In October 2021, the Joint Council on Youth took the decision to initiate a youth campaign to revitalise democracy in Europe. The campaign is planned for March-October 2022 and connects with the 50th anniversary of the youth sector in the Council of Europe. The campaign aims to increase young people’s role in the process of revitalising participatory democracy in the Council of Europe and restore mutual trust between young people and democratic institutions and processes. It will focus on three key themes: revitalising democracy, meaningful youth participation and digitalisation.

The inception seminar was organised to start the preparations for the campaign. It was held in Strasbourg between 23 and 25 November 2021 and gathered main stakeholders in the youth sector, all prospective partners, and activists in the upcoming campaign. The participants discussed the key themes of the campaign and their relevance for young people, further developed the campaign strategy and gave valuable feedback to the proposed communication strategy and made proposals for activities to be held in the framework of the campaign at European, national, and local level. Their proposals, together with proposals stemming from other meetings, will be put forward to the Campaign Steering Committee. 

The seminar proved that the theme is actual for young people and their organisations, the concerns highlighted by the Secretary General 2021 report and the Joint Council on Youth outline of the campaign being mirrored in the discussions of the seminar. In addition to this, participants added the two dimensions of concern and action in respect to social and economic barriers faced by young people and their impact on their participation with democratic processes and questions about intergenerational solidarity and justice. Participants also highlighted possible themes of campaigning such as ensuring a legal framework for youth participation structures, lowering the voting age to 16 and lowering the age when one can stand in elections. They highlighted the importance of education for democratic citizenship and political education at local and national level proposing this to be another theme of campaigning, capitalising on already existing work done by the Council of Europe.

The proposed slogan for the campaign “Democracy here. Democracy now” with its declinations for each of the thematic months of action was well received by the participants, as well as the proposed campaign strategy. Further work is due to make sure that the visuals and the templates are accessible and easy translatable into other languages. The participants proposals reflect the desire to run a democratic campaign that showcases young people being able to initiate and lead public discussions about the state of our democracies, discussions that are inclusive of everyone concerned. In this sense, their proposals for structures and features of the campaign reflect this desire to allow for a youth-led campaign where the Council of Europe provides the framework. Equally clear is that the campaign should put effort into promotion of the already existing standards, tools and resources developed by the Council of Europe and avoid duplication. This will also allow coherence with the 50th anniversary of the youth sector in the Council of Europe. 4

Campaigning at European level with the Council of Europe also allows youth organisations and initiatives to become better connected with other services of the institution. In terms of activities, the focus is placed on local and national activities on the three themes with the support of the European Youth Foundation and from other sources. The activities proposed reflect the wealth of youth work and non-formal education. To support this work at national and local level participants proposed that the website of the campaign acts as a hub for information, practice sharing and action and that a campaign toolkit supports the work of activists. The participants also proposed that the Youth Event becomes a Youth Democracy Festival held in Strasbourg and in parallel locations in Europe turning into a celebration of democracy and youth participation. This reminds us that a youth campaign for democracy should be youthful, just like democracies are as they need to constantly renew themselves to be actual. A youthful campaign, participants reminded, should also be one where participatory arts and leisure activities are incorporated allowing for different forms of expression and enjoyment. Democracy might be a commitment, it might be in danger, but revitalization should also remind society that the process of democratization holds the possibility of hope and joy.

The report of the seminar is available at https://bit.ly/3DbNYMp