The Revolution of Roses in Georgia in 2003, Euromaidan in Ukraine in 2014 and the Velvet revolution in Armenia in 2018 and the active participation of young people in these events showed that youth is most of all interested in democratic changes and can really influence the political situation in the state. The implementation of the democratic reforms in these countries is of great interest for the EU, too.

Our project “Hug The Hague. Youth Involvement in Democratic Institutions”, implemented in May 2019, showed that young people from EaP and EU countries believe that cooperation among these countries is beneficial and useful and that young people can play a prominent role and are ready to take an active part in fostering and promotion of these cooperation. The project showed that participation of the policy-makers in the project makes it much more interesting and useful for young people. It was important for us that policy-makers also liked the project, although they lived in the same rather modest conditions as young people. The participation of the representatives of the embassies of Ukraine and Armenia at the conference showed a great interest of these countries in such projects. The recommendations developed during the conference were well received not only by NGOs in the EaP countries, but also in the EU. In particular, Vasilis Maragos, Head of Unit NEAR.C.2 Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus & Eastern Partnership, wrote to us “your contribution is very timely and much appreciated and has been shared with relevant colleagues."

People who haveabsolute power, as a rule, begin to feel like gods. They are not   able to create palaces and gardens with one swing of a magic wand, to make   their citizens richer and happier. Thus, they have the ability to deprive other   people of freedom or even life. They feel like a god who decides people's   destinies.

  The Soviet Union, having the world's second economy, the world's largest army,   a  large number of allies in the world, suffered a humiliating defeat in the Cold   War. Thus, the history has taught the leaders of today's Russia nothing. Thirty   years later, on February 24, 2022, the leadership of the Russian Federation,     knowing full that their country's economy ranks only 11th in the world in terms of   Gross Domestic Product, the military budget is 15 times smaller than that of the   United States, decided not just to resume a new cold war with the United States and the EU, but also start a real war to capture Ukraine. Despite the fact that for several months in a row the Russian media kept saying that the information about plans to attack Ukraine was only a fantasy of the US administration.

November 12-20, 2019, three representatives of RI-WEB, Shahrokh  Ashraf, Polat Yilmaz and Lukas Maschunskas, participated in a Training Course „Dialogue Above Judgment“, organized in Bakuriani, Georgia, by Danish NGO Mellem Education.

       The objectives of the Training Course were:

Understanding of existing problems and its causes, exploring existing lines oftensions/conflicts in Europe; Teaching young leaders useful tools and methodologies in order to reduce discriminatory and stereotypical thinking; To have a space for young leaders to share their best practices of their local societies; To involve young leaders from minority groups from various European and neighbor countries; Strengthening partnership cooperation among European Union and Eastern Partnership countries and empowering EECA NGOs; Creation of a network of likeminded organizations and individuals interested in further cooperation in the field of anti-discrimination and inter-cultural dialogue.

The context that was addressed by these objectives was:

The Velvet revolution in Armenia in 2018 showed that young people are most of all interested in democratic changes and that youth can really influence the political situation in the state. Thus, democracy is not only about the opportunity for young people to go on the streets and claim the democratic changes. Our Erasmus+ projects in Armenia and Georgia showed that the knowledge of local youth about democratic institutions and democracy in general is more of a theoretical type and that they are lacking practical knowledge and experience in this field. Tough, where can they get this knowledge if the majority of young people form EaP countries have never been to the EU countries and have never communicated with their peers from the above-mentioned countries? Our questionnaires and interviews showed that the desire of young people from EaP countries to communicate and cooperate with their peers and colleagues form the EU is very high. We were very happy when the Dutch NA of Erasmus+ program supported our project "Hug The Hague. Youth Involvement in Democratic Institutions".