On the 16th and 17th of October Ena Porča and Lazar Simić, YEAs from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, participated at the 29th Lisbon Forum at Ismaili Centre in Lisbon, Portugal. Lisbon Forum 2023 addressed the theme “Human Rights, Environment and Economic Crimes: Youth at the forefront”. YEAs had the opportunity to discuss with Mr Bjørn Berge, the Council of Europe’s Deputy Secretary General. Mr Berge emphasised that the year 2023 was the hottest ever recorded and underlined the importance of including the youth of the Western Balkans in all decision-making processes concerning fighting both climate change and corruption.

Ms Karuna Rana, an award-winning social entrepreneur and environmental activist from Mauritius, reached out to YEAs with a significant message saying that youth should take leadership positions when fighting climate change. Another young European, Mr Spyros Papadatos, Chairperson at the Advisory Council on Youth (AC) of the Council of Europe, advised YEAs to be careful of hypocrisy and to be aware that the biggest polluters are the multinational companies.

Additionally, another precious opportunity was meeting and networking with young activists from Portugal, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritius, Morocco, India, Kenya and Ghana. This event was organised in the framework of the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe’s project “All Informed, All Concerned”.