Global Youth Connect brings together human rights activists (08/13/00)

Global Youth Connect brings together human rights activists

by Lidiya Nychyk
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

PRINCETON, N.J. - Sixteen young human rights activists who represent front-line youth leaders in eight countries, including Bhutan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Jamaica, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, Northern Ireland and Ukraine, were brought together here for the first Global Youth Connect Human Rights Learning Community.

Despite their youth (all the activists are between the ages of 18 and 30), these activists have tremendous experience in maintaining and defending human rights in their countries, elaborating upon and developing valuable projects, ones that range from halting environmental degradation in Nigeria, to helping street kids and at-risk youths in Jamaica, repatriation of Bhutanese refugees from camps in Nepal, women's rights in Ukraine and civil rights issues in African American communities.

Global Youth Connect (GYC) is a relatively new organization headquartered in New York City. The idea for the organization emerged about two years ago in Sweden, where young leaders in the area of human rights and genocide prevention gathered, intending to find new ways to create a world without violence. The necessity of a worldwide youth organization was sharply felt by these young people and the establishment of such an entity was seen as one way to counter some of the negative aspects of the process of globalization.

GYC sees its mission as building and supporting a community of front-line youth activists from all over the world and inspiring new generations of young people to work for human rights and social transformation.

The Human Rights Learning Community (HRLC) is one of the GYC programs that serve to help it achieve its goals. Other GYC programs include Youth Activist Support Network, the New Activism Initiative and Campaign for Peace in Bhutan.

The 10-day HRLC training seminar held here on July 5-15 allowed young people to share their experiences, educate themselves in the field of human rights law, increase and improve their leadership skills, and renew their spirit through numerous workshops and small groups on topics such as "The Great Game of Power," "The Human Race," "Youth Making Change: Leadership and Action," and "A Picture of Power: Deconstructing and Reconstructing the System of Power."

"This is the first time we are involved in such interaction on a level where major regions of the world are participating. Before we had similar meetings, but only within the European region," said Nataliya Biletska, a 26-year-old HRLC participant and a member of Kharkiv's Zhinocha Hromada (Women's Community) organization in Ukraine.

"For us this meeting was a very interesting and useful experience. When we listened to the problems that our colleagues encounter, for example, in Africa or Bhutan, we realize that the situation in Ukraine is not as hopeless as it seemed before. For example, for us a woman without an education is a woman without a university degree, whereas in Africa it means a completely illiterate woman. Our advantageous conditions encourage us and open new perspectives, giving a new perception of what is being done and can be done," she continued.

At the meeting, Kateryna Cherepakha, 22, represented the Ukrainian branch of the international organization La Strada, which focuses on eliminating domestic violence, trafficking in women, sexual harassment and rape. La Strada-Ukraine was registered in May 1997. The four years of its existence were marked by creating a wide network and connections to help prevent trafficking in women, educating women about their rights, decreasing unemployment among women, holding rescue operations of trafficked women and similar actions.

The organization has its own hotline where victims, or potential victims, can appeal for help and advice. Since November 1998 more than 4,000 phone calls have been received, and more than 200 women have received help, including financial support, release from foreign jails and medical assistance.

Cooperation with La Strada branches in the Netherlands, Poland, the Czech Republic and connections with INTERPOL are essential for the smooth resolution of problems faced by the women who appeal to La Strada for help.

Unfortunately, the phenomenon of trafficking in women is no longer new in Ukraine. It is an issue that concerns entire families if a member of the family becomes a target of traffickers, and there was no institute or organization dealing with this issue.

Usually such a situation arises because of a young woman is unaware that an "attractive ad in a newspaper that offers pretty girls a job in a restaurant abroad" could be a carrier of broken lives, ruined souls and lost hearts in the future.

Although a lot has been written and explained about the gangers of responding to such ads, one can still see such ads in Ukrainian newspapers. And there are still many girls dreaming of bettering their lives through vague promises offered by these ads.

Ms. Biletska said that one of the main concerns of her organization is to educate and warn women who intend to respond to such job offers out of naivete or desperation.

While in big cities the percentage of women being duped by these ads is becoming lower, in rural areas it remains very high. Tragically, often the relatives of a girl turn to be the "salespeople" in this "business" of recruiting young women.

"Our next steps in the Kharkiv region are to create a radio program devoted to women's rights and to intensify our work in small towns and villages," said Ms. Biletska.

According to Ms. Biletska and Ms. Cherepakha, La Strada-Kyiv and Zhinocha Hromada stay alive due to raw enthusiasm, since the funds they have don't allow them to expand their activity in a way they would like. While talking about difficulties the group encounters, Ms. Cherepakha mentioned that in rural Ukraine no shelter or center for victims of trafficking has been established. There are, however, some women's centers in the main cities of Ukraine - Lviv, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk - that give help to trafficked women.

To ease the work, much still has to be done on a legislative level since, even though support for the fundamental principles of human and women's rights has been declared, the procedures to defend these principles remain undeveloped.

"We would be thankful to The Ukrainian Weekly if it printed our information so that girls who became victims of trafficking and who now are in the United States, or their relatives, could call and ask for help," said Ms. Cherepakha.

La Strada-Ukraine can be contacted at: P.O. Box 246, Kyiv 30, Ukraine 01030; e-mail; [email protected]; website; http://www.brama.com/lastrada; telephone/fax; (380) (44) 22-40-446.

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