"Environmental damage has the biggest impact on younger generations – we need to act together to stop it!" Marija Pejčinović Burić, Secretary General of the Council of Europe

The World Forum for Democracy hosted on 29 June a High-Level Dialogue between decision makers and youth delegates to provide insights into the challenges young people face in influencing the debate and response to climate crisis. We will hear from top-level speakers about what is being done to take account of their needs and include their perspectives.

World Forum for Democracy Youth Delegates

The Youth Delegation is a group of young people from 24 countries around the world, carefully selected by the Youth Department out of 420 applicants.

The WFD Youth Delegation is prepared and accompanied by a team of 4 trainers from the Trainer's Pool of the Youth Department to connect with the themes of the WFD Campaign and to actively participate in the online activities.

‘Children and youth leading the fight against climate change’ was the thematic priority of the month of June in the framework of the World Forum for Democracy 2021. The Advisory Council on Youth co-organised an on-line talk on 25 June to discuss how full participation for young people in decision making processes can be ensured..

Increasingly, the right to a healthy environment is seen as a human rights issue most dramatically impacting children and youth. Youth climate activism, however, is also a direct example of the opportunity for increasing citizen participation in agenda-setting and decision-making processes.

Young people consistently demonstrate creative and forward-looking methods of expressing the political will for climate action, but how can our governmental and institutional systems ensure these expressions are being heard and reflected in policies and actions?

Prominent speakers from all over the world took part in the Forum talk

On 8 June 2021, on the initiative of the Advisory Council on Youth (CCJ), the Joint Council on Youth (CMJ) organised a thematic debate to mark the recent fifth anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security, a text which Jayathma Wickramanayake, UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy on Youth (pre-recorded message) explained has its origins in a youth-led movement.

Across Europe and elsewhere, for many young people in Europe, protracted conflicts have become a part of normal life, a situation which, according to Inka Hopsu, Third Vice-Chairperson, Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, can be a barrier for the implementation of Resolution 2250.

Miriam Teuma, Chair of the European Steering Committee for Youth (CDEJ), spoke of the more restrictive lifestyle; limited access to education, work and services; self-isolation and social distancing which have resulted from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Youth participation is paramount to combating the democratic deficit that young people are being raised into according to Rosaline Marbinah, Special Representative on Youth & Security, OSCE.  Issues which were also touched on by Andrea Ugrinoska, Chair of the Advisory Council on Youth (CCJ) and of the Joint Council on Youth (CMJ).

This thematic debate will now inform the Advisory Council on Youth’s further work on the youth, peace and security field.

• The Youth sector strategy 2030;
• the Self-assessment tool for youth policy;
• the manuals Mirrors and Right to Remember addressing discrimination faced by young Roma and how to fight it;
• the manual Bookmarks
• Compasito on human rights education for children

• Recommendation CM/Rec(2019)4 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on supporting young refugees in transition to adulthood
• Recommendation CM/Rec(2017)4 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on youth work
• Recommendation CM/Rec (2016)7 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on young people's access to rights
• Recommendation CM/Rec(2015)3 on the access of young people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods to social rights, the ENTER! Recommendation

The Bureaux of the European Steering Committee for Youth (CDEJ) and of the Advisory Council on Youth (CCJ) took stock of the discussions on a future youth campaign, took note of the ongoing work of the task force on greening the youth sector, and explored possible options for the next plenary statutory meetings in light of the current sanitary situation.

In a discussion with the Director of Democratic Participation, the CDEJ and CCJ Bureaux highlighted the need to address what the Council of Europe Secretary General has called the democratic backsliding in Europe. A series of actions which, pending the approval of the Joint Council on Youth in October, would be organised in 2022 and centre around the state of democracy today, brought a number of ideas for a youth campaign on democracy, meaningful youth participation and digitalisation.

The Bureaux congratulated the Advisory Council on Youth for its intensified co-operation with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. During the second part of the 2021 session, a motion was tabled by the Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media to establish a “youth partner” status with the Parliamentary Assembly.

The Programming Committee on Youth (CPJ) establishes and monitors the programmes of the European Youth Foundation (EYF) and the European Youth Centres (Strasbourg and Budapest) and consists of eight government representatives and eight non-governmental youth organisations. It is part of the co-management system of the Council of Europe’s Youth Sector.

At its June meeting, decisions were made, inter alia, about the grants for international activities and annual work plans to be implemented by youth organisations in 2022, as well as study sessions to be organised in cooperation with the European Youth Centres, also in 2022. The criteria for structural support to international youth organisations or networks in 2022 and 2023 and the maximum amount of the grant for local pilot projects in 2022 were also agreed upon.

The Programming Committee has been following closely the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on both the Youth Department activities and the supported projects by youth NGOs in the field. The meeting was an opportunity to take stock of the situation, but also to cautiously start planning ahead, as 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the youth sector.