LAB 9 - Intercultural responses
19 November 2015 - 14.00-15.30 - Room 3, Palais de l'Europe, Interpretation: FR/EN - Sponsored by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe
Can effective integration and education policies prevent the radicalisation of migrants and minorities and in this way combat terrorism? Are intercultural policies, focusing on the benefit of diversity for society, merely used as a token or are they the right way forward to prevent a further widening of the gap of misunderstanding and ignorance between cultures? What is the role of education in building competences for democratic culture?
Competences for Democratic Culture, Council of Europe Education Department
Democracy depends on institutions and laws, but democracy will not work in practice unless citizens have the appropriate attitudes and behaviours. Education plays a key role in developing and maintaining intercultural values in democracy – no democracy can be built on ignorance. The Council of Europe’s Education Department is developing a framework to describe the main competences citizens require in order to participate effectively in a democratic and diverse society and which member states can use and adapt in their own education system, at all levels of education.
Presenter(s)
Pascale Mompoint-Gaillard has worked in the field of intercultural communication, education and leadership training for the past 25 years. Her professional activities in France and the USA have been geared towards community leadership training and capacity building mostly in education and literacy projects, giving voice to marginalised communities so they can organise and have their dignity restored through active democratic participation. Since 2006, she has been involved in international teacher education programmes and consultancies on educational issues related to living together in mutual understanding and promoting education for democracy. Currently Director of Studies for the Pestalozzi Programme, she is involved in diverse projects and works with the Council of Europe, the European Wergeland Centre and the Anna Lindh Foundation, to name a few. She lectures in universities as well as in national training institutions for teachers and social workers.
Intercultural Dialogue Awareness Raising for Cooperation, Youth Service Organisation (YSO), Rwanda
“Intercultural Dialogue Awareness Raising for Cooperation” (IDARC) was initiated to create an intercultural dialogue space for Rwandans, to deal with past political instability, war and migration lasting since 1959 which was followed by the genocide against the Tutsi in 1994, that devastated the country’s social, cultural, tolerance, civic education and emasculated developmental efforts. Through traditional dance, the most spectacular expressions of Rwandans and gatherings, YSO brings together native Rwandans, Rwandans born outside of the country and migrated Congolese people who received the Rwandan nationality, for free expression, fostering unity in a diverse community, in order to promote pluralism in Rwanda. The IDARC project is firmly integrated in the social life of Rwandan young people, so that they act on principles of active citizenship, inter-faith and intercultural dialogue, as well as mutual understanding and cooperation.
Presenter(s)
Pacifique Ndayishimiye is the founder of Youth Service Organization (YSO); a nongovernmental youth-led organization based in Rwanda that educates youth to gain the skills that impact their own lives and communities, involves young people in sustainable development work and inspires them to take effective actions to act on their own behalf and on their own terms as active citizens. He is dedicated and passionate about empowering young people to effectively create sustainable solutions for the local community’s needs and problems. He spent the past 6 years working with rural disadvantaged people in the fields of social justice, community development, human rights, intercultural understanding and youth livelihoods.
Discussants are invited to take part in the Labs in order to share their experience with the presented democratic initiatives and try to bring broader perspectives to the following discussions.
Amina Bouayach is Secretary General of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), a founding member and former president of the Moroccan Organization for Human Rights, and has written widely on women’s rights in Morocco, Spain, and France. As part of her activities, Amina Bouayach has extensive experience on public protests in Morocco for economic, social, political or cultural reasons, in Morocco, but also on an international level. She constantly raises the need for the respect of human rights, democratisation and development. Amina Bouayach also initiated several actions for the protection and promotion of human rights through new information technologies. In particular, she created two websites: WARAKATI, dedicated to the rights of Moroccan women (Muslim and Jewish warakati) and the site www.marsad.ma for citizen election observation in November 2011.
Dusica Davidovic is a special education teacher living in Nis, Serbia. Since 2000, she has been capitalising her professional experience as a member of the City Parliament of Nis, and was in charge of social policy issues from 2008-2012. As member of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, she has worked actively in the areas of youth participation and the rights of people with disabilities. She has greatly contributed to the Congress’ work in the Council of Europe campaign to stop sexual violence against children (One in Five Campaign), and she was also Congress Rapporteur on Children in 2012.
After embarking on a (French) diplomatic career, Denis Huber joined the Council of Europe Secretariat in 1993. He spent ten years in the Secretariat of the Committee of Ministers, before being posted to Belgrade in 2006/2007, as Special Representative of the Secretary General in Serbia. Between 2008 and 2012, he has been the Director of the Council of Europe North-South Centre, based in Lisbon. Since October 2012, he is Head of Department and Executive Secretary of the Chamber of Regions of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, in Strasbourg. Denis Huber is the author of “A decade which made History : the Council of Europe 1989-1999”, published in 1999 by the Council of Europe Publishing.
Mr Daniel DEPOUTOT
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Challenge 1
Ensuring security and bringing surveillance under control
Challenge 2
Liberating society from fear and nurturing the desire for freedom
Challenge 3
Freedom of information in the “age of terror”
- LAB15
Safe whistleblowing - LAB16
Protection of journalists and freedom of information - LAB17
Framing freedom of expression? Between media regulation and the protection of personal data - LAB18
Civic Action for Media Freedom - LAB19
Who is controlling the internet? Toward a transnational model of democratic accountability
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