The EFAy has written to the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Dr. Jacques Rogge, to bring to his attention the EFAy reolution passed at our April 2008 General Assembly in Palma de Mallorca.

The letter urged Dr Rogge to use its influence to ensure that no further repression of the Tibetan people by the Chinese authorities takes place in the run up to the Olympics. In particular the following points were also raised, in line with the resolution passed:

“[We] urge the IOC and China not to take the Olympic flame through Tibet, as it will be seen as a provocation by Tibetans and might give the Chinese government extra reason to increase the repression of the population”

“Note that China’s use of the Olympics to use as propaganda for world harmony while at the same time crushing all dissent in Tibet is obscene. All European athletes competing in the Olympics should look to their conscience and decide if they wish to take part in a competition in a state that is committing acts of genocide against Tibetans.”

The EFAy also wrote to the Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China, Minister Yang Jiechi, requesting that China refrains from taking the flame through Tibet. Li Lizhi, of the Beijing Olympic torch relay centre, said yesterday that the torch is still planned to go through Tibet, but the time it will be in the country will be shortened due to the recent earthquake. Li Lizhi said that the torch will be in Tibet:

“… either on June 18 or June 19, as is tentatively set now. But it is still open to future adjustment.”

The full text of the letter sent to the IOC can be found here.

The full text of the EFAy resolution can be found here.

The EFAy continues to receive good press coverage from Aland thanks to EFAy Members,Youth of Äland Framtid.

Last weekend the Aland based newspaper ‘Ålandstidningen’ featured an article relating to the EFAy representation at the Youth of European Nationalities supported event, ‘The more I see you - the added value of minorities’ event in the Danish town of Gråsten.

The EFAy would like to encourage its members to publicise its activities in their own nations/regions.

Clik here for article.

Also click here for EFAy link.

The EFAy has written to the Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China (PRC), Minister Yang Jiechi, informing him of the resolutions passed relating to his Government, at the EFAy General Assembly on April 12th 2008.

In particular the EFAy called on Minister Yang Jiechi for his Government to renew contacts with envoys of the Dalai Lama and to respect the human rights of the Tibetan people, in particular their right to self determination. The EFAy also urged the PRC to release all Tibetan political prisoners with immediate effect and strongly condemned the incidences of imprisonment, torture, forced sterilisation of Tibetan women, rape, forced labour, restrictions on religious observance, restrictions on the use of Tibetan language, restrictions on the expression of Tibetan culture; pointing out that these actions may constitute genocide under international law.

The full text of the letter to Minister Yang Jiechi can be found here and the resolution text can be found here.

The EFAy has written to Prime Minister Mr. Hashim Thaçi of Kosova, welcoming his Governments declaration of independence on 17th February 2008 and supporting the right of the people of Kosova to self-determination.

At the same time, the EFAy strongly condemned the isolated acts of violence that followed this declaration and expressed its disappointment that Kosova’s independence was not unanimously recognised by all 27 Member-States of the European Union. Over the coming months the EFAy will be writing to those Member States who have not yet recognised Kosova’s independence and urging them to do so.

Moreover, the EFAy called for the highest standards of minority rights to be upheld for the non-majority ethnic groups in Kosovo, namely Serbs, Turks, Bosniaks and others, and called upon them to participate in Kosovo’s institutions peoples

The full text of the letter to Prime Minister Mr. Hashim Thaçi can be found here and the full text of the EFAy resolution this relates to can be found here.

The European Commission has finally published their decision on the administrative grants for 2008 and it would seem that the EFAy has been awarded the full amount of 35.000 €.

This will ensure the financial and administrative stability of the EFAy for the forthcoming year, including the EFAy Coordinator position. The EFAy will susequently be looking for a new person to take up this role shortly, so watch this space if you think you are capable of taking on the challenge!

The full published list of organisations who have received a Commission administrative grant for this year can be found here.

The EFAy participated in the European Youth Forum’s (EYF) Council of Members (COMEM) meeting in Barcelona, Catalunya on 2-3 May 2008 in their capacity as Observer Members of the EYF.

