2014

ANNUAL REPORT

50, Rue Archimde

1000 Bruxelles, Belgium
Tel: +32 2 280 69 21
Fax: +32 2 280 69 23
e-mail: info@femyso.org
www.femyso.org

with the support of

activity report
2013-2014

CONTENT.

Presidential Word
FEMYSO & its Structure
FEMYSO & its 2014 Campaigns
Activities 2013-2014
Volunteering and FEMYSO Internships

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5
6
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PRESIDENTIAL WORDS.
In June 2013, our member organisations elected a new FEMYSO Executive Committee (ExCo). This
Committee of 13 people from across 9 European countries and dedicated volunteers have been
working tirelessly to improve the lives of young people across Europe. They have organised trainings, run campaigns, built partnerships and represented European Muslim youth in tens of events
and conferences across Europe. These trainings and campaigns have touched the lives of thousands of young people across Europe,
This report gives you a brief glimpse of the activities we have run between June 2013 and December 2014. In this period, we ran three Europe-wide campaigns, organised 6 training courses for over
250 youth from 18 countries, organized events at the European Parliament and Council of Europe,
represented young European Muslims at the United Nations, Council of Europe, Organization of
Islamic Cooperation and dozens more international events.
One campaign we are particularly proud of is our Green Up My Community! Campaign, which mobilised young Muslims across 10 European countries to raise awareness of respect for the environment and fair trade in their local communities. The campaign saw tens of events seminars, trainings, fairtrade breakfasts, sermons in hundreds of mosques, and all the resources are summarised
in our fantastic campaigns toolkit which we will be launching in 4 languages.
Another innovative project which you will find more details about below is the Islamophobia Monitoring and Action Network a project launched by FEMYSO in cooperation with a French NGO, CCIF,
which, for the first time ever, builds a network of organisations working to combat Islamophobia
across Europe. This project has trained NGOs across 6 countries, provided them with professional
new tools to help support victims of Islamophobia and developed a unique, professional online
system for monitoring, measuring, and reporting Islamophobia across Europe. This project is still
ongoing so watch this space and get in touch with us if you would like to be involved.
All this work is run by youth for youth, all of whom are volunteers dedicated hardworking talented
young people giving their time and effort because they believe in making other peoples lives better, and driven by principles that motivate them to serve others and to act when they see something
that needs changing. These young people are the silent majority, the visionaries who believe in a
better world, and the hard workers who will make it happen.
This report pays tribute to their work, dedication, idealism and constant hard work to make young
peoples lives better.
A special thanks goes to the institutions who have supported our work - the European Youth
Foundation of the Council of Europe, the European Commission, the Open Society Foundation and
Human Appeal International. You have helped make our work for youth all across Europe possible
and we thank you for your continued support for, and belief in, youth.
Intissar Kherigi
President

FEMYSO.
With nearly 50 million Muslims in Eastern and Western Europe, there is an obvious need for Muslim youth
across Europe to have a voice at the European level. FEMYSO is a platform which enables co-operation between Muslim youth from all the different countries and cultures within Europe.
FEMYSO envisages a Europe in which Muslims take pride in their identity and contribution to society. We
work for a future in which Muslims are an equal part of the fabric of European society, contributing positively and constructively to the common good. FEMYSO promotes respect between cultures and faiths and has
built strong partnerships at a European level with other faith organisations, for the benefit of all youth. Our
trainings focus on embedding positive ethics of active citizenship, social harmony and respect for human
rights, equality and justice within all youth. We believe the diversity of Europe is its strength, and we must
all work together to build a peaceful, prosperous and inclusive Europe for all.

the executive committee.

The FEMYSO Executive Committee is composed of 13 executive committee members, including one President
and two Vice-Presidents. The General Assembly is the highest body in the organisations and it gathers our
member organisations representatives. The mandate of each FEMYSO Executive Committee lasts two years.
A new Executive was elected during our 17th General Assembly on 22nd 23rd June 2013.
List of Executive committee members:
`` Intissar Kherigi

(United Kingdom)

President

`` Hajar Al-Kaddo

(Ireland)

Vice President & Head of Internal Development

`` Youssef Himmat

(Switzerland)

Vice President & Head of Campaigns

`` Berat Limani

(Macedonia)

Fundraising Officer & Interfaith Officer

`` Anas Saghrouni

(France)

Treasurer & Active Citizenship Officer

`` Khalid Ghrissi

(France)

Head of Communications

`` Abdel Rahman Musa

(United Kingdom)

Head of MOs Services

`` Sadia Kidwai

(United Kingdom)

General Secretary

`` Oussama Youssfi

(Finland)

Trainings Officer

`` Kevser Erol

(Germany)

Islamophobia & Human Rights Officer

`` Umar Chaudry

(Netherlands)

Online Communications Officer

`` Mohammud Dini

(Sweden)

Internal Communications Officer

`` Hisham Omara

(United Kingdom)

Head of Statutes & Processes

CAMPAIGNS

FEMYSO & ITS CAMPAIGNS.

