“No one leaves home unless
home is the mouth of a shark.
You only run for the border when you see the whole city
running as well.”
These words by Warsan Shire echoed throughout the room as we opened the European NORP (National Officer on Human Rights and Peace) weekend in Amsterdam.
It captured the essence of the theme for this European NORP weekend “Youth for refugees and migrants – meaningful solutions” which was focused on two of the IFMSA Global priorities.
The European NORP weekend was held in Amsterdam from the 8th-11th November 2018. Although the concept of the NORP Weekend is quite new, it represents the perfect opportunity for the European Standing Committee On Human Rights and Peace (SCORP) to get in touch once a year. To discuss global, regional problems, as well as priorities, solutions and tackle the obstacles NORPs may face in their term. However, it was also about creating memories whether it was eating meals together or grilling dutch cheese in the middle of the night.Through this weekend we all discovered, shared and learned from each other and made memories.
Sitting in that room listening to that poem the very first night, was youth from every corner of Europe together embarking on a trip.The weekend was full of sessions reflecting today’s society which gave us the opportunity to discuss important topics such as gender-based violence, migration and refugees, advocacy and volunteerism and psychological First Aid. We also had important “sharing is caring” sessions where we discussed important aspects of this term, such as communication platforms and regional priority areas. Seeing what most European countries had their priority made us more aware of how politically split our society is today and gave us even more motivation to nurture the essence of that weekend which for us meant unity. For us that embodied “meaningful youth participation” and the IFMSA tradition that keeps on giving and we hope to pass on to future SCORP generations.
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