KOCFORUM18" Academic Preperation Kit

KOC FORUM 2018 //////////////////////////

ACADEMIC PRE EPRATION KIT

table of contents Letter from President 1 European Union 2

Committees on

Culture and Education I 3

Culture and Education II 6 Human Rights 9

Employment and Social Affairs 14

Environment, Public Health and Food Safety I

17

Environment, Public Health and Food Safety II

20 Women Rights And Gender Equality 24

Internal Market and Consumer Protection

28

Industry, Research, and Energy

32

Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs I

35

Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs II

38

Transport and Tourism 41

letter from president Dear participants of Koç Forum’18, The Chairs’ Team is proud to present to you the Academic Preparation Kit of the session.

Within this document you will find the Topic Overviews that have been prepared by the Chairpersons, these Topic Overviews will provide you with basic information about the issues that will be debated and help you start your own research in your topics.

Why should the Academic Preparation Kit be useful to you? Well, the debates and discussions are meaningful only when the participants are adequately intellectually prepared for it. So, by reading the overviews and informing yourselves on the topics, you will make this experience more enjoyable for everyone.

This booklet will provide you a brief overview of the topic and of the environment that surrounds it with some relevant data; the major stakeholders – both institutional actors and non-institutional actors; the actions they have carried out and interactions between them. It will basically help you understand why has a topic question been built around that subject and provide you with useful links for further research.

Our adventure to work altogether under the motto “Protecting the cultural values whilst keeping pace with the developing technologies” to create a memorable event will start on March, 1st and the time is ticking. Thus, better start your preparation!

We look forward to meeting you all in person; all the best, and good luck with your preparations!

On behalf of the Koç Forum’18 Academic Team, İrem Apaydın

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EU

The European Union is an economic and political union of 28 Member States. The EU was established by the Treaty ofMaastricht in 1992 upon the foundations of the European Communities.

The EU has developed a single market through a standardised system of laws, which apply in all Member States, and ensures the free movement of people, goods, services, and capital, including the abolition of passport controls within the Schengen area. It enacts legislation in justice and home affairs, and maintains common policies on trade, agriculture, fisheries and regional development. Eighteen Member States have adopted a common currency, the euro.

With a view to its relations with the wider world, the EU has developed a limited role in foreign and defence policy through the Common Foreign and Security Policy. Permanent diplomatic missions have been established around the world and the EU is represented at the United Nations, the World Trade Organization (WTO), the G8 and the G-20.

The EU operates through a hybrid system of supranationalism and intergovernmentalism. In certain areas decisions are taken by independent institutions, while in others, they are made through negotiation between Member States.

The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community formed by six countries in the 1950s. Since the, it has grown in size through enlargement, and in power through the addition of policy areas to its remit. The last amendment to the constitutional basis of the EU came into force in 2009 and was the Lisbon Treaty.

The Institutions of the European Union The European Council is responsible for defining the general political direction and priorities of the EU. It comprises the heads of state of government of EU Member States, along with its President (currently Donald Tusk from Poland) and the President of the Commission.

The Council of the European Union (commonly referred to as the Council of Ministers) is the institution in the legislature of the EU representing the governments of Member States, the other legislative body being the European Parliament. The exact membership depends on the topic: for instance, when discussing agricultural policy the Council is formed by the 28 national ministers whose portfolio includes this policy area.

The European Parliament is directly elected parliamentary institution of the EU. Together with the Council, it forms the bicameral legislative branch of the EU. The Parliament is composed of 751 MEPs. The current president is Martin Schultz from Germany.

The European Commission is the executive body of the EU. It is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union’s treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union. The Commission operates as a cabinet government, with 28 commissioners. The Current President is Jean-Claude Juncker from Luxembourg.

Other important institutions of the EU include the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Central Bank. The EU also has several agencies and other institutions.

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CULT I

Committee on Culture and Education I

Future of technology in education: With the integration of technology in the majority of the students’ life, how can the EU ensure that its Member States provide possible standard for academic education?

1. Key Terms

by Yasemin Öztürk & Furkan Özkan

• Integration of Technology: Use of technology tools in general content areas in education in order to allow students to apply computer and technology skills to learning and problem-solving. Generally speaking, the curriculum drives the use of technology and not vice versa. Technology integration is defined as the use of technology to enhance and support the educational environment. Technology integration in the classroom can also support classroom instruction by creating opportunities for students to complete assignments on the computer rather than the normal pencil and paper.

• Academic Education: is generally defined as education which has learning as its primary purpose. Some institutions and educational systems have equated academic with ‘university ‘ but this is not always the case.

This differs from Vocational education which has a primary focus on “preparing to perform in a workplace”; or “life education” which may have a purpose of preparing to live better.

• Vocational Education: Education that prepares people to work in various jobs, such as a trade, a craft, or as a technician. Vocational education is sometimes referred to as career education or technical education. A vocational school is a type of educational institution specifically designed to provide vocational education.

• Educational Technology: Is “the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using, and managing appropriate technological processes and resources”. Educational technology is the use of both physical hardware and educational theoretic. It encompasses several domains, including learning theory, computer-based training, online learning, and, where mobile technologies are used, m-learning.

Accordingly, there are several discrete aspects to describing the intellectual and technical development of educational technology.

2. The Topic at a Glance As the CULT I committee, our topic deals with the integration of technology in education and providing a standard of the use of technology for educational purposes. To begin with, when thinking about the word “standard”, try to look at it from a wide perspective. Think about the regulations and limitations that should be implemented in order to make this integration efficient. Keep in mind that there are many aspects when you think about the technology usage. It is true that technology can be useful in many ways when integrated with classwork; however, it can also hinder students’ success by distracting them as well.

We need to consider the standards that should be setted for the types of devices that will be used. Students

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in poorer areas who don’t have the monetary resources to get a hold of technological devices shouldn’t be left out. We should think of ways to provide every student with a sufficient device. Students who live in better conditionsshouldn’t get an advantage just because they can afford more sophisticated technology. Technology has become a huge part of our lives and possessing technology skills has become a necessity. So, another aspect that we should focus on is the need for technological devices in order to be able to provide the students with those skills.

3. Key Actors and Stakeholders Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD): Is an intergovernmental economic organisation with 35 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade. It is a forum of countries describing themselves as committed to democracy and the market economy, providing a platform to compare policy experiences, seeking answers to common problems, identify good practices and coordinate domestic and international policies of its members. The OECD’s Higher Education Programme (IMHE) provides a forum for education professionals to address key issues in higher education.

European Commission: Is an institution of the European Union, responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the EU treaties and managing the day-to-day business of the EU. The European Commission works on several policy initiatives in order to modernise education and training.

Education, Youth, Culture and Sport Council( EYCS): This Commission department is responsible for EU policy on education, youth, sport, culture and the related EU funding programmes.The EYCS Council is also closely involved in monitoring the progress of the education and youth aspects of the Europe 2020 strategy, as well as in developing the cultural sector’s contribution to a more innovative Europe, and helping to ensure that Europe’s potential as a global centre for the production of creative digital content contributes fully to the Digital Agenda set out in Europe 2020.

Pratham: Pratham’s mission, “Every child in school and learning well,” began with pre-school education in the slums of Mumbai in 1994. Originally a collaboration between UNICEF and the state of India, the organization quickly began establishing a grassroots movement based on community spaces and volunteerism. The organization soon expanded to help improve reading, writing and basic arithmetic skills of children between six and fourteen years old through their flagship program.

Center for Digital Inclusion: The Center for Digital Inclusion’s programming operates under an expanded definition of vulnerable communities–encapsulating not only low-income and indigenous groups, but also psychiatric clinics, hospitals for the mentally and physically disabled, and youth or adult detention facilities. CDI seeks to familiarize members of these communities with technology, as well as build technological competency.

4. What has been done so far?

Digital technologies are an inseparable part of today’s learning process. The European Commission works on several policy initiatives in order to modernise education and training, provides funding for research and innovation in order to promote digital technologies used for learning and measures the progress on digitization of schools.

The European Commission has adopted on 17 January 2018 the Communication on the Action Plan on Digital Learning. The Action Plan outlines how the EU can help individuals, educational institutions and education systems to better adapt for life and work in an age of rapid digital change by: •

Making better use of digital technology for teaching and learning;

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CULT I • •

Developing relevant digital competences and skills for the digital transformation; Improving education through better data analysis and foresight.

The European Commission adopted the Communication on Strengthening European identity through education and culture on 17 November 2017. Within this Communication, the Commission proposes to roll-out in 2019 the pilot project for an EU student eCard, with the objective of offering it to all mobile students by 2025, to facilitate student mobility across borders and offer a new user-friendly way to store information on a person’s academic records. A study commissioned by the European Commission is currently analysing the feasibility of eID and Authentication Services to support Student Mobility and Access to Student Services in Europe and will soon be published.

Moreover, the European Commission has also published a study on the satellite-based broadband services in schools. The study showed that in 2015, an estimated 18% of primary and secondary schools in the EU were not connected to broadband. The study concluded that the satellite broadband could be an efficient option for poorly connected schools. It also suggested that a voucher scheme could be used as a tool to close the broadband gap for schools.

5. Questions to consider • • • • •

Should the students only be allowed to use their devices for academic purposes?

Should particular websites and apps be banned?

How would all these factors affect the use of technology?

Imagine a student playing games on her computer rather than doing research for class. Is that an example of a positive influence of technology on that student’s education?

How can cases like this one be prevented from happening?

6. Further links • • • •

https://ec.europa.eu/education/policy/strategic-framework/education-technology_en https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/policies/digital-learning-ict-education https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/transforming-education-digital-technology_en.html http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/education_culture/repository/education/library/reports/ modernisation-universities_en.pdf • https://www.epson.co.uk/insights/article/education-in-europe-the-great-technology-gap

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CULT II

Committee on Culture and Education II

Ensuring the continuity of our heritage: What steps could the EU take regarding the application of technology in the protection of heritage sites within Member States?

1. Key Terms

by Bilge Arslan & Umut Uygur

• Cultural Heritage: Natural, built and archaeological sites; museums; monuments, artworks; historic cities; literary, musical, and audiovisual works, and the knowledge, practices and traditions of European citizens.

• European Year of Cultural Heritage: European Union has decided to make the year of 2018 as the european year of cultural heritage to raise public awareness.

• The Open Method of Cooperation(OMC): EU Member States have much to gain in exchanging good practice on the way they design policies and funding schemes. This form of cooperation is referred to as the “Open Method of Coordination” (OMC), and is used in many policy areas. Under the OMC, experts from ministries of culture and national cultural institutions meet 5 to 6 times over 18 months to exchange good practice and produce policy manuals or toolkits which are widely shared throughout Europe.

2. The Topic at a Glance Tourism is a very important source of income for the European Union. The average percentage of employment in accommodation and food service activities sector is over 5%. This statistic climbs up when it comes to countries with a high density of cultural heritage sites such as Greece, Spain and Italy. European Union has declared the year of 2018 as the European Year of Cultural Heritage. Destruction of heritage sites is an important issue around the globe and especially in the European Union. Europe has been home to many civilizations and these heritage sites were passed on for generations. However, there are many threats to this treasure within the Member States.

The threats range from environmental circumstances to human factor.

Preventing and protecting are the two key verbs in this issue. Member states should take actions to prevent the increase of threats to this treasure. On the other hand, Member States should also protect the cultural heritage sites that are already present. Implementation of and advancements in technology can be used to prevent and protect cultural heritage sites from both humans and environment and there are already actions taken to protect this cultural treasure which is a driving force for the economy of countries. Technology can also be used to restorate the cultural heritage sites. During KOÇFORUM 2018, it will be our job to find measures of implementing technology to prevent damage and to restorate heritage sites.