Given the worrying rise of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hate crime across Europe in recent years, FEMYSO has
chosen Islamophobia as one of its key areas of work.
Muslim communities in Europe have important contributions to make to their local communities and the societies in which they live. Yet these communities and Islam more broadly, are often subjected to misunderstanding and
vilification. Although Islamic intellectual heritage has helped shape Western traditions, and Muslims in Europe
have historically made and continue to make important contributions at every level of society, portrayals of
their religion and identity too often seem to focus on terrorism, intolerance, and supposed oppression of women.
Such portrayals run the very real risk of carving deep divisions in European societies, and of alienating fellow citizens, friends, neighbours and partners.
Islamophobia must be addressed as a real social issue that needs to be researched, understood and urgently treated.
There is evidence to show that there is significant underreporting of Islamophobic attacks. The lack of reporting,
monitoring and enforcement gives the Islamophobe more confidence to attack without fear knowing that no one
will say a thing while undermining the Muslim communitys faith and trust in local and national institutions.
Addressing Islamophobia is an important part of increasing the participation of European Muslims and their trust
and confidence in their own local and national institutions and all those whose job it is to protect them and keep
them safe as European citizens and residents.
In addition, Intercultural and interfaith dialogue provides a platform for youths of different backgrounds to understand and cooperate with each other. Particularly in these current times, where misunderstanding of Islam and
fear of Muslims is widespread, it is vital that all European youth actively and openly engage with one another in
order to get past the stereotypes and enrich our understanding of each others values and principles.
FEMYSO as part of its campaigns work to promote human rights and has invested much time to establish and
strengthen partnerships in human rights education, working to organise trainings and seminars on this topic and
encourage Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue.

Islamophobia monitoring & action network.

Make History. Stop Islamophobia!
In January 2013, FEMYSO started the Islamophobia Monitoring and Action Network project. This project aims
to put a stop to the growing number of human rights violations associated with Islamophobia. Based on
FEMYSOs analysis and discussions with other organisations working in this area, some of the key problems
behind the rise of Islamophobic attacks are the lack of monitoring, reporting and legal enforcement of these
attacks.
The IMAN project is a new partnership between FEMYSO and the Collective Against Islamophobic in France
(CCIF). We have created a network of grassroots organisations working on Islamophobia across Europe. The
project has developed a unique statistical and technical method for monitoring and measuring Islamophobic
incidents and an innovative online platform for coordinating Islamophobia reporting through Europe, to provide reliable data on Islamophobia and a clear process for reporting Islamophobic attacks.
The project provides information and advice to victims on obtaining legal assistance and how to access their
rights, training for law enforcement officials on identifying Islamophobic incidents, and training to professionals on how to support victims and work with official authorities.
We hope this project will lead to more visiblity of this issue and political will and responsibility to tackle this
heinous phenemonon throughout Europe as a whole.
The project was run with the generous support of the European Commission
and the Open Society Foundation.

iman-project.org

GREEN UP MY COMMUNITY.
Inspiring a European Muslim youth-led environmental and trade justice movement
This one-year campaign, run in partnership with MADE in Europe, brought together hundreds of young Muslims from 10 European countries to unite behind one common goal: securing pledges from 20 mosques and
community centres across Europe to Green Up their communities, i.e. to introduce environmentally friendly
procedures in their centres.
The campaign ran across Europe with tens of local actions to encourage mosques and community centres to
undertake Green Up pledges to introduce new more environmentally friendly habits. Dozens of grassroots
awareness-raising activities such as Fairtrade breakfasts, treks, sermons, and other activities were organised
to raise the awareness of young Muslims about the importance of these topics. The idea was to integrate concern for and action on the environment and trade justice into the habits and consciousness of Muslim youth
and Muslim community institutions.
The campaign was led by an international steering committee (SC) of 10 dynamic youth from across the 10
countries who were representatives of their countries on the European level and local ambassadors to promote Greening up in their local communities and campaign for the adoption of practices to protect the
environment and promote fair trade principles.
The campaign reached a large audience of youth across Europe, through a website, webinars by activists and
leaders in the fields of environmental sustainability and fair trade and local actions, to promote the issues of
environmental sustainability and fair trade which was started at our seminar in Berlin in 2012. The campaign
empowered young people to run the campaign themselves and to take action at a local and national level
with the support of a European campaign.
The campaign developed new informative, interactive, visually appealing and easily accessible campaign materials in the form of a website, posters, videos and a European toolkit, in order to disseminate the knowledge
further and give resources to grassroots activists to replicate the campaign and advocate for environmental
and fair trade principles in their own contexts and ways.
The project was run with the generous support of the European Youth Foundation.

