Resolution booklet HÄRS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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General Assembly Procedure Motion for a resolution on the Special Committee on

Foreign Interference in All Democratic Processes in the European Union including disinformation (INGE)

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Motion for a resolution on the Committee on Women’s

Rights and Gender Equality I (FEMM I)

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Motion for a resolution on the Committee on Civil

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Motion for a resolution on the Committee on Women’s

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Motion for a resolution on the Committee on the

Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE)

Rights and Gender Equality II (FEMM II)

Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI)

GENERAL ASSEMBLY PROCEDURE GENERAL RULES ● The authority of the Board is absolute. ● All delegates are encouraged to vote and refrain from abstaining unless they have a true moral conflict. ● Each committee will have two direct responses per round of open debate. ● Delegates shall afford equal respect to all debates as if they were their own. ● Chairpersons of the respective committee shall make use of the placards at all times.

PLACARDS COMMITTEE PLACARDS A committee should raise their placard when they need attention on something. Once it is raised alone, it indicates that the committee is ready to be recognised by the Academic Board for a speech or a point. It is important to highlight that when a committee wishes to use other placards for a certain matter, the committee placard should be raised in combination with them. The authority of the Board is absolute regarding recognitions.

DIRECT RESPONSE Each committee may use the Direct response twice in each set of rounds of debate for one resolution. Raising this placard will lead to the committee immediately being recognised by the Board and given the floor as soon as the point being made is concluded. A Direct Response can only refer and add up to the previous point made right beforehand. Should two or more Direct Responses be requested at once, the Board has the right to decide which committee to recognise. In that matter, the second Direct Response can only be used if the point relates to the first Direct Response, and so on and so forth. ● Point: “Why is it the Commission who is implementing this programme, and how will you make this programme accessible for everyone?” ● Direct Response (Wrong): “Yes, also, how will you make sure the Commission can get funding for this programme?”

This Direct Response is not successful because: (1) although it is about the same topic, it does not directly build on top of the previous point, (2) the point before the Direct Response consisted of two questions, and you may only Direct Response the very last thing said (so the accessibility part, but not the Commission part). Instead, you could try the following:

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● Point: “Why is it the Commission who is implementing this programme, and how will you make this programme accessible for everyone?” ● Direct Response (Correct): “I think a programme such as this should be offered in all EU languages to be made more accessible.”

POINT OF PERSONAL PRIVILEGE Raising this placard is a request to the Board to ask a Delegate to repeat a point that was inaudible. Failure to understand the vocabulary being spoken does not warrant a Point of Personal Privilege.

POINT OF ORDER The Chairperson can raise this placard only if the committee feels the Board has not adequately followed the General Assembly procedure. An example of this would be that the Board forgets to allow the proposing committee to respond to the position speeches.

Not getting recognised for a point that was previously promised does not warrant a Point of Order. Ultimately, the authority of the Board remains absolute.

PROCEDURE AND TIME SETTINGS 1. The Board Reads the topic sentence 2. Silent Reading of the Topic - 1 minute 3. Defence Speech - 3 minutes a. The proposing Committee uses this speech to explain the proposed resolution. It is used to explain the underlying goals and motives of the Committee and to show how the current resolution is an efficient way to reach those goals. It is more factual than an emotional speech.

4. Position Speech - (2 x 1.5 minutes) a. Up to two committees will be recognised to deliver proposition speeches: either favouring or against the proposed resolution. The speeches should support/disagree with the Committee's goals or the general direction of the resolution. They should not consist of a list of points.

5. Response to Position - up to 2 minutes 6. Rounds of Debate (3) a. Points of debate - 3-5 x 30-second point b. Response - 1 minute for every round of debate. The final round will have a designated person to respond just like the others.

7. Summation Speech- 3 minutes a. The Summation Speech will consist of two main parts: the first one will be a summation of the Open Debate, and the second one is a pre-written speech.

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b. The first part should sum up the debate as a whole, by answering questions that didn’t get a response and by repeating some of the most important arguments made during the debate. c. The second part can be, but doesn’t have to be, more dramatic and inspirational, reminding the delegates why the topic is important and convincing them to vote in favour of the proposed resolution. d. These roles can be delivered by 1 or 2 people (as in, one does the summation of the debate and the other one does the pre-written speech).

8. Voting

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MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION BY THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN INTERFERENCE IN ALL DEMOCRATIC PROCESSES IN THE EUROPEAN UNION, INCLUDING DISINFORMATION (INGE) Fighting Fakes: Considering that the foreign state-sponsored spreading of fake news across the EU has far-reaching social, economic, and political consequences, what should the EU do to defend itself against disinformation efforts from outside the Union?

