to CoE rules. The flight/train/bus tickets must be bought at least 1 month in advance (till 13 February). Selected participants need a formal approval from the Study Session Team before purchasing the travel (namely in terms of means of transportation, travel route, dates and cost).
The travel reimbursement will be done at the EYCB during the Study Session. Only participants who fully attend the Study Session are entitled to travel reimbursement.
Application procedure and selection of participants
The Application Form is available at the following LINK
All those interested in attending can submit the application form online till 5 January 2016 (23h59 CET).
The preparatory team will select 35 participants on the basis of the profile outlined above and ensuring a balanced group (gender, geographical regions, experience, cultural backgrounds and organisations).
The team will notify successful applicants latest by 19 January 2016. Please note that due to the usually high number of applicants we will only be able to inform selected participants.