Toggle navigation menu.
TILN 2017

#MovetheCouch: Transatlantic Leaders Convene in Brussels

By Dr. Mischa Thompson,
Policy Advisor

“If we cannot be entrusted as leaders to do the small things, why should the public trust us to do the big ones, including governing international relations?”

–Svante Myrick
Mayor of Ithaca, New York
TILN 2016

From March 20-26, 2017, the U.S. Helsinki Commission, in partnership with the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), the U.S. State Department, and other stakeholders, hosted the sixth annual Transatlantic Inclusion Leaders Network (TILN) workshop in Brussels, Belgium.

TILN 2017Twenty-five young leaders representing more than fourteen European countries and the United States came together to learn from one another, expand their leadership skills, and offer a more inclusive vision for the world.

As participants in the Brussels Forum Young Professionals Summit, TILN participants engaged with senior U.S. and European public and private sector leaders on the most pressing issues impacting the transatlantic relationship today, ranging from U.S. elections and the international workforce to Russia and counterterrorism.

Several TILN participants also visited a high school in Brussels, exploring opportunities for international exchange and collaboration between administrators, educators, and students related to the educational needs of increasingly diverse student bodies and the future workforce on both sides of the Atlantic.

Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick closed Brussels Forum with powerful cautionary comments to all leaders.TILN 2017

“While here in Brussels thinking about global problems, I received an email from a constituent who has been annoyed by an abandoned couch for days. It might seem like a small issue, but I’m going to make sure I move that couch,” he stated.  “I had to move it because, if we cannot be entrusted as leaders to do the small things, why should the public trust us to do the big ones, including governing international relations?”

Sharing the vision for a more inclusive world, in the week following the workshop, TILN alumni from previous years led GMF-funded alumni leadership action projects in the Netherlands, Finland, Italy, and during the European Union’s Roma Week.  For more information on this year’s Brussels workshop, please see the Transatlantic Inclusion Leaders Network 2017 Workshop Report.

The Transatlantic Inclusion Leaders Network (TILN) “inspires, informs, and connects diverse young leaders to excel in elected office and other leadership roles, advance inclusive policies, and engage with senior transatlantic policymakers.” Participants are from diverse U.S. and European communities, including the Balkans, with a proven commitment to advancing diversity and inclusion best practices in their policymaking and society.

For more information on TILN, please see the Transatlantic Inclusion Leaders Network 2017 Workshop Report.

 

TILN 2016 Participants

Umut Aydin | France | Analyst, Meridiam

Delio Diaz Garcia | Spain | Secretary General, Juventudes de Unidad Progresista

Nebojša Dobrijević | Croatia | Independent Advisor, Joint Council of Municipalities

Judith Garcia | United States | City Councillor, Chelsea, Massachusetts

Diana Horvat | Serbia | Editor, Radio Televison of Vojvodina

Maryam Jamshid | Belgium | Social Council Elected Member, City of Hasselt, Flanders

Paulette Jordan | United States | State Representative, Idaho

Natascha Kabir | Germany | Green Party Faction Leader, City Parliament of Offenbach

Aroosa Khan | Netherlands | Board Member, PvdA Party, Amsterdam-East

Edin Koljenović | Montenegro | Program Coordinator, Civic Alliance

Oleksii Krasnoshchokov | Ukraine | Board President, Pidmoga.info

Hayatte Maazouza | France | Municipal Council Member, Trappes

Sammy Mahdi | Belgium | President, Work Group on Diversity, Youth, CD&V Party

Martin Mata | Czech Republic | City Council Member, Usti nad Labem

Svante L. Myrick | United States | Mayor, City of Ithaca, New York

Frances O’Donovan | Denmark | City Council Member, Fredericia

Anna Poisner | Ukraine | Counsel, Dragon Capital

Aida Salketić | Bosnia and Herzegovina | Cultural Heritage Professional

Athena Salman | United States | State Representative, Arizona

Brandon Scott | United States | City Council Member, Baltimore, Maryland

Karen Taylor | Germany | Advisor to of Member of Parliament Dr. Karamba Diaby

David Walsh | United Kingdom | International Relations Officer, Board of Deputies of British Jews

John Vargas | United States | Secretary, NALEO

Alex Yip | United Kingdom | City Councillor for Sutton New Hall, Birmingham City

Category
Country
Issue
Date
Filter Topics Open Close
Articles

Helsinki Commission Advances Human Rights, Demands f...

