What Worries Youth in Enlargement Countries Vol. 2 Out Now

We’re pleased to announce the release of the second volume of our What Worries Youth in Enlargement Countries: Human Rights and Youth in the Western Balkans and Turkey report.

As part of our EUTH 2021 programme to support youth’s research, policy writing and advocacy skills, seven activists and young leaders from the region compiled papers each outlining a human rights topic impacting their respective communities. The full report can be read here.

On Thursday 28 January, together with MEP Irena Joveva (Slovenia) from Renew Europe, we hosted an online roundtable giving the authors an opportunity to present findings to members of the European Commission, European Parliament, local CSOs, as well as members of Permanent Missions to the EU from the Western Balkans. 

Despite an attempted interruption, the event concluded successfully, attracting over 60 participants and closing with encouraging words of support and solidarity for the human rights activists by MEP Joveva.

The first round of What Worries Youth in Enlargement Countries was held in Brussels in October 2019.

This year’s topics and respective authors were:

Kevin Jasini (Albania): Challenges of the LGBTI+ Cause in Albania: From the Lack of Implementation to Violence and Rising Immigration 

Sonja Kosanović (Bosnia and Herzegovina): Protecting Rivers and the Rights to Peaceful Assembly in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Trina Binaku (Kosovo): A Way Out of the Miseducation of Youth: Time to Revisit Kosovo’s Textbooks 

Elvis Beriša (Montenegro): Affirmative Action in Montenegro: Time to Open Universities for Roma Students 

Ardita Vejseli (North Macedonia): Youth on the Margins: Right to Education for Youth with Disabilities in North Macedonia 

Valentina Lepojević (Serbia): Women and Girls with Disabilities in Closed Institutions in Serbia 

Necdet Üstündağ (Turkey): Government-Appointed Local Authority Trustees in Turkey: The  (Non-)Application of the Right to Vote and to Be Elected