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3. Key Actors and Stakeholders

CULT II

• The Council of Ministers for Education, Youth, Culture, and Sport: This is the main institution which can implement legislations to take action in Member States.

• UNESCO: The World Heritage Committee of UNESCO is responsible for the implementation of the World Heritage Convention, defines the use of the World Heritage Fund and allocates financial assistance upon requests from States Parties.

• Education, Audiovisual & Culture Executive Agency (EACEA)1 : responsible for the management of certain parts of the EU’s funding programmes in the fields of education, culture, audiovisual, sport, citizenship and volunteering.

• Commission for Social Policy, Education, Employment, Research and Culture (SEDEC): coordinates the Committee of the Regions’ work in terms of employment and social policy, social protection; education and training; innovation, research and technology; digital agenda; EU information society; audio-visual industry and media technologies; culture and cultural diversity.

4. What has been done so far?

Between 2007 and 2013, €3.2 billion was invested in heritage from the European Regional Development Fund; a further €1.2 billion on rural heritage from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, and around €100 million worth of heritage research was funded from the 7th Framework Programme. There are also other programmes aiming to preserve the cultural heritage of the Member States and raise awareness about the issue such as The European Heritage Days, EU Prize for Cultural Heritage and European Heritage Label2.

European Heritage Days provide access to thousands of rarely opened sites and unique events to over 20 million people every year. During the European Heritage Days, doors are opened to thousands of monuments and sites, allowing people to enjoy free visits, learn about their shared cultural heritage and become actively involved in the safeguarding of Europe’s heritage for present and future generations.

The European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards, highlight some Europe’s best achievements in heritage care, and showcase remarkable efforts made in raising awareness about our cultural heritage and are awarded prizes regarding conservation projects,research, dedicated service to heritage conservation, education, training and awareness raising within Europe’s cultural heritage sector.

The CHARISMA project (2009-2014), funded by the European Union FP 7 Research Infrastructures programme, is a unique consortium of 22 leading European institutions working together to develop and promote best scientific practice for the interdisciplinary study of cultural heritage and to disseminate this knowledge. Through the project the partners offer transnational access to the cultural heritage sector to advanced facilities and are collaborating on a wide variety of research and networking activities. The project team brought together experts from a range of disciplines, including prestigious European museums, universities and research institutes, who shared information about conservation techniques and collaborated to develop new ones.

1. https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/homepage_en 2. https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/creative-europe/actions/heritage-label_en

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5. Questions to consider • • • •

What are the main factors contributing in the destruction of cultural heritage sites within the Member States?

How can the EU improve current technological methods to increase the effectivity of the restoration of cultural heritage sites?

What actions should the Member States take to prevent the increase of threats to cultural heritage sites?

What steps should the EU take to protect cultural heritage sites while implementing technology?

6. Further links • • • • • • •

https://epthinktank.eu/2014/07/07/tourism-in-the-eu-economy/ https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/policies/digital-cultural-heritage https://europa.eu/cultural-heritage/ https://www.coe.int/en/web/cultural-routes/by-theme https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/creative-europe/actions/heritage-label_en http://www.britishmuseum.org/charisma https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8O2wu7pn4Y

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQPwg95ZP2g

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Committee on Human Rights

Bullying in the 21st Century: Bearing in mind the consequences of cyber bullying on individuals, what measures should EU take in order to ensure an effective protection of its citizens online?

• 1. Key Terms

by Irem Erduran & Çağla Akbal

• Blocking: The denial of access to particular parts of the Internet.

• Cyber Bullycide: Suicide stemming directly or indirectly from being cyberbullied.

• Cyberspace: The “electronic universe” created by computer networks in which individuals interact.

• Cyberstalking: Harassment that includes threats of harm or is highly intimidating and intruding upon one’s personal privacy. / Repeatedly sending message that include threats of harm or are highly intimidating; engaging in other online activities that make a person afraid for his or her safety.

• Cyber Threats: Electronic material that either generally or specifically raises concerns that the creator may intend to inflict harm or violence to other or self.

• Digital Footprint: Evidence of a person’s use of the Internet. This includes anything that can be linked to his or her existence, presence, or identity.

• Denigration: “Dissing” someone online. Sending or posting cruel gossip or rumors about a person to damage his or her reputation or friendships.

• Exclusion: Intentionally excluding someone from an online group, like a “buddy list” or a game.

• Filtering: The applying of a set of criteria against which Internet content is judged acceptable or not. For example, a filter might check the text on a web page with a list of forbidden words. If a match is found, that web page may be blocked or reported through a monitoring process. Generally speaking, it lets data pass or not pass based on previously specified rules.

• Flaming: Online fights using electronic messages with angry and vulgar language. / Sending angry, rude, or obscene messages directed at a person privately or an online group. A “flame war” erupts when “flames” are sent back and forth.

• Harassment: Repeatedly sending offensive, rude and insulting messages.

• Happy Slapping: An extreme form of bullying where physical assaults are recorded on mobile phones and distributed to others.

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• Impersonation: Breaking into someone’s account, posing as that person and sending messages to make the person look bad, get that person in trouble or danger, or damage that person’s reputation or friendships.

• IP Address: Stands for “Internet Protocol” address. It is a unique address assigned to a computing device that allows it to send and receive data with other computing devices that have their own unique addresses.

• ISP: Internet Service Provider or the company that provides an Internet connection to individuals or companies.

Your ISP can help with identifying the individual who posts or sends harassing or threatening words.

• Monitoring: The recording and reporting of online activity through software. It may record a history of all Internet use or just of inappropriate use. A person can also serve this function.

• Outing and trickery: Sharing someone’s secrets or embarrassing information online. Tricking someone into revealing secrets or embarrassing information, which is then shared online.

• Trolling: Deliberately but disingenuously posting information to entice genuinely helpful people to respond (often emotionally). Often done to inflame or provoke others.

2. The Topic at a Glance To understand our committee topic better, we should first acknowledge the fact that cyberbullying does not have a single definition, since every entity is defining it in their own way. However, for it to be relevant to our committee topic, we shall use the EU definition of cyberbullying. If we were to cut the word cyberbullying in half and get cyber and bullying words in different hands, let’s first look at what ‘bullying’ means.

At the 8th European Forum on the Rights of the Child of 2013, the following definition of bullying was used for the purposes of the Forum: ’a child… is being bullied or picked on when another child or young person, or a group of children or young people, say nasty and unpleasant things to him or her. It is also bullying ‘when a child or a young person is […] threatened, […] sent nasty notes, when no-one ever talks to them and things like that’. These things can happen frequently and it is difficult for the child being bullied to defend himself/herself. However, the Commission makes it clear that it is not bullying when two children or young people of about the same strength have an odd fight or quarrel. On this occasion cyberbullying was indirectly defined as a modern manifestation of bullying whereby children experience repeated verbal or psychological harassment through the Internet or other digital technologies.

Cyberbullying has greatly increased in recent years bolstered by the growth of social media and expanded to new forms such as mockery, insults, threats, rumours, gossip, disagreeable comments, slander, etc. With new technologies being available and increased access to information and communication technologies by young people, new risks emerge. The 2010 EU Eurobarometer on the Rights of the Child showed that bullying and cyberbullying are common parts of children’s daily lives. Similarly, the 2011 EU Kids Online report found that 6% of 9-16 years old report having been bullied online across Europe. Furthermore, according to the 2014 EU Kids Online report cyberbullying increased among children aged 11-16 from 7% in 2010 to 12 % in 2014. The same rate is found by the 2014 EU Net Children Go Mobile Report: 12% of 9-16 years old children have been victims of cyberbullying.

This tendency is confirmed by the EU children helplines: 91.70% of online risks for children relate to cyberbullying, followed by hate speech, exposition to sexual contents, online abusive communication and racism.

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According to research conducted by the Cyberbullying research Center between 2002-2016 they surveyed approximately 20,000 kids/adolescents that are going to middle or high school in USA and nearly 16% admits that they cyberbullied someone at some point in their lives and 28% says that they were victims of cyberbullying.

With the increasing number of social media users among children between 10-19, it became more and more common phenomena that occurs daily and without boundaries of borders. So we can look into the data of USA and expect similar results in almost every other country especially for EU participant countries.

3. Key Actors and Stakeholders • The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC)1: a charity campaigning and working in child protection in the United Kingdom and the Channel Islands. The NSPCC lobbies the government on issues relating to child welfare, and creates campaigns for the general public, with the intention of raising awareness of child protection issues.

• NoBullying.com: is an online forum aimed at educating, advising, counseling and all importantly, helping to stop bullying, in particular, cyber bullying. The website started as a social responsibility project, but through the support of a community of parents, educators and teenagers – it has grown into one of the biggest anti bullying and online safety websites in the world.

• EndCyberbullying.org: The End to Cyber Bullying (ETCB) Organization is a state certified, non-profit organization founded by Samuel Lam and David Zhao on May 1st, 2011, in the hopes of creating a social networking world devoid of cyberbullying. By raising awareness and informing members of both our community and of our globe, ETCB hopes to help teens, parents, educators, and others to identify, prevent, and ultimately stop cyberbullying.

• CyberSmile.org: The Cybersmile Foundation is a multi award winning anti cyberbullying non-profit organization that is committed to tackling all forms of digital abuse and bullying online. They work to promote diversity and inclusion by building a safer, more positive digital community. Through education and the promotion of positive digital citizenship they try to reduce incidents of cyberbullying and through their professional help and support 1. https://www.nspcc.org.uk/

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services, they enable victims and their families to regain control of their lives.

• Meganmeierfoundation.org: The Megan Meier Foundation was founded in December of 2007 by Tina Meier, mother of Megan Taylor Meier, who committed suicide just before her 14th birthday due to cyberbullying.

Tina’s vision and passion is as strong today as it was on the day the foundation was created. *This is US based but I think it is important for you to check out what they are doing.* • STOMP Out Bullying: STOMP Out Bullying is the leading national nonprofit dedicated to changing the culture for all students. It works to reduce and prevent bullying, cyberbullying, sexting and other digital abuse, educates against homophobia, LGBTQ discrimination, racism and hatred, and deters violence in schools, online and in communities across the country.

• ItGetsBetter.org: The It Gets Better Project started with one YouTube video and now has more than 50,000 user videos on the site. Activist and author Dan Savage started the movement when he and his partner wanted to help LGBT teens being bullied at school. Everyone from President Barack Obama to Joe Jonas and Kesha have made videos, speaking about their struggles with not always fitting in and how things really did get better for them. The inspirational videos will remind you that you aren’t alone.

4. What has been done so far?

Cyberbullying is an issue that occurred with the development of technology and the easy access of people from all ages to social media platforms but it unfortunately is not specifically addressed in the legal systems of most Member States, since this problem rose in the last decade. But several legislations about the online safety of children are being developed and numerous important projects are created by organisations as the severity of the damages cyberbullying increases.

Some measures taken in Europe include; •

There are initiatives especially from the non-governmental sector that are focused primarily on cyberbullying prevention. The non-governmental sector also provides hotlines where both children and adults can report illegal content in the online environment. School counsellors from the County Centers for Resources and School Assistance are also engaged in preventing and combating school violence situations. The counsellors provide professional services in schools and keep track of school violence by writing reports about their activity.

• The European Strategy for a Better Internet for Children. With regard to children’s safety online, specific policy initiatives have been adopted. The Commission’s 2012 Strategy for a Better Internet for Kids (BIK) is designed to protect children from exposure to harmful content and empower them to deal with online risks such as cyberbullying. The Strategy aims to ensure high quality content online for children; provide awareness and empowerment; create a safe environment for children online; and fight child sexual abuse and child sexual exploitation. Multiple solutions, such as faster and systematic identification of harmful material, to be coordinated between Member States and the industry are foreseen by the strategy.

