Report | Doc. 13156 | 03 April 2013
Young people's access to fundamental rights
Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media
Summary
Despite the existence of several international human rights mechanisms which also apply to young people, a specific legal instrument encompassing their social, economic and political rights seems today necessary to ensure their full protection. The report therefore pleads for a framework convention at European level to improve young people’s access to fundamental rights.
The report also calls for enhanced intergenerational dialogue and more consideration of youth proposals, such as those put forward by the young people’s representatives at the 9th Conference of Ministers responsible for Youth, at the Youth Assembly and at the World Forum for Democracy, which were held in 2012.
Political commitment and adequate budgetary provisions are required to strengthen involvement of youth representatives in policy and decision-making at national level – for example through participatory structures in national parliaments and governments – as well as internationally, through pan-European and global international organisations.
A. Draft recommendation
(open)B. Explanatory memorandum by Mr Connarty, rapporteur
(open)1. Introduction
2. Progress in youth policies driven by the work of the Council of Europe until 2010
- the development of youth policies at local, regional and national levels, stressing in particular the need for better social and professional integration of young people, notably girls and young women, as well as disadvantaged and marginalised youth;
- the establishment of national youth centres in all Council of Europe member States;
- the development of national action plans to combat racism, religious sectarianism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, intolerance and all forms of exclusion following the launch of the “All different – All equal” campaign;
- increased participation of young people in decision-making at national level.
3. Action taken in 2011 and 2012
3.1. Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1978 (2011)
3.2. Parliamentary Assembly Resolution 1885 (2012) and Recommendation 2002 (2012)
3.3. 9th Conference of Ministers responsible for Youth (St Petersburg, 24-25 September 2012)
- a critical and profound knowledge-based analysis of any problems faced by young people in accessing rights – which should involve representatives of youth organisations with policy makers, experts and other civil society organisations – and a regular review of progress made in this area;
- a review of existing and planned legislation, and adoption of legislative measures intended to remove legal obstacles to young people’ access to their rights;
- a modification of the structure and practice of existing institutions catering for young people, in order to support them more effectively and to address equally the needs of all groups of young people, in addition to the improvement of the qualifications of staff working in these institutions;
- regular consultation with youth policy stakeholders, in order to improve this policy as necessary;
- an effective information system (readily accessible to all groups of young people, especially those who are discriminated against or socially excluded) to raise young people’s awareness of their rights and of the possibilities to seek redress if these rights are withheld or violated;
- adequate and equitable financial support for youth work and non-formal education activities aimed at informing young people and engaging them in the promotion of fundamental rights;
- stronger attention paid by the formal education sector and social policy to young people’s access to rights;
- an approach in the development and implementation of youth policy which is sensitive to issues of gender and sexual orientation.
3.4. Youth Assembly (Strasbourg, 5-7 October 2012)
4. Steps towards stronger recognition and more effective implementation of young people’s fundamental rights
4.1. Re-thinking national youth policies
- build their own identity;
- become more influential actors of social and economic development;
- participate in policy discussion processes and decision-making.
- prevent and counteract all forms of racism, sectarianism and discrimination, on any ground;
- ensure that young people are effectively able to maintain their cultural heritage and promote visibility of minorities in the media;
- foster the peaceful coexistence of different groups through intercultural education and dialogue (namely by the introduction of multicultural topics in pre-primary and primary education);
- ensure the sustainable provision of quality non-formal education opportunities, including volunteering opportunities;
- support unrestricted access to Internet and override censorship on the Internet and in the media.
- develop active employment policies that facilitate the entry of young people into employment;
- develop tax and financial incentives to encourage companies to recruit young people into training programmes with on-the-job certification, which would facilitate the transition between education and the labour market;
- prevent the excessive use of unpaid work experience or low paid employment, and encourage businesses to help young people’s transition from insecure contracts to stable jobs;
- promote equal access to health care and conduct health-awareness campaigns directed at young people about health risks and how to protect themselves against them, including practical information on access to treatments;
- introduce targeted financial schemes and/or incentives to facilitate young people’s access to decent, affordable housing.
