Permanent Representative Tamila Tasheva spoke at a panel discussion at the Ukrainian Youth Forum “Rebuilding in Unity”, dedicated to the celebration of this year’s Youth Day

The forum brought together representatives of the youth sector from different parts of Ukraine, opinion leaders, the public and state sectors, volunteers, experts, youth workers and international donors. The event was aimed at bringing together different sectors of Ukraine that are interested in the development of Ukrainian youth and are ready to share their experience in implementing youth policies at different levels.

In addition to the Permanent Representative, the speakers at the panel discussion were Deputy Director General of the Ukrainian Institute Alim Aliyev, Head of the Department of National and Patriotic Education at the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine Alina Hrushyna, President of the World Congress of Ukrainian Youth Organisations Alex Grechenyuk, Head of the Bohdan Hawrylyshyn Family Foundation Marianna Yeleiko, and Deputy Chief of Party of the USAID/UNITY Programme at IREX Yulia Tkachuk.

The participants discussed the development of a strategy for the return of almost two million young Ukrainians from abroad, as well as the necessary steps for the reintegration of young people from the occupied territories. In particular, Tamila Tasheva stressed that young people who currently live in the occupied territories are living under enormous pressure, total fear, strong propaganda and militarisation of their minds. Therefore, the state is working to ensure that after de-occupation, young people will regain a sense of security, the opportunity to self-realize and develop their potential.

The Permanent Representative noted that the key areas of the policy of returning our people to Ukraine include work with the diaspora, in particular, we have young people of the Crimean Tatar diaspora, who are very numerous abroad.

“People from Crimea who moved to Turkey years ago are more than 5 million people. Some of them may go to work in the de-occupied territories, because people are needed there. We are also talking about our citizens who were forced to leave their homes, starting in 2014 and then in 2022. Therefore, all our work is based on the return and involvement of people. Without them, neither the economy, nor educational institutions, nor tourism, nor IT companies will work. The key is the human potential, first of all the potential of young people, which we will need to return both to Ukraine and to the de-occupied territories,” the Permanent Representative noted during the discussion.

In response to a question from the audience about the state’s concrete steps to return identity to Ukrainians, which Russia is trying so hard to change in the occupied territories, Ms Tasheva spoke about a practical tool – the Cognitive De-occupation Strategy, which aims to mentally return people and cognitively “de-mining” them. The systematic work is already being implemented by the Cognitive De-occupation Council, which operates on the basis of the Mission, and is working on developing a clear action plan for the work to be carried out before, during and after de-occupation.

We are grateful to the organizers of the Forum for the opportunity to join such an important event, and thank the young Ukrainians for the wonderful atmosphere, energy and unbridled desire to develop their country!