Open letter to EU institutions, Member States, Council of Europe and its member states on the situation in Ukraine

As developments in Ukraine unroll rapidly and the situation remains critical, we at the European Youth Forum continue to strongly condemn the use of violence and military force in Ukraine. We call for all of young people’s rights to be upheld and for peaceful resolutions to be found, avoiding further escalation of the crisis.

Over recent months the desire for closer ties between Ukraine and the European Union has been made clear by protesters, many of them young people, across the country and, in particular, on Maidan square in Kyiv. Our member organisations and other civil society organisations have played a key part in these protests.

No young person should be victimised by a political situation as we are seeing at present in Ukraine. We want European institutions to stand up for the rights of young Ukrainians. We call for measures to be implemented to protect youth rights, in particular those referring to access to education, welfare, protection, but also self-organising and freedom of movement (particularly for young people in Crimea). When it comes to sanctions, they must not affect young people’s access to their rights.

Young people and civil society organisations have been at the forefront of promoting peaceful dialogue. We stand by youth organisations in the crisis region in this difficult time and we urge them to continue to promote peace and dialogue between the key parties. Civil society organisations must be further strengthened so that they can act as watchdogs to scrutinise the work of the government. Monitoring missions should include young people and should pay particular attention to the situation of young people in the affected regions. We call for the immediate opening up of the Eastern Partnership Window, which would allow for increased funding of their work.

We believe that international cooperation must be enhanced, including the fostering of exchanges between young people in Ukraine and the EU. Therefore, we encourage the EU and the Council of Europe to ensure that a window is opened to young people in both Ukraine and Russia and that priority is given to ensure that their current transition is supported, in particular regarding building democratic youth structures in all areas effected.

We urge all parties involved to continue to seek peaceful solutions and to respect international law.

European Youth Forum