W
e, the more than 200 students from 43 nationalities participating in the “From Trenches to
Bridges” 2015 Youth Forum in Alsace, have been working together for a week on the history of
World War I and the story of AFS, on learning to live together through intercultural learning, and on
active citizenship. In intensive workshops, we have discussed the biggest challenges that we face in
living together peacefully today, and what we, as active citizens and future leaders, can do to tackle
these challenges. We are presenting our answers to you, the European Parliament, in the form of this
multimedia Peace Charter.
The biggest challenge that we feel is keeping us from living together peacefully is the lack of understanding for others. Different understandings of the world can lead to disagreements and misunderstandings. However, the biggest factor for conflict lies in the lack of understanding of cultural and
religious differences, giving way to stereotypes and racism. We experience a lack of empathy, which
prevents us from seeing each other as fellow human beings.
Another big challenge that we see in the world is the ignorance about current events and global
issues, and the lack of education regarding these topics. We are especially concerned about the lack
of education regarding culture, religion, poverty, gender, racial and sexual inequality, as well as
socioeconomic and environmental issues.
We are also concerned about corruption and the lack of compromise among the leaders of our communities, the abuse of power, and the negative consequences stemming from old conflicts that have
yet to be resolved.
We feel that the path to tackle these issues lies in promoting tolerance and acceptance. We should
be aware of and celebrate the differences between us, but at the same time also look past them to
the things we all share. This can be done by increasing intercultural exchanges, by sharing spaces and
a culture of open communication, and by building friendships with people of diverse backgrounds.
Another way to solve the challenges that we face is through education and raising awareness.
We want accessible quality education for young people worldwide, and more school and community
events to promote awareness about current world events and other important issues. We are also
committed to sharing our own knowledge with others and making a conscious effort to educate ourselves. We also feel that it is important to question everything, to engage in critical thinking, and to
look at things from all sides.
Finally, we need to actively engage and participate in our communities, and strive to become role
models and leaders. We need to dare to create change, and remember that each and every one of
us can make a difference in the world.
31 oct. - 6 nov.2015
Below you find all the answers in their original wording from the 15 diverse groups of students working on the Peace Charter,
to the following questions:
What are the biggest challenges that we face in living together peacefully today?
What can we, as active citizens and future leaders, do to tackle these challenges?
A challenge that we face today in living together peacefully is difficulty with communication and
understanding one another. Another challenge we face is
the confrontation of different opinions. Judging a book by
its cover is also a relevant problem. Challenges we face today
are the terrorism by historical events as wars and colonialism.
Economy problems such as poverty and corruption. Also
refugee problems which are related to education, where
they can stay and integration.
As active citizens, we should be actors in promoting education and communication, tolerance and acceptance. We
should organize more intercultural events and programs
to progressively spread tolerance. As active citizens, we
should create a group that discusses the respectful sharing
of and listening to opinions. As AFSers, we should share our
experiences with others to teach them that not everybody
is as they seem.
We are all different and don’t have the same
rights, but we need to face the problems locally to solve the
big problems in the world, and work on inequality, violence,
and environment.
Global awareness: Our issue is that young people aren’t
aware of what’s going on in today’s world. Having young
people be involved in their community and be aware of
current events is the solution.
Gender inequality: The unequal treatment or perception
of individual because of their gender is a big challenge. We
need to spread awareness about the importance of gender equality and throw light on the serious consequences
of gender inequality through proper education and place
strong emphasis through the media.
What can you do about this as an active citizen? Engage
critical thinking by creating opportunities to share ideas
and projects to become open minded and open hearted, to
hear people’s voices and be more respectful. Every single
mind is a whole different world.
International relations and a lack of compromise are the biggest challenges that we face today in li-
the lack and quality of education. In particular,
We have to get different people to work together and we
have to bring education to everyone from a young age.
We feel, as young people today, that some
challenges in living together peacefully is over-
The challenge is that we all have a different understanding of how the world should be. We
The solution lies in supplying and creating more school
and community activities to educate youth about current
events around the world, and getting community members
more involved in local and global affairs. We need to take it
upon ourselves to share and learn with our friends and family in our daily lives.
