Naturefriends see themselves amongst all who face the fences and walls in and around Europe. As we show our members and friends Europe’s boundless mountains, seas, and rivers, we are appalled by the world of borders and the military power used against our neighbors and future neighbors from outside the EU.
We are the International Young Naturefriends, a network of groups and organizations from all over Europe — from Azerbaijan to Portugal — engaged in social and political action promoting sustainability and equity. IYNF reaches young people living and moving in and around Europe. We carry on the historical responsibility of the original social movements as well as the urgent matters that all NGOs and engaged people face today and tomorrow.
Although we are aware of the political developments and systems that created a Europe of nation-states, of Visa, of exclusive citizen rights, we demand the enforcement of human rights before national interest. Although we live in an EU divided by class inequality, unemployment, and poverty, we cannot allow the world’s richest region to turn those away that ask for their guest rights. We cherish the diversity and depths of the grown traditions and identities in Europe which are, at their core, a web of migrations and re-migrations spanning the centuries. We need the cultural origins and innovations of our neighbors and new neighbors in order to stay true to what Europe is: One of the world’s most diverse and colorful regions. We call on our friends and partners in movements, institutions, and parliaments to take immediate action to ensure the minimum human rights standards at all cost.
The knowledge of migrations and refugees is not new. For a long time the European civil society neglected its responsibility. EU’s policies and crisis forced us to reconsider our focus. We aim to work with and in the humanitarian efforts. We intend to challenge our partners in politics, engage with our friends in NGOs, political movements, social science, and culture. We will develop our understanding and knowledge regarding migration in and outside Europe. At the end of 2017 we aim to have a first common understanding of our members and partners how to address policy as well as how to create direct action. Having all this in mind, we chose the year 2017 to be dedicated to ‘Borderfree Solidarity’ and we invite you to join us!
#IYNFborderfree #weareallparia