LETSGREENUP.ORG

RESEARCH PROJECT:
EUROPEAN MUSLIM YOUTH AND THE RISE
OF THE FAR RIGHT ANTI-MUSLIM DISCOURSE

In 2013, FEMYSO commissioned a research report to investigate the rise of the far-right anti-Muslim narrative
that has begun to proliferate in European countries. The report was developed in response to the increasing
popularity of the far right across Europe. Whilst the far right is not the sole source of the anti-Muslim narrative,
it is increasingly linked to the normalisation of anti-Muslim speech in political and public discourse.
The report focused on 6 European countries: France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Belgium and Sweden. It sought to develop a greater understanding of European Muslim youth awareness and
experiences of the far right and its anti-Muslim narrative in both the national and European contexts and to
understand how European Muslim youth currently respond to the far-right anti-Muslim narrative in both the
national and European contexts and how it shapes their identity, experiences, self-perception, interactions
and choices.
The report found that the far-right anti-Muslim narrative provokes a strong emotional response in young European Muslims. Interviewees described how the far-right anti-Muslim narrative has made them feel shock, fear, upset, hurt, rejection by society,
revulsion, ostracized, frustration, anxiety, concern, and worry. However, respondents
within this report are keen to cast off an attitude of victimhood, and suggests that the
anti-Muslim narrative served as a catalyst for young Muslims to increase their already
high levels of community engagement, and challenge the negative public perception of
Muslims in Europe.
In the long term our research aims to document European Muslim youth experiences, inform and improve European policy and understanding, and to encourage on-going research into the European Muslim experience.
The report was written by Amina Easat (Aston University) and Saida Ounissi (Pantheon-Sorbonne University).
It was launched at a roundtable event in the European Parliament on 26th September 2013, hosted by Malika
Benarab-Arrou MEP, and included contributions from European Muslim youth organisations, the European
Network Against Racism, and the Council of Europe Advisory Council on Youth. The report has been translated in both German and French language and will be available on our website soon.
The project was run with the generous support of the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe
and the Open Society Foundation.

EUROPE - #Youreup.
In light of the 2014 European election FEMYSO launched a pilot
project name Europe - #YoureUp which aimed to showcase
the projects and activities of Muslim youth in the different
European countries, as as to raising awareness and empower
young people in taking a stand in the European elections by a
series of online articles/blogs.

ADVISORY COUNCIL ON YOUTH.

The Advisory Council on youth (AC) is made up of 30 representatives from youth NGOs and networks who can
formulate opinions and proposals on any question concerning youth dealt with in the Council of Europe. With
its governmental partner the European Steering Committee for Youth (CDEJ) it forms the Joint Council on
Youth (CMJ) to develop a common position on the political priorities and program of the youth sector.

FEMYSO has been chosen to be on the AC once again in 2014. Our new FEMYSO representative to the AC is
Youssef Himmat, who has been elected by fellow AC members to be on the AC Bureau.
FEMYSOs position on the Advisory Council is a big responsibility for us, to represent the concerns of young
people across Europe and ensure government youth policies reflect their needs. The AC represents a unique
opportunity for youth representatives to sit face-to-face with government ministers and decision-makers and
make their voice heard and participate equally in taking decisions that concern young peoples lives this is a
role we take very seriously and we seek to represent young people and improve their lives and opportunities
through this position in every way.
A few examples of the activities that the Advisory Council is currently undertaking:
Enter 2! Proomoting young peoples access to social rights : this activity has led to a parliamentary assembly
recommendation to the committee of ministers on young peoples access to fundamental rights.
Roma Youth Action Plan: a chain of projects and political initiatives initiated by the Council of Europe to tackle the challenges face by Roma young people in Europe.

No Hate Speech Movement: a youth campaign of the Council of Europe for human rights online to reduce the
levels of hate speech online and develop online youth participation and citizenship.

