We, the participants Belarus, Denmark, Estonia, Faeroe
Islands, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden at the
seminar on Youth empowerment and young people’s
partipation in society:
recognise the need for young people to be able to participate
in decision making in order to ensure a development accommodating
the needs and ideas of new generations;
request national and international organizations to include young
people in their meetings and other activities;
underline the importance and need to provide young people with
opportunities to communicate, cooperate and share experiences across
borders and cultures;
point to the importance of having the possibility to study or
work abroad, participate in student exchange programmes and similar
activities;
express concern about the existing barriers that make travel
between our countries difficult and therefore stress the need to
achieve more simple and inexpensive visa regimes in order to increase
cooperation and contacts between our countries and regions;
recognize the important role of the independent and uncensored
media in informing the public in a free and neutral way;
stress the importance of open and uncensored channels of communication
such as the Internet and social media;
express our deep concern for the political situation in Belarus
and the lack of democracy
we demand that the people of Belarus will have:
freedom of speech
freedom of assembly and the right to demonstrate
organizational freedom
a free press and free flow of information
free and fair elections and election campaigns
call for the unconditional release of all political prisoners
in Belarus
welcome transparency in the EU cooperation with Belarus
encourage the freedom of expression and the right to participate
in society regardless of gender, ethnicity, functional ability,
language, religion, sexual orientation and age
acknowledge the importance of arenas for contact and discussion
between Nordic, Baltic and Belarusian youth like this seminar and
therefore encourage the Nordic Council and the Baltic Assembly to
facilitate such activities in the future
ask the politicians in the Nordic Council and the Baltic Assembly
to raise the question of democracy in Belarus on every suitable
occasion.