Youth

In a world that becomes increasingly digitalised, the exercise and fulfilment of one’s own human rights become more dependent on one’s own capacities to access and utilise digital resources, and to critically engage with digital technologies and environments.

While digital environments provide people with additional opportunities of engagement and development, they also pose significant challenges to the realisation of human rights and to the development of participatory democracy.

These trends have been further accelerated by technological developments and deployments, particularly after the emergence of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) machines and tools, and the expectations raised for its development and application in all spheres of human activity and interaction.

AI technology offers humanity great possibilities, but also comes with serious potential risks to the enjoyment of human rights, the functioning of democracy, and the observance of rule of law. The Council of Europe has undertaken to address these risks in a comprehensive manner that is conducive to innovation.

Through the Reykjavik Summit Declaration (2023), the Council of Europe committed itself to playing a leading role in developing standards in the digital era in order to safeguard human rights online and offline, including by finalising, the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence.

Adopted in May 2024, the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law, became a ‘first-of-its-kind’ global legally binding instrument, designed to ensure that AI upholds common standards in human rights, democracy, and the rule of law, and to minimise the risk of those rights and principles being undermined as a result of the use of AI.

As part of this work, Council of Europe committees, intergovernmental bodies, specialised bodies and monitoring structures are considering the impact of AI on their field of activity. The document Council of Europe & Artificial Intelligence, contains an overview of the Council of Europe activities in the field of AI.

Young people are particularly concerned, both positively and negatively, by digitalisation of virtually all aspects of our societies.

This concern has been reflected extensively through the work of the youth sector of the Council of Europe, with a programme of activities that has supported young people to develop Artificial Intelligence literacy, and to engage and participate critically and autonomously in the digital era.

In December 2019, the Youth Department of the Council of Europe organised a first seminar on Artificial Intelligence and its Impact on Young People, that aimed to explore the issues, roles and possible contributions of the youth sector in ensuring that AI is used responsibly in democratic societies, and that young people have a say in this process.

The 2020 online seminar Artificial Intelligence: How can youth take part?, led to the development of the Declaration on Youth Participation in AI Governance, which explores issues, challenges and roles that stakeholders can play to secure and enable the participation of young people in AI governance processes at all levels.

Young people have continued to discuss concerns about the impact and, credibility and inclusiveness of AI at various meetings and fora, such as the Youth Action Week for Democracy (2022) and the event Confidence in Tomorrow (2024).

The increasingly central place of AI in the concerns of young people has been reflected in the programme of study sessions held at the European Youth Centres, and in other recent activities, such as the 8th Arab-European Youth Forum on Youth and Intercultural Dialogue in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, which led to the Luxor Declaration; and the training seminar on Asia-Europe on Youth, Digitalisation and Intercultural Dialogue.

In 2024, The Partnership between the European Commission and the Council of Europe in the field of youth published Insights into Artificial Intelligence and its impact on the youth sector, which provides an overview of what AI is and its impact on young people’s rights (well-being, employment, education, civic rights) and the youth sector at large.

Through the over-arching commitments of the Youth Sector Strategy 2030 – which includes a focus on Internet Governance and AI’s impact on democracy and young people – the Youth Department of the Council of Europe will continue to support young people to develop Artificial Intelligence literacy, and to engage and participate critically and autonomously in the digital era. This commitment, to addressing the impact of AI for young people’s rights, was reiterated by Joint Council on Youth at its 51st meeting (October 2024).