TRAININGS
At FEMYSO, we have a unique approach to
youth trainings that emphasises the power of young people,
gives them control of their own learning,
and seeks to bring out the unique talents
of each individual young person.
In between June 2013 to December 2014
FEMYSO organised six training events.

STUDY SESSION. Say NO to Hate! Young people

addressing hate speech from interreligious
perspective. 29th june -6th JULY 2014.
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY.
FEMYSO together with Religions for Peace-European Interfaith Youth network and the Ecumenical Youth
Council in Europe has organising a study session to empower young people from various religious communities to
combat hate speech by promoting and implementing dialogue between religious communities and secular society.
The participants were able to widen their knowledge of different aspects of Hate Speech online, while also
acquiring practical tools and skills for further promoting the ideas discussed.
Funders for the training series:
A special thanks go to the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe.

ADVOCACY SEMINAR.
say no to islamophobia - from words
to action. 1st -5th november 2014.
Strasbourg, France.
This seminar trained young people and youth workers in competences in the field of Human Rights and Advocacy
through non-formal education training. 25 participants from different countries met in the city of Strasbourg,
France, for a residential training in order to learn how to organise more effective advocacy strategies and campaigns on Islamophobia at a local and European level.
The programme of the seminar was based on non-formal education, starting from the participants experiences
and input, and featuring expert input and hands-on sessions on good practices, advocacy and educational approaches to counter intolerance and discrimination against Muslims.
Co-funders for the training series:
special thanks go to the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe.

seminar on
educational responses to islamophobia
in europe.16th -20th september 2014.
budapest, hungary.
The aim of the seminar was to explore and understand dimensions of Islamophobia and the expression of it
through online hate speech. It also aimed to explore the role of education in combating islamophobia and promoting religious tolerance and understanding. During the seminar concrete proposals for actions and initiatives
to implemented online and offline in the framework of the No Hate Speech Movement campaign were given to
contribute to the implementation of the European Action Day against Islamophobia and Religious Intolerance on
21 September 2014.
The participants were introduced to the Guidelines for Educators on Countering Intolerance and Discrimination
against Muslims. Addressing Islamophobia through Education and it was often discussed how it can be possible
to apply the given information in this guideline to different kind of people in the frame of education.
The seminar was open to youth workers, activists or researchers from human rights, minority or religious organisations working on the topic of Islamophobia or religious intolerance. FEMYSO was a member of the preparatory
meeting for the study session.
A special thanks go to the Youth Directorate of the Council of Europe, the No Hate Speech Movement,
and the OSCE-ODIHR.

BUILD MY NGO - TRAINING SERIES.

The Build My NGO trainings series is a 3-part programme that promotes youth leadership by delivering transversal skills training to marginalised youth on how to create, run and develop their own youth organisations and
youth projects.
Many youth and student organisations face difficulties in maintaining their sustainability due to the high turnover of individuals and the voluntary nature of their work, and sometimes due to lack of capacity and planning.
This means that youth projects can be full of energy and potential, but due to lack of long-term planning, vision
or funding, they do not achieve their potential.
On this course participants who are leading youth NGOs or projects were taught how to turn these into sustainable long term initiatives which make full use of local and European opportunities, capacities, networks
and knowledge base. It was also an opportunity to bring them together with other active young colleagues from
across Europe who also have a similar vision and similar challenges. They were taught how to build stronger,
more effective organisations with democratic leadership and how to build teams, strategically map and manage
their resources. They were introduced to ways in which to raise funds, communicate with stakeholders, and put
into place plans for capacity building so that talent continues to be developed within these projects and institutions in the long term.
The three trainings were attended by 120 participants from across Europe and the MENA region. The themes for
each activity focused on elements of NGO-Civic Participation:
1. Leadership & team building
2. Institution-building & capacity building
3. Communication & Media
4. Universal principles of Human Rights training to give all projects an ethical dimension.

WEEK 1 BUILD!
4-7 Nov 2014 // Brussels, Belgium

WEEK 2 COMMUNICATE!
4-7 Dec 2014 // Strasbourg, France

WEEK 3 CREATE!
16-21 Dec 2014 // Istanbul, Turkey

WEEK 1 : build!
Developing strong sustainable democratic
Youth NGOS. 19th - 23rd November 2014.
Brussels, Belgium.
This was the start of our Build My NGO series with participants from all over Europe and the MENA region.
The training was delivered by several trainers from Welcome Europe and Financial consultant firms. The fourday training covered; Management, funding, Finance, and communications.

