The fundamental social rights of the citizens of the member states of the Council of Europe are guaranteed by the European Social Charter and its collective complaints mechanism. As a legal instrument, the Charter refers to young people as having certain rights, notably in terms of education, health and housing. There are still significant disparities, however, in the way these rights are implemented, which is why the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe has adopted a report on this issue, presented on 3 April 2019 by the co-rapporteurs Liisa ANSALA (Finland, ILDG) and Piero FASSINO (Italy, SOC).

In order to ensure that young people’s social rights are respected in practice, the Congress calls on local and regional authorities, as bodies which have competences in the social field, to consider these rights a priority for their policies. Member states are invited to ratify the Social Charter, to accept the collective complaints procedures and to involve local and regional authorities in the Social Charter monitoring mechanism. The Congress also emphasises the importance of raising youth awareness through various initiatives and co-ordinating actions at all levels of governance.

In the context of the Congress initiative "Rejuvenating Politics", youth delegates were invited to speak during the debate.

Produced in response to a request from the youth delegates, this report is a continuation of the Congress’s efforts to improve youth integration, participation and engagement at local and regional levels. Since 2014, the Congress has been committed to promoting youth participation, in particular through the “Rejuvenating politics” initiative. Youth delegates from the 47 member states are invited to participate in the debates and to exchange views with Congress members on the issues on session agendas.

• Report CG36(2019)12
• European Social Charter (Revised)
  List of youth delegates to the 36th Congress Session
• Speeches by:

- Presentation by Liisa ANSALA (Finland, ILDG), Congress o-rapporteur
- Presentation by Piero FASSINO (Italy, SOC), Congress co-rapporteur.

• Mediabox Interviews

• Videos of the debate: Lisa ANSALA & Sophia KIRCHER

*** 36th Session of the Congress ***

File 36th Session - Agenda - Videos and photos - Mediabox

At the invitation of the President of the Congress, the Congress Bureau held its meeting on 23 September 2022, in Lelystad, Flevoland, the Netherlands.

On this occasion, the Bureau had an exchange with Dutch local authorities.

The Bureau continued its discussion on the Russian Federation's war against Ukraine, endorsed the President's statements of 31 August and 5 September 2022 and issued a statement on this matter reaffirming its commitment to independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and describing these so-called referendums as a "a denial of rule of law, human rights and democracy” and called upon the Congress members to make full use of the cities4cities platform.

In view of the possible 4th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe, the Bureau approved the contribution of the Congress to the High Level Reflection Group on the future of the Council of Europe and will continue its discussions at the next Congress session.

The Bureau also took note of the situation of local and regional democracy in Türkiye, where opposition politicians including Congress former members, are in long-term detention.

The Bureau considered the forthcoming cantonal and local elections respectively in Bosnia and Herzegovina on 2 October 2022 and in Slovenia on 20 November 2022 and the Congress delegation which will participate in the observation of these elections.

The Bureau approved the agenda for the next Congress session to be held in Strasbourg from 25 to 27 October 2022.

• Abridged report of the Bureau meeting