Even though most of the participants for the international conference “European Youth in Action for Diversity and Tolerance” arrived and got to know one another yesterday on 6th of November, the official opening of the conference took place today on 7th of November.

The opening of the conference took place in significant place – Centrum Judaicum – which as it was pointed out is a “slap in the face” to fascism, racism and other forms of discrimination that are manifested in the society.

Participants were welcomed to Centrum Judaicum by Mr. Hermann Simon, Director of the New Synagogue Berlin - Centrum Judaicum Foundation. He expressed pleasure to have the participants of the conference and its official opening in the Centrum Judaicum. He briefly explained the history and facilities of the venue. He also explained the architectural particularities of the building that are symbolising the building as it was in the past as a largest synagogue. For example the lamps in the conference hall were designed to resemble the columns that used to stand there.

Participants were greeted and welcomed by the representatives of both organising bodies of the conference - Mr. Peter Ruhenstroth-Bauer, Permanent State Secretary of German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth and Mr. Pierre Mairesse, Acting Director for Youth, Sports and Relations with the Citizen of the Directorate-General for Education and Culture of the European Commission.

Mr. Ruhenstroth-Bauer expressed his satisfaction of being able to organise this conference as a follow up for the conference “Youth for Tolerance and Democracy” that took place in Berlin in year 2001. He also underlined the successful cooperation with European Commission. Mr. Ruhenstroth-Bauer expressed hope for the success of this conference.

Mr. Mairesse pointed out the importance of the fight against discrimination and racism and promotion of diversity and tolerance on the political agenda of the Europe today. He also stressed the importance of youth within the process of promotion of the mentioned above issues and underlined that not only political statements, but a practical action plan should be elaborated and further developed. Mr. Mairesse also explained about the policies regarding discrimination within EU. He pointed out three interlinked aspects in EU policies in work against the discrimination – active citizenship, possibility for integration and European Youth Pact that provides the link with Lisbon strategy goals. To conclude Mr. Mairesse pointed out that this conference is a good opportunity for exchanging good practices and experiences of work against any form of discrimination present in Europe today.

Two representatives from the organisational side of the conference were followed by the welcoming “Talk Show”, which gathered several people directly linked to the topic of the conference behind the table. The most important message from all the guests – Ms. Ruth Siemaszko, Mr. Ralf-René Weingärnter, Mr. Bashy Quraishy and Mr. Christoph Erbslöh – was that the active participation of the youth in promoting the diversity, tolerance and respect towards differences is the core element in this work.

A quote from the keynote speech of Dr. Beate Winkler: “Shoah. Very clearly – it will never happen again.” – was welcomed by loud applause. It is clear that the participants of the conference that are gathered in Berlin are convinced that Europe is not a place for the horror. Furthermore all the resources that young people have should be devoted to eliminate any forms of discrimination in Europe and to promotion of the diversity and respect.

This approach was approved by the keynote speech by Mr. Renaldas Vaisbrodas, the President of the European Youth Forum. He underlined very clearly that youth are both – the victims of the discrimination in many areas as well as the tool and resource for overcoming discrimination. However Mr. Vaisbrodas underlined that youth would also need the support from the policy makers, so that there is stable ground for active involvement of the youth and NGO’s.

Throughout all the opening of the conference the active role of the youth itself was stressed as well as need to find suitable channels to transmit the message. The active role of the participants and deep interest was shown already after the welcome words and keynote speeches. The participants were addressing the speakers with the questions based on the personal experiences with the racism and discrimination. It was a good start of the conference that will develop a common declaration and an action plan for further work in the field of overcoming discrimination and racism and promoting diversity, tolerance and equality.

The elaboration on different aspects of the issue has already started in the afternoon working groups and the result shows interest in what is being done and will be done. Therefore it is essential to wish us all a fruitful common work and a good result that “will not stay only on the paper” as was said by one of the participants and thought by more than one, I’m sure.