WEEK 2 : communicate!
Youth Policy and Advocacy.
4th -7th December 2014.
Strasbourg, France.
This 4-day training provided the theory of human rights together with the practice of advocacy. Participants
attended a number of skills-building workshops led by trainers from human rights organisations. The workshops
strengthened their effectiveness as individual advocates and gave them an insight into how to build stronger
organisations and campaigns in their home countries. Topics included; campaign strategy, advocacy tools, media
relations, stress management, research, and documentation.
There was also a field Visit to the Palais de lEurope, Parliamentary Assembly and the Council of Europe. The
training brought a number of experts together to enrich the experience of the participants, these included: Bridget Oloughlin Campaign coordinator for the No Hate Speech Movement and Valentina Auliso, Project Support
Assistant of the NHSM.

WEEK 3 : CREATE!
Develop Your Project Idea Into Reality.
16th -21st December 2014.
Istanbul, Turkey.
Our final training of the series took place in the historic city of Istanbul, and partnered with the Youth Research
Association of Turkey. The main theme was to enable these young leaders to create their NGO with an emphasis
on both personal and team Leadership, using the tools of social entrepreneurship.
The intensive training equipped participants with the skills they need to set up financially stable and sustainable
projects, including: Personal communication, Building and leading a team, social media, negotiation and conflict
resolution in diverse societies.

Co-funders for the training series:

A special thanks go to the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe, the European Commission,
Human Appeal International and the Turkish Ministry of Youth and Sports.

EXTERNAL
EVENTS
In the frame of our role to represent Muslim youth
across Europe at the European level, FEMYSO ExCo members
and volunteers have travelled to dozens of seminars,
conferences and activities in order to advocate,
build partnerships and exchange ideas,
knowledge and information among different European,
national or local partners.

No Hate Speech Movement, 2013.

Launched on 22nd March 2013, the No Hate Speech movement, involving member states and youth representatives, aimed to combat cyber expression of hatred and racism. Moreover, the project aimed at setting up a network of youth activists and youth organizations aiming to be the core of the campaign against hate speech online.
Youssef Himmat was appointed by the Advisory Council to be a member of the follow-up group on Hate speech
online, a commission composed of experts, member states delegates and youth representatives in charge of the
development of the campaign and the associated projects at the European level.

12 Cities Project:
Kick Islamophobia campaign.
13-16 September 2013, Dortmund, Germany.
This event brought activists and key people together in Germany for the beginning of the 12 cities movement,
where the Kick Islamophobia campaign was launched. The purpose was to bring activists who are already doing
grassroots work around Europe to come together and mobilise as one. Each city will have an elder who has done
peace building work to support the activists in their region. For example, from Georgia, there is Archbishop
Malkhaz who is an activist fighting for muslim rights. From the UK there is Rev. Donald Reeves who has done
years of peace building work in the Balkans. At the gathering, each city discussed their stories of Islamophobia,
with informal workshops and discussions. During the gathering, the core 12 cities steering group was formed to
drive the Kick Islamophobia campaign in Europe forward.

European Parliament launch of Research

Report. 26 September 2013.
European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium.
The launch of FEMYSOs research report on the rise of far right anti-muslim discourse and its impact on European
Muslim youth took place in the European Parliament, hosted by Malika Hamidi MEP. Presentations were made by
Intissar Kherigi, Amina Easat and Saida Ounissi followed by roundtable discussions with Muslim youth leaders
and NGOs.

Political Participation of ethnic and

religious minorities and the European
election, 17 October 2013.
European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium.
The European Network Against Racism organised a debate on the occasion of its 4-day exhibition: (In)visible
diversity - MIXTUS in the European Parliament, organised in cooperation with MEP Ms. Jean Lambert, Album
Network and Culture them. The event provided a platform to discuss in greater detail the political participation
and empowerment options of ethnic and religious minorities in Europe, as well as strategies for them to influence
substantially and qualitatively the outcomes of the 2014 EP election.

UNITED Conference Wipe out hate - UNITED in

Solidarity. 25 - 30 October 2013.
Czech Republic.
Nearly 100 people participated at the conference of UNITED for Intercultural Action, the European network
against racism, fascism and nationalism. The participants received information on hate crime and racism, with an
overview about the current situation in France, Russia, Germany, Greece etc. The focus was on romaphobia and
afrophobia. By means of workshops participants tried to work on how to make a campaign successful. The main
aim of this event was to create awareness against the far right at the European Parliament Elections in May 2014
and to convince people that voting is important in the sense of democracy and to keep out racist parties.

Religions for Peace 9th World Assembly.

