In Greece, psychological well being amongst younger folks continues to be a significant concern. As proof, iMEdD Lab, a Greek platform targeted on investigative and data-driven tales, reported on a research involving 40 Greek colleges that got here to three revealing conclusions about youngsters:
- 65% assume college will increase their anxiousness and stress;
- 50% do not know the place to show for psychological well being points;
- Round 47% declare they don’t really feel snug discussing psychological well being points with academics.
The younger and the exploited
In addition to coping with psychological well being points, younger folks on this a part of Europe, particularly those that are struggling financially, face powerful working situations.For instance, Kosovo 2.0, an internet journal specializing in explanatory, contextual and narrative journalism, spoke to a few meals supply drivers aged 17-21 who claimed that they pay for their very own medical bills after street accidents, work 8 hours a day with out a contract or protecting tools, and are rewarded with a disappointing month-to-month wage. What’s extra, one of many drivers confessed that he did not also have a driving licence. Armend, one of many younger supply males, mentioned that he had been doing related jobs since he was 12 years previous, similar to making hamburgers, ready tables and dealing in building. As quoted by Kosovo 2.0, the 2022 Labour Drive Survey exhibits that ”younger folks aged 15-24 make up 14.6% of the labour power and the bulk work with out a contract”.
Outdoors Kosovo, the Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet reported the tragic loss of life of a 22-year-old brick manufacturing facility employee. Simply two days earlier than his loss of life, the younger man used social media to attract consideration to the harmful machine that by accident crushed his leg and ended his life. The Stockholm Middle for Freedom (SCF), a human rights NGO based by self-exiled Turkish journalists, highlighted a report exhibiting that the variety of deadly office accidents in Turkey reached a document excessive in 2022 (1,843). Based on Well being and Security Labor Watch (İSİG), the explanation for the numerous deaths is the AKP celebration’s purpose ”to show Turkey right into a supply of low cost labour for Europe”.
Romanian professor: ‘College can’t do all of it, perhaps nothing’
Some may blame the varsity for failing to take care of the kids’s issues, however professor and author Horia Corches, writing within the Romanian journal Dilema Veche, takes a special view. He believes that the varsity ”cannot do the whole lot, or perhaps nothing, if society and the household do not battle to spotlight true rules and values”. Particularly, the professor blamed wealthy folks with out values for setting destructive examples for his nation’s youngsters.
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EU: between defending and harming its youth
One of many options to the psychological well being issues confronted by younger folks is synthetic intelligence. As Efi Vagena, professor of bioethics on the Swiss Federal Institute of Know-how in Zurich, identified for the Greek investigative platform iMEdD Lab, AI instruments will help youngsters if they’re nicely regulated and launched in a ”system of accountability”.
Vagena’s two traits, nonetheless, aren’t met by the controversial proposal by the European Union’s Dwelling Affairs Commissioner, Ylva Johansson, ostensibly geared toward combating youngster sexual abuse. However there’s a draw back. Based on the influential Greek media Solomon, which focuses on public curiosity points and investigative tasks, if Johansson’s proposal is accepted, the regulation would oblige social platforms to eavesdrop on their customers’ methods, together with non-public chats. Youngsters’s privateness will subsequently be put in danger.
All in all, whether or not it comes from colleges, establishments, higher parenting, AI, or all the above, it is clear that younger folks want extra assist from society.
Extra picks
Todor Todorov | Kapital | 19 September | BG
The perpetrator behind Bulgaria’s low cost wheat costs is Russia’s behaviour of flooding markets with low cost grain at beneath market costs whereas world demand is falling. Russia can afford to do that as knowledge exhibits it has the most important surplus of wheat produced on the planet. So Bulgarians ought to cease blaming Ukraine’s exports, that are insignificant. Nonetheless, there is a brilliant facet, in line with Reuters analyst Karen Brown, as a result of ”wheat costs will attain their historic lows in mid-2024, which will be seen as excellent news. As a result of after a low, there’s all the time an increase”.
Andrei Udișteanu | Recorder | 4 September | RO
Whereas a battle rages close by, the variety of resignations from the Romanian military has tripled in simply three years, regardless of bulletins of large navy funding, and troopers have begun to blow the whistle on one of many important causes for the destructive pattern. Together with dissatisfaction with salaries and the hazard on the Ukrainian border, the Romanian armed forces blame outdated attitudes promoted by decision-makers and the each day realities confronted by navy personnel, even in peacetime, similar to having to make use of brute power to unjam previous tools or transporting hay. Opposite to what the whistleblowing troopers say, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis instructed the NATO summit in Vilnius that each one promised investments in navy infrastructure have been met and that there is been ”sustainable progress”.
Faruk Sehic | Oslobodenje | 9 September | BH
In an interesting account, Bosnian author Faruk Sehic displays on his experiences in war-torn Ukraine. He describes how he learnt about important medical tools used on the battlefield, similar to tourniquets and chest seals, and their function in saving lives. Regardless of the battle, he’s struck by the cleanliness and order in Ukraine. Sehic additionally highlights the resilience and dedication of the Ukrainians, who present an inside want to maneuver ahead inside Europe. In direction of the tip of his report, Sehic shares this message he acquired from a younger Ukrainian known as Oleksi: ”Odessa is gorgeous! Air raids 5 occasions a day. At night time rockets, kamikaze drones. Romance.”