•

In Greece the Action Plan for the Rights of the Child 2015-2020 refers to children’s online safety and promotes the organization of teleconferences by the Cyber Crime Unit in several schools. Cyberbullying is regarded as a cybercrime and it is specifically dealt with by the police services through the Cyber Crime Unit in Greece. This Unit has created a website where information on online risks is available for children and parents.

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• The Safer Internet Day was established. This is a global event, occurring every year, advocating for a safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile phones by children.

• The Safer Internet Forum was created. This is an annual international conference where children express how they perceive the internet and new technologies, and how it influences their lives.

• The 8th European Youth Forum on the Rights of the Child fixated on bullying and cyberbullying (Session No 3) and its impacts on children. With a wide range of stakeholders and experts working in diverse areas. In total over 270 participants attended the annual event, including 90 NGO representatives, 75 Member State officials, 19 ombudspersons or their representatives, 16 representatives of international organizations (UNICEF, UNHCR, OHCHR, UN Committee on the rights of the child, WHO, Council of Europe etc.) potential solutions were found.

•

5. Questions to consider • • • • • •

Is cyberbullying ‘officially’ defined in your country or other European countries? How is it defined? What is the source of this definition?

Who is more likely to be a victim of cyberbullying?

What are the differences/similarities between traditional bullying and cyberbullying?

Who is more likely to perpetrate cyberbullying?

Is there a specific criminal offence of cyberbullying?

Who is the one that decides whether or not a case qualifies as an instant of cyber bullying?

6. Further links • Further Studies on Cyberbullying: o https://www.huffingtonpost.com/sue-scheff/cyberbullying-is-not-a-jo_b_6927282.html o http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2016/571367/IPOL_ STU(2016)571367_EN.pdf o http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/CRC/Discussions/2014/DGD_report.pdf o http://www.lse.ac.uk/media%40lse/research/EUKidsOnline/About-the-project.aspx o http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-09-58_en.htm o • Films you can watch: o http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1930315 o http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1529572/ o http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4135218/?ref_=tt_rec_tt • Glossary of Cyberbullying words: o http://cyberbullyingbook.com/Cyberbullying_Glossary.pdf • More organizations that fight with cyberbullying: o http://www.puresight.com/Useful-tools/organizations.html o http://ec.europa.eu/justice/fundamental-rights/files/8th_forum_report_en.pdf o http://nobullying.com/facts-about-cyber-bullying/ o http://nobullying.com/bullying-suicide-statistics/

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EMPL

Committee on Employment and Social Affairs Startups For Future: Considering in mind 3 new startups are launched every second around the globe but very few of them become successful businesses leaving many citizens unemployed, what steps could the EU take in order to address this problem and decrease the rate of unsuccessful business along with the highest unemployment?

by Sevgi Okçu & Arif Tüfekçi

1. Key Terms • Employment: an occupation by which a person earns a living; work; business.

• Entrepreneur: a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.

• European Single Market: a single market which seeks to guarantee the free movement of goods, capital, services, and labour – the “four freedoms” – within the European Union (EU).

• Start-up: a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.

• Scale-up: to progress in a graduated series.

2. The Topic at a Glance Our primary focus is the startup failure and unemployment caused by it. Startups are lack over Europe even though it is a popular concept in the world. China, USA, and Canada take the lead to the digitalized start-up firms.

The gap between Europe and these countries are getting larger in every day and entrepreneurs have no incentive to start up a business in Europe. Two main discouragements for European entrepreneurs are lack of finance and more critical regulatory and administrative burden on entrepreneurs.

First of all, lack of finance influences both starting up a new business and scaling up. According to a survey done in 2014 as seen in figure below, 21% of participants complains about lack of capital. The cost of starting up a new business, especially digitally, usually is cheap in the world. Therefore, instead of focusing on how to raise money for entrepreneurs, it would be more logical to analyze the cost of production and decrease.

Eventually, European Member States live under the policy of European Single Market, which the explanation is given above. Systems of this single market are very complicated, and it makes entrepreneurs to start-up outside of EU. Firstly, taxes are very high according to countries like China. Start-ups, especially in e-commerce need to comply with 81 different VAT-regimes in each EU-market. Tax compliance in the Single Market has become a significant cost factor. Business Registration and other administrative procedures is another big concept. Compliance with regulatory procedures in other European markets is complicated as national administrations often do not offer online identification and trust systems for remote execution.

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The significant issues of this topic are lack of finance and the policies. Policies are the real example of discouragement against start-up firms in Europe.

3. Key Actors and Stakeholders The serious problem of startup failure is addressed by various institutions of the EU that focus on reducing unemployment in the Member States, and numerous others that call for attention to the importance of support for newly emerging businesses.

•

Initially, European Parliament Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO)1 can be considered a key actor as it works to increase employment levels in the EU. The Council is responsible for setting annual employment guidelines that Member States take into account. The Employment Committee (EMCO)2 of the European Commission is also an important key actor in terms of addressing the issue of unemployment in Member States, as it forms the advisory committee for the ministers in the EPSCO.

•

Furthermore, The Executive Agency for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (EASME)3 acts as a key factor by managing and implementing several essential EU programs aiming to increase the success of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME’s), such as a substantial part of Horizon 2020, the EU Framework for Research and Innovation, incorporating important support plans including the SME Instrument. The Executive Agency for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises aims to increase the success rate of enterprises across Europe by promoting healthy competition and innovation.

• The European Investment Bank (EIB)4 is the bank representing the interests of the European Union Member States. One of the main areas of focus of the EIB is access to finance by small businesses, in an aim to reduce startup failure.

Other than the institutions of the EU, governments of the Member States have an important role in terms of supporting emerging local businesses and providing initiatives.

The most important stakeholders that need to be considered in this topic are European business owners, entrepreneurs and workers. Considering that the failure of promising startups to become successful businesses leaves both business owners and workers unemployed, business failure has a significant effect on the welfare of the general society. Increasing unemployment levels lower their standard of living and incomes. Moreover, unemployment also leads to other social and economic problems, such as increasing crime rates and decreasing GDP, concerning the economies and general societies of the Member States.

4. What has been done so far?

Within the scope of Horizon 2020 and managed by the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, the SME instrument is a support and funding project, offering substantial funding to promising, developing enterprises that can make use of resources and coaching. Marketable innovation solutions by startups from any sector are getting the funding and support that they need in order to establish a stable presence in the business world, and 2457 startups have been supported through 882 million Euros of funding between 2014 and 20165.

Startup Europe, an initiative of the European Commission, aims to connect investors to startups and entrepreneurs, support regional initiatives and aspiring business leaders. A “One Stop Shop” website that will serve as the meeting 1. http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/council-eu/configurations/epsco/ 2. http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=115 3. https://ec.europa.eu/easme/en 4. http://www.eib.org/projects/priorities/sme/index.htm

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point for startups in Europe was created. Through the Startup Europe Partnership, 31 startups raised capital of more than 450 million dollars with the connections that were established with large corporations between 201520176.

The European Investment Bank also is a major supporter of small enterprises. In 2017 alone, 29.6 billion Euro was invested by the bank, supporting 285800 small businesses and employing 3.9 million people, mainly through the European Investment Fund7.

The European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI)8, or Juncker Plan, is the core of the Investment Plan for Europe. Through the Juncker Plan, which essentially is a budget guarantee, the European Investment Bank is available to fund higher risk enterprises and projects. As of December 2017, almost 257 billion Euros have been invested in support of small and medium-sized enterprises, thanks to EFSI approvals.

Additionally, Directive 80/987 of the European Economic Community, amended by the Directive 2002/74 of the European Committee, aims to provide protection for workers in the event that their employer experiences bankruptcy or business failure and obliges Member States to establish competent guarantee institutions that will protect both employees and business owners in the case that the startup fails to succeed9.

5. Questions to consider • • • • •

Why do the majority of startups fail?

What are the steps that should be taken by the entrepreneur before starting a business?

What are the policies that prevent entrepreneurs to start up business?

What are the policies in countries that have a high rate of start-up such as the United States?

What might be the social, political and economic problems that arise as a result of increasing unemployment?

6. Further links COSME: Europe’s programme for small and medium-sized enterprises: http://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/cosme/ HOW TO SCALE-UP IN THE EU: http://www.delorsinstitut.de/2015/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/20171110_Regulation-for-Startups_Dittrich.pdf Start-up culture in Europe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=73&v=FCOrcr89C9U Startup Europe: Impact and Results: http://startupeuropeclub.eu/startup_europe_impact/ Startup Hubs Europe: http://www.startuphubs.eu/

5. https://ec.europa.eu/easme/sites/easme-site/files/2016_smei_report_updated.pdf 6. http://startupeuropeclub.eu/startup_europe_impact/ 7. http://www.eib.org/projects/priorities/sme/index.htm 8. http://www.eib.org/efsi/efsi_dashboard_en.jpg 9. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2002:270:0010:0013:en:PDF

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Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety I

Electronic waste management: Since e-waste is expected to grow more than 12 million tonnes by 2020, how should the Member States act to decrease the harmful environmental effects of e-waste?

by Muhammed Aşula, Nursu Baban

1. Key Terms E-waste: Electronic products that have become unwanted, non-working or obsolete, and have essentially reached the end of their useful life.

EEE: Electrical and Electronic Equipment.

WEEE: Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment.

WEEE Regulation: Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulation is a directive in the European Union that designates safe and responsible collection, recycling and recovery procedures for all types of electronic waste.

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP): is an agency of United Nations and coordinates its environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices.

Directive 2012/19/EU: Directive 2012/19/EU is the legislation done by the European Parliament and the Council of Europe on 4 July 2012 on WEEE, which is also known as the WEEE Directive.

Recycle : is the process of collecting and changing old paper, glass, plastic, etc. so that it can be used again.

Reuse: is the action or practice of using something again, whether for its original purpose (conventional reuse) or to fulfil a different function (creative reuse or repurposing).

2. The Topic at a Glance Roughly 40 million metric tons of e-waste are produced globally each year, and about 13 percent of that weight is recycled mostly in developing countries. According to UNEP, the European Union produces about 9 million tons of this waste, which consists discarded televisions, computers, mobile phones, and other electronics. The recycling rate of e-waste and WEEE poses a risk to the environment due to the presence of hazardous components such as lead, mercury and chromium, however, if recycled, has the potential to provide a source of important secondary raw materials, such as precious metals and other highly valuable materials. When electronics containing heavy metals such as lead, barium, mercury, lithium (found in mobile phone and computer batteries), etc., are improperly disposed, these heavy metals leach through the soil to reach groundwater channels which eventually run to the surface as streams or small ponds of water. Due to this, e-waste affects the environment in a negative way. Thus, e-waste management is a crucial issue that needs attention.

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To improve the environmental management of WEEE, contribute to a circular economy and enhance resource efficiency the improvement of collection, treatment and recycling of electronics at the end of their life is essential.

3. Key Actors and Stakeholders • United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP): an agency of United Nations which regulates its environmental enterprises, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices.

• European Educational Research Organisation (EERA): a professional association for reuse, recycling and reprocessing companies dealing with WEEE in Europe.

• European Economic and Social Committee (EESC): an EU advisory body comprising representatives of workers’ and employers’ organisations and other interest groups. It issues opinions on the European Commission, the Council of the EU and the European Parliament, thus acting as a bridge between the EU’s decision-making institutions and EU citizens.

• The European Committee of the Regions (CoR): the European Union’s assembly of local and regional representatives that provides sub-national authorities with a direct voice within the EU’s institutional framework.

4. What has been done so far?

Since 2012, European Union aims to prevent the increase of the number of e-waste by regulating legislations.