Submitted by: Luca Brocca (IT), Rafael Jabbari (FI), Tinja Lohioja (FI), Iivari Mantere (FI), Dinh Minh Tran (VN), Kola Ojares (FI), Nea-Sofia Rikala (FI), Aino Särkelä (FI), Aris Torres(FI), Rezija Micure-Skaista (IE, Chairperson)

The European Youth Parliament aims to spread awareness and educate all EU citizens on the wide variety of types of misinformation and its consequences. We seek appropriate solutions to tackle the issues created by the spread of misinformation such as conspiracy theories, propaganda, and fake news.

Additionally, we aim to prevent the effects of foreign state1-sponsored media on the European Union institutions and the democratic model of fair and equal voting. We also aim to uphold and protect the fundamental rights granted to EU citizens enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,

because ● Misinformation is being mass-spread without being thoroughly fact-checked, leading to a larger spread of unfactual information, ● Current anti-misinformation efforts are slow and insufficient in limiting misinformation, even when the content is flagged by the platform’s own fact-checking partners,

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Foreign State actors are any groups or bodies from outside the EU that strive to influence EU officials, citizens, or businesses.

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● Misinformation damages the democratic institutions in the Member States by revoking the citizens' right to fair information, ● There are various conspiracy theories such as the anti-vaccination movement, which can affect governments negatively, ● Freedom of speech is used as a way to negotiate around fake news, which was heightened during the Covid-19 pandemic with approximately 800 covid misinformation related deaths in 2020, ● People aged over 65 are 3 times more likely to believe and share false information than those aged 18 to 29, which causes a heightened susceptibility to those in this age bracket, ● Companies are promoting false information, such as greenwashing2, in the hopes of monetary benefits. This leads to EU consumers being misled surrounding product details;

The European Youth Parliament, to achieve these aims, 1. Encourages the European Commission to increase the financing of fact-checking mechanisms by funding institutions and organisations such as European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) through the European Media and Information Fund (EMIF); 2. Proposes that the European Commission encourage developers of media platforms to work towards helping citizens spot & report misinformation by implementing a fact-check request button and a tone indicator3 and with incentives for those applying said new features; 3. Recommends the EDMO to educate corporations by establishing the distinction between the freedom of personal speech compared to the responsibility that comes with representing a larger institution's media output; 4. Seeks the Council of Europe to prevent the development of echo chambers4 by creating a directive requiring transparency into social media platforms’ algorithms; Greenwashing is disinformation spread by an organisation in order to project an image of environmental responsibility to the public.

3 Tone indicator is a marker that is linked to a sentence or message delivered in text format to plainly state the communication's intonation or intent.

4 Echo Chamber is an environment in which a person only experiences beliefs or attitudes that are similar to their own, reinforcing their existing viewpoints and excluding competing ideas.

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5. Calls upon the Code of Practice for disinformation to disprove conspiracy theories visibly through the mainstream media and government pages by the establishment of funded projects and campaigns surrounding false information; 6. Suggests that the European External Action Service (EEAS) to raise awareness about anti-disinformation services by promoting itself and other EU anti-disinformation services, through the creation of media campaigns to be shown in educational institutions and its communication channels; 7. Appeals to the ministries of education in Member States to educate school children to recognise misinformation by investing in the teaching of media criticism and to promote the integration of media into the curriculums of said Member States’ school systems; 8. Requests Member States to provide support to elders against false information through: a) creating and publishing how-to guides in newspapers on spotting false information, b) the publishment of media campaigns on radio and television, c) allocating funding to media outlets to create informational content; 9. Call upon the Directorate General for Trade (DG TRADE) to prevent companies promoting false information about their products by developing the EU’s own sustainability label and urging them to apply standardised mechanisms for measuring greenhouse gases, 10. Directs Member States and according authorities in the European Commission to increase transparency between the consumers and the companies by enforcing the laws regarding consumer protection through fines for non-compliant companies.

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MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION BY THE COMMITTEE ON WOMEN’S RIGHTS AND GENDER EQUALITY I (FEMM I) Chance to Change: Given that discrimination can occur on the basis of more than one ground, including disability, sexual orientation, race and gender, what can the EU Member States do to ensure that citizens that fall victim to intersectional discrimination receive the same opportunities as other EU citizens?

