1. 1
The World We Envison
The outcome of the Young Ambassadors Forum -Tackling chess on the world stage. Be the
pawn that counts project, hosted by the International Affairs community from the "Volunteers
for Ideas and Projects" students’ organisation.
Young Ambassadors Forum is an educational forum of debate and discussion where students
address a series of global issues. The project was held in Bucharest, between the 20th and 23rd
of April and offered the 30 young participants the opportunity to debate over their role and status
in the new global configuration as we believe that young people have the potential to forge a
brighter future advocating for political ethics, economical equity, a just society and a moral
rebirth of the economical and social policy in international affairs.
Preamble
Within the global society of 2015, youth plays an important role, made visible due to the major
changes occurring in the way we communicate and relate to other members of our community.
Although the youth of today has more opportunities and chances to have a significant impact on
their community, we feel there are still a series of issues which refrain our generation's potential.
We, the youth assembled within the Young Ambassadors Forum considered timely to debate and
untangle these issues, in order to outline the vision of a positive development of the world we
inhabit.
2. 2
Youth challenges
Despite the common impression that the equality of rights and opportunities represents one of
our society's main coordinates, the gap between different social and economical contexts prevent
achieving this principle. This difference is visible in the form of a center-periphery cleavage,
where the periphery can take the shape of either a rural area of a developed state or as states
perceived as part of the Third World. Under these terms, the meritocracy principle loses its
meaning, since not all young people are given the chance to discover and achieve their true
potential. In the world we envision, the young have real acces to a minimum of conditions and
opportunities, so that the possibility of deciding on their own future will lie solely upon them,
unrestricted by the poor conditions we encounter today.
Taking into account those mentioned above, we reiterate the need for responsabile
political and economical actors to create an environment sensible towards the
underlined discrepancies, an environment in which the effort to obtain a profit does not
affect the quality of life, nor the equality of chances.
2. Education-The rebirth of the twenty first century
The fundamental model of our education system today is one in which competition prevails over
different forms of cooperation. From an early age, the young are taught to be in a perpetual
competition with other members of the society thus, individual success can only occur to the
detriment of others. The young finish school unable to work in teams, incapable of relating to the
ideas and needs of others or to accept critics on their own judgements.
We consider imperative to update the concept of education, so that the increased access
to education can be doubled by a quality improvement. Therefore, we recommend
outlining a system concentrated on cooperation and critical thinking that would teach
individuals to relate to others from the beginning of their development.
3. 3
3. Civism in the digital space
The human being, social by excellence, cannot function outside politics. It is politics that form
our values, principles and the different ways we choose to relate to others. This is the
fundamental reality that individuals must understand if we are to aspire to a genuine democratic
society. Citizen involvement in politics (locally, nationally or internationally) is normal and
healthy for any functional democracy. The evolution of mass communication tools enhanced by
the appearance of the internet creates the perfect space for developing a democracy in which
citizens are connected and can take part in the decision making process. The internet offers a
direct way, in which the multitude of visions and political opinions ensures the liberty of thought
and information. The young people play a crucial role in this process, being both beneficiaries
and content creators. It is them who must ensure that the internet remains an environment free of
any constraints generated by the economical or political interests that guide the actions of
traditional mass media.
We recommend the use of the digital area in order to facilitate a better communication
between the citizen and the authorities and to ensure transparency in the political
process. Also, we condemn any attempt to restrain the right of information, the freedom
of speech or to quell the digital civism under any pretext or motivation.
4. Contemporary forms of slavery
Slavery has never left us. The forms in which it is exerted in our time are more complex and
diverse than ever. From parents who sell their infants to various extremist factions or imoral
employers, to the social accepted double-day shift which overburdens women (job and attending
the household), slavery represents a direct threat to the individual liberty of each person. Even
the traditional way in which we view the employee-employer relation indicates certain
deficiencies that lead onto dangerous trails, such as forced labour or other types of economical
constraint on individuals. People perceive each other as exploitable resources. Expressing our
worry towards the condition of people held in different forms of servitude or oppression, we
must also cease to look at those around us as wheels of an engine designed to serve only our
needs and expectations.
4. 4
It is necessary that states concentrate their efforts on the causes of slavery, for instance on
the "fertile" grounds of poverty, and not only on its effects. Also, it is imperative to revise
legislation in order to accurately outline the current phenomenon. To enforce the effect of
this actualization, a hierarchical framework must be followed: nationally, regionally and
internationally.
5.Refugees and stateless persons
Along with the resurfacing of extremist and nationalist political currents, refugees and stateless
persons are perceived as "second-class" people. The concept of citizenship has come to define
any human being as complete or incomplete. The state as authority dictates who qualifies for the
"human" title. However, humans should be seen as valuable even outside a certain state. In our
time, there are individuals which cannot be defined in relation or membership to a state thereby,
to the institutions which govern the territory they transit or live on, they do not exist. In this
context, the bureaucratic institutions will prevail over basic human decency. People are more
than just a piece of paper.
Thus, we suggest a change of the excessively formal bureaucratic perspective towards
one grounded on respecting human dignity. Also, we call upon the civil society to
mobilize in support of tolerance and against any type of discrimination against refugees
and stateless persons.
5. 5
6.The impact of "power games" over the human dimension
In the current sphere of international relations, perception over the the human being is blurred.
Problems are regarded depending on the interests of influential powers, those of the individual
fading in their image game. Furthermore, in this process, the world is divided between evil and
good, in factions clearly defined in normative terms and the human existence as universal value
becomes exceeded by the interests of different actors during a political and economical strife for
power. Therefore, the power games lead to the negligence of human life, defining it as an
instrument of power or a victim of its exertion. In the world we want to live, the human
dimension of all individuals regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, class and sexuality prevails
over the struggle for dominance.
We call upon the approved institutions to hold human life, unquantifiable and impossible
to rank, above any individual or group distinct interests. Furthermore, we strongly believe
in the necesity that different actors with impact within the international system should
practice transparency in their decisional process towards a better integration of the citizen
in order to lower their vulnerability in the struggle for power games.
Concluding, we wish to stress out that through the increase of civic awareness and social
education, citizens can achieve a higher form of cohabitation and acceptance of the world nations
in the context of this globalized era.Thereby, we recommend the government and all relevant
institutions to invest sustained efforts in growing a civil society which assumes with
responsibility the existence of a new international, interconnected architecture.