Young people should stand up against populism, nationalism and extremism that risk silencing their voices, says Secretary General at the opening of the Youth Action Week on Tuesday 28 June 2022.

The Council of Europe’s Youth Action Week concluded on Friday 1 July 2022 with a presentation by the participants of a call for action directed to national governments to step up the actions and policies to revitalise democracy with the participation of young people. The 450 young people who took part emphasised the need for public authorities to live up to their commitments and to effectively engage young people in “democratising democracy”.

The role of education for democratic citizenship and human rights is central to seriously involving younger generations and entrusting them with improving democratic processes. The participants also recalled that a democratic culture should guarantee diversity of opinions and possibility of dissent and peaceful protest, and that conflicts in a democratic society ought to be resolved by non-violent means.

The 50-point call for action, corresponding to the 50 years of the Council of Europe’s youth sector, is centred around the four main themes of the Youth Action week: Revitalising democracy and access to rights; Meaningful youth participation; Digitalisation, and Peacebuilding.

The final text of the 50-point call for action will be available on the Youth Sector’s website by Friday 8 July 2022.

In 1972, the Council of Europe invited young people into the organisation by establishing the ground-breaking co-managed governing structure. At the same time, the European Youth Foundation was established and has since financially supported thousands of youth-led projects for millions of young people. The European Youth Centre in Strasbourg opened its doors to young people and has since been the starting point of their advocacy work for democracy and human rights for hundreds and thousands of young people. The European Youth Centre in Budapest, the Youth Partnership with the European Commission and the intergovernmental cooperation setting youth policy standard setting complete the interconnected instruments of the Council of Europe youth sector.

The birthday was celebrated looking to the future with 450 young people during the Youth Action Week of the campaign "Democracy here -democracy now". For most of the participants this was their very first contact with the Council of Europe and their collective work is reflected in 50 Action Points to ‘democratise democracy’ on national and local levels.

The humongous birthday cake was cut in the spirit of the youth sector jointly by young participants, members of the Joint Council on Youth and the Secretariat, representatives of the City of Strasbourg, the Irish Presidency and the European Youth Forum. In her speech, Antje Rothemund, the Head of the Youth Department underlined the major contribution young people make in building a peaceful and cohesive Europe. She also stressed the important impact of previous youth sector campaigns such as the “all different- all equal campaign” against racism, antisemitism, xenophobia and intolerance or the No Hate Speech campaign, and underlined that with the Democracy here – democracy now campaign young people will once again raise awareness on a threat to our societies. She thanked all partners and staff, previous and present generations, for their commitment to human rights and democratic values and for making the voice of young people heard.

HRM King Willem Alexander of the Netherlands visited the European Youth Centre Strasbourg where he engaged in a round table discussion with young people from the Council of Europe Advisory Council on Youth (CCJ), the non-governmental partner in the co-managed decision-making system, and youth delegates from the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities.

During the visit, His Majesty the King and Franc Weerwind, the Minister for Legal Protection, had a lively and open exchange with the young people on what motivates them to participate in decision-making processes and about the unique co-management system in the Council of Europe, but also to discover what obstacles they face to their participation.

His Majesty’s visit was an opportunity for him to discover the work of the youth sector and the European Youth Centre Strasbourg and its unique architecture which symbolises the open spirit of the Council of Europe’s youth policy, and provides a unique space for young people.

The annual training course for the youth centres in the network of the Council of Europe Quality Label for Youth Centres was organised at the European Youth Centre Budapest on 13-17 June 2022. The course was attended by educational staff and youth workers from 11 labelled and candidate youth centres.

The thematic focus of this year’s training was on the impact of crisis on young people and youth centres, on creating and applying non-formal educational tools to meet new realities, and on networking and cooperation among Quality Labelled Youth Centres, with the purpose of raising the quality of youth work and services that Quality Labelled Youth Centres offer to young people.

This year’s course was a continuation of the long-term training strategy introduced in 2020 with the purpose of enabling programme coordinators and youth workers to enhance the non-formal education approach they use in their daily work and to support the development and planning of educational activities in the coming years.

The symposium was opened by Matjaž Gruden, Director of Democratic Participation at the Council of Europe and Sophia Eriksson Waterschoot, Director for Youth, Education and Erasmus+ at the European Commission, Erion Veliaj, Mayor of Tirana welcomed all participants to the European Capital of Youth.

Participants explored how large societal challenges such as Covid-19, shrinking space for civil society, economic downturn, war in Ukraine impact young people’s lives on political, economic, social and personal levels and which policy changes are needed to better support youth transitions in today’s Europe.

Have a look at the symposium website for more information about the event and watch the video to learn more about youth transitions. Stay tuned, more resources are coming soon!

On 9 June an introductory meeting for local consultants of the project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase II” was organised so they could get acquainted with the results of the study on needs and challenges of youth workers in Ukraine. 

The project of the Council of Europe “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase II” launched a call to provide support for youth centres, local communities, and youth NGOs in Ukraine in updating local programmes with the participation of young people in war time. A meeting of youth centres was organised to exchange experience of youth work during the war and further steps needed to strengthen the participation of young people, including internally displaced people. On 14 June, youth workers and youth policy makers took part in the workshop "Youth work during the war. How to make (un)usual formats meaningful and relevant to increase youth participation?".

A special course for youth workers in Ukraine on burnout prevention, compassion fatigue and psychological assistance in crisis situations is being prepared by the Ministry of Youth and Sport within the programme "Youth Worker". 

The Steering committee meeting of the project took place online on 21 June and confirmed the relevance and need to continue supporting youth work and youth centres. A revised work plan of the project was adopted to last until December 2022.

Youth participation starts at local level! Building on the need to rebuild trust with democratic processes, the project included a training course of three days for twenty students and five teachers from five high-schools in the Karlovo and Sopot municipalities about democracy and youth participation. Participants will then develop research and awareness raising activities for more young people.

Stiliyana Toncheva, 19 years old, is a volunteer of this project: “For me these projects are important because they are a great way to meet new people and go out of your comfort zone.”

Stella commented: "our project was really inclusive. We had people from Roma and Turkish ethnic minorities who face intolerance. It was a great way to make everyone feel part of the project group“. Stella also attended the Youth Action Week. “I am really proud for this opportunity to learn so many things, from so many people from different countries. This campaign is very useful because many young people are not interested in politics, they should know more”, she commented. “Youth participation is worth it, because everything is in young people’s hands!”, she concluded.

This project was supported by the European Youth Foundation, through its special call within the Campaign “Democracy Here. Democracy Now”.