20-22 November 2013.
Vienna, Austria.
Religions for Peace (RfP) convened its 9th World Assembly from 20-22 November 2013 in Vienna, Austria, under the theme Welcoming the Other: Action for Human Dignity, Citizenship and Shared Well-being. It brought
together senior religious leaders for the purpose of forging a deep moral consensus on contemporary challenges,
electing a new World Council, and advancing multi-religious action across and beyond the Religions for Peace
network. FEMYSO also attended the Youth Pre-Assembly, as a member of the European Interfaith Youth Network.

6th UN Forum on Minority Issues.

November 2013.
Geneva, Switzerland.
FEMYSO had the opportunity to advocate during the 6th UN Forum on Minorities Issues which took place in
November 2013 in Geneva alongside other NGOs, including Minority Rights Group (MRG). FEMYSOs key focus was to advocate that minority communities in Europe should be more actively and better consulted as well
as engaged in a participatory role in regards to all aspects of the implementation of the UN recommendations.
Moreover FEMYSO advocated for the recognition of an international day against Islamophobia by the Council of
Europes No Hate Speech movement. 2 new paragraphs, and another amendment to the recommendation of the
Forum have been added due the input of FEMYSO.

4th Euro-Arab Youth Forum.

8-11 December 2013.
Doha, Qatar.
The 4th Euro-Arab Youth Forum held in Doha, Qatar was organised by the Youth Department of the Council of
Europe and of the League of Arab States, in cooperation with the European Youth Forum and the Youth Activities
Department at the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage of Qatar. The forum will discuss three main themes:
Human Rights, Youth Participation and Intercultural Dialogue. The forum was launched as an initiative for cooperation and dialogue in the context of the challenges to peace and human rights in the Middle East region and its
neighbours, a scene marked by strong and deep aspiration expressed the youth and popular awareness of the social
and economic rights based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

EuroMed TC, Capacity Building On Youth

Councils And Youth Organisations.
13-21 February 2014. Barcelona, Spain.
The course sought to explore the development of
empowering strategies in order to strengthen youth
councils and organisations in the Euro-Mediterranean
sphere. The following was explored:
- Analyses of the current trends of participation and
youth associativism in the region
- Building networks and cooperation between youth
councils and organisations of the region.
- Intercultural dialogue and diversity.

EYF (R)evolution.
11 - 14 March 2014.
Strasbourg, France.
The purpose of the event was to introduce the new EYF grant rules and opportunities. The main point which were
discussed where in the frame of types of grants, rules and procedures for applying, new grant portal.FEMYSO was
introduced to the participants of the event.

European Student Union (ESU) Convention.

19-21 March 2014.
Brussels, Belgium.
The 27th European Students Convention (ESC27) and the Final Conference of the SAGE project provided an opportunity to debate the impact of European higher education reforms, especially in relation to the employability
of graduates. The ESC27 brought together students in higher education in Europe, policy-makers and other stakeholders in the field. Around 150 people participated in this event, with representatives of national student unions
from all over Europe.

Africa-Europe Youth Leaders Summit.

30 March - 11 April 2014.
Brussels, Belgium.
The 3rd Youth Leaders Summit was organised by the Youth Department of the Council of Europe, ADYNE, the
Pan-African Union, and the European Youth Forum. The aim of the summit was to work on the identification of
the needs and aspirations of young people from both continents, as well as youth participation in the Africa-Europe partnership, with a focus on youth leadership, entrepreneurship and youth as peace builders.
In view of this, the Africa-Europe Youth Leaders Summit requested the establishment of an Africa-Europe Youth
Facility. The Delegates exchanged views on the main challenges faced by youth on the two continents and debated
how the Africa-EU partnership and the Africa-Europe Youth Facility can empower the youth and their organisations to find solutions to their own challenges, in order to paving the way for a more active involvement of youth
in the Africa-EU Partnership

European Youth Forum CoMem.

25-26 April 2014.
Brussels, Belgium.

YFJ is a platform for exchange and cooperation between National Youth Councils in Europe and International
Youth NGOs (98 in total) with the aim of forming common views on issues related to youth and spreading them
further. FEMYSO attended the Assembly, which included debates on the European elections and recent development affecting youth in Europe.

Caf Dbat on ISLAMOPHOBIA.

1st June 2014.
Strasbourg, France.

