At its 50th meeting, on 9-10 April at the European Youth Centre in Budapest, the CMJ agreed on a draft recommendation of the Committee of Ministers to member States on young people and climate action. The recommendation will next be presented to the Committee of Ministers Rapporteur group on Education, Culture, Sport, Youth and Environment for examination.
The CMJ initiated its focus on young people’s right to a healthy environment through a thematic debate organised in June 2020. At its 46th meeting (March 2022) the CMJ agreed to draft a Committee of Ministers Recommendation under the working title of “climate crisis, young people, and democracy”, which would propose policy guidelines and measures to member States to ensure young people can play a meaningful role in policy and decision-making processes in climate-related issues.
The decision of the Joint Council on Youth was made on the same day as the historic ruling of the European Court of Human Rights on the case Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz and Others v. Switzerland. The case was brought by four women concerned about the consequences of global warming on their living conditions and health. The Court found violations of Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) and Article 6 § 1 (access to court) of the European Convention on Human Rights due to Switzerland’s failure to implement sufficient measures to combat climate change. The Court found the applications in two other cases, Carême v. France, and Duarte Agostinho and Others v. Portugal and 32 Others, to be inadmissible.
During its meeting, the Joint Council on Youth discussed a broad range of issues regarding the youth sector. Amongst others, the CMJ reviewed a draft recommendation on rural youth, discussed a reform of the European Youth Foundation, adopted a roadmap for the implementation of Committee of Ministers recommendation CM/Rec(2023)4 on Roma youth participation, and approved the methodology for the upcoming mid-term review of the Council of Europe youth sector strategy 2030.