- develop electronic democratic participation systems (for example e-voting, participatory budgeting, municipality council platforms for online video conferences) and take advantage of new information and communication technologies, including new social media, in order to enhance the political participation of young people;
- promote the participation in democratic processes of young people from disadvantaged groups (such as people with disabilities, the socially excluded or minority and migrant communities);
- enhance democratic governance in schools, which should offer students practical experience of participation from an early age and throughout their years in education;
- create opportunities for dialogue between youth non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and public authorities;
- improve the visibility of migrant communities’ contribution to social development and political life, and support inclusion through targeted mentorship programmes, which should include volunteers from local society, organising cultural and sport events with an emphasis on cross-cultural access and participation;
- take into consideration the question of sexual orientation and gender identity and the rights of youth in this area.
- develop better communication of political programmes towards young people;
- support young people in standing for election to civil society organisations, local authorities and national parliament, and possibly establish quotas of young people on political party lists, promoting also inclusion of young representatives from vulnerable groups.
4.2. Specific action aimed at ensuring effective access to fundamental human rights
4.3. Council of Europe support to enhance national youth policies
- the text adopted by the Youth Assembly held in Strasbourg from 5 to 7 October 2012;
- key proposals put forward by government and youth sector representatives at the Conference of Ministers responsible for Youth held in St Petersburg from 24 to 25 September 2012;
- relevant resolutions and recommendations of the Assembly.
5. Conclusions
Appendix – Conclusions of the Youth Event (St Petersburg, 22-23 September 2012)
(open)The youth representatives gathered at the Youth Event held in St Petersburg on 22-23 September 2012 prior to the 9th European Conference of Ministers responsible for Youth,
Considering that:
a. youth policies should ensure the inclusion of young people in society;
b. the current economic and social crisis in the Council of Europe’s member States is having a crucial effect on the lives of young people;
c. in order to avoid exclusion and alienation the issue of youth participation has become even more important;
d. rights are not always known and easily accessed by young people;
e. youth policies need to be adapted to changes in society;
f. mobility is one of the core freedoms and learning opportunities for young people;
g. embracing diversity can ensure peaceful cohabitation in today’s diverse societies,
Concluded that:
Social Inclusion of Young People
1. We strongly encourage Member States to invest in quality and inclusive education that can promote retention and reengagement in learning, support personal development, appreciation of diversity and facilitate a quality transition from education to the labour market. In this framework a better interaction between formal and non-formal education/learning is fundamental as well as the promotion of tools such as entrepreneurial education and quality internships.
2. The inclusion of young people with migrant background should be further promoted. Member States should set up free programmes aimed at introducing these young people to the new culture, language, law and services in line with the Council of Europe recommendations and guidelines.
3. Access to social rights should be facilitated by strengthening the implementation of the Social Rights Charter provisions. It is crucial to make people more aware about the mechanisms available to protect social rights. Projects such as ENTER 2 represent a valuable platform to link policy making and work at local level and to increase capacity building in this regard.
4. Continued participation of young people is needed in setting up strategies and action plans regarding the promotion of equality of opportunities and inclusion in relation to for example gender, disability and rurality highlighting the significant role of youth workers in supporting pathways to social inclusion.
5. A “youth guarantee” should be established within all social protection systems to ensure employment, further education or training for all young people after a certain period of being unemployed or out of education and training.
Democracy and participation
6. To ensure meaningful participation of young people in the creation of youth policy, co-management mechanisms should be introduced at local, regional, national, European levels. All parties of the mechanism should be defined through a democratic transparent process and have equal power and responsibilities. Society should have the opportunity to contribute to the work of co-management structures as well as visibility of the process and the outcomes should be ensured.
7. We recognize youth organisations and National Youth Councils as a channel of participation and involvement of all young people. In this view Member States are asked to set new and improve existing schemes for information and awareness raising in this regard. Therefore, we demand sustainable and accessible financial support mechanisms.
8. The Council of Europe in co-operation with Member States and NGOs, should improve existing tools or establish new tools in order to systematically assess the implementation of adopted policy documents.
