Welcome to the second edition of BullsEye, the official debating magazine of the European Democrat Students, the largest student family of the centre-right, for the working year 2016/17. The weeks since our first Council Meeting in Venice have been very busy but also very productive for EDS. We are extremely happy that for the second Council Meeting of the working year, EDS meets in Kyiv to discuss the highly relevant topic “Europe’s Challenges Ahead - Our Answers to Security Threats”. Besides, we will mark the three-year anniversary since the Maidan revolution and honour the memory of those who gave their lives to build a free and democratic Ukraine. Without a doubt, freedom is contingent on security, and the very first obligation of politicians should be to maintain the security of European citizens and protect our democratic values of equality, liberty and human rights.
CHAIRMAN’S LETTER
Dear friends,
This issue of BullsEye is titled “Born Free and Equal - Reappraising Human Rights”. Hence, in the previous paragraph, I deliberately wrote about our upcoming event in Ukraine, a country, which serves as a good example of how human rights have traditionally been in the centre of global politics. Historically, mere power has prevailed over the power of rights when strategic interests of major state actors have been at stake and it is therefore important to understand the relationship between human rights, power and hegemony, a bond which is exemplified through various articles found in this BullsEye issue. For EDS, the protection of human rights has always been one of our organisation’s main priorities, let it be through our Permanent Working Group on human rights or the various relevant projects we have been working on such as the “Students At Risk” programme. The topic of this issue of BullsEye merits a lot of analysis, so please read through it for more ideas and opinions and stay informed about our policies, future goals, and events. We hope that you will enjoy your reading and keep in mind that the EDS Bureau is always interested in receiving feedback, hear your ideas, and discover more ways to proudly serve students across Europe.
With best regards from the EDS bureau,
Georgios Chatzigeorgiou Chairman
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