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

Whilst in Athens for the 2022 Summit of Mayors against Antisemitism the President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, Leendert Verbeek, conducted a series of meetings with the Greek authorities. The President met with Miltiadis Varvitsiotis, the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Kostas Bakoyannis, the Mayor of Athens, as well as with Georgios Patoulis, the Vice-President of the Association of Greek Regions and governor of the Attica region and Dimitrios Papastergiou, the President of the Central Union of Greek Municipalities.

Leendert Verbeek was accompanied by the Head of the Greek delegation, Konstantinos Koukas, Vice-president of the Chamber of Local Authorities and thematic spokesperson for the South Mediterranean Partnership.

In these dialogues, the President and the various Greek authorities discussed the importance of the local and regional dimension of the work of the Council of Europe in the field of human rights, democracy and the rule of law in order to obtain tangible results closer to the citizens. They also referred to the 4th Summit of Heads of State and Government on the future of the Council of Europe, to be held in May 2023 in Reykjavik, as an historic opportunity to renew democracy and strengthen human rights on the European continent.

President Verbeek welcomed the active participation of the members of the Greek delegation in the work of the Congress. He called on the Greek authorities to extend the implementation of the European Charter of Local Self-Government and, in particular, to ratify its Additional Protocol on the right to participate in the affairs of a local authority.

As part of the 2022 Summit of Mayors Against Antisemitism, President Verbeek also held meetings with Robert Singer, President of the Centre for Jewish Impact and several mayors attending the Summit including the mayors of Athens and New York. In these meetings, participants shared their experiences in combating antisemitism and other forms of hatred and discussed the development of new approaches to dealing with these issues.

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