9. We call on the Member States to further the recognition of non-formal education and youth work through the implementation and recognition of common mechanisms ensuring NFE quality standards.
10. We call for lowering the voting age and the age needed to stand as a candidate in elections to the age of 16.
Living together in diverse societies
11. The Council of Europe should develop and implement a specific action plan in order to prevent and combat hate motivated violence and incitement of such violence affecting young people, by issuing policy suggestions and supporting the work of the Member States, raising awareness through co-operation with youth organisations and using monitoring mechanisms to assist Member States’ efforts in developing effective legislation and policies.
12. The Council of Europe and the Member States should ensure co-operation between the governmental structures and youth organisations and remove bureaucratic and political barriers in the implementation of the Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education.
13. There is a need to actively involve the PEYR in order to provide not only data on concepts of diversity, but also approaches to working with it and models of successful practices to provide evidence for the development of youth policy.
14. (Post) conflict trauma should be acknowledged and peace building and dialogue should be promoted and prioritized by the Member States of the Council of Europe, the international community and youth organisations in (post) conflict regions by using programmes and instruments, including mass media, in order to facilitate the re-establishment of a peaceful environment.
15. The Council of Europe and the Member States should ensure that Protocol no.12 to the European Convention on Human Rights against discrimination is effectively implemented. We also demand that the Council of Europe urges Member States that are not yet party to this protocol to ratify it.
Youth mobility
16. The process of obtaining visas is expensive, complex and time consuming, resulting in lost opportunities for young people. Thus we call for the member States of the Council of Europe:
a) to grant free, multiple entry and long term visas for study and youth programmes through a simplified application system which requires neither logistical costs nor personal presence to embassies (e.g. online application system).
b) to encourage greater co-operation between Member States regarding visa issues thus reducing bureaucracy.
We ask for the implementation of the proposed actions before the next Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth.
17. We further call the Member States to increase their efforts in implementing the Bologna process and establish frameworks in terms of qualifications and competences recognition in all formal and non-formal education levels, increasing mobility and youth employment opportunities.
18. We call on the Member States to continue promoting a common and cross-cutting action plan for European mobility in order to provide equal access to mobility for young people regardless of their country of origin and background, including through wider recognition of the youth card system.
Access to rights and youth information
19. In order to promote awareness of rights of young people, we recommend the establishment of an International Day of Youth Rights and a public campaign.
20. Human rights education tools such as “Compass” and “Compasito” should be made compulsory in formal education curricula of the Member States.
21. Member States should provide qualitative and professional information on the rights of young people and make it accessible to all, with a special focus to the needs of young people with fewer opportunities.
22. We urge the Member States to provide free legal advice and representation to all young people who cannot afford it.
23. We ask the Council of Europe for a compilation of rights related to young people which are already provided by existing international legal documents such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Social Charter. Identified gaps shall be addressed by the Council of Europe and the Member States.
24. Ombudspersons should be appointed at national and European levels to ensure that the rights of young people are respected and protected.
25. A specific chapter on young people’s rights should be introduced in the country reports of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights.
26. We urge the Member States to fully ratify the revised European Social Charter and the optional protocol with regard to the collective complaint procedure.
27. The European Court of Human Rights at European level and Member States at national level shall promote regular case-law compilations to better know the status of violations of young people’s rights and to what extent they are protected by the existing legal tools.
28. The Council of Europe shall promote specific research and studies on young people’s access to rights in Europe with the objective of designing better evidence-based policies. This should involve Member States and include a comparative analysis of the gap between duties and rights.
29. In order to ensure the full protection of young people’s rights we ask for the promotion of a legal framework at European level.
Implementation and follow-up
30. We wish to emphasise that promoting effective youth policy is a collaborative effort of society. Public authorities, the private sector and the civil society should facilitate enhanced co-operation with regard to the development and implementation of innovative youth policies, including the funding of youth programmes in areas such as mobility, employment and youth information.
31. We call upon the Council of Europe Joint Council on Youth and the Youth Department to follow up on the results of this Youth Event and to report on the progress to the next Ministerial Conference and related Youth Event.