Oh, how wonderful it is to be back in London! Don’t get me wrong, it was absolutely amazing to spend a whole week in Morocco, but it always feels good to come “home”. As we would say in Swedish: “Borta bra men hemma bäst” (There is no place like home.)
So, why did I spend a week in Morocco? Well, as a part of my internship, I help out with planning and organising Liberal International’s events. Liberal International organises a lot of different events, not least about human rights and climate justice. But the global organisation also organises two Executive Committee meetings per year. The last meeting was organised in July in London, and this one, the 203rd Executive Committee meeting, happened to be held in Fès, Morocco.
I knew before I started my internship that I would have the chance to go abroad for work at some point. But little did I know that it was in fact Morocco of all places that I would have the chance to visit. I have never visited an African country before, nor have I ever attended a Liberal International event, so it is clearly an understatement to say that I was looking forward to the trip.
With long working hours, I did unfortunately not have the chance to see as much of the city as I would have wanted to, but I got to experience the amazing Moroccan food (as a vegan, I really appreciated the vegetarian dishes) and see the absolutely breath-taking architecture. And the best part of it all – I got to meet a lot of truly inspiring liberals from all around the world.
My favourite part of the event was without a doubt the meeting between Liberal International’s Human Rights Committee and human rights activists from Morocco. I got to meet gender equality experts, LGBTQ+ activists and human rights defenders.
In a country like Morocco, where it is still illegal to have premarital sex or be in a same sex relationship, human rights activists face completely different challenges than human rights activists in Finland or Europe. Therefore, it felt a bit surreal to hear about the challenges the activists in Morocco face on a daily basis. At the same time, the event could not have ended in a more inspiring, empowering way. Thank you, Liberal International and the global liberal family, for an amazing week in Morocco!
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Ida-Maria Skytte is from Vaasa, Finland. She is a member of Svensk Ungdom (Swedish Youth of Finland), and is currently doing an internship at Liberal International in London.