Almost five million tonnes of e-waste were mismanaged or traded under the table within the EU in 2012, and 1.3 million tonnes were illegally exported out of the EU. The destinations of those wastes were Africa and Asia. As a result, only third of Europe’s e-waste is properly recycled. This conclusion was inevitable because of Europe’s bad track record on e-waste recycling. This bad track record has to do with the high cost of disposing of hazardous materials, but also with the ‘miniaturisation of products’ that consumers are used to tossing into normal waste bins.

Also, some Member States are lagging behind in e-waste collection such as Spain and undeveloped countries like Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia. To address these problems two pieces of legislation have been put in place: The Directive on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE Regulation) and the Directive on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (RoHS Directive1).

The WEEE Directive 2012/19/EU requires a data collection, which includes volumes collected for treatment and the rate of recycling at the treatment facilities. The recycling rate of e-waste is one of the EU’s resource efficiency indicators as it tracks the recycling of WEEE. E-waste recycling rate is the collection rate2 multiplied by the rate of recycling at the treatment facilities, assuming that the total amount of collected e-waste is indeed sent to treatment/ recycling facilities.

According to Directive 2012/19/EU, some Member States will be able to derogate from the new targets for a limited time, where this is justified by a lack of necessary infrastructure or low levels of consumption of EEE. Additionally, from 2018, the Directive will be extended from its current restricted scope to all categories of EEE, leading to a change in the definition and number of the categories. All in all, EU is on a right path with the legislations of recycling e-wastes but the problem is implementing these legislations on every Member State with the same efficiency.

1. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/weee/index_en.htm 2. The collection rate equals ‘the volumes collected’ divided by ‘the average sum of EEE put on the market in the previous three years’.

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5. Questions to consider

ENVI I

• • • •

What are the environmental impacts of electronics that are not disposed correctly?

What is the difference between recycle and reuse?

How does the e-waste affect human life on a regular basis?

What is European Union’s current e-waste disposal system?

•

How can the governments and the firms cooperate in order to decrease e-wastes?

6. Further links • • • • •

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/weee/data_en.htm https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032116306645 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733317300483 https://www.recycling-magazine.com/2018/01/18/majority-e-waste-not-reported/ http://www.bostonelectronicwaste.com/go-green/what-is-ewaste

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Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety I I

Battery powered transportation: considering the environmental damage of fossil fuels, which legislative procedures should be taken by the Member States to incentivise the use of electric cars?

1. Key Terms

By Ali Ada Kılıç & Hazal Kudal

•

Fossil Fuels: Natural fuels such as coal or gas are considered as fossil fuels. They are formed in the geological past from the remains of living organisms.

•

Battery powered transportation: The successor to the horse for door to door deliveries was usually the battery electric. More expensive to buy than petrol-engined vehicles, they were noted for their minimal operating costs. Their demise was largely due to corporate mergers and the arrival of supermarkets, which brought about huge changes in shopping patterns.

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Electric cars: Electric cars run at least partially on electricity. Unlike conventional vehicles that use a gasoline or dieselpowered engine, electric cars and trucks use an electric motor powered by electricity from batteries or a fuel cell.

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Hybrid: A car with a combination of a traditional internal combustion engine and a rechargeable battery, allowing for either pure electric-powered driving or extended range from a combination of the petrol engine and electric motor.

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EVs (all-electric vehicles) are powered only by one or more electric motors. They receive electricity by plugging into the grid, and they store it in batteries. They consume no petroleum-based fuel while driving and produce no tailpipe emissions.

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EVSE (electric vehicle supply equipment) delivers electrical energy from an electricity source to charge a PEV’s batteries. It communicates with the PEV to ensure that an appropriate and safe flow of electricity is supplied.

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HEVs (hybrid electric vehicles) combine an ICE or other propulsion source with batteries, regenerative braking, and an electric motor to provide high fuel economy. They rely on a petroleum based or alternative fuel for power and are not plugged in to charge. HEV batteries are charged by the ICE or other propulsion source and during regenerative braking.

•

ICEs (internal combustion engines) generate mechanical power by burning a liquid fuel (such as gasoline, diesel, or biofuels) or a gaseous fuel (such as compressed natural gas). They are the dominant power source used in on-road vehicles today.

•

PEVs (plug-in electric vehicles) derive all or part of their power from electricity supplied by the electric grid. They include EVs and PHEVs. PHEVs (plug-in hybrid electric vehicles) use batteries to power an electric motor, plug into the electric grid to charge, and use a petroleum based or alternative fuel to power an ICE or other propulsion source.

•

Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV): A car that runs purely on electric power, stored in an on-board battery that is charged from mains electricity (typically at a dedicated chargepoint).

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•

Range-extended EV: An EV that has a small petrol generator to charge the battery when range is running low for longer trips.

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Plug-in vehicle (PiV): A blanket term for any vehicle with a plug socket, including BEVs and PHEVs.

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On-board charger: The actual charging device for Level 1 and Level 2 charging comes factory-installed and is called the “on-board charger.” It converts AC power from the wall to DC power that charges the battery in the vehicle. The charging speed may vary, but the most common on-board chargers are 6.6 kW on battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and 3.3 kW on plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). DC Fast Charging uses its own off-board charger.

•

Electric Vehicle Service Provider (EVSP): An EVSP provides the connectivity across a network of charging stations.

Connecting to a central server, they manage the software, database, and communication interfaces that enable operation of the station.

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Renewable Energy: is energy that is generated from natural processes that are continuously replenished. This includes sunlight, geothermal heat, wind, tides, water, and various forms of biomass. This energy cannot be exhausted and is constantly renewed.

•

Biomass, is a renewable organic matter, and can include biological material derived from living, or recently living organisms, such as wood, waste, and alcohol fuels.

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Biodiesel is fuel made from plant oils that can be used in diesel engines. They are typically made of renewable organic raw materials such as soybean or rapeseed oils, animal fats, waste vegetable oils or microalgae oils.

•

Alternative energy: is a term used for an energy source that is an alternative to using fossil fuels.

2. The Topic at a Glance The technology behind electric cars is progressing each and every day. While world’s top selling cars can range up to 128 km/hour Model 3 Teslas can range well over 321 km/hour. However, still these electric vehicles can only make up 0.2 percent of passengers worldwide. Three concerns regarding the situation are variety, infrastructure and mindset.

Variety of cars in the market is really limited. Currently, most electric cars are small, midsize, or compact, so consumers wanting pickup trucks or SUVs are mostly out of luck. On the other hand, as for infrastructure, people driving gas vehicles can go on long trips secure in the knowledge that they will be able to refuel quickly, however for electric vehicles drivers, the same trip requires researching the location of charging stations along the way, and setting aside time to charge up.

In addition, one of the biggest barriers for adoption of electric cars is that people don’t think about buying an electric car when they are buying a new car. The car consumers do not want to get out of their comfort zone and this leads to underconsumption of EV’s.

While EU cannot interfere with Member States’ inner policies regarding energy and transportation, such as electric cars, it can suggest and fund project to be applied in the Member States. Our committee topic is to suggest and develop legislations that will increase for electric vehicles in Member States by using either economical, social, educational legislations to ensure that greenhouse gas emission are reduced in order to meet The Paris Agreement and make the society better off.

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3. Key Actors and Stakeholders Member States and municipalities: The European Union (EU) consists of 28 member states. Each member state is party to the founding treaties of the union and is subject to the privileges and membership of the membership. Subsidiarity is a founding principle of the EU. States and municipalities are key players in increasing EV readiness. The best way for states and municipalities to improve their EV readiness is to partner with their local Clean Cities coalition, which can connect them to specific regional resources and other relevant stakeholders. Norway and The Netherlands are the leaders of electric mobility in the European Union.

Electric Car Producers (Tesla, BYD, Toyota, Renault-Nissan etc.): Electric car producers are focused on their benefit like many other stakeholders, but in the producers case their benefit is their monetary profit. The producers of electric cars will be satisfied when their production increases, causing their profit to increase with it. The biggest electric car producer in the market. The market of EV’s features producers like RenaultNissan who the biggest EV producer according to Forbes, whereas, Tesla, probably the most famous EV producer, comes second.

Employers: Providing charging at the workplace can encourage employees to purchase EVs, be an attractive employee benefit, and maximize all-electric miles driven by EV owners.

European Environment Agency (EEA): The European Environment Agency (EEA) is an agency of the European Union. Our task is to provide sound, independent information on the environment. We are a major information source for those involved in developing, adopting, implementing and evaluating environmental policy, and also the general public.

The Connecting Europe Facility: The Connecting Europe Facility is the EU’s €33 billion plan for boosting energy, transport, and digital infrastructure between 2014 and 2020. Under the CEF, €5.85 billion is available for trans-European energy infrastructure projects such as gas pipelines, transmission grids, LNG terminals, gas storage, and smart grids.

Horizon 2020: The EU’s Research and Innovation Programme Horizon 2020 provides €5.9 billion in funding towards energy projects between 2014 and 2020. These projects aid in the creation and improvement of clean energy technologies such as smart energy networks, tidal power, and energy storage.

Cohesion Fund: The EU’s €63.4 billion Cohesion Fund aims to reduce economic and social disparity between EU countries and promote sustainable development. The Fund supports energy-related projects that benefit the environment such as by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, increasing the use of renewable energy or improving energy efficiency.

Joint Research Centre (JRC): Supports EU policies with independent scientific evidence throughout the whole policy cycle and models activities to assess the technological and economic effects of various scenarios.

European Investment Bank (EIB) and private sector funders:

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ENVI II The EIB and private sector funders are the main source of financial aid to developing countries, allowing them to succeed in limiting their greenhouse gas.

4. What has been done so far?

Norway: The Norwegian government has decided to adopt a target to transition to zero emission electric cars and because of this, the purchase tax is removed in order to increase the demand for EVs. In addition, VAT is decreased to 25% of its original also to increase the demand by decreasing the price. Moreover, subsidies are applied to complementary goods of EVs ,like plug-in stations, in order to decrease their price by decreasing costs of production and thus increasing supply. The price of complementary goods, like plug-in stations, affect the demand of the original good, EVs, and therefore, a decrease in the price of plug-in stations will cause an increase in the demand of EVs. The Netherlands: Dutch trains,subways and trams are 100% electric, and Dutch public charging points are fully powered by wind energy. The Netherlands is planning to phase out internal combustion engine by 2035. The Netherlands has the highest ratio between public charging points and electric vehicles. 47% of Dutch drivers often or always charge at work. Fully-electric vehicles and PHEVs are both exempt from purchase tax. PHEVs will need to pay additional fees based on the CO2 emitted. Fully-electric vehicles are also exempt from ownership tax whereas PHEVs get a 50% discount.

Germany: Purchase grant: €4,000 for fully-electric vehicles and €3,000 for plug-in hybrids. The grant applies only to cars up to a maximum list price of €60,000. 10 year exemption from ownership tax for fully-electric vehicles registered between 2011 and 2020. PHEVs pay the tax, which is lowered in proportion to their lower CO2.

France: If you swap your diesel for a fully-electric model, you’re eligible for €6.000 (environmental bonus) and €4.000 as a “thank-you for switching to electric”. If you swap your diesel with a plug-in hybrid, you’re eligible for €1.000 (environmental bonus) and €2.500 as a “thank-you for switching to electric”. Fully-electric vehicles are exempt from this Company car tax.

Plug-in hybrids are exempt from the tax for two years.

5. Questions to consider • • • •

Why does the public prefer diesel cars over electric cars?

What can be done in order to change this fanaticism for diesel cars and this indifference against electric cars?

What is the problem about limited plug-in stations? What could be done in order to solve it? Why is it important?

