Authors: Svetlana Kmecová, 4.D, Mgr. L. Desiatniková, PhD., Mgr. A. Zubková

Last school year the students of our school participated in the project of the non-profit organization SEEDS called KNOW MORE. Since we worked very actively, some of our students were offered the opportunity to visit the European Parliament, the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
The visit took place at the beginning of October at the invitation of the member of the European Parliament Mr. Eugen Jurzyca. On the first day the organizers prepared a guided tour of the city and then we visited the European Parliament in Strasbourg, where we were welcomed by one of the assistants of Mr. Jurzyca. He showed us through the parliament building, where we also had the opportunity to see the main conference room, in which direct negotiations were taking place. The tour was followed by a presentation by Mr. Eugen Jurzyca, in which he explained the link of peace and democracies with the market economy. We ended the day having dinner and an informal discussion with Mr. Jurzyca.

On the second day, we visited two institutions, the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights. The Council of Europe we were showed a film about how the rule of law in Europe protects human rights and promotes democracy. The film was followed by a tour of the Council of Europe and we also looked into the meeting room. The whole building had an interesting modern design. After the tour, we moved to the European Court of Human Rights, where we took part in a very interesting discussion with the Slovak judge at the European Court Mrs. Alena Poláčková. We ended the day with a cruise on a sightseeing boat along the canals of Strasbourg which was both educational as well as entertaining and we could see this beautiful city from a different perspective.
The trip was organized by the non-profit organization SEEDS, to which we are very grateful for this wonderful trip.