Abortion and LGBT-rights became sculptures

More than 30 students gathered to sculpture human rights with their own bodies Thursday evening in the AF-building. The event was part of the “Where Does Europe End?” project organized by AEGEE, one of the largest inter-disciplinary student associations in Europe.

The students “sculpted” their peers into “sculptures” according to different topics such as migration, abortion, gender equality, integration, rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, forced marriage, child labor and gender violence.

Serious debate

Following the “physical” part of the dynamic, a cheerful mood gave way to

seriousness and silence before a discussion was opened to debate these issues.

While there seemed to be a consensus on some topics, others proved to be more controversial, such as LGBT rights and abortion.

Project organizers developed a series of these workshops to create awareness in

relation to themes of human rights education across Europe and beyond.

– They developed these events using a method called “non-formal education,” said Ramón Martínez, one of the facilitators.

– All opinions are equal. Nobody is right and nobody is wrong, Martínez stated

before starting the sculpting workshop, which focused on the challenges of the human rights agenda in Europe.

Mental borders

Its other main topic was an examination of the “physical and mental borders of

Europe.” Activities included street actions including the formulation of questionnaires about human rights, to understand how Swedes perceive these.

The students, who came from 17 countries, were also asked to circle Europe in a map, with the goal of observing how far Europe reaches according to their point of view.

While the exact results of these surveys have yet to come, a quick glance showed that immigration and the role Europe can play to help other countries, inside and outside the region, appeared to be frequent answers.

Small chapter in Lund

The objective of AEGEE, which has over 10,000 members in 40 countries, is to

create union among European students and establish a “Borderless Europe.” The Lund chapter, however, is rather small, especially considering the amount of students currently enrolled.

– AEGEE Lund, which currently has five active members, is the only chapter of the association in Sweden, and is comprised of mostly international students.

– We want to get Swedish students involved because members of our network in other countries want to know more about Sweden, and the local culture, said Ana Maria Cociorva, leader of the Lund chapter.