All Different All Equal

"All Different All Equal" is the call of the Council of Europe in its campaign to promote Diversity, Human Rights and Participation among young people living in Europe today.

In 1995, marking the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War, the Council of Europe organized a European Campaign for young people entitled “All Different – All Equal” in order to combat racism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia and intolerance.

10 years on, many of these problems still exist.  For this reason, the Council of Europe has launched a new campaign, in partnership with the European Commission and the European Youth Forum, based on the same slogan and using the same logo.  From June 2006 to September 2007, young people, youth organizations and other NGOs, local and national governments, European and international networks are being mobilized to fight against intolerance and discrimination, racism and xenophobia in the 48 countries of Europe belonging to the Council of Europe’s Cultural Convention.  This new Campaign is part of the Action Plan adopted at the 3^rd Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe in May 2005.    

The three themes of the campaign are:   

Through the campaign, it is hoped that young people will be encouraged and enabled to work towards building peaceful societies, based on diversity and inclusion, tolerance and mutual understanding.  

How is the Europe Region WAGGGS contributing to the campaign? 

The values of human rights; intercultural understanding and social inclusion; and youth participation are at the heart of our Movement and are reflected in “Our Rights, Our Responsibilities” - the current WAGGGS Triennial Theme.  The campaign themes are also reflected in many of the activities organized by the Europe Region WAGGGS.  Already Girl Guides and Girl Scouts have been learning about human rights and how to respect diversity, and taking action to defending their own rights as well as the rights of others.

400 Guides and Scouts from all over Europe learnt how to stand up for their rights at eurolife.02 

4000 Rangers and Rovers from 30 countries took part in Roverway2006 (organized jointly with the Euriopean Scout Region) and learnt to “Dare to Share” - promoting a deeper knowledge among the participants of the different cultures and traditions existing in Europe today  

In the coming months, Guides and Scouts participating in the seminar “Generation Europe – All Different All Equal” (organized by the Europe Region WAGGGS at the European Youth Centre in Strasbourg ) will implement their own projects on the campaign themes - you can read the report of the event here; a toolkit to exchange best practice on diversity in Guiding and Scouting is also being developed.  

How can Girl Guides and Girl Scouts join the campaign? 

There are activities taking place at local, national and European level.  You can find out what events are taking place in your country by contacting the National Campaign Committee, if one has been established where you live.  You can click here to find out what events have been organized at European level and how you can get involved.

You can get involved in the discussions taking place on the themes and activities of the campaign, watch the videos and download the resources on the website which has been specially created for the campaign by the Council of Europe. 

You can get involved in the Young Active Citizens Award - awarded by the Council of Europe for innovative projects to promote the participation of young people in society.  This time the Award will be given to actions or projects which are contributing to the "All Different - All Equal" Campaign. The closing date for entries is 15 July 2007.  

Click here to find some useful resources on the themes of the Campaign.