With regard to the ongoing invasion of Russia, the Foundation's management has released a new statement. An anonymous alumnus from the European Youth Parliament (EYP) in Russia also comments on current developments.
“As a European organisation working for peaceful cross-border exchanges of young people, we are watching the situation in Ukraine with horror.
We too condemn Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine in the strongest possible terms and our thoughts are with all Ukrainians, whether on the ground, fleeing or abroad. Our sympathy goes out to all people affected by war.
As political educators for a pluralistic Europe, it is also important for us to point out that the terrible events must not lead to more racism and discrimination in Europe.
„We condemn the separation and discrimination of Black people and people of colour at the borders. And we warn against hostilities towards people of Russian origin who reject the war but are blamed for Putin’s actions.
We are particularly concerned about the members of our local youth networks in Ukraine who experience the horror of war since February 24th and to which we would like to draw your attention to: @eypukraine.“
“What is happening in Ukraine right now is a crime against humanity. It is committed by the Russian state. The EYP events we were organising in Russia a couple of years ago brought together hundreds of participants from all over Europe and were created to build bridges between young people in Russia, Ukraine or any other European country. Putin did everything he could to burn these bridges and he is going as far as killing, arresting, beating up the people, who want to peacefully build their lives in friendship.
The Russian students who have been going to EYP events since 1992 were happy to grow and develop alongside Ukrainians and the whole of Europe. Putin has destroyed the future of these Russians and taken thousands of Ukrainian lives. He has anihilated any goodwill towards Russia that EYPers have worked hard to gain. A post-Putin Russia will have to work for decades, if not centuries, to gain any of that trust again. If a new Russia emerges from the ruins of this tragedy, hopefully, Russian EYPers will be once more part of this amazing experience. But before anything else is to happen, we need to stop this war. Knowing that Russians are bombing Ukraining hospitals, schools, churches and resedential blocks is gut-wrenching. It needs to stop immediately.“
The EYP network has set up a blog platform to share and amplify the voices of those directly affected by the Russian-Ukrainian war.