Council of Europe finally recognises lack of rights for young people, but still no legally binding instrument

Brussels, 17 January 2014 // The European Youth Forum welcomes the Committee of Ministers’ reply to the Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 2015 (PACE rec 2015). Two years after the Committee of Ministers first discussed the promotion of rights of young people, it has finally recognised the need to pay more attention to the challenges that young people face in accessing and fully enjoying their rights.
The European Youth Forum, which has been advocating for the recognition of youth rights, welcomes the Committee of Ministers’ constructive approach. However, the Forum argues that the Committee has missed a huge opportunity to push forward innovative binding and non-binding measures. It did not accept PACE’s call for a legally binding instrument on youth rights, but instead puts emphasis on the use of existing instruments. The Committee also rejects PACE’s proposal to establish a specific ombudsperson to defend the rights of young people.

The European Youth Forum particularly welcomes the Committee of Ministers’ plans to draft a recommendation on ensuring young people access their rights and on considering innovative ways to empower young people in doing this.

Other positive steps towards a better promotion of youth rights, fully supported by the Forum and endorsed by the Committee of Ministers, include:

• The enhancement of the role of national ombudspersons;

• The highlighting of young people’s access to rights in the youth department review of national youth policy;

• The increased cooperation between different sectors in the Council of Europe on youth issues.

Peter Matjašič, President of the European Youth Forum, comments: “It is good to see, after strong advocacy from the European Youth Forum, that the Council of Europe is taking steps in the right direction on giving young people full access to their rights. However, more could have been done to enhance youth rights across Europe and we are disappointed not to have seen more of PACE’s recommendations taken on board.

“We remain keen to work closely with the Council of Europe in promoting a genuine rights based approach to youth policy and in pushing forward concrete ways to better promote youth rights. At the same time, we will keep advocating for innovative measures able to respond to the huge need to improve young people’s access to their rights, especially in times of financial and political crisis.”
Notes to the editor:

The Committee of Ministers reply is published here.

The Committee of Ministers reply was in response to the Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 2015 (2013) published here.

About the European Youth Forum

The European Youth Forum (YFJ) is the platform of youth organisations in Europe. Independent, democratic, youth-led, it represents 99 National Youth Councils and international youth organisations from across the continent. The Forum works to empower young people to participate actively in society to improve their own lives, by representing and advocating their needs and interests and those of their organisations towards the European Union, the Council of Europe and the United Nations. For more information, visit www.youthforum.org