Our Marta and Ieva just came back from a very insightful project meeting with Unique Projects (Lithuania) and Consiglio Italiano del Movimento Europeo (Italy) in Rome. The project is about half-way and has given a great perspective on European values, as well as the differences in viewpoints across different countries.

This project started in September 2021 with a kick-off meeting in Kaunas, but has since then come into full power. Besides local research activities in the partner countries, the next step in the project according to the plan was the transnational partner meeting and the local event – a debate that took place in Rome. The main event was held in the magnificent venue of CNEL (Consiglio Nazionale dell’economia e del lavoro) on March 23rd and the topics covered legal guarantees and charter of the European Union, European Convention of Human Rights, perception of human rights in different countries of Europe, public debates about EU Charter and many more.

Gathering more than 70 high-school students and human rights lawyers with an extensive experience in the same space proved a very eye opening experience for all of the involved parties. The respected lawyers spoke on their views and impressions on the topic from their professional experience, but the following statements of the partners opened up the students for a debate around issues for and against the existing practices regarding human rights in the Europe.

Take a look at our Marta speaking from the stand during the meeting (the remaining video mostly on Italian)

As a part of this meeting partners also used the chance to talk about the future plans and the progress made thus far with the project results. Partners informed about the research interviews with people about their views on the The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the ways their lives are affected by the current human rights practices in Europe. We are especially excited to see this result to come into fruition, and will soon start the work on analyzing the data that will be further discussed in the following events.

The next activities ahead are a meeting and a public discussion with Latvian society on these topics in a partners’ gathering in Riga on May, but meanwhile the research and planning on a photo exhibition commences.

ABOUT PROJECT

During project NICE the partners are working on informing and reminding citizens, specifically youth, about the important date of proclamation of The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union which significantly contributed to EU law as we know it nowadays. Project seeks to explore the topic of European memory and history with special interest in EU perspective and fundamental rights, often left without proper attention from the side of the youth. To achieve the outlined objectives, we have already organized a public debate in Rome, will conduct a qualitative research on the topics, a discussion in Latvia, and a photo exhibition to spread the word in a broader audience.

Read more about it HERE.

This publication has been prepared within NICE: Nobody Ignores the Charter of Europe! project No.617458-CITIZ-1-2020-1-LT-CITIZ-REMEM with the support of the “Europe for Citizens” program of the European Union. The views expressed in this publication are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission.