Over 100 ONE Youth Ambassadors from around Europe will come together in Brussels for a special ‘ONE Summit’ to persuade newly-elected Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to commit to the fight against extreme poverty. The Youth Ambassadors will meet with MEPs on the final ‘Lobby Day’ and ask them to sign the ONE Vote 2014 pledge. The pledge is a promise by the MEPs that they will work to bring around an end to extreme poverty.

Thanks to the work of Youth Ambassadors ahead of EU Elections, 135 MEPs have signed up to the pledge so far. This means that around a sixth of the European Parliament has already promised to keep the continent’s pro-international development agenda on track in the next five years.

The Lobby Day will kick-off the with the Youth Ambassadors rallying between the European Commission and the European Parliament – where they will stand as ONE and demand our representatives take action to bring around an end to extreme poverty.

One Youth Ambassador, LilianOjeda Sadhwani, said:

“I want to show that young people do care about politics and the EU, and we believe we have the power to change things, exactly through campaigns like ONE Vote 2014. Being able to convince MEPs to support our cause and to sign our pledge is very exciting, and getting each signature gets us one step closer to our target of signing up over half the European Parliament – it’s a great feeling.”

“Extreme poverty has been halved in the last 20 years, and could be virtually eliminated by 2030, but only if we collectively rise to the challenge.The EU as a whole is the world’s largest aid donor and it is important that development aid stays on the European Parliament’s agenda.”

Eloise Todd, International Advocacy Director of ONE, said:

“Our Youth Ambassadors have already achieved so much. They worked hard to sign up 135 of the 751 MEPs to the ONE Vote 2014 pledge and we hope to encourage more of our European representatives to sign during the ONE Summit. On June 24, the European Parliament will be taken over by over 100 youngsters who will meet up with MEPs from over 20 countries, and a multitude of parties.”

“MEPs should seize this moment to make real progress in ending extreme poverty within our lifetimes. Continuing European investment in health and agriculture, as well as efforts to tackle corruption and anonymous shell companies, benefits both people in the world’s poorest countries and us here at home.”

ENDS

Notes to editors:

About the ONE Summit
The ONE Summit is a 3-day event in Brussels which brings together over 100 Youth Ambassadors from all over Europe.

• June 22 – 23 – The Youth Ambassadors will receive training in advocacy work from keynote speakers such as Lapo Pistelli, the Italian Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Adrian Lovett, ONE’s Europe Executive Director.
• June 24 – The Youth Ambassadors start the day walking from the European Commission to the European Parliament. At the Parliament, there will be a photo opportunity with all the Youth Ambassadors and MEPs. From 10.00 until 13.00 there will be an event in the European Parliament during which the Youth Ambassadors will have numerous lobby meetings with MEPs.
• Journalist accreditation for the European Parliament can be arranged.
• Pictures of the Youth Ambassadors in action at the ONE Summit will be available upon request.

About ONE
ONE is a campaigning and advocacy organization of nearly 6 million people taking action to end extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa. Strictly non-partisan, we raise public awareness and press political leaders to combat AIDS and preventable diseases, increase investments in agriculture and nutrition, and demand greater transparency in poverty-fighting programmes. To learn more, go to ONE.org.

About ONE Youth Ambassadors
The ONE Youth Ambassadors project is a new initiative that empowers more than 120 young activists across Europe to carry out the fight against extreme poverty – campaigning locally, nationally and online. This project has been launched simultaneously in France, the UK, Germany, Belgium, Italy, and the Netherlands and runs for six months until October 2014.

For further information or for interviews with keynote speakers or with ONE Youth Ambassadors please contact Tess Uytterhoeven on +32 471 89 64 22 or [email protected]