Under the authority of the Committee of Ministers, the Joint Council on Youth (CMJ) will oversee the Council of Europe’s programme in the youth field and advise the Committee of Ministers on all questions within its area of competence.

Taking due account of relevant transversal perspectives, the Joint Council on Youth, within the framework of the Council of Europe policy established by the Committee of Ministers, is the youth policy-making body of the youth sector, bringing together the members of the European Steering Committee for Youth (CDEJ) and the Advisory Council on Youth (CCJ).

With this purpose, the Joint Council on Youth is instructed to:

• develop, jointly between member States and non-governmental youth organisations, standards of European youth policy with a view to submitting them, where appropriate, to the Committee of Ministers and other relevant bodies of the Council of Europe;
• prepare the priorities and expected results of the youth sector and apportion the budgetary means available in the political and budgetary framework established by the Committee of Ministers;
• establish the youth sector’s structure and policy for its programme in particular through the Strasbourg and Budapest European Youth Centres and the European Youth Foundation;
• contribute to the effective mainstreaming of youth policies into the Council of Europe’s programme of activities;
• contribute to the cross-cutting activities of the Council of Europe that concern youth;
• evaluate as necessary the implementation of Resolution CM/Res(2008)23 on the Council of Europe policy in the field of youth (Agenda 2020) and develop a new strategic document on its youth policy for the period 2020-2030;
• where appropriate, contribute to the preparation of the Council of Europe Conferences of Ministers responsible for Youth and ensure, as appropriate, that any decisions taken by the Committee of Ministers subsequent to the Conferences are followed up;
•  identify opportunities for input and/or complementary measures and programmes by the Council of Europe into the activities of other international organisations, in particular the European Union and the United Nations;
• take due account of a gender perspective, to building cohesive societies, and to promoting and protecting the rights of persons with disabilities in line with the Council of Europe Disability Strategy 2017-23 in the performance of its tasks;
• implement the youth-related elements of the Council of Europe’s thematic and country-specific action plans as necessary.

Pillar:  Democracy

Sector:  Promoting Participation and Diversity

Programme: Youth for Democracy

• Access to rights: support young people’s access to rights by promoting the implementation of the relevant Committee of Ministers’ standards in this field with special emphasis on: Recommendation CM/Rec(2016)7 on young people’s access to rights, Recommendation CM/Rec(2015)3 on the access of young people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods to social rights (ENTER Recommendation), and Recommendation CM/Rec(2010)7 on the Council of Europe Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education.
• Youth participation and youth work: support youth participation and youth work as a way of increasing the possibilities for all young people to contribute actively to society in their living environment with special emphasis on: the implementation of relevant Council of Europe standards, including Recommendation CM/Rec(2017)4 on youth work, Recommendation Rec(2006)14 on citizenship and participation of young people in public life, Congress Resolution 152 (2003) on the revised European Charter on the Participation of Young People in Local and Regional Life.
• Inclusive and peaceful societies: support young people’s capacities to promote peaceful and inclusive societies notably through youth and education-policy measures which prevent and counter hate speech on-line, building on the lessons learnt from, and best practice identified through, the No Hate Speech Movement.

The members of the European Steering Committee for Youth (CDEJ) and the members of the Advisory Council on Youth (CCJ).

The Council of Europe will bear the travel and subsistence expenses of each member (two in the case of the State whose representative has been elected Chair).

Participants:

The participants in the European Steering Committee for Youth (CDEJ) and the Advisory Council on Youth (CCJ), without the right to vote and at the charge of their corresponding administrative budgets

Observers:

The observers in the European Steering Committee for Youth (CDEJ) and the Advisory Council on Youth (CCJ), without the right to vote and without defrayal of expenses;

The “Pool of European Youth Researchers” (PEYR), co-operating with the Council of Europe Youth Department and the European Commission in the framework of their partnership in the field of youth, will be invited to send a representative without the right to vote. The expenses of this representative are borne by the Council of Europe in derogation from Resolution CM/Res(2011)24 on intergovernmental committees and subordinate bodies, their terms of reference andworking methods.

Meetings:

80 members, 2 meetings in 2018, 1.5 days

80 members, 2 meetings in 2019, 1.5 days

The meetings of the CMJ are held during the meetings of the CDEJ and CCJ.

The Committee will also appoint a Gender Equality Rapporteur and a Rapporteur on Roma¹ Issues from amongst its members.

The rules of procedure of the Committee are governed by Resolution CM/Res(2011)24 on intergovernmental committees and subordinate bodies, their terms of reference and working methods.

^[1] The term “Roma and Travellers” is used at the Council of Europe to encompass the wide diversity of the groups covered by the work of the Council of Europe in this field: on the one hand a) Roma, Sinti/Manush, Calé, Kaale, Romanichals, Boyash/Rudari; b) Balkan Egyptians (Egyptians and Ashkali); c) Eastern groups (Dom, Lom and Abdal); and, on the other hand, groups such as Travellers, Yenish, and the populations designated under the administrative term “Gens du voyage”, as well as persons who identify themselves as Gypsies. The present is an explanatory footnote, not a definition of Roma and/or Travellers.