Oct 19, 2023

By Shannon Simrell, Senior Policy Advisor Between October 2-13, 11 Helsinki Commission staff joined approximately 1,400 representatives of OSCE participating States (pS) and civil society representatives in Warsaw, Poland in an annual review of the human rights records of OSCE States. U.S. leadership highlighted demands for accountability from Russia and Belarus for their human rights […]

screen-reader-text
Press Releases

Helsinki Commission Deeply Concerned Over Latest Ele...

Jul 27, 2022

WASHINGTON—Helsinki Commission Chairman Sen. Ben Cardin (MD) and  Co-Chairman Rep. Steve Cohen (TN-09) today expressed deep concern about an effort by the international community’s High Representative in Bosnia to impose changes on the country’s electoral system barely two months prior to general elections in early October. They issued the following joint statement: “We share the concerns […]

screen-reader-text
helsinki commission logo 368x331
Digests

Helsinki Commission Digital Digest January 2022

Jan 31, 2022

screen-reader-text
Articles

Human Rights Seminar Returns to the OSCE with a Focu...

Dec 01, 2021

By Shannon Simrell, Representative of the Helsinki Commission to the U.S. Mission to the OSCE and Dr. Mischa E. Thompson, Director of Global Partnerships, Policy, and Innovation On November 16-17, 2021, for the first time since 2017, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Right (ODIHR) held its annual Human Rights Seminar on preventing and combating violence […]

screen-reader-text
Articles

30 Years After Ovcara

Nov 19, 2021

By Robert Hand, Senior Policy Advisor On November 20, 1991, after the fall of the city of Vukovar in Croatia, militant Serb forces removed 265 ill and injured Croats from a hospital. They were taken to the nearby Ovčara farm southeast of Vukovar, where they were abused before being shot and killed, with their bodies […]

screen-reader-text
Articles

Fifteen Years of the Recommendations of Policing in ...

Nov 15, 2021

By Nathaniel Haas, Max Kampelman Fellow On November 5, 2021, the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities convened a hybrid conference commemorating the 15th anniversary of “Recommendations on Policing in Multi-Ethnic Societies.” The conference focused on continuing challenges and new perspectives related to policing in diverse societies and was attended by more than 200 participants […]

screen-reader-text
OSCE PA logo 368x331
Articles

HELSINKI COMMISSIONERS JOIN OSCE PA MEETING ON AFGHA...

Nov 09, 2021

On November 4, 2021, more than 40 members of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA) met remotely to discuss the current security challenges posed by developments in Afghanistan and the future of OSCE engagement with Afghanistan under the Taliban’s rule. Since 2003, Afghanistan has been an OSCE Partner for Cooperation and shares a border with several […]

screen-reader-text
Articles

OSCE SHDM on Digital Technology and Human Rights

Jul 26, 2021

OSCE Conference on Risks and Opportunities Posed by Digital Technologies On July 12 and 13, 2021, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) held the third Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting (SHDM) of the year, titled “Digital Technologies and Human Rights – Opportunities and Challenges.” The virtual conference included representatives from 45 OSCE […]

screen-reader-text
Statements

Cardin and Wicker Discuss July 2021 Congressional De...

Jul 21, 2021

Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I take this time to talk about the work of the U.S. Helsinki Commission in a recent opportunity we had to participate in the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. I am joined on the floor by Senator Wicker, who is the Republican chair of the Helsinki Commission. The two of us have worked […]

screen-reader-text
Press Releases

Helsinki Commission Delegation Advances Priority Iss...

Jul 15, 2021

WASHINGTON—Helsinki Commission Chairman Sen. Ben Cardin (MD) and Ranking Member Sen. Roger Wicker (MS) last week led a U.S. delegation to the 2021 OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA) Annual Session in Vienna, Austria. The assembly was the first major gathering with an in-person component since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. The 2021 […]

screen-reader-text
Statements

45th Anniversary of the U.S. Helsinki Commission

Jun 21, 2021

I take this time as the Chair of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, better known as the Helsinki Commission, as we celebrate our 45th anniversary. The Helsinki Commission is the vehicle for U.S. participation in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), representing 57 states that have come together under […]

screen-reader-text
Statements

Tribute to Erika Schlager

Jun 21, 2021

I want to acknowledge one individual who recently announced that she is retiring, Erika Schlager, after 34 years of service to the Commission and to the global community. Erika received her bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, where she graduated magna cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She […]

screen-reader-text