On 1st June the pool of FEMYSO volunteers based in Strasbourg launched a pilot activity based on the rules
of cafe debat, which is an informal debate with a pre-announced topic and expert(s) and takes place in a cafe/
restaurant. About 45 participants, including local politicians, attended the cafe debat titled La Jeunesse Europeen au Defi de lIslamophobie.
The video is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79X4gnXbpyg

Its not just about consultation:

How can local and regional authorities
promote youth participation that leads
to a real impact on society?
12th June 2014.
Palais de lEurope, Strasbourg.
Non-governmental organisations and associations are important partners for local and regional authorities in
the setting up and implementation of good practices to empower young people. They promote links between
these two actors and encourage young people to get involved in democratic and civic life. FEMYSO was invited
to take part in this conference and to exchange its experience and good practices in this area.

ENAR European Anti Racist Convention on

Setting the anti-racist movement in motion
20th-21st of June 2014, Brussels.
The Convention of ENAR was an educative one. Lots of people from different branches came together to share experiences and work on new strategies or ideas. The majority at this Convention belonged to the Afrophobia-Working-Field, so more and more this issue was discussed. The topic of Islamophobia was also disussed. During this
convention our representative attended the elections of the new ENAR Board.

Preparatory Meeting of the NHSMs study

session on Hate Speech and Religious In
tolerance: Educational Responses
to Islamophobia and Intolerance against
Muslims in Europe.
28 August 2014, EYC, Strasbourg, France.
The Preparatory Meeting took place in order to plan for the seminar, which aims to deepen the understanding of
Islamophobia as both a form of racism and religious intolerance, its causes, manifestations and consequences, to
familiarize participants with the Guidelines for Educators on Countering Intolerance and Discrimination against
Muslims, elaborated by OSCE-ODIHR, UNESCO and the Council of Europe and with the Bookmarks Manual for
combating hate speech online through human rights education. The seminar also sought to share experiences and
good practice of combating Islamophobia through formal and non-formal education and create a movement to
counter Islamophobia and its expressions online and offline, along with its causes.
A concept paper was drafted and subsequently reviewed during the meeting by all participants, especially by the
OSCE representative, by the DYS, and UNICEF. More than 700 applications were received and the seminar generated a huge amount of interest, the applicants come from a variety of backgrounds such as officials, youth workers,
activists, academia, and journalists.

World Muslim Leadership Forum.

23-25 September 2014.
London, UK.
The FEMYSO president was invited as a speaker at the World Muslim Leadership Forum, 23-25 September 2014 in
London. During the event there were many Insights into Leadership. It also highlighted the role faith-based organisations are playing in delivering services to society and building strong communities, especially in financial crisis.

Conference in the Council of Europe on

Islamophobia, organised by ORIW.
1st October 2014, Strasbourg, France.
A speech was given from a representative of FEMYSO which highlighted; news stories of Islamophobia, the aggravation of the situation, the rise of populism and right wing movements, the goodness of producing reports
on Islamophobia. The FEMYSO Project, IMAN, the Day Against Islamophobia and Religious Intolerance, the
importance of having a European struggle against Islamophobia, and the important role of Europe and European
institutions were the issue of the speech. Many Politicians were also present at this conference to follow the speech.

No Hate Speech Forum.

1 -5 October 2014.
Gabala, Azerbaijan.
From 1 -5 October the No Hate Speech Forum was organised in Gabala, Azerbaijan. The Forum of the campaign
sought to bring together the campaign youth activists at national and European levels in view of consulting and directly associating them to the running of the Europe campaign and, especially, to its evaluation and follow-up. An
inspiring forum bringing together 250 main actors of the campaign to celebrate and share national achievements
and to plan the future and follow up of the campaign at national and European level.
Youssef Himmat gave a keynote speech on the current state of Islamophobia in Europe as well as the relevance of
campaigns such as the No Hate Speech Movement to counter this trend.

OIC Islamic Conference Youth Forum for

Dialogue and Cooperation General Assembly.
9-11 October 2014, Istanbul, Turkey
Muslim youth were present from across the world, from Europe, Asia, Africa, and the MENA region. Many key
factors and commonalities arose during the discussion of the General assembly and discussion of key issues of
common concern, including environment, security and interfaith.The identification of a major crisis of leadership
across the world and the real need for ethical values. The worldwide youth representatives also raised the need for
training and mentorship.