What can Member States do together collaborating with electric car producers in order to familiarize electric cars to the public? (Tesla Taxis in Zorlu Center, Istanbul)

6. Further links • • • • • • • • • •

https://www.afdc.energy.gov/pdfs/pev_handbook.pdf https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/26/electric-cars-everything-you-need-to-know https://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/urban/vehicles/road/electric_en https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/18/business/electric-car-adoption.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/26/opinion/electric-cars.html http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/21/technology/2018-year-of-the-electric-car/index.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM_p1TX4VlU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6U2dMO4b2Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMw-KAK5-gg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YE6yEP48anM

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Committee On Women Rights And Gender Equality

Closing the Gender Gap: What measures could the EU take to balance the participation of women and men in STEM?

by Nilüfer Su Ünal and Yavuzhan Zaman

1. Key Terms • Women Rights: are the rights that promote a position of legal and social equality of women and men.

• Gender Equality: is the state of having the same rights or opportunities as others, unconcerned of one’s gender.

• Gender Pay Gap (GPG): the difference between the amount of money paid to women and men, usually for doing the same amount of work.

• Gross Domestic Product (GDP): is the total value of the goods manufactured or services ensured in a country during annual.

• Stereotype: a specified idea that people have about what something or someone is like, specially an idea that is incorrect.

• Glass Ceiling: is an unacknowledged barrier to being promoted above a certain level in a hierarchy. Mostly women and minorities are affected by a glass ceiling.

2. The Topic at a Glance Equality between men and women not only features amongst the common values on which the European Union is founded, but the promotion of equality between genders is also among the tasks of Union, together with the obligation to eliminate inequalities. In 1953 the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)1 , stating genderbased discrimination to all EU citizens will not be tolerated in Article 14, came into force and has been accepted in all Member States ever since. But according to Eurobarometer Statistics published on March 20152 , a large majority of citizens (76%) believe that tackling inequality between women and men should be a priority for the European Union. This shows that although Europe has come a long way in terms of gender equality by following the international treaty ECHR, gender equality still has not been reached and plays a vital role in today’s world.

One of the areas that European Union must pay attention to in terms of gender equality is the heavily mendominated Natural Sciences and Engineering & Technology sector.

Women account for 60% of university graduates in the EU, yet they are overrepresented in sectors with a lower 1. http://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Convention_ENG.pdf 2. http://ec.europa.eu/COMMFrontOffice/PublicOpinion/ 3. http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/files/working_paper_gpg_for_women_in_decision-making_positions_en.pdf

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wage level, such as health care, education and public administration. Statistics show that in 20063 , the pay gap for women in science and research in the EU was 25%, in comparison to an overall gender pay gap of 17.7% across all sectors. Discrimination in this regard is both horizontal, where women are underrepresented in the field; and vertical, where women work in lower positions on the career ladder despite having equal qualifications to men in higher positions. Because of the male-dominated work fields and stereotyping, women think that they are not qualified enough to become a scientist or an engineer. In fact it has been proven4 that women can be biased when it comes to choosing a profession as they think that men are superior in science and themselves do not possess the qualities needed for the job, even if they do.

There are a number of complex and often interrelated factors that explain the underrepresentation of women STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields. These include discrimination in the workplace and gender pay gap, stereotypes which imply women are not suitable for leadership positions and jobs related to STEM fields, a traditionally male-dominated academic society, work-life balance.

The norms that society taught girls, directly and indirectly, affect this situation a lot. To explain, because of the fact that the responsibilities of family caretaking are still on woman’s lap, women usually choose to stay at home and take care of their new born child rather than enter in a high-level faculty position. And when their wives are taking care of the new born babies, the husbands find more time to delve into research and working.

The increased number of time men have to research and the decrease in the free-time of women lead to a dominance of men in STEM fields.

Despite ongoing efforts and initiatives to promote equality between sexes and equal access to opportunities in education as well as employment, women working in STEM fields still experience unequal access to research positions, funding, academic awards also due to stereotyping. In addition, stereotypes implying women are not suitable for jobs or research positions in STEM fields, as well as the fear of being a minority in the academia and workplace are discouraging women from pursuing a career in this field. The effects of this imbalance are damaging not only for the EU’s research capacity but also its economy. Vĕra Jourová, EU Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, said, ‘Europe cannot afford to underuse the potential of 50 percent of its population.

While having an experienced consultant can be an important factor in succeeding in an academic career, in maledominated fields, women often struggle to find a male mentor or a senior colleague due to the stereotyping mentioned. This creates a negative difference as it means women have to do their own research and learn on their own without the help of a mentor or a leading figure.

Nowadays there is a notably low number of women seeking to pursue a career in science by enrolling in STEM degrees. In 2011, out of all the regions in Europe, Eastern European women had the highest rate enrolment in STEM degree programmes; shockingly, even there the number of women enrolled in STEM programmes was 8.13% out of 56% of women enrolled in tertiary education. Despite those numbers, there has been appreciable growth. According to the She Figures report 2012, there has been a low but constant growth of women entering STEM careers and entering in higher status such as scientist or engineers. The fundamental purpose is to inhibit the gender inequality in STEM fields and other works fields, encourage young girls and women to enter these fields and show the world that if a woman wants to do something, she will.

4. http://tech.eu/features/59/more-women-in-tech-europe/

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3. Key Actors and Stakeholders • The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound)5 : is a tripartite European Union Agency, whose role is to provide knowledge to assist in the development of better social, employment and work-related policies.

• The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE)6 : is an autonomous body of the European Union, established to contribute to and strengthen the promotion of gender equality, including gender mainstreaming in all EU policies and the resulting national policies, and the fight against discrimination based on sex, as well as to raise EU citizens’ awareness of gender equality.

• European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC)7 : has its Women’s Committee, established in 1975, which comprises experts working in the field of gender equality from all of the national affiliates. The committee adopts positions on issues relating to equality between women and men and monitors the implementation of gender mainstreaming in the policies of the ETUC. • The Advisory Committee on equal opportunities for women and men8 : assists the European Commission in formulating and implementing the Community’s activities aimed at promoting equal opportunities for women and men, and fosters ongoing exchanges of relevant experience, policies and practices between the Member States and the various parties involved.

• The European Women’s Lobby (EWL)9 : brings together the women’s movement in Europe to influence the general public and European Institutions in support of women’s human rights and equality between women and men.

• Mind The Gap10 : is a consortium which promotes and teaches STEM subjects and addressing continually gap of women in the sector.

• The European Centre for Women and Technology (ECWT)11: is a European multi-stakeholder which simply finds ways to increase the number of girls and women in technology and ICT in specific.

4. What has been done so far?

It is essential to be closely familiar with the past and current efforts of the EU towards solving GPG problem within the EU. Gender equality is a shared competence area in the EU, which means that the issue needs to be addressed both on the EU level and by individual Member States. Horizon 2020 is the EU’s main research framework for 2014-2020 with an overall budget of €80 million. Among its gender equality objectives are the fostering of gender balance in research teams and a target of 40% women in decision-making panels and groups12 . GENDERA and SHE 5. https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/agencies/eurofound_en 6. http://eige.europa.eu/ 7. https://www.etuc.org/issue/gender-equality 8. http://eige.europa.eu/men-and-gender-equality/methods-and-tools/european-union/activity-advisory-committee-equal-opportunities-women-and-men 9. https://www.womenlobby.org/Mission-vision-and-values-588?lang=en 10. http://mindthegapproject.eu/ 11. http://www.ecwt.eu/en/home 12. https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/h2020-section/promoting-gender-equality-research-and-innovation

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FEMM

Figures are EU instruments which concentrate on collecting and analysing data on gender equality. The GENDERA project was gathering obtaining attempts, making experiences and knowledge on the enforcement of gender equality in research organizations available for analysis and use by all partners in the various national contexts and The She Figures publication is the main fund of pan‑European, comparable statistics on the state of gender equality.

Also European Commission’s initiative “Science: It’s a girl thing!” aims to encourage young women to be interested in science.

As a part of the European 2020 Strategy, European Institute for Gender Equality and the European Commission work on a joint project for creating an online tool for gender equality plans in order to share best practice among stakeholders13. The European Platform of Women Scientists (EPWS) aims to build a structural link between women scientists and European and national policy-makers to achieve equal and full participation of women in science and in science policy. In addition to these measures, the EU supports Member States’ objectives by providing funding for projects under the European Social Fund, including projects that promote women’s participation in science and technology. European Research Area (ERA) offers trainings on gender equality aimed at key stakeholders.

While a significant number of initiatives exist, whether instigated by the EU, the Member State governments or third sector, a common criticism is the lack of coordination among the plethora of actors and measures. The lack of gender equality in STEM fields is a problem which needs to be tackled immediately. The EU cannot afford to ignore the scientific potential of women and the positive impact this potential can have on our economy.

5. Questions to consider • • • • • • •

What other obstacles do women who desire a career in STEM fields face?

Why do employers prefer hiring men in this field?

How can EU and its Member States contend with stereotypes?

How do you expect gender equality in science and engineering to look like in 2025?

Is making positive discrimination the key to the problem? Is this a way to balance the field or is it still a discrimination?

What further steps can be taken in order to achieve gender equality in research roles in STEM fields?

What are the main factors that contribute to the men-dominance in STEM fields?

6. Further links • • • • •

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8DBwchocvs http://www.gettingsmart.com/2013/11/facts-women-stem/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64cCxFQnGvM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niH9wfKsUIc https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/justice-and-fundamental-rights/discrimination/genderequality_en

13. http://tech.eu/features/59/more-women-in-tech-europe/

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IMCO

Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection Towards a Digital Single Market: Taking into account the growth opportunities associated with digital technologies, what legislative and regulatory steps should the EU take to adapt the single market to the digital age?

by Nilüfer Su Ünal and Yavuzhan Zaman

1. Key Terms • The European Single Market: The Single Market refers to the EU as one territory without any internal borders or other regulatory obstacles to the free movement of goods and services. A functioning Single Market stimulates competition and trade, improves efficiency, raises quality, and helps cut prices. It has fuelled economic growth and made the everyday life of European businesses and consumers easier.

• The ‘European Monetary System’ (EMS): EMS is an arrangement between several European countries which links their currencies to stabilize the exchange rate. This system was succeeded by the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), an institution of the European Union(EU), which established a common currency called the euro.

• Free Trade: Free Trade is the economic policy of not discriminating against imports and exports to foreign jurisdictions. Buyers and sellers from separate economies may voluntarily trade without the domestic government applying tariffs, quotas, subsidies or prohibitions on their goods and services. Free trade is the opposite of trade protectionism or economic isolationism. It is sometimes referred to as “laissez-faire trade” because of the absence of government interference. Governments with free trade agreements (FTAs) do not necessarily abandon all control of taxation of imports and exports.

• A Digital Single Market (DSM): DSM is one in which the free movement of persons, services and capital is ensured and where the individuals and businesses can seamlessly access and exercise online activities under conditions of fair competition, and a high level of consumer and personal data protection, irrespective of their nationality or place of residence.

• Geo-blocking: Geo-blocking Is a discriminatory practice used by companies and websites to prevent online customers from accessing and purchasing products or services from a website based in another member state by hacking your device’s IP address.

• Cross-border Ecommerce: The term cross-border ecommerce generally defines international online trade.

It entails the sale or purchase of products via online shops across national borders. Buyer and seller are not located in the same country and are often not ruled by the same jurisdiction, use different currencies, and speak different languages.

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2. The Topic at a Glance

IMCO

A Digital Single Market has provided better access for European citizens to online good or services across Europe.

