Event report

Taking stock of the Conference on the Future of Europe, the group of adolescent parliamentarians and school ambassadors of the European Parliament held on 8 March with great success the conference entitled “I break my bond I define my heart and my body”. Due to the constraints imposed by the Covid pandemic, the meeting took place both online so that honorary guests — participants and parents of our students can attend, as well as face-to-face for our school’s students. We believe that adolescent parliamentarians have been able to inform and above all raise awareness among our students about the progress of the women’s movement, the dynamics of the metoo movement, the dramatic increase in femicide in our country (and not only), the policies that the EU is promoting to tackle gender-based violence and promote gender equality. At the same time, our students gave us advice on what victims and observers of gender-based violence should do, as well as guidance to young people on what characteristics healthy sex relationships should have. In the same wavelength the municipal councillor and head of the Social Welfare Directorate Evgenia Katoufa referred to the struggles and contribution of women to the progress of Greek society while at the same time she presented to us the work of the Women’s Advisory Centre of the Municipality of Halandri, to which women victims of gender-based violence can appeal. The psychologist Mr. Irini Mari from the Centre for Research on Equality Issues, and the social worker Mr. Vasiliki Alexaki from the Centre for the Prevention and Promotion of Mental Health of the Municipality of Kifisia “Pronoi” explained to the students that they must set and respect their own limits in their interpersonal relationships. MEP Elena Kountoura, who outlined the policies promoted by the EU to tackle gender-based violence, and Mrs Varvara Petridou, representing the Directorate for Secondary Education B Athens, addressed the event. We would like to thank our honorary guests for their key interventions, students and parents, who attended with interest the workshop and especially the children and teachers who organised it. For the end we left the video and the poster, the artistic legacy, left us by our teenage parliamentarians in order to raise our awareness, so that we do not mourn any other femicide in our country. The video will be found on the you tube of our school.