The governmental and non-governmental members will debate together the issue of the shrinking space for youth civil society organisations; they will put their heads together to compare their vision for a new strategy for the Council of Europe youth sector for 2020-30; and they will assess the implementation of the 2018 programme of activities thus far to see how best to move forward.

Specifically, the CMJ will discuss the ways in which the space available to youth organisations is shrinking by curbs on freedom of association and speech, and new laws affecting their operation.  Anne Kraus, vice-president of the Council of Europe Conference of INGOs will present the work currently being undertaken by the Conference to strengthen and support NGOs in the member States.  Dona Kosturanova from the Youth Educational Forum in “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” will give a personal account of her experiences.

The CMJ will prepare the consultative meeting to be held in May which will explore ideas for the new Youth Agenda 2030.  How should the new strategy take on board the lessons learned from the last strategy?  What is the added value of the Council of Europe’s youth sector in addressing key challenges and gaps?  What are the most relevant tasks for a new Council of Europe youth strategy

Draft guidelines on the implementation of Committee of Ministers’ Recommendation CM/Rec(2016)7 on young people’s access to rights will be examined and adopted.  The CMJ will review the work of the high-level task force on youth work which met in February, proposing a common European youth work agenda to be drafted by 2020. 

Finally, the CMJ will pursue its examination of the consolidated text of the draft recommendation of the Committee of Ministers on supporting young refugees and migrants in transition to adulthood and decide how to move forward with this text.