ENAR project: Forgotten Women: the impact

of Islamophobia on Muslim women
First Steering Group meeting.
14 October 2014. Brussels, Belgium.
FEMYSO was invited to be on the European Steering Group for this new ENAR project. The project, a partnership
between the anti-racist (ENAR) and feminist (EWL) movements, is a key step in a broader advocacy strategy that
aims to get the Member States of the European Union to adopt specific strategies on the inclusion of Muslims and
to demonstrate the need for an improved implementation of EU equality law.
The project aims to document the disproportionate effect of Islamophobia on Muslim women, foster cross-group
partnership and develop alliances be-tween the anti-racist and feminist movements in order to better address the
intersectional discrimination affecting Muslim women (gender, race, class and religion), counter stereotypes about
Muslim women and promote positive messages and provide analysis to improve the implementation of equality
law in cases of discrimination against Muslim women. The project will take place in 5 countries, chosen to get
a representative picture of the situation of Muslim women in the European Union: Italy, the United Kingdom,
France,

Migration, Europe and the economic crisis

the role of the Church and
the EU commitment.18 November 2014.
Brussels, Belgium.
The purpose of the event was to discuss the issues highlighting the church`s (and the christians) role when regarding migration in times of economic crisis in Europe. Most panelists highlighted the fact that the economic crisis
was hitting hardest against refugees and new immigrants in Europe and that Europe needed to have a new immigration management system. Solidarity with the ones in need, hospitality and working for common good were
words that were used throughout the entire conference. The role of the church as charity giving was discussed.

Open Society Foundation Meeting on

Islamophobia. 4-5 December 2014.
Brussels
This Brussels workshop was the first of its kind organised by OSF exclusively on Islamophobia. FEMYSO presented
its report on European Muslim Youth & the Rise of the Far-right Anti-Muslim Narrative to the audiences. Many
discussions took place and panels with speeches from experts on communication and strategy as well. Lanna
Holla, the representative of the Open Society Justice Initiative delivered an interesting speech on Islamophobia
from the legal approach. Marwan Muhammad as OSCE Advisor discussed the limits of the legal approach and the
freedom of speech.

FEMYSO shared an overview regarding the issue of Islamophobia in Europe; the presentation identified common realities and challenges beyond the specificities of each country. On the basis of these common realities and
challenges, the importance of having a globalized vision and action on Islamophobia is identified to be extremely
important. Where building a European discourse on this issue, and taking action on the European level, and not
limiting this to working on a national level.

Singing Each Others Songs.

10 December 2014, European Parliament.
Brussels, Belgium.
The AK Party Office of Brussels arranged this conference with the aim to discuss the multicultural and multireligious society in Turkey today and to highlight the Turkish example of interreligious dialogue. The MP Sajjad
Karim moderated the session and also representatives from the Muslim, Christian and the Jewish communities
in Turkey were present. During the session the Ottoman empire was taken as an example of how Muslims and
non-Muslim lived together in peace for centuries and some interesting statistics were highlighted.

Meeting with The Women And Democracy

Association (KADEM).
19 December 2014. Istanbul, Turkey.
Meeting with KADEM team at their office in Istanbul to discuss our latest project on Womens Participation in
Politics which is still in the pre-launch phase with official launch in early 2015.

Meeting with The Turkish Students Union.

19 December 2014. Istanbul, turkey.
Meeting with The Turkish Students Union in Istanbul to discuss the similarities, realities and challenges that face
Muslim Youth in Europe and Turkey. Representatives from the FEMYSO Executive committee and FOSIS Ex-Officio attended.

Prize Giving Ceremony

of COJEP International.
23 December 2015. Strasbourg, France.

Yannis Mahil from the FEMYSO volunteers based in Strasbourg has been nominated to receive this years prize
Gizem Dogan for the struggle against racism and discrimination, in the frame of the Prize giving ceremony
organized every year by Cojep International. He will receive this prize, inter alia, as a representative of FEMYSO,
thus FEMYSO will be mentioned and promoted during this event which is going to take place on 23rd December
in Strasbourg.

VOLUNTEERS
& FEMYSO
INTERNSHIPS
Design by Y! designs

FEMYSO runs an Internship Scheme for young people, to assist skills development of youth and
enable them to work and gain experience on the international level.
Our scheme gives youth a real opportunity to gain valuable experience and an insight into
working on an international level.
What the intern gains; As a youth organisation based on 100% youth leadership and youth participation, we try to give our interns and volunteers the chance to gain practical and transferable
skills through hands-on experience; allowing them to develop personally and professionally and
therefore enhancing their employability.
Training opportunities involve organising and attending FEMYSOs national and European-level
internal and external trainings and events, and attending meetings and workshops alongside the
Campaigns Team. In addition, interns and volunteers have the chance to attend prominent events
and Forums hosted by international civic society or NGOs.

50, Rue Archimde

1000 Bruxelles
Belgium
Tel: +32 2 280 69 21
Fax: +32 2 280 69 23
info@femyso.org
www.femyso.org