Submitted by: Golnaz Alizade (FI), Fanny Friman (FI), Ella Immonen (FI), Peeta Mittilä (FI), Veikka Ormio (FI), Laura Vaine (FI), Julianna Willberg (FI), Ingrid Hayen (SE, Chairperson), Caragh Rooney (IE, Chairperson).

The European Youth Parliament aims to provide equal opportunities regardless of age, disability, gender, race, religion or sexual orientation for all European Union (EU) citizens as well as ensure a safer and more united EU without discrimination.

We aim to increase awareness of intersectional5 discrimination by providing education and organising events with NGOs and the Member States. Taking into consideration the current absence of adequate legislation, we aim to ensure that victims of intersectional discrimination receive the necessary support,

because ● There is a lack of awareness and education on intersectionality and intersectional minorities in the EU, as only one third of EU citizens are aware they are legally protected from discrimination based on age, disability, gender, race, religion or sexual orientation, ● Political participation is a fundamental human right for all, and should be recognised by governments and corporations, ● Currently, there are many issues relating to anti-discrimination laws including: a) a lack of comprehensive proactive anti-discrimination laws,

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Intersectionality refers to the to the combination, overlapping, or intersection of multiple forms of discrimination of marginalized individuals or groups.

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b) gaps within anti-discrimination laws, as seen with the Racial Equality Directive and the Employment Equality Directive which tackles two different forms of discrimination separately racial equality and employment, ● People face discrimination on an intersectional basis and thus are more vulnerable to harassment as opposed to people belonging to a single minority, ● Of the lack of data on intersectional discrimination in politics, education and employment, ● Pay gaps can occur based on various grounds such as: a) gender, b) race, c) country of origin, ● Of the existing need for youth minority voices to be encouraged within politics;

The European Youth Parliament, to achieve these aims, 1. Encourages the Member States to incorporate lessons regarding equality and intersectionality into their educational curriculums; 2. Requests the European Youth Event (EYE) to organise and advertise forums and events for young people, especially on minority issues; 3. Encourages NGOs, such as the European Network Against Racism and European Disability Forum to arrange events for young people on discriminative issues to prompt discussion; 4. Calls upon the Directorate-General for Human Resources and Security to encourage workplaces and universities to hire personnel to prevent and help with issues regarding discrimination through the CERV work programme 2021-2022; 5. Strongly recommends Eurostat to commence research concerning minorities and intersectionality in the European Union; 6. Calls upon the Directorate-General for Communication (DG Comms) to provide resources for people from minorities interested in politics by spreading information through panels and campaigns;

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7. Urges the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (DG EMPL) to encourage institutions and employees to increase salary transparency to Member States’ governments; 8. Recommends local NGOs to support victims of intersectional discrimination by building peer-supportive communities specifically for young people.

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MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION BY THE COMMITTEE ON CIVIL LIBERTIES, JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS (LIBE) #Somewhere Over the Rainbow: The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the existing Inequalities of the LGBTQ+ people and rainbow families regarding their freedom of movement, equality and experiencing daily hate. How can the European Union (EU) tackle this form of discrimination and move closer towards a union of equality?

Submitted by: Veera Jokimies (FI), Iina Nikkarikoski (FI), Henri Puura (FI), Tuisku Sarkki (FI), Sophia Stedman (FI), Verna Valli (FI), Ralf Veerits (FI), Anastasios Vasileiadis (GR, Chairperson)

The European Youth Parliament aims to combat LGBTQ+ discrimination by addressing aspects that relate to various sectors, including healthcare, legislation, education and societal norms. Currently facing the COVID-19 pandemic, we want to ensure inclusion of LGBTQ+ people and their access to vital services, such as access to healthcare and productive education, by improving social and educational programs, providing economical facilitating and legislating against discriminatory practices, because ● The lack of LGBTQ+ inclusive education in educational facilities is paving the way for further discrimination which can foster anti-LGBTQ+ views, ● During COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, 44% of lesbian and 61% of bisexual women experienced significantly increased cases of domestic violence, compared to 35% of straight women, ● Homophobic hate speech by public figures such as political and religious leaders and other citizens, stemming from the deeply embedded religious beliefs in many societies, such as in Italy, is rapidly increasing, ● There is an absence of LGBTQ+ community members in the political sector which results in a low increase in the rainbow index6, 6

Rainbow Index: It ranks 49 European countries on their respective legal and policy practices for LGBTI people, from 0-100%.

