2.1 ensure that youth
participation, as a core priority for the Organisation based on
the Reykjavik Declaration and Reykjavik Principles for Democracy,
is mainstreamed across all sectors of the Council of Europe’s work;
2.2 integrate youth civic space as a standing item into the
Council of Europe’s human rights monitoring and co-operation programmes,
including within accession, post-monitoring and thematic review
processes;
2.3 invite relevant intergovernmental committees, including
the European Steering Committee for Youth (CDEJ) and the Joint Council
on Youth (CMJ), to draw up and strengthen standards for member States
on protecting youth civic engagement, in line with Articles 10 and
11 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ETS No. 5), and to
report regularly on their implementation;
2.4 encourage the adoption and promotion of the Revised European
Charter on the Participation of Young People in Local and Regional
Life by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council
of Europe, its own recommendations and the reference framework on
a youth perspective, and support their dissemination and implementation
at national and local levels;
2.5 strengthen the resources of the European Youth Foundation
and the European Youth Centres in order to provide support for youth-led
democratic initiatives, including in contexts where civic space
is shrinking;
2.6 promote intergovernmental exchanges of good practice on
lowering the voting age to 16, introducing youth quotas and multi-age
electoral lists, and embedding democratic civic education in formal
and non-formal settings;
2.7 enhance co-operation with other international organisations,
including the European Union, the Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the United Nations, to co-ordinate action
in monitoring and defending youth human rights, supporting civic
infrastructure and maintaining warning mechanisms for threats to
youth civic space;
2.8 ensure the effective participation of young people from
diverse backgrounds, including those from rural areas, minority
communities, diaspora and refugee populations, in Council of Europe
activities and policy processes;
2.9 make full use of the Assembly’s youth participation mechanism
and the role of youth rapporteurs to create regular and structured
opportunities for dialogue between the Committee of Ministers, the Assembly
and youth-led organisations.
