Bringing the youth perspective to the Council of Europe’s work is one of the Advisory Council’s main tasks. The Parliamentary Assembly, the Organisation’s democratic forum for debate, is composed of members of parliament of the 47 member states. Through co-operation with the Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), the Advisory Council can contribute to the shaping of policies that respond to the needs of Europe’s young people.
In recent months, the Advisory Council has co-operated with several PACE committees and provided its input on the following reports:
- More participatory democracy to tackle climate change, Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy (examination third part of the 2021 session);
- Human rights violations in Belarus require an international investigation, Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights (adopted as amended at the second part of the 2021 session);
- Strengthening the role of young people in the prevention and resolution of conflicts, Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media (examination Standing Committee, May 2021).
In addition, Advisory Council members took part in:
- a hearing on The impact of COVID19 pandemic on education and culture, Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media;
- a hearing on Addressing inequalities in access to environmental rights, Committee on Equality and NonDiscrimination;
- an exchange on the future activities of the SubCommittee on Refugee and Migrant Children and Young People.
This successful co-operation between the PACE and the Advisory Council may now bear further fruit. 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 motion pinpoints the under-representation of young people in institutional political processes and policymaking and the various obstacles to their participation. The motion urges the Parliamentary Assembly to seek more structured avenues of involving organised youth in a meaningful way in its activities, for example by means of a political partnership with the Council of Europe Advisory Council of Youth. In this way, the Assembly, which itself incorporates only four representatives and 12 substitutes under the age of 30 in its current composition (2.3%), would allow young Europeans to have a say on matters that impact them.
Watch this space to follow progress of this motion!
