IRI Sponsors National Youth Leaders Roundtable

February 10, 2003

IRI's Ukraine office sponsored a roundtable for the national youth leaders of opposition and majority political parties on January 28-29 in Kyiv. It marked the first of a series of meetings for youth leaders in regional centers across Ukraine in 2003. IRI Program Officer Yevgeniy Zelenko led the discussions.

The purpose is to gather the opinions of the leaders of the youth auxiliaries of the major parties and to encourage them to work together in developing strategies for the 2004 presidential election. The first meeting resulted in plans for cooperation among youth activists from various political parties. One idea was to lobby for amendments on the draft law on higher education to allow more politically-oriented activities on university campuses. The participants reported cases in which activists were expelled from universities for exercising their constitutional rights of free association.

The youth leaders also decided to form a Youth Human Rights Protection Center run by a coalition coordination council. Among suggested activities are the production of a newsletter with legal assistance guidelines for regional youth leaders and seminars with leading human rights protection legal advisors.

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