Invitation: Virtual Roundtable Presentation of Issues Related to and Youth in the Western and

Irena Joveva MEP (Renew - Slovenia) and Civil Rights Defenders (CRD) cordially invite you to the second roundtable “What Worries Youth in Enlargement Countries: Human Rights and Youth in the Western Balkans and Turkey vol. 2” which will happen online.

Date & Time: 28 January 2021, 10:30am-12:30pm CET Location: Zoom, event link to be sent after registration at this link

Summary:

Civil Rights Defenders (CRD) is an international human rights organisation based in , which has been working in the Western Balkans for over 20 years, supporting the rule of law, freedom of expression, and anti-discrimination initiatives. On 28 January 2021, CRD is organising a virtual roundtable entitled “What Worries Youth in Enlargement Countries: Human Rights and Youth in the Western Balkans and Turkey vol. 2”, hosted by Irena Joveva MEP (Renew – Slovenia). During the event, youth activists from the Western Balkans and Turkey will present short policy papers, each on a human rights topic they believe affects youth in their respective countries. The policy papers highlight important issues such as affirmative action as a pathway to human rights, right to education for youth with disabilities, and constitutional challenges to the LGBTI+ movement.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CIVIL RIGHTS DEFENDERS IS AN INDEPENDENT EXPERT ORGANISATION FOUNDED IN 1982 I N S W E DE N , WITH THE MISSION TO DEFEND PEOPLE ’ S CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS AND EMPOWER HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS AT RISK WORLDWID E .

Head Office Brussels Advocacy Office Östgötagatan 90 Phone +46 8 545 277 30 Rue de la Pépinière 1 Phone +32 487 21 64 90 SE-116 64 Stockholm [email protected] 1000 Brussels, Belgium [email protected]