On July 3, on our Instagram account @youthrussia we hosted a live stream with Pegah Moulana, the Chairperson of Programming Committee on Youth of the Council of Europe and also the British Youth Council representative in Advisory Council on Youth at the Council of Europe.
Pegah discussed with the audience the activity of the Programming Committee on Youth of the Council or Europe; youth policy implementation in Great Britain; climate change and human rights; the situation of young refugees and etc.
Pegah has an Iranian background but has lived in the UK since she was young. She became part of youth politics in Britain twelve years ago when she was eleven. She was the Chair of the Barnsley Youth Council for 5 years. Then she was advising the UK government on mental health issues, which was the peak of her time working at the UK level. Afterwards, Pegah was elected by the British young people to represent them at the European Youth Forum. Now it’s her second mandate in the Council of Europe. During the first mandate her focus was cooperation with neighboring states.
During the interview Pegah explained to the audience the system of youth policy implementation in Britain. “Every local council has to have a local youth council that is youth-led or attracts young people. There is decentralized approach on how we’re going to empower young people on the local, national and regional level. The British Youth Council supports all of the youth councils,” she said.
Pegah shared with the viewers the experience of participating in the British Youth Parliament, which is hosted by the British Youth Council. “I remember I was 14 and when Mr. Speaker chooses someone and you stand up and have to make a speech. It’s petrifying because it is live on BBC, it’s at the House of Commons and there are MPs listening to you. And it’s so hard not to mumble. But it’s undoubtedly one of the best experiences I have ever had,” she told.
Pegah talked a lot about the work of the Programming Committee on Youth at the Council of Europe. Youth Department of the Council of Europe is governed under three sub-branches. One of them is the Programming Committee on Youth, which works on the budgeting, on the functioning, on the applicability of the work.
Moreover, Programming Committee on Youth at the Council of Europe also reviews the applications of the European Youth Foundation, which is supported by the member states voluntarily and the money is aimed at empowering youth organizations in implementation of the Council of Europe’s values. “For instance, if you want to bring together youth workers to talk about peace and security, you can register with the European Youth Foundation and submit your application. We will look into it and then give you the funding to do it,” Pegah highlighted.
Currently Pegah is also involved in the task force on COVID-19 within the Youth Department of the Council of Europe. She stressed that they have a special call for COVID-19 activities. “If a youth organization is thinking of implementing an activity or a program which is going to target the consequences of COVID-19 towards young people, they can apply for a project which is called “Pilot activities” and we can provide a funding to run this program,” she explained.
Translating the meaning of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2250 from official language to the “youth” one, Pegah noted that this resolution is very much linked to the idea of young people living in peaceful and inclusive societies. She emphasized that according to the resolution young people should not be subject to consequences of peace and security situations. They are often victims of armed conflicts but they are also subject to radicalization. Young people should be amplifiers in promotion of peace and security. Young people are not just victims or perpetrators but peace-builders.
Pegah also shared her personal experience when she was talking about the support of young refugees, “I have always had a personal touch to the idea of refugees and in particular young refugees since I also experienced the vulnerability of moving to a new country that is nothing like my home country. There is always a lot of problems with social cohesion of young refugees, translation issues…So the system of protecting young refugees isn’t just about how to support them in coming to the safe zone but also in helping them to become the part of new community”, she said.
This is only a small part of the spectacular interview with Pegah Moulana. We strongly recommend you to watch the full interview to learn more about the impact of climate change on young people’s access to rights, the work of the Programming Committee on Youth of the Council of Europe, Russia-Britain relations, sanctions and etc.
Full interview is available on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Yji8MAwHtU