Youth policies in the Council of Europé
Recommendation 1585
(2002)
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Text adopted by the Standing Committee,acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 18 November 2002 (see Doc. 9617, report of the Committee on Culture,Science and Education, rapporteur: Mrs Agudo).
- Thesaurus
1. The Parliamentary Assembly reaffirms the
importance of young people for the future of Europe. The Council of Europe
should therefore consider them as resources and not as a source of problems.
Young people should be partners in all the Organisation’s activities.
2. Since 1968 and the establishment of the European Youth Centre in
Strasbourg, the Assembly has drawn attention to the importance of youth
participation in institutional and political life in its reports on: group
participation by young people (1975), youth co-operation in Europe (1980),
participation of young people in political and institutional life (1985), youth
representation at national level (1990), the European Youth Centre in Budapest
(1996) and European youth co-operation and recent proposals for structural
change (1998).
3. The Assembly acknowledges the major role played by
youth organisations in the opening up of central and eastern Europe and the
promotion of the Council of Europe’s ideals, in particular in the campaign
against racism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia and intolerance, and recalls the
importance of their present involvement in the Euro-Mediterranean youth
dialogue.
4. It is aware that only a small percentage of young
people are organised in a traditional manner. However, not only the members of
youth organisations enjoy the benefits of their work, but also large numbers of
other young people. In 1980 the Assembly was already stressing the importance
of also involving young people who did not belong to recognised youth
organisations. In 1998 it considered that fresh efforts were needed to identify
and reach a larger audience of young people, particularly those from
disadvantaged backgrounds, in order to involve them in the Council of Europe’s
activities. In 2002 it took note of the work done in this field and encouraged
its continuation.
5. In general terms, the Assembly would like to see
a wider range of young people associated with the Council of Europe’s
activities. It realises that this does not necessarily involve using
traditional youth organisations as intermediaries. It confirms its active
support for the Democratic Leadership Programme through its Committee on
Culture, Science and Education, in co-operation with other non–governmental
organisations such as the International Institute for Democracy.
6. The Assembly wishes to encourage the establishment of local youth forums
or councils, with the support of local authorities and of national youth
parliaments, in order to include young people in the democratic decision-making
process and to prepare them for citizenship.
7. The Assembly recalls its own commitments towards young people and in particular its Orders Nos. 441 (1988) on the Assembly and young people in Europe, 454 (1990) on youth representation at national level and 523 (1996) on the situation of young people in Europe: marginalised youth. It also recalls the success of its Youth Assembly held at the seat of the Council of Europe in 1999. It wishes to increase its co-operation with the political youth organisations and the European Youth Forum.
8. It welcomes the holding in Thessaloniki,
Greece, of the 6th Conference of European Ministers responsible for Youth (7-9
November 2002) on the theme of Youth Constructing Europe.
9.
Consequently, the Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers establish
its priorities for work in the youth field in the context of a long-term
outlook on the place of young people in tomorrow’s Europe and, in particular,
to:
Methods
maintain the
principle of co-management (specific to the Council of Europe) by involving
representatives of youth organisations in the decision-making process;
consult the Advisory Council on Youth Questions on a more
systematic basis and redefine its composition to leave actual decision making
to young people alone; social workers, researchers and other experts working on
youth issues may be consulted or invited as resource persons, but should not
take part in decision making;
strengthen co-operation
between the youth sector and the other sectors of the Council of Europe,
without setting up intermediary bodies, in order to give the whole organisation
and the values it defends the full benefit of working in partnership with youth
organisations;
increase the resources of the European
Youth Foundation, with emphasis on the co-financing of projects developed by
youth organisations and networks;
New initiatives
concentrate intergovernmental co-operation in
the youth field in Europe on the exchange of good practices and the development
of youth policy concepts and content;
hold a conference
with youth organisations and political parties in 2003, to analyse the causes
of the low level of youth participation in political life and propose
solutions;
envisage resuming language courses for members
of youth organisations;
organise a new European campaign
along the lines of the European Youth Campaign against Racism: All Different,
All Equal, on a theme of interest to young people such as gender equality or
participation in civic life;
re-launch the Euro-Arab youth
dialogue;
Co-operation
encourage the setting up of
national youth councils in those member states where they do not yet exist and
similar bodies at regional and local levels, and envisage the introduction of a
youth dimension in the work of the United Nations;
encourage the opening of regional youth centres and foster the
organisation of a European network of youth centres respecting certain
standards of quality and practising an intercultural approach;
strengthen co-operation with the European Union and enlarge the
existing partnership agreement to include research, co-operation with the
Mediterranean countries and co-operation between European Union member states,
applicant states and other Council of Europe member states.