It enables European citizens to purchase the goods that are attainable not only within the borders of their national country but also beyond. It also is highly contributing to the development of European economy by increasing productivity and efficiency. By encouraging imports and exports within the Member States and specialization on a broader level, Member States will eventually reach a higher Gross Domestic Product rate. On the other hand, the digital single market is unprotected against cyber-attacks; online transactions become an easy target for hackers.

Similarly, hackers also have access to confidential information of firms and customers. In addition, taxation becomes much more unfair for small firms compared to larger ones because they have higher costs and lower revenues than big firms. Besides unfair taxation, small enterprises become unprotected in the inter-European competition which otherwise they would without having the need to compete against all the enterprises in the Member States.

In the same way, firms market power will diminish as the number of available firms increase, thus they will become perfectly competitive and will make less profit.

For the simple reason that digitalization of single market makes certain jobs less convenient, some part of the employed population will become jobless. The increasing unemployment rates will damage European economy.

Given these points, as much as the digital single market has provided benefits to EU’s economy, it also created some risks as it is unprotected against cyber-attacks, it puts small enterprises in an unfair condition as well as it decreases benefits of individual firms and can possibly harm EU’s economy by increasing unemployment rates.

3. Key Actors and Stakeholders • European Union: EU will be drastically affected by Digital Single Market both in positive and negative ways.

Firstly, EU market will get wider and more unified. Secondly, there will be four million new different professions that the agenda will provide by 2080. New job opportunities brought by DSM will decrease the unemployment rate. Moreover, as the Digital Single Market spreads, the more imports and exports occur within the Member States. It is as clear as water that, these all together will result in a developed economy for EU. The EU needs a modern tax framework to seize digital opportunities, while also ensuring fair taxation. A level playing field is a pre-condition for all businesses to be able to innovate, develop and grow to support higher levels of productivity, employment and prosperity.

• European Union citizens: They obviously want to have their say on EU citizenship and the future of the EU as a whole but they might have a negative perspective on digitalization because of the fact that 41% of them are technologically illiterate. Another thing to mention is that EU citizens believe this radical change will be the reason for many to lose their job due to lack of awareness of new job opportunities.

• Consumers across EU: Enhanced use of digital technologies improve citizens’ access to information and culture and wider attainability to products and services. They are able to demand a higher variety of products and can get higher gratification as they are not limited to certain goods. However, their private information is not secured from hackers as the system is not flawless yet, they lack awareness of cyber-attacks.

• Small and Medium Enterprises: Small and Medium Enterprises will be more disadvantageous when competing with bigger firms as their costs of digitalisation is relatively higher and make lower revenues than big companies.

As a result, they face unfair taxation policies.

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• Firms: DSM lowered their taxation rates. Even though the level of digitalisation varies across sectors, big companies have a higher rate of digitalisation which in conclusion decreases the materialized work that can be taxed, because of this situation, we can observe that on average, domestic digitised business models are subject to an effective tax rate of only 8.5%, less than half compared to traditional business models. Besides lowering firms’ taxation rates, DSM has lowered firms’ market power. Since there are more firms available for target customers, an individual firm must compete with more firms than before. Thus, individual firms will not be able to make as much as profit. On the other hand, they will be able to branch out much easier in foreign European countries.

4. What has been done so far?

The European Commission’s Digital Single Market Strategy consists of 16 initiatives that will help create a consistent set of rules for digital matters across the EU’s 28 Member States.

The DSM delivered the main legislative proposals set as a priority, specifically in the topics of e-commerce, copyright, audio-visual and media services, telecoms review, e-Privacy, harmonisation of digital rights, affordable parcel delivery, harmonised VAT rules and strategy. In response to the Commission’s strategy, the European Parliament (EP) provided an assessment of the strategy by adopting an INI (Own-Initiative) report “Towards a Digital Single Market Act”. In a drive to inform themselves by gathering all information and stakeholder insights possible, the European Commission launched 10 public consultations; topics ranging from reform of the regulatory framework of cross-border parcel deliveries to the rules for online platforms and ‘geo-blocking’. From this, the European Commission made its first proposal for the supply of digital content, the online sale of goods and the cross-border portability of online content services which follows up on the abolition of roaming charges. This communication calls for a strong and ambitious EU position on taxing the digital economy, which should feed into ongoing international work on the issue. It also aims to provide a basis for further political discussions amongst the Member States at the Tallinn Digital Summit of 29 September, to ‘reach a common position’ in the international discussions. The EU expects meaningful progress in the global agenda and should push for this to be reflected in the OECD report to the G20 Finance Ministers at their meeting in April 2018. The Commission will contribute to a ‘successful conclusion’ of the on-going global discussions at the G20.

5. Questions to consider • • • • •

What precautions should be taken by EU in order to prevent malfunctions of digitalization of the single market?

How can taxation policies be modified in order to reach a fair state for both small and large firms?

Why would geo-blocking create an unjustified situation?

How can confidential information of consumers and producers be protected from cyber attackers?

Why is such a high population of EU being technologically illiterate? What measures should EU take in order to decrease this ratio?

•

How can EU supply the need for more skilled labour for the new job opportunities created by DSM?

6. Further links • http://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/document.cfm?doc_id=43200 • http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52015DC0192&from=EN

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• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

IMCO

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-17-1232_en.htm https://ec.europa.eu/avservices/video/player.cfm?ref=I136953&lg=EN&sublg=none https://ec.europa.eu/commission/priorities/digital-single-market_en https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/better-access-consumers-and-businessonline-goods https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/blog/what-future-internet https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/economy-society https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/policies/shaping-digital-single-market https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/right-environment-digital-networks-andservices https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/towards-thriving-data-driven-economy https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/sites/taxation/files/1_en_act_part1_v10_en.pdf https://europa.eu/european-union/topics/taxation_en https://www.ecommercewiki.org/Cross-border_Ecommerce/Cross-border_Ecommerce_ Basic/What_is_Cross-border_Ecommerce https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/ems.asp https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733317300483 https://www.recycling-magazine.com/2018/01/18/majority-e-waste-not-reported/ http://www.bostonelectronicwaste.com/go-green/what-is-ewaste

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ITRE

Committee on Industry, Research, and Energy Finding a new habitat: How can the EU further utilise space research to discover a way to support the earth sources?

by Zeynep Dila Aktaş & Mehmet Ali Makbuloğlu

1. Key Terms • Space Research: Scientific studies carried out using scientific equipment in outer space. It includes the use of space technology for a broad spectrum of research disciplines, including Earth science, materials science, biology, medicine, and physics.

• Space Policy of the European Union: Established on 22 May 2007 when a joint and concomitant meeting at the ministerial level of the Council of the European Union and the Council of the European Space Agency adopted a Resolution on the European Space Policy. Currently, each member state pursues their own national space policy, though often coordinating through the independent European Space Agency.

• Resources Crisis: Humans are using 30% more resources than the Earth can replenish each year, which is leading to deforestation, degraded soils, polluted air and water, and dramatic declines in numbers of fish and other species.

• Space Based Energy (Stellar Energy): According to latest researches, scientists concluded that humans could get clean, continuous and unlimited power collected from solar panels in space and beamed back down to earth in our lifetime. Also, there are possible scenarios which indicate asteroid and moon mining because of their rich resources.

2. The Topic at a Glance Throughout the centuries, mankind consumed fossil fuels and other non-renewable energy sources such as uranium ores to produce energy. After the impact of industrial revolution, civilisations used petroleum and crude oil for transportation; natural gas and coal for heat; uranium for nuclear electric energy. Regardless to say, this non-renewable energy trend increased pollution in the air, water, and soil. In 70’s, scientists’ concerns started to increase as new studies showed that CFCs, methane and ozone can make a serious contribution to the greenhouse effect. According to predictions made in 1981, there was going to be visible global warming signs near 2000. After the introduction of the electric hybrid car, Prius, in 1997; civilisations started to step up against global warming.

Scientists and nations started to search for new energy sources that could relieve the stress on nature and reverse the global warming. After series of summits and climate agreements, the first decade of the twenty-first century become a home to renewable energy source research. At first; solar, wind and geothermal energies were focused energy types because they were sustainable and doable. Later on, with the increase in demand for renewable energy sources, the price of production and research increased. As research increased, scientists and companies realized that current products were not efficient enough. For instance, although they have a larger capacity, solar panels in the market deliver electric energy between 15%-22% energy. The reason for this low efficiency is the blocking effect of atmosphere, absorbing the solar rays before they reach lower levels. Having discovered that,

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scientists started to shift their focus to space-based energy sources, hoping to gain higher efficiency. Space-based energy sources can be downgraded to three types: Space-Based Solar Power, Asteroid Mining, and Moon Mining.

3. Key Actors and Stakeholders • European Space Agency (ESA)1: The intergovernmental organisation of 22-member states dedicated to the exploration of space.

• NASA2: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research.

• European Space Research Organisation (ESRO)3: International organisation founded by 10 European nations with the intention of jointly pursuing scientific research in space. It was founded in 1964. ESRO was merged with ELDO4 in 1975 to form the European Space Agency.

• Horizon22: Horizon 2020 is the financial instrument implementing the Innovation Union, a Europe 2020 flagship initiative aimed at securing Europe’s global competitiveness. Running from 2014 to 2020 and with a budget of just over EUR 70 billion, the EU’s new framework programme for research and innovation is part of the drive to stimulate growth and create jobs in Europe.

• SpaceX is a company design, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. The company was founded in 2002 and according to company’s mission, SpaceX aims to revolutionize space technology, with the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets. Besides their ultimate goal, SpaceX is also the only private company ever to return a spacecraft from low-earth orbit after a delivery mission to International Space Station. This accomplishment makes the company be the only supplier and delivery company for possible stellar energy projects.

EU’s flagship space programmes: • Copernicus is a leading provider of Earth observation data. It helps save lives at sea, improves our response to natural disasters, and allows farmers to better manage their crops.

• Galileo is Europe’s global satellite navigation system. It provides more accurate and reliable positioning and timing information for autonomous and connected cars, railways, aviation and other sectors. Galileo has been operational since December 2016 when it started offering initial services to public authorities, businesses, and citizens.

• EGNOS (the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service): is provides “safety of life” navigation services to aviation, maritime and land-based users over most of Europe. This positioning information is so precise that aircraft can use it to land safely. All services provided by EGNOS

1. https://www.esa.int/ESA 2. https://www.nasa.gov/ 3. https://www.britannica.com/topic/European-Space-Research-Organization 4. a former European Space Research Organisation

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4. What has been done so far?

International Academy of Astronautics5 reported in 2011 that there are no fundamental technical barriers which would prevent the realization of Space-Based Solar Panels. After that, they delivered three possible designs but IAA Type Three system seen as the most efficient between them. It does not require large photovoltaic cells, and it has less complex distribution system makes it to transmit energy via light redirection, rather than physical electric infrastructure. There are currently firms like POWERSAT which develops space-based solar panel systems.

There were many concerns and discussions about delivery and planting of those panels but bearing in mind the development of SpaceX in reusable space shuttles, it becomes a doable project.

On the other hand, there is another scenario; asteroid mining. Asteroids are made of many different materials, with the majority classified as C-type, S-type or M-type. These asteroids in general consists carbon compounds, rock, up to 20 per cent water, iron and magnesium silicates, pure nickel and iron, platinum group metals pure nickel and iron, and platinum group deposits. These asteroids contain materials that could be used as fuel and industrial raw material , some worth more than one hundred billion dollars. It is identified that there are several ways to mine them such as laser cuttings and scientists claimed that asteroids are likely to be easier to mine than the Moon because of the low gravitational fields. Currently Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries6 are working on Asteroid mining.

5. Questions to consider • • •

How can EU control the actions of private companies since most of the developments are conducted by them?

How can EU benefit from this Space Energy competition with companies of Member States?