As Shabana1and many others have said, education is the most important resource in stopping violence
and poverty in the world. Ignorance is the source of fear
and only education can free us from our ignorant minds,
allowing us to look past our differences, and focus on the
greater good of humanity.
As an individual, in order to contribute to make the world
a better place to live in, what you can do is being a role
model and showing others the importance of keeping
an open mind, to not ignore but embrace all differences
between cultures. Question everything, cultures, people,
mentality, and soak all answers in like a sponge. Educate
yourself and those around you, awareness is the first step
to change. And finally, be a leader in your community, and
never forget that a little goes a long way.
Education: We want a good and qualifying education in school to be accessible for everybody with
no restriction regarding the gender, the race, the creed,
the income or social stand of their families. As we identified three principal problems we found three steps to gain
a better and universal education: The possibility for everyone to have education, an education accessible from the
economic side, and a good education system.
What are the challenges that we face today in
living together peacefully? Understanding other people’s
way of life and accepting them as they are. Think of the
others as we think of ourselves.
LGBT: To this day, there are many people who can’t marry
the person they love because their sexual orientation is
neither tolerated, nor accepted, nor supported by their
society or their country’s laws. Education is the long term
solution. As for now, states should support the cause and
realize that this is a matter of justice and equality.
ving together peacefully. To address these challenges, you, as
an individual, can be aware of your environments at a young
age, and gain and share knowledge. This will allow you to get
involved in the participation process of democracy to create the
snowball effect.
coming conflicts over territory, cultural and religious differences.
The first step to ending these conflicts is to increase global awareness of cultural and societal differences. One
must think critically before taking a stance, educate himor herself, and keep an open mind. In order to live together peacefully, citizens can transform their fear of the
unknown into curiosity.
are all different and we should recognize the problems this
can provoke and try to solve them. As active citizens, we
can face this challenge by encouraging understanding
and problem solving.
People assume that the way their culture lives
is the right way to live, as opposed to one way to live. As
Many of the problems faced in today’s society stem from
there is an absence of education on cultures, religion, socioeconomic issues, gender, racial and sexual equality, as
well as environmental issues.
As active citizens, we can tackle these issues by making a
conscious effort to educate ourselves on current events
and their long-lasting consequences. An active citizen will
observe their country’s freedom and rights and strive to
share their knowledge to improve the wellbeing of their
community.
The main challenge that we face today in living
together peacefully is the lack of empathy that prevents
people from seeing past the differences between us and
to the fact that we’re not just numbers, but human beings.
active citizens, we can recognize the problem and not be afraid
to be the first one to try to change it.
As active citizens, we can increase understanding and
peaceful living through education and communication.
The greatest challenges we face today in living
together are racism, miscommunication, not
In raising awareness and consciousness about the issues
that face our society, we can get more people involved and
ultimately, make a change.
having an open mind, and not respecting each other. As active citizens, we should educate people that fighting is not
the answer, people can live their lives in different ways we
should learn to respect others. We should be the change!
Change myself first and influence others. Do what I can do.
We should educate people to respect and accept each other’s similarities and differences.
We should also start changing our mindsets and improve
our tolerance to different cultures, traditions, religions,
gender preferences, etc. We should share our culture to
others and try learning and understanding their culture
too. We should build friendships to people from all over
the world by exchange programs, youth camps, etc.
A great challenge to living together peacefully is our
fear of the unknown. A lack of respect and acceptance
between different cultures derives this fear. Focusing on
pas conflicts only gives births to new ones, and blindly
following authority creates a dangerous potential for the
abuse of power.
31 oct. - 6 nov.2015
There are many challenges with living together peacefully. Corrupt leaders and a history of racial,
social and ethnic intolerance are a few of the most prominent examples. Unwillingness to compromise and the
stubbornness of human nature make it difficult to coexist
in such a diverse world. Lack of education and open minds
within the world make it difficult for acceptance to be of
top priorities in certain societies.
What can we do? That’s the golden question.
Prejudices should be put aside in order to make peace
a priority. As citizens and young students, we have to
remember that no matter how irrelevant we might feel,
we have the power to be heard and make a change. One
should participate in the community to promote a proactive youth and stimulate action. Awareness is key.
1
Shabana Basij-Rasikh of the School of Leadership in Afghanistan, who spoke to the students during one of the workshops leading up to the writing of the charta.