EYF representatives from youth organisations from across Europe are invited to attend the bi annual COMEM meetings and are opportunity to discuss issues relating to the work of youth organisations at a European level. One of the main issues that the EFAy was interested in was the delay by the European Commission on the decision to allocate administrative grants to organisations. Like many other European youth organisations, the EFAy is still awaiting a response from the Commission to ascertain if a new EFAy coordinator can be employed for the next year. A decision is now expected sometime this month.

Thomas Leys, who is the EFAy COMEM representative, took part in the meeting.

Link:

European Youth Forum

The topic of the yearly seminar was “the more I see you - the added value of minorities” referring to a competence analysis commissioned by the Schleswig-Holstein State parliament.

The competence analysis should serve as an instrument for the development of the multilingual region and also convince other regions to investigate the added value of multilingualism. YEN and Junge Spitzen also brought attention by issuing a resolution calling for a European study on the added value of minorities. EFAy welcomes this initiative and like to state that it is of importance for every European citizen to understand the “added value of minorities”. Minorities provide Europe with unique competences concerning multilingualism, culture and democratic participation. Issuing such a study could be perceived as an acknowledgement of the added value of minorities in states across Europe.

Later, during the seminar all delegates were involved in a simulation, in which they had to portray different fictional minorities, which came to a climax in an enacted hearing in the European Parliament.

The EFAy was invited to hold a presentation on youth politics in the European Union. Vice-president Andreas Dahlén held the presentation on Saturday 10th during the general assembly of YEN.

The EFAy is grateful for the opportunity to take part in this years YEN seminar and look forward to further co-operation with the youth organisation.

The whole speech as presented during the YEN general assembly can be found here.

Link:

http://www.gravenstein2008.dk/

The EFAy have written to European Commission President José Manuel Barroso to ask the Commission to undertake an investigation into the safely and human right implications of using the controversial Mosquito ‘anti youth’ device.

The Mosquito device emits an uncomfortable high frequency sound that only youths can hear and is designed to disperse young people away from public areas where they are deemed to be causing a nuisance. Although the device has been pioneered and already used widely in the UK, there have been reports that the Mosquito is now also being used on mainland Europe. A court in Brittany recently banned the use of the device in one instance and said that is was causing discomfort to the public in the village. However, to date, the European Commission and other European state Governments have refused to ban the device.

The Young Scots for Independence called for a ban of the device last year and this year the Scottish Nationalist Party adopted their position after their Spring Conference. Bethan Jenkins (Plaid Cymru Welsh Assembly Member and former youth leader of Cymru X), has also suggested that Plaid is not in favour of the device.

The full text of the EFAy letter can be found here.

A new Bureau of Gazte Abertzaleak (GA) was elected this weekend (10th to 11th May 2008), at the organisation’s Annual General Assembly, including a new President.

The Assembly in Bilbo/Bilbao elected Alain Zamorano Barrenetxea as its new Secretary General, who took over from Harkaitz Millan. Zamorano promised to lead a new reinvigoragted Gazte and expressed his committment to the organisation and its activisits. A group of nine representatives were elected to the Gazte Bureau, including Lander de Bilbao − former EFAy President − who will be responsible for international relations.

Gazte have played an influencial role in the EFAy in the past, with one of its previous members being the first President of the EFAy in 2000. EFAy President, Rhisiart Tal−e−bot, attended the Assembly on behalf of the EFAy. In his address he reminded delegates that Gazte have traditionally played a leading role in the EFAy and that it was important for the work of both organisations that this strong link continues.

Gazte Abertzaleak

Jeunes l'Union Démocratique Bretonne (UDB youth) activist and EFAy Bureau member, Gael Briand, took part in the first French Parliamentary debate yesterday about the ‘regional’ languages spoken within the French state, via a live webcam link.

Gael Briand was invited by an employee of the LCB Assemblée Nationale TV channel to take part in the debate and contacted Gael after viewing his blog site, which he said was interesting. In addition to speaking about the situation of the Breton language, Gael also spoke about the important role of the European Free Alliance and ‘open nationalism’ in a Europe of the peoples.

Gael’s review of his intervention in the debate can be found on his blog by following the link below:

Gael’s LCP blog review

LCB Assemblée Nationale