How can EU control and realize Asteroid Mining and Moon Mining scenarios?

•

How can EU affect the development of Stellar Energy technologies positively?

6. Further links Eu in space research: • http://ec.europa.eu/growth/sectors/space_en • https://ec.europa.eu/growth/sectors/space/research/horizon-2020_en Space exploration: •

http://www.wikizero.info/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly9lbi53aWtpcGVkaWEub3JnL3dpa2kvU3BhY2VfZXhwbG9yYXRpb24

Solar-Based Power: • http://www.businessinsider.com/space-based-solar-panels-beam-unlimited-energy-to-earth-2015-9 Stellar Energy: • http://www.explainingthefuture.com/resources_from_space.html

5. https://www.iaaweb.org/ 6. http://deepspaceindustries.com/

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LIBE I

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs I

Censorship: Keeping in mind that as the suppression of speech increased sharply, how can the EU provide its citizens a safe environment where they can share their ideas freely via social media?

1. Key Terms

by Derya Oktay and İris İşciel

Censorship: the suppression or prohibition of any type of public content by a large entity that is considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security.

Hate Speech: a type of speech where hatred is expressed or a particular group is attacked on the basis of their attributes such as race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity etc.

Filtering: the technical approaches to control access to information on the Internet such as technical blocking, search result removals and takedowns.

Freedom of speech: the social principle based on the freedom of an individual or group to express their ideas and opinions without the fear of censorship or incarceration, which is the basis of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights Xenophobic movements: movements based on irrational and intense hate against people from other countries, such as the rise of Jobbik, an ultranationalist political party securing 20% of the vote in Hungary, and PEDIGA (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West), an Anti-Muslim political organization founded in Germany in 2014.

Freedom of thought, conscience and religion: one of the fundamental rights of the EU which includes the freedom and rights of changing one’s religion or belief, either alone or in a community, to manifest religion or belief, in worship, teaching, practice and observance.

2. The Topic at a Glance Social media has become a vital part of our lives. It has become the bread and butter of the Internet platform, as it has given us an easy way of expressing our ideas and opinions to the world. However, as it has become easier for us to share information, it has also made it easier for information to reach us. Because of this, governments have taken a stance to filter out what they want their citizens to see on these platforms. Some countries around the world such as China have restricted or no access to either social or political media.

Freedom of speech is an undeniable part of the fundamental rights European institutions aim to protect. On an EU level, this is reflected with Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) that lists the values on which the Union is founded, including respect for human rights and pluralism, and further supported by Article 11 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, which explicitly states freedom of expression and information as a fundamental right. The Charter’s legal status was clarified in 2009 when the Lisbon Treaty gave it equal legal value to other EU treaties.

In the current social, political and economic climate caused by the refugee crisis, terrorist attacks and other events, the increase of racist and xenophobic attitudes are progressively growing in the EU. Hate speech incidents have particularly increased over the Internet and more specifically, social media. During October and November 2016, twelve civil society organisations located in nine EU Member States monitored social media platforms and observed

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that xenophobia (anti-migrant hatred, often conflated with anti-Muslim hatred) was the most widespread form of illegal hate speech in social platforms. Even though the freedom of speech is strongly guarded by many rights in the EU, there recently have been steps taken towards censorship and filtering on online platforms to fight against illegal hate speech.

3. Key Actors and Stakeholders • The European Court of Human Rights: A judicial organ established in 1959 that is charged with supervising the enforcement of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1950; commonly known as the European Convention on Human Rights), which was drawn up by the Council of Europe. The convention obligates signatories to guarantee various civil and political freedoms, including the freedom of expression and religion and the right to a fair trial.

• The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA): It is one of the EU’s decentralised agencies. These agencies are set up to provide expert advice to the institutions of the EU and the Member States on a range of issues. The Agency helps to ensure that the fundamental rights of people living in the EU are protected.

• Tech companies: As most hate speech is shared through social media, the companies have power over what users can share and what they can’t share. It is up to the Member States to reach an agreement with tech companies over what should be banned.

• The media: The media is responsible for how the public receives their news, and as a result of the media giving a negative image to certain communities, hatred and prejudice builds up against those groups, which paves the way for hate speech against them.

4. What has been done so far?

Since the announcement of the EU that they would take action upon censorship towards hate speeches on social media, more platforms have joined this enforcement. Since May 2016, several tech giants, including Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft and YouTube committed to censoring “illegal hate speech” through a Code of Conduct established by the European Commission. Google+ announced that it too is participating, and Facebook confirmed that its subsidiary company, Instagram, will also join efforts to censor the Internet of speech deemed illegal by the Code of Conduct. the rate of reported “hate speech” removal has risen from 28 percent when monitoring first started to 51 percent in the second round. The figure now rests at an average of 81 percent.

A Council of the European Union document leaked by Statewatch on 30 August 2017 revealed that during the summer months, that Estonia (which at the time held the EU presidency) has been pushing the other Member States to strengthen indiscriminate internet surveillance, and to follow in the footsteps of China regarding online censorship.

5. Questions to Consider • •

How can Member States’ courts reach a consensus regarding the interpretation of international Human Rights conventions and legislation?

How can we distinguish hate speech and criticism? How can the division between hate speech and criticism on online platforms be made?

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• • • • •

LIBE I

What are the main types of discrimination involving hate speech? (religious, gender, ethnic etc.)

Would regulations on hate speech be against the freedom of speech?

What effect does the media have on this growing trend of hate speech?

Are tech companies like Facebook on the right path? If not, should they do more or less?

Would protests, online recognition or such movements be useful towards the aim of an uncensored internet platform?

6. Further links About Filtering • https://opennet.net/about-filtering Censorship Concerns • http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/26/censorship-concerns-european-parliament-introduces-killswitch/ EU Internet policing proposals spark free speech concerns • http://www.dw.com/en/eu-internet-policing-proposals-spark-free-speech-concerns/a-40734959 Europe Censorship • https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10123/europe-censorship Europe’s Latest Export: American Internet Censorship • https://www.heritage.org/technology/report/europes-latest-export-america-internet-censorship Internet Censorship Map • http://www.visualcapitalist.com/internet-censorship-map/ Leaked document: EU Presidency calls for massive internet filtering • https://edri.org/leaked-document-eu-presidency-calls-for-massive-internet-filtering/ Online Hate Speech • https://www.eu2017.mt/en/Events/Pages/Online-Hate-Speech.aspx The EU takes first step on slippery slope to internet censorship • https://diginomica.com/2017/05/24/eu-takes-first-step-slippery-slope-internet-censorship/

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LIBE II

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs I

Respecting Intellectual Property: With the current EU legislation failing to keep pace with the vast digital advancements, how can Member States ensure the protection of the intellectual property of online content?

by Doruk Büyükpınar and İdil Uğurlu

1. Key Terms • Intellectual property (IP): creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce.

• Copyright: a legal term used to describe the rights that creators have over their literary and artistic works.

Works covered by copyright range from books, music, paintings, sculpture, and films, to computer programs, databases, advertisements, maps, and technical drawings.

• Digital advancements: New changes or innovations regarding online platforms or web itself as a whole.

• Online Content: Any material available on the Web. Online content includes text, images, animations, music and videos.

• Plagiarism: the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own.

2. The Topic at a Glance In today’s real-world intellectual property of individuals are protected by multiple legal rights such as Copyright, Trademark or Patents, however, this is not enough. Even though some online websites have already put into action some protection methods, such as Youtube regarding music copyright, not every protection method ensures the protection of intellectual property. As the number of people using the Internet increased globally, lossless reproduction, meaning digital media can be copied without quality loss, became a really big problem. The inconsistent laws of Member States led to difficulties in terms of protection of the intellectual property. And the lack of universal legislation, allows the usage of these properties by others. Meaning, when you post something on facebook or twitter other users can use your post as their own for their own personal benefit since there is not a protective mechanism.

The main worry is the lack of protection of the intellectual property of online content, since it can lead to violation of civil liberties like others using your photo without your consent or knowledge. The protection of intellectual property is important for promoting innovation and creativity, developing employment, and improving competitiveness.

Thus, the European Commission works to harmonise laws relating to industrial property rights in EU countries to avoid barriers to trade and to create efficient EU-wide systems for the protection of such rights. But unfortunately

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the measures taken are not sufficient enough. In “The challenges of copyright in the EU” briefing published by European Parliament on 2015, it was stated that “Copyright law protects only the form of expression of ideas, not the ideas themselves. Thus, using ideas expressed in a work does not represent a copyright violation.”1 . This shows that the current copyright laws fail to protect the intellectual property and this is an issue that must be addressed.

3. Key Actors and Stakeholders Users: the ones, who upload someone else’s material and who need to full all the rules on distributing material protected by the original author’s rights.

Authors: Authors are creator of the content who possesses copyrights.

Internet Intermediaries: Internet intermediaries are key drivers in the development of the Internet as well as in distributing creative content. They host, locate and search for content and facilitate its distribution. Internet intermediaries compile or facilitate transactions between the third parties (Google, Yahoo, Bing, social media platforms etc.)

Copyright Clearance Center (CCC)2 : Licenses reproduction rights for electronic and print content and collects license fees for use of that content.

World Intellectual Property Organization3 (WIPO): a global forum for intellectual property services, policy, information and cooperation. Every EU Member State is a member of this organisation.

4. What has been done so far?

With its journal “Directive 2004/48/Ec of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the enforcement of intellectual property rights” the European Commission (EC) clarifies its point of view on the matter.

The journal encourages Member States to be aware and act towards implementation of legislations on intellectual property and embrace the freedom of speech of their citizens, in this case; authors and users. Nevertheless, in the view of The Commission, the protection of intellectual property should not hamper freedom of expression, the free movement of information, or the protection of personal data, including on the Internet.

Across the EU, there is a certain level of standardisation of intellectual property laws that covered by many international conventions, most of which are implemented by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO)4. WIPO5 Copyright Treaties are the key legislations in order to ensure the protection of intellectual property across EU. There is a licensing system called Creative Commons that allows content creators to communicate which rights they reserve, and which rights they waive for the benefits of recipients or other creators. It is a good measure taken to ensure others know under what conditions they can use the intellectual property.

The protection of moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production is also 1. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2015/564380/EPRS_BRI(2015)564380_EN.pdf 2. http://www.copyright.com/ 3. http://www.wipo.int/portal/en/ 4. https://ox.libguides.com/c.php?g=422962&p=2888482 5. http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/text.jsp?file_id=295166

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recognized as a human right under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)6 and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966)7 . Right now along with the European Commission, The Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology8 is working towards an EU copyright framework for the digital single market. The Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union9 contributes to the fight against counterfeiting, piracy and other IPR violations.

5. Questions to consider • • • • • • •

How can the intellectual property of people be protected?

What intellectual property rights do people have?

Can there be a universal guarding force for all online platforms that would ensure the protection of intellectual property?

If a universal guarding force is out of the question who would supervise the protection methods of each institution and ensure that these actually protect the users?

Internet intermediaries: how do they work, how are they regulated and what impact do they have on the protection/violation of digital copyrights?

What are the legal consequences of stealing an intellectual property? Is it detterrent enough?

What can be done to improve the current legislation?

