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DG Democracy
Directorate of Democratic Participation
Youth Department
THINK YOUTH No 74 - October 2019
41st meeting of the Joint Council on Youth (CMJ)
15-16 October 2019, Strasbourg

The CMJ’s 41st meeting was a moment to take stock of numerous key achievements during its 2018-19 mandate, which enabled to the Council of Europe to engage young people with the Organisation’s values, and to celebrate winning the Bronze World Future Policy Award 2019 (see separate news). The CMJ also approved the draft Council of Europe youth sector strategy 2030, which will provide policy guidance and a broad political roadmap for the next 10 years, and agreed to transmit it to the Committee of Ministers for further examination and possible final adoption.
Ad hoc high-level task force finalizes its work and proposes future measures
Bonn, Germany, 3-4 October 2019

During its fourth and final meeting the Ad hoc high-level task force agreed that the energy and dynamics in the youth work community of practice since the adoption of the CM Recommendation (2017)4 on youth work and the supporting political momentum in the European institutions and in member states had confirmed a strong interest in youth work, and high expectations towards a European Youth Work Agenda.

The task force presented its final report and recommendations to the Joint Council on Youth, which accepted and endorsed the recommendations in its 41st meeting.
Welcoming our local partners
A Living Library in the European Youth Centre Strasbourg
As part of its human rights education programme, the European Youth Centre Strasbourg welcomed some 30 local partners on 26 and 27 September for training on the organisation of a Living library.  The day before, a day of follow-up was offered to participants of the local training that took place in 2018.
The World Future Policy Award
On Friday, 11 October 2019, the World Future Council announced that the 2019 Future Policy Bronze Award had been conferred on the Council of Europe’s co-management system in the youth field.

This prestigious award recognised the Council of Europe’s cutting-edge youth co-management system as one of the world’s best policies to empower young people. It is also an encouragement for all member states and stakeholders to promote the Council of Europe’s youth policy standards for the benefit of all young people in Europe.
Assistance to member states to help develop youth policy
At its 63rd meeting on 14 October 2019, the European Steering Committee for Youth (CDEJ) welcomed the successful implementation of the 2019 youth policy assistance measures in Cyprus, Armenia and Georgia. The CDEJ also agreed on the intergovernmental programme of activities for 2020, which will include a youth policy advisory mission and 50/50 training for Georgia, as well as a generous offer from the Slovak Republic to host a “Summer University on Youth Policy”.
¡SÍ PODEMOS!
We CAN! is now available in Spanish.

CONAPRED (the National Council for Prevention of Discrimination), national coordinator of the No Hate Speech Movement campaign in Mexico has just published the Spanish version of We CAN!, the manual for Taking Action against Hate Speech through Counter and Alternative Narratives.
Exploratory visit of the Quality Label expert team in Kasterlee, Belgium
18 September, de Hoge Rielen Youth Centre

De Hoge Rielen Youth Centre was visited by the expert team to assess its eligibility for the Council of Europe Quality Label for Youth Centres.

The centre applied for the Quality Label in 2017 aspiring to be a role model in the field of non-formal, citizenship- and human rights education. The youth centre, located in the Flemish countryside, offers pedagogical youth programmes, quality youth work and accommodation for young people based on environmental nature education.
Quality Label end of term visit to CEULAJ
26-27 September, Mollina, Spain

The Euro-Latin-American Youth Centre (CEULAJ) was awarded the Quality Label for Youth Centres in 2016.
The purpose of the visit was to learn more about CEULAJ recent developments and to follow up on the recommendations given at the time by the Council of Europe expert team on the fulfilment of the 15 quality criteria. The centre hosts a large variety of activities for young people and is the home for the University on Youth and Development, a global youth event co-organised with the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe. At its 63rd meeting on 14 October, the CDEJ took the decision to prolong the label for the centre for an additional period of two years. Currently 13 youth centres across Europe hold the Council of Europe Quality Label for Youth Centres.
Raoul Wallenberg Cube Project at the EYCB
60 students participated in this creative human rights workshop

Students from the Hungarian high schools of Székesfehérvár and Szolnok took part in a workshop hosted at the European Youth Centre of Budapest and organised jointly with the Swedish Embassy.

The training workshop was the kick-off event of this year’s Cube Project a unique human rights initiative by the Raoul Wallenberg Academy in Sweden. The students will create their human rights-themed installations in the coming months using as inspiration their experiences from this workshop.
The EJHA Network of Human Rights Educators
2nd annual conference at the European Youth Centre Budapest

Since its foundation in 2017, the EJHA network of human rights educators has been actively involved in a wide variety of activities in Hungary aimed at strengthening the practice of human rights education, including trainings for teachers and trainers, national seminars, and online library, and two large-scale conferences focusing on human rights education and education for democratic citizenship.
The Youth for Democracy Programme has been supporting the work of EJHA since its inception through the local outreach programme of the EYCB.
The conference held on 12 October at the EYCB brought together over 100 practitioners in human rights education from across Hungary to take part in several workshops, a best-practices fair, and hold discussions on the main topic of this year’s conference: quality control in non-formal human rights education activities.
Upcoming activities
  • 29 - 30 October, Killarney Youth Centre, Killarney, Ireland, End of term evaluation visit of the Quality Label Expert Group
  • 5-8 November, 7th Euro-Arab Youth Forum, European Youth Centre Budapest
  • 11-16 November, Study session in co-operation with Youth and Environment Europe (YEE): ‘’Fighting for a Greener Digital Future: Strengthening Youth Participation in Internet Governance’’, European Youth Centre Budapest
  • 11-15 November, Study session in co-operation with the FEANTSA Youth, ILGA-Europe & True Colors Fund; ‘’Building Bridges: How the LGBTIQ and Homeless Sector can work together”, European Youth Centre Budapest 
  • 11-15 November, Study session in co-operation with VYRE & ETUC: ‘’Young unionists and migrants: Mutual learning for guaranteeing fundamental rights at work for all’’, European Youth Centre Strasbourg
  •  14-15 November, Enlarged meeting of the Joint Council on Youth drafting group charged with drafting a Committee of Ministers’ recommendation on protecting youth civil society organisations and young people, and supporting their participation in democratic processes, European Youth Centre Strasbourg
  • 22-29 November, Evaluation seminar of the Youth.Together Long Term Training Course, European Youth Centre Budapest 
  • 25-29 November, Internet Governance Forum, Berlin, Germany 
  • 27-28 November, Youth Partnership: ‘’Strengthening the potential of youth work in Eastern Europe and Caucasus’’, Tbilisi, Georgia
  •  4-6 December, European Youth Centre Strasbourg, seminar on: "Artificial Intelligence and its impact on Young People"
Useful links
The CoE Directorate General Democracy
The CoE Youth Portal
European Youth Centre Budapest
European Youth Centre Strasbourg
European Youth Foundation
Intergovernmental Cooperation
The EU-CoE Youth Parthership
Facebook pages
Advisory Council on Youth
Council of Europe - Youth
European Youth Centre Budapest
EU-CoE youth partnership
European Youth Foundation
No Hate Speech Movement
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