MINSK, 21 December (BelTA) – The second session of the Youth Council (parliament) under the National Assembly of Belarus took place in the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus on 21 December. Chairwoman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus Natalya Kochanova took part in it, BelTA has learned.
Results of the youth parliament's work in H2 2020 were summed up. The work of community liaison offices was reviewed. Proposals of the youth in anticipation of the Belarusian People's Congress were submitted.
Natalya Kochanova said: “I am very pleased that people have come to know you in the half a year since a youth parliament was elected in our country.”
The speaker of the upper chamber of the Belarusian parliament noted that the youth parliament had come forward with a number of initiatives that truly benefit the country and the society. In particular, those include the Movement Forward platform, and the community liaison offices, which now work regularly upon the initiative of the youth. “All of it is very important. Because meetings with people are the core of the work MPs should do. It doesn't matter whether it is the youth parliament or the National Assembly. It is the cornerstone, the foundation of our work. And certainly the forms we practice now – personal meetings with people, phone hotlines, dialogue platforms, and community liaison offices – should work constantly. We can help more people that way,” she believes.
Natalya Kochanova stressed that many of the initiatives put forward by the young MPs during the session deserve attention. She encouraged young Belarusians to be active and promised that their proposals would definitely be taken into account in the course of preparations for the Belarusian People's Congress. “I would like to ask something else from you. You are from various parts of our country. If you see that some problems are not getting resolved at the local level somewhere and people are worried about them, forward the information to the Council of the Republic,” Natalya Kochanova added.
Chairman of the Youth Council under the National Assembly Yegor Makarevich said that recommendations on developing youth parliamentarism bodies in Belarus had been adopted during the session. He clarified: “We've come forward with draft recommendations that will allow all the parties concerned at all the levels of the government to create youth parliamentarism bodies. Apart from that, as part of the Belarus of the Future project young Belarusians have been collecting initiatives concerning the next year's theme from all over the country. About 200 initiatives have been collected. Thus, the youth parliament is in favor of naming the year 2021 the Year of the Family or the Year of Preservation of Historic Memory. Discussions about proposals for the Belarusian People's Congress were high on the agenda of the session. Members of the youth parliament will take an active part in this forum.”
According to Yegor Makarevich, active popularization of the state flag is one of the proposals the youth have come forward with. “In particular, such a simple example: a state flag as a gift to every young Belarusian that graduates from an educational establishment. And certainly there is the proposal in favor of preserving conventional family values,” he remarked.
Chairman of the Healthcare, Sport, and Tourism Commission of the Youth Council Vladislav Volchek told those present about how young Belarusians help fight COVID-19. “I represent the Gomel State Medical University. We've developed recommendations for arranging mass events amid the pandemic. It is these norms that will be used in the course of organizing the Belarusian People's Congress and most of the mass events, including those under the aegis of the youth parliament. A volunteer staff on fighting COVID-19 also works in Gomel. University students help patients that suffer from the coronavirus for free. Apart from that, there is a staff in charge of investigating the epidemic situation. They search for first-contact patients, thus helping fight the pandemic,” he concluded.