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● Due to family rejection resulting from their identity, between 25-40% of young LGBTQ+ people are experiencing homelessness, ● Transgender people’s Gender Affirming Care7, which was deemed non-essential during the COVID-19 pandemic and eventually stopped, is very slow at health facilities, taking an average of four years to get an initial appointment, ● Cosmetic surgeries are performed on intersex infants, without informed consent, often under the guise of medical necessity, ● LGBTQ+ people face medical discrimination when trying to access physical and mental healthcare services and can be forced to publicly state their sexual orientation, ● There is no EU-wide anti-discrimination law protecting against discrimination on the basis of gender identity and gender expression, and the laws in place vary greatly between the Member States;

The European Youth Parliament, to achieve these aims, 1. Endorses the Council of Education Ministers of the European Union to mandate comprehensive sexual education to curb homophobia8 and move towards a union of equality by reducing prejudice in the general populace; 2. Suggests that the European Commission provides financial incentives for Member States to build safe houses for LGBTQ+ people, to combat domestic violence and sexual discrimination; 3. Urges Member States to legislate anti-LGBTQ+ hate speech as an offence and punish accordingly; 4. Endorses the European Commission to put adequate consent restrictions in place to a) reduce anti-LGBTQ+ hate speech b) protect aspiring LGBTQ+ politicians from discouraging hate speech;

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Gender Affirming Care: The psychological, social, and medical healthcare designed to affirm individuals’ gender identities.

8 Homophobia: Irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality.

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5. Commends the support from groups like ILGA-Europe for aspiring LGBTQ+ politicians; 6. Calls Upon Member States to provide homeless members of the LGBTQ+ community with: a) temporary/transitional housing, b) LGBTQ+ inclusive homeless shelters, c) assistance on rent payments and other means of getting into permanent housing; 7. Promotes the access to gender affirming care for transgender people by: a) Seeking funding from the European Social Fund (ESF+) to make gender-affirming healthcare providers more accessible, b) Lower the very strict requirements for receiving gender-affirming care; 8. Urges the Directorate General for Human Rights (DG-DROI) to require full information and written consent before performing medically unnecessary cosmetic surgeries on intersex people, preventing physiological and psychological harm; 9. Welcomes independent organisations, such as the United Nations Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (IE SOGI) to provide bias training and further education for medical professionals on LGBTQ+ issues to ensure equal access to treatment for everyone; 10. Encourages the European Parliament to update legislative proceedings, such as Article 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, to a more inclusive and protective guideline for anti-discrimination regarding LGBTQ+ people.

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MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION BY THE COMMITTEE ON THE ENVIRONMENT, PUBLIC HEALTH AND FOOD SAFETY (ENVI) Alice in Wonderland: With more companies becoming more conscious of ecologically friendly products and reducing animal testing practices, what can the EU do to further develop this nee area of legislation to ensure the fair treatment of animals?

Submitted by: Sofia Hämäläinen (FI), Katariina Kauppinen (FI), Frederick Lalu (FI), Velma Linko (FI), Maria Shamma (FI), Ivan Shcheglov (FI), Iiro Sällinen (FI), Ina Väisänen (FI), Jinbo Wan (FI), Thomas Wirta (FI), Thy Nguyen (FI, Chairperson)

The European Youth Parliament aims to decrease the amount of cosmetic and chemical animal testing. This is due to the conflict between different regulations regarding the issue and the lack of implementation of existing alternatives. That can be achieved by implementing increased sanctions and supporting the development of alternatives while ensuring the stability of European Union economic and human health. because ● Current legislation regarding animal testing on cosmetic products is contradictory, creating a loophole that allows companies to perform unnecessary experiments on animals under the REACH Regulation9 at a lower cost, ● The EU ban on animal testing is only limited to cosmetic products and does not apply to other fields, such as household products, ● The lack of effective sanctions and financial support do not motivate businesses to improve on their ethicality, ● Animal testing cannot be completely abolished as the holistic10 side effects of various drugs cannot be found otherwise with the currently existing technology.

