The Youth Peace Camp 2025 is the flagship initiative of the Council of Europe’s Youth sector. In 2025, it was organised by the Council of Europe and the Cyprus Youth Board under the Presidency of Malta on 1-9 July at the European Youth Centre Strasbourg. It united 55 young participants from conflict-affected regions of the European continent.

The Youth Peace Camp fosters dialogue and peacebuilding through human rights education and intercultural learning. The camp creates a space for young people to engage in interpersonal dialogue with peers from “the other side” of conflicts, developing critical competences for peacebuilding through experiential learning.

The Sub-Committee on Refugee and Migrant Children and Young People of the Parliamentary Assembly held a dedicated dialogue with representatives from the Council of Europe’s Youth Sector on the importance of including youth perspectives in PACE's work and deliberations and enhancing youth participation in policy making.

The exchange concluded with a clear message: Young people are not disengaged from Democracy; they are active and committed, but often excluded or their needs overlooked. Institutions must move beyond symbolic consultation and towards genuine inclusion and power-sharing. Investing in youth participation, removing systemic barriers, and fostering intergenerational trust and dialogue are essentials.

As part of the Summer Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media dedicated a session to the theme 'Young People for Democracy: Youth Perspectives in Action'. The session emphasised the crucial role of young people in protecting and promoting democratic values throughout Europe.

Youth rapporteurs representing various PACE committees stressed that young voices should be heard, and that young people should be actively involved in the work of PACE, from drafting reports and engaging in debates to participating in decision-making. As a direct outcome of the session, a new PACE report on youth-led movements for democracy will be drafted; the findings will be debated during the Autumn 2025 session of PACE, with the active involvement of young people.

On 30 June 2025 the Social Inclusion Committee of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities approved the revised text of the European Charter on the participation of young people in local and regional life. The text is to be discussed and adopted in the Congress session in October 2025.

In February, the Youth Department of the Council of Europe and the Congress organised the European youth conference, Young people in local and regional life: democracy in action! in Braga, Portugal. The conference brought together about 100 youth representatives, as well as representatives of local authorities from Council of Europe member states. An occasion to learn from good practices of youth democratic participation and to take part in the consultations on the revision of the Charter.

From 21 to 25 July 2025, the Compass National Training Course on Human Rights Education took place in Lviv, the European Youth Capital 2025.

The course was designed to support the implementation of human rights education (HRE) and education for democratic citizenship (EDC) in both formal and non-formal educational settings. Throughout the 5-day programme 24 youth workers, teachers, and educators from all regions of Ukraine enhanced their competencies to apply the Compass: Manual for Human Rights Education with Young People.

The training course was organised by the Centre for Educational Initiatives and the Donetsk Youth Debate Centre , in cooperation with the Council of Europe Youth Department and the European Wergeland Centre, with expert support from the Council of Europe project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase IV.” The Ministry of Youth and Sports and Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine were partners of the activity.

More than 40 representatives of higher education institutions, youth centres, civil society organisations and youth councils of different regions of Ukraine discussed the programme of the new discipline for higher education institutions from 27 to 28 June 2025 at the Lutsk National Technical University.

Participants learned about the experience of developing and implementing the training programme “Participatory Youth Policy” by the Council of Europe and partners in 2023-2024. This programme accords with the Model General Short-Term Professional Development Programme "Participatory Youth Policy" that was approved by the National Agency of Ukraine on Civil Service.

In July, the European Youth Foundation staff visited several projects that were supported by international activity and annual work plan grants, where young leaders and youth workers from across the continent learned how their ideas can be supported by the Council of Europe and turned into action for democracy and human rights:

• No Hate Speech Network “Changing Narratives: Taking Action against Hate” Conference in Slovakia
• YFOEE “Youth Policy Academy – Engage, Connect, Empower” in Hungary
• FEMYSO “The Essentials of Organisational Sustainability in Youth Work”, in Italy
• FYEG “One for all, all for one – OUT rights”, in Poland

Over 40 representatives from member organisations of the European Youth Card Association (EYCA) gathered in Pristina for the 41st International Conference and General Assembly of the Association.

The Council of Europe was represented by Tobias Flessenkemper, Head of Youth, who delivered a video message on the occasion of the event. In it, he praised the long-lasting partnership between EYCA and the Council of Europe in the form of the Partial Agreement on Youth Mobility through the Youth Card.

Mr Flessenkemper mentioned the forthcoming 10th Conference of ministers responsible for youth (Malta, 8-9 October 2025) in which EYCA will take part, as well as in a special side event that will mark the joint achievements over the last decades of both partners.