On November 15-17, 2021, as representatives of the Polish chapter of WYA Europe, we went to the Emerging Leaders Conference in Brussels, which main goal was to ignite the fire of discussion among young people passionate about human rights, defending human dignity, and searching for development solutions for the growing generation of the new Europe. It was an amazing experience!
On the first day, we got to know each other, curious about different cultures, we talked about our countries, our fields of study, our interests. The most interesting time of the day for me was the simulation of working as a Euro MP. We were divided into parties, with percentages corresponding to the real composition of the European Parliament, in which we discussed a new resolution and amendments we would like to introduce. We had to defend views that to some extent differed from our personal ones, so it was no easy task. Finally, the Chair read the proposed amendments to the resolution from all parties and we voted for or against them by a show of hands.
On the second day, we were exhausted after many hours of debates about the problems of Europeans, both in the labor market, education, and access to culture. They were fruitful discussions because everyone could share their ideas on the forum. Then we had time to visit the city, about which each of us had heard so much and found out why so many tourists come here.
On the last day, our organizers provided us with meetings with Members of the European Parliament, everyone could hear in their own language what the representative of their country promotes on the international arena, how important it is that Europeans are represented in a dignified way and that our lives could be better. We kept in touch with our interlocutor and we want to take part in the Human Rights resolutions.
We are very happy that we had the opportunity to go to this fantastic event, we saw how many young people from different countries care about defending human rights and human dignity, and that there really is strength in the group. We are proud that we can contribute to building a better Europe.
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Published: December 16, 2021
Written by Anna, Natalia, Martyna, Zofia, members of the delegation of WYA Poland and participants of the Emerging Leaders Conference 2021