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The REACH Regulation: was adopted to improve the protection of human health and the environment from the risks that can be posed by chemicals 10 Holistic: Relating to the whole of something or to the total system instead of just to its parts

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● The funding for research and development of alternative solutions to animal testing is reduced by billions of dollars as it is mainly directed towards animal experiments, ● Companies lack the incentive to create mutual standards for chemical product testing within EU quality standards both internally and between other MultiNational Corporations (MNC’s);

The European Youth Parliament, to achieve these aims, 1. Calls upon the European Commission to avoid loopholes11 between the ban on animal testing in cosmetics and the REACH Regulation by collaborating with The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA)12 to regulate the relations for animal testing requirements on chemical ingredients; 2. Encourages companies to reduce the amount of unnecessary animal testing by collecting data on chemical safety from the ECHA for production or carrying out the testing in an EU-approved chemical testing centre, such as The European Union Reference Laboratory for alternatives to animal testing (EURL ECVAM); 3. Urges the European Commission to monitor the treatment and wellbeing of animals in research centres by: a) the introduction of a quality control centre capable of identifying the companies and products that comply with the guidelines, b) labeling products, which fulfill such requirements with certified stamps to inform the consumers; 4. Requests EU Member States to reduce the amount of unnecessary animal testing by creating laws that allow local governments to suspend the operation of laboratories where unnecessary animal testing is found;

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Loophole: A mistake in the way a law, contract, etc. has been written that enables people to legally avoid doing something that the law, contract, etc. had intended them to do 12 The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) works for the safe use of chemicals by implementing the EU’s chemicals legislation. It specifically manages the technical and administrative aspects of the companies’ implementation of REACH.

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5. Seeks the European Commission’s Innovation Fund to encourage animal testing businesses to remain in the EU by increasing the experimentation and investigation for new alternatives to animal testing; 6. Recommends the animal testing companies to minimise the amount of inflicted pain and animal harm when animal testing is still required with the help of current technology, following the technological advances of Finadvance and microchip pain reduction; 7. Solemnly affirms that health charities, universities, federal governments, and companies that fund animal experimentation should accelerate the research on cruelty-free alternatives by providing increased funding; 8. Encourages EU testing companies to foster cooperation regarding the reduction of unnecessary animal testing by including increased checks through company consultation, surrounding the supervision of testing methods by the ECHA.

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MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION BY THE COMMITTEE ON WOMEN’S RIGHTS AND GENDER EQUALITY II (FEMM II) Empowering genders: Given that contraception did not become legal in some Member States such as Ireland until 1985, what strategy should the EU pursue to ensure reproductive rights across Europe are upheld and protected, including freedom of choice, access to effective sexual education and reproductive health care?

Submitted by: Saren Ismail (FI), Kasper Koljonen (FI), Mona Lehto (FI), Aino Liljaniemi (FI), Lotta Naumanen (FI), Julia Palkeinen (FI), Konsta Tervakangas (FI), Emilia Borrusch (FI, Chairperson), Felix Crawford (NL, Chairperson)

The European Youth Parliament aims to have complete gender equality in reproductive rights across the European Union Member States and to have the European Youth to fully understand their own sexual health rights. We want to pursue equal access to necessary sanitary and contraceptive products, bodily autonomy, freedom of choice and equal sexual education for all,

because ● Abortion is not allowed by request in many of the Member States such as Finland, leading to many women encountering dangerous or even fatal abortions provided by individuals who are not medical professionals, ● In many Member States such as Cyprus, sanitary products as well as contraceptives have high tax rates, which causes period poverty and inequality with reproductive rights, ● There is a disparity in educational resources and information among the Member States’ school curriculum on how to use menstrual products and contraceptives, ● The responsibility of chemical/hormonal contraception is primarily on women resulting in the female population disproportionately experiencing hormonal imbalance,

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● The inadequate information in sexual education with the disregard of important topics such as LGBTQ+ communities results in increased stigma concerning LGBTQ+ sexualities,

● EU Member States such as Spain neglect to follow guidelines set by the World Health organisation (WHO) when it comes to having a common sexual education curriculum within educational institutions;

The European Youth Parliament, to achieve these aims, 1. Recommends Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) in collaboration with the European Social Fund to make abortion and contraception more accessible by the creation of a European central Planned Parenthood and guarantee funding to provide healthcare; 2. Implores the Europe Abortion Access Project to further research the barriers to legal abortion in the Member States; 3. Calls upon the Member States to ensure access to hygiene products by redistributing the tax on such items such as sanitary and contraceptive products; 4. Recommends the Member States’ education ministries to raise awareness of contraception by the distribution of free contraception and menstruation products to students in schools; 5. Asks the European Commission to increase funding toward the European Medicines Agency promoting male contraception by accelerating the research and development of new chemical contraceptives; 6. Calls upon the EACEA to help spread awareness by creating educational campaigns surrounding menstrual health to be compulsory in schools; 7. Promote the EU LGBTQ+ website of the European Commission by improving its graphics and making it more accessible; 8. Strongly encourages Member States to introduce WHO’s guidelines of sexual education to their health and sex education providers.

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