6. Further links Frequently Asked Questions Concerning Copyright and Related Rights: http://www.unesco.org/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CLT/creativity/pdf/copyright/basic_notions_en.pdf Copyright Factsheet: The European Commission proposes new copyright rules for fairer access and choice to online content across borders, inclusion of disabled people. http://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/dae/document.cfm?doc_id=17178 ABC of Copyright: http://www.unesco.org/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CLT/diversity/pdf/WAPO/ABC_Copyright_en.pdf Trademark Protection in the EU: https://ec.europa.eu/growth/industry/intellectual-property/trade-mark-protection_en Patent Protection in the EU: https://ec.europa.eu/growth/industry/intellectual-property/patents_en Intellectual Property and the EU: https://ec.europa.eu/growth/industry/intellectual-property_en Intellectual Property Rights: https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/start-grow/intellectual-property-rights/index_en.htm The challenges of copyright in the EU is a briefing which clarifies the proplem with current legislation. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2015)564380

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Committee On Transport and Tourism

Uber and Beyond: With Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) gaining popularity in Europe, how can the EU work towards harmonising the different regulatory environments of Member States to address concerns of passenger safety and quality of service?

1. Key Terms

by Bahar Başak Aydın and Sude Yenilmez

Sharing economy: allows people to share goods and services by using Internet platforms and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) applications.1 Incumbent Businesses: possess the largest market share in certain sectors of the economy and are bound by a regulatory framework and certain set of rules, which are not valid for TNCs. Moreover, TNCs such as Uber, Lyft and SideCar, create a dispute between the incumbent businesses, the taxi industry and TNCs, leading to protests and aggression against Uber since TNCs are lowering the taxi industry’s customer rate.

Disruptive Innovation: a term in the field of business administration which refers to an innovation that creates a new market and value network and eventually disrupts an existing market and value network, displacing established market leading firms, products, and alliances.2 Peer to Peer Economy: a decentralised model whereby two individuals interact to buy or sell goods and services directly with each other, without intermediation by a third-party, or without the use of a company of business. Uber is one of the examples of peer-to-peer businesses.3

2. The Topic at a Glance Strong transport connections drive trade and economic growth, and create employment and prosperity. Transport networks are at the heart of the supply chain and are the foundation of any country’s economy.

Uber and other TNCs are being increasingly popular over the incumbent businesses in connection with 56% better pricing, 32% more choice in the marketplace and 28% more convenient access. This arising triggers numerous political, economic and ideological debates all over Europe.

Economical prices and additional transportation choices are the advantageous factors that attract the consumers, which also lead to reductions in car ownership and the creation of new jobs.4 Consumers are also able to compare and rate the quality of service and prices in greater transparency, retaining sustainability. This was tried to be 1. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2015/563398/IPOL_BRI(2015)563398_EN.pdf 2. http://www.wikizero.info/index.php 3. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/peertopeer-p2p-economy.asp 4. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2015/563398/IPOL_BRI(2015)563398_EN.pdf

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achieved in taxi sector by publishing the price lists inside and outside of the vehicle.5 Not only the consumers benefit from these TNCs but also the drivers have more flexible working hours. TNCs also provide Information and Communication Technology services, assisting and encouraging drivers that would not be employed in transportation sector because of the restrictions. One simple example for this common phenomenon is the increasing values of taxi licences -for example in 2007, a Paris taxi licence had a value between EUR 100,000.6 However, TNCs exploit loopholes in regulatory requirements and lower standards of consumer safety/privacy. Due to inadequate background check on drivers, safety concerns have been raised to Uber, especially after the occasion of Uber drivers were reportedly involved in sexual assault against passengers, as well as other crimes. (In March 2016, two Uber drivers in East Lansing, Michigan, were arrested on sexual assault charges.) ‘Apparently, people often complain to Uber through driver ratings, which only Uber sees.’ says a spokesman for Uber, emphasising another problem related with consumer safety and quality of service.

The Application Uber may also invade passengers’ and drivers’ privacy besides the risk that the cars or drivers could be unsafe or underinsured. On February 27, 2015, Uber admitted that it had suffered a data breach more than nine months before. Driver names and license plate information on approximately 50,000 drivers were inadvertently disclosed. On August 2017, Uber accepted a settlement from the Federal Trade Commission admitting to claiming falsely that internal access to consumers’ personal information was closely monitored on an ongoing basis, and also stating that Uber had failed to live up to its promise to provide reasonable security for consumer data. However, even after this settlement, Another data breach was revealed in November 2017. Occurring in 2016, this breach disclosed personal information on about 600,000 drivers (including license information); and names, email addresses, and phone numbers for 57 million customers. Uber paid a $100,000 ransom to the hackers on the promise they would delete the stolen data.

Challenges related to taxation and unfair competition with taxi drivers by entering their market without being bounded by the regulations are among the problems TNCs pose. Additionally, the dynamic pricing (doubling the price during periods of high demand for rides) or an upfront pricing are also problematic.

Woefully, EU still remains insufficient to provide a legislative framework for the TNCs like Uber, raising various regulatory concerns. As a result of the Member States’ inquires on the regulation of transport services, European Parliament has asked Commission to ‘monitor the situation in the different Member States as regards the operation of transportation network companies that match drivers to passengers (Uber being the most prominent example), and to carry out an assessment of the legal, social, economic and environmental consequences arising from the operation of such companies, accompanied, if appropriate, by relevant measures or recommendations for developing innovative new services in Europe, taking into account the existing taxi services’. 7

3. Key Actors and Stakeholders • Transport Network Companies (TNCs) is defined by CPUC as “organisations whether a corporation, partnership, sole proprietor, or other form...that provides pre-arranged transportation services for compensation using an online-enabled application (app) or platform to connect passengers with drivers using their personal vehicles”8.

TNCs, including Uber, Lyft and SideCar, are considered to be examples of the sharing economy.

5. Golovin S., The Economics of Uber, Bruegel, 2014.

6. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2015/563398/IPOL_BRI(2015)563398_EN.pdf 7. EP Resolution on Implementation of the 2011 White paper on transport, P8_TA(2015)0310, 9 September 2015 8. California Public Utilities Commission - Webpage on TNCs and related regulatory framework

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• Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE) is responsible for developing and implementing European policies in the transport field. Its mission is to ensure that transport policies are designed for the benefit of all sectors of the society.

• The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government, and its principal mission is the promotion of consumer protection and the elimination and prevention of anticompetitive business practices. The FTC continues to work closely with the European Union, and many other jurisdictions on cases of mutual interest due to TNCs field grow international.

• Member States implement policies and regulations with regard to the legislative framework developed by the EC. In this case, since there has been no tailored policy framework, Member States try to fit TNCs into their national law, imposing administrative and criminal charges against the employees of TNCs such as Uber drivers.

• European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is a consultative body that gives representatives of Europe’s socio-occupational interest groups and others a formal platform to express their points of view on EU issues, helping to ensure that European policies and legislation tie in better with economic, social and civic circumstances on the ground.

4. What has been done so far?

As mentioned before for several times, no regulatory policy framework on TNCs has been legislated. So as to serve this purpose, various studies and attempts have been made.

European Commission conducted two studies: One by Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport on “passenger transport by taxi, hire car with driver and ride-sharing in the EU”9 of which the results were published on 26 September 2016, and another one by the Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers on “consumer issues in the sharing economy”10 . Both studies emphasized the need for adopting a new legislation to regulate the TNCs. However, the sharing economy renders distinguishing between “traders” and “consumers” very challenging, generating a legal uncertainty. This situation sets a barrier to consumer protection in terms of quality of service and safety.

Other EC actions include a public consultation on the regulatory environment for platforms, online intermediaries, data and cloud computing and the collaborative economy. 11 On 21 January 2014, the European Economic and Social Committee endorsed an own-initiative opinion on “collaborative or participatory consumption” calling for further action “to regulate the practices carried out within these forms of consumption, in order to establish the rights and responsibilities of all stakeholders involved”. 12 Since TNCs use ICTs for their services, they are accepted to be a part of the “Digital Single Market Strategy”, under the EU’s provisions on free movement of services and freedom of establishment.13 9. https://ec.europa.eu/transport/sites/transport/files/2016-09-26-pax-transport-taxi-hirecar-w-driver-ridesharing-country-reports.pdf 10. ec.europa.eu/newsroom/document.cfm?doc_id=45244 11. EC Public consultation on the regulatory environment for platforms, online intermediaries, data and cloud computing and the collaborative economy, open on 24 September 2015 12. EESC Opinion on Collaborative or participatory consumption, a sustainability model for the 21st century, 21 January 2014 13. European Commission (2015). A Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe. Communication from the Commission COM(2015) 192 final. Retrieved from (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ TXT/?qid=1447773803386&uri=CELEX%3A52015DC0192)

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Despite all these attempts to develop a specific legislation that will put an end to the general problems arisen by the uncertainty, Member States still show different approaches to the regulation of TNCs as pre-existing national legislation fails to cover these corporations. In member states such as Italy, Hungary and Bulgaria, Uber is completely banned mainly because of its unfair competition with taxi firms.14 On 20 July 2015, a Barcelona judge has requested The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) to issue a preliminary ruling concerning Uber.15 Recently European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that Uber is a transport company, which requires it to accept stricter regulation and licensing within the EU as a taxi operator16. Licensed Taxi Drivers Association has also pointed out that the misclassification of Uber as a technology company allowed it to exploit its workers by forcing them to work long hours on low wages, putting passenger and public safety at risk. However, Uber, in response, emphasised the fact that in most EU countries, it has already been regulating under the transportation law, considering the new enforcement of ECJ as a general legislation for the regulation of peer-to-peer businesses.

5. Questions to consider • • • • • • • •

What are the benefits of TNCs in comparison to traditional business models?

Why are the customers more likely to prefer TNCs instead of incumbent businesses?

What is the main point of criticism towards TNCs? What is the role of consumers in this issue?

Is there really a need for EC to develop a policy framework or should it let this new peer-to-peer market “selfregulate”?

How can EC protect the incumbent business while tailoring a policy framework for TNCs or should they leave them alone in the present innovative environment?

Which measures can the European policy makers consider to ensure the safety of passengers and the good quality of service they receive?

Is it sufficient for the EC to develop a specific policy framework so as to prevent Member States from taking individual actions on their national level? Do these local sanctions pose a problem for the EU?

6. Further links • Study of the European Commission on TNCs and their social, economic and legal consequences:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2015/563398/IPOL_BRI(2015)563398_ EN.pdf • “Exploratory Study of Consumer Issues in Online Peer-to-peer Platform Markets” conducted by DirectorateGeneral for Justice and Consumers:

ec.europa.eu/newsroom/document.cfm?doc_id=45244

(The report is very detailed in terms of numerical data. Start reading from p.105 in order to see the

concluding remarks in general.)

• Overview on TNCs and Taxicabs:

https://www.oxera.com/Latest-Thinking/Agenda/2014/Is-the-ride-right-Transportation-network-

14. http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/uber-ban-countries-where-world-taxi-app-europe-taxi-us-states-china-asia-legal-a7707436.html 15. Judge refers Spanish Uber case to European Court of Justice, FT, 20 July 2015 16. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/dec/20/uber-european-court-of-justice-ruling-barcelona-taxi-drivers-ecj-eu

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companies.aspx

(Some facts may have changed as the article was published in August 2014. However, it is a good summary to understand the basics of TNCs, with which we will be dealing a lot.)

• Explanation of Peer-to-Peer Businesses and Sharing Economy:

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/peertopeer-p2p-economy.asp

(It is essential to comprehend these two terms in the deepest sense for bringing effective solutions.)

• Article on ECJ’s Latest Ruling Over Uber:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/dec/20/uber-european-court-of-justice-ruling- barcelona-taxi-drivers-ecj-eu • Article about the discussion of passenger safety between taxis and Uber:

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/03/are-taxis-safer-than-uber/386207/ • Study on TNCs, Uber:

http://uk.businessinsider.com/studies-uber-drivenow-demand-private-car-vehicle-sales-2017-8

(Two academic studies published this year have shown that people say they will reduce their use and

ownership of private cars when they have access to ride-sharing apps like Uber and Lyft, or car-sharing

apps like DriveNow.)

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