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

“We in the Congress are convinced that decentralised cross-border co-operation is a crucial factor for territorial development and territorial cohesion on our continent”, stated Thomas Andersson (Sweden, ILDG), Chair of the Current Affairs Committee of the Congress, speaking at the Annual Conference of the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR) on “New solutions for the future of cross-border regions”, in Novi Sad, Serbia, on 29 September 2022.

In his speech, Mr. Andersson highlighted the Congress’ contributions to territorial co-operation, presenting good practices and Congress recommendations regarding cross-border cooperation and making particular reference to the Congress resolutions on “Prospects for effective transfrontier co-operation in Europe” and “Inter-regional co-operation in Europe: trends and prospects”.

Mr Andersson also drew attention to the importance of youth as a generator of change, in line with the conference’s focus on youth participation in cross-border cooperation. “Promoting young people’s engagement in building transborder communities is certainly one solution to guaranteeing the future of cross-border regions”, he stressed.