On the 13th and 14th of December, CARDET presented the Youth Empowerment and Innovation project (YEIP) as part of the Conference “Youth Cooperation for Peace: Building bridges to counter radicalization and extremism” organized by the Youth Board of Cyprus, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and of the Ministry of Education and Culture.
Key topics included:
- Drivers to extremism and radicalization
- Increase concept of world citizenship
- Establish that Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance away from forms of violence and extremism
- Necessity for EU to have open discussion on islamophobia
The Conference brought together young people from Albania, Algeria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Oman, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates to exchange views on ways to promote tolerance, mutual understanding and to dispel misconceptions and false stereotypes. During the Conference, the young people brought forward their practical ideas about how best to build resilient communities and tackle youth radicalization and violent extremism. Some of these included:
- Empower young people through education on empathy, confidence-building
- Boosting employment opportunities targeted specifically for young people in marginalized areas
- Develop an agricultural project (i.e. “Planting for Peace”) that encourages young people’s involvement in a cause for peace between countries
- Create a digital innovation platform that will open the communication channel between state and young people.
The Conference ended with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Kasoulides, accepting the proposition to make Cyprus a central key player in the re-organisation of similar events and to push the initiative for a united youth front towards youth radicalization.
