Nothing About Us Without Us: Inside the Council Giving Arctic Youth a Voice

We were extremely lucky. From all that I had heard, the weather in Reykjavik was never this sunny for this many consecutive days - especially in October. We had arrived to join both the Arctic Circle Assembly as well as the Barents Regional Youth Council’s (BRYC) Board meeting. Normally you wouldn’t have BRYC meetings in Reykjavik, but as Board members were already joining the assembly, it was only natural to move the meeting to the beautiful Icelandic landscape as well.

The Assembly itself was a huge event. Over 2500 people all over the globe had gathered together in countless seminars, panel discussions and events to share their ideas and look for collaboration in such themes as climate change, Indigenous Peoples, geopolitics and security - and of course the Arctic youth. The Harpa building in downtown Reykjavik served as the conference site and was bustling with activity. Everywhere you looked you could see people having a chat in little circles, working on their laptops, taking hasty steps to be in time for the next session, or presenting the next big idea.

I was behind tens or hundreds of people in a queue waiting for my conference pass with Ole Martin Nygård, a 21-year-old Board member of the BRYC from Norway. We missed our opportunity to be early in the queue, because in the morning we attended the Norwegian breakfast organized by the Embassy of Norway in the upper floors of Harpa. There Ole Martin gave a speech about BRYC to a room full of different stakeholders from all across Norway. While eyeing out how long we still have to wait, he told me about how he ended up in the Regional Youth Council in the first place. He had a good childhood in the northern Norwegian town of Harstad, always enjoying school and playing football.

“I always knew I had opportunities for my future, and I wish this is something that everybody has”, he told me. His drive for better tomorrow brought him to the local youth council already as young as seven years old, and he has since been involved. “I love being able to help society by pointing in the direction that is in the best interest of my and fellow youths' future.” We talked about his childhood memories of going fishing with his grandpa in Harstad, and how they always caught so big fish that it’s difficult to comprehend for my Finnish mind. He promised to take me with them if I one day end up there. It seems there’s no rush for that, as Ole Martin plans to raise his kids in Harstad too, one day.

The days at Harpa were long with programs starting early in the morning and continuing almost until midnight. For me it was clear that I wouldn’t get through those days without a nap in between. As I was returning to the hotel for a well-earned pause, I ran into Klajdi Dedej who was just dragging his luggage to the elevator. Currently the Chair of BRYC he had landed in Reykjavik in the strongest wind I had ever experienced. Despite the long travel day from Umeå and a few scary moments in the plane, he was in good spirits and about to get ready for the Arctic Youth reception that was scheduled in Harpa later that evening. We had met last time in Bodø a few weeks ago when he was busy organizing the annual Generation Barents event.

Being interested in human rights and studying law, he has been active in his local student organizations. Then only a year ago he heard about BRYC for the first time and was now already chairing the whole organization. He has really enjoyed being part of BRYC as it fits perfectly his visions and ways of working and thinking. “As a young person from the region, I’m engaged in these topics and eager to contribute to my future. I saw BRYC as a crucial platform to get involved in decision-making for my future”, he told me. But studying for a degree and simultaneously working in the health care sector brings some scheduling problems, as work in the Youth Council is ultimately voluntary and no one gets paid. Working passionately for your future can sometimes mean prioritizing over other things in life, and that is definitely a challenge. “I have taken multiple days off work now in order to participate in this volunteer work, that is the reality. I lose my personal money that way.”

The last night of the Arctic Circle was chaotic. Everyone aimed to party together, but it ended in classic chaos—scattered everywhere. We had good laughs on the streets of Reykjavik, and I ended up putting up a whole show in the one karaoke place we happened to find. While dancing at the club in the small hours of the night, I was thinking how we have to wake up early to have an actual Board meeting in the morning. But that’s how it is for young people: late nights and early mornings. Next day we hugged each other and shared memories from last night. Everybody was slightly out of place and there was general tiredness in the air which I found sympathetic. Ready for action, we hopped in a car, grabbed morning coffees from a gas station and started driving towards the geysirs.

On the way we stopped at Þingvellir, a place where the boundary between Eurasian and North American tectonic plates have made a rift - a place between the East and the West. There I finally got to chat a little bit with Onni-Lenni Vasunta, the Finnish representative in the BRYC Board. Strongly rooted in Suomussalmi, he also radiated a drive to develop his home region: “Instead of endless talks, I like to do things, to make the change actually happen”. As someone who loves to travel, he is really into the international cross-border cooperation that comes with BRYC. “I think I’ve learned a lot of English!” Onni-Lenni laughed, “And I’ve learned to be independent. My first time ever travelling alone was because of BRYC.” Travelling and working together all across the Arctic has made Onni-Lenni some life-long friendships. In one of the Board meetings in Skellefteå he didn’t know anybody at first and had to share a room with another “Brycer” who was a total stranger for him. “After 24 hours we were like best friends! Still to this day we chat with each other daily”, he reminisced.

We finally arrived at the meeting place in a dream-like soft snowfall next to the mighty Geysir shooting boiling hot water tens of meters in the sky. The main task for the meeting was to prepare the proposal of the Barents Youth Program for the next Council meeting. Building on proposals made by youth all across the region in Generation Barents, and with the help of Youth and Indigenous Adviser Jens Kristian Øvstebø from the International Barents Secretariat, BRYC Board members delved into serious deliberations about the future. “There’s a lot of insecurity”, said Klajdi, “in the bigger picture, we don’t know how the Barents Cooperation will continue”. Onni-Lenni pointed out how the youth is always said to be the future of the region. “But we are not, we are here right now!” he added. Youth seem to always be an afterthought, at the end of the program, and sadly, they are not surprised anymore. Ole Martin made a bold statement for the future: “Nothing about us without us.”

After the darkness fell at the end of a long day of working together with enormous topics of the future of youth and northern regions in general, we hopped back into the car to head back to Reykjavik. While Jens was focusing on the slippery roads and making sure our route is not blocked by a full day of snowfall, me and the Brycers focused on having snacks and some good laughs together. Ole Martin was once again reminiscing how he met the Alaska Senator Lisa Mukowski from the US at the Arctic Circle Assembly. He said that one of the skills he has learned in BRYC was how to approach people who hold high positions in government or business. “So tells us, Ole Martin, how do you say ‘hi’ to an US Senator?”, I asked jokingly. “LISA! LISA! LISA!”, he answered and we all had another big laugh together.

Now the atmosphere was relaxed and relieved, something you have after a hard push and overcoming challenges together. Watching how the headlights of our car lighted up the dark road ahead of us in the snow, I was thinking of us, here, together. During our time in Iceland I found that I had grown close to these passionate young leaders. I felt like this must be the true spirit of BRYC.