Adisory Council of Youth: FAQ

The Advisory Council on Youth (AC) is a Council of Europe’s (CoE) structure, part of the co-management process, made up of 30 representatives of youth NGOs and networks from CoE Member States that provide opinions and input on all youth sector activities. It also ensures that young people are involved in other activities of the Council of Europe as youth policies require a cross-sector approach.

Currently WOSM is represented in AC by European Scout Region and namely by Alexandru COICA. Alexandru was elected as one of 30 AC members in November 2011 for a 2 year mandate (2012-2013). Alexandru is from Moldova, in the Eurasia Region. It’s a joint action from the two regions to have him as a representative!

What do they do there???
For 2012-2013 mandate a list of priority categories were defined by AC members.

• The Advisory Council is the voice of young people in Europe
  The Advisory Council on Youth is voicing the views, needs and demands of young people and is committed to defending the rights of young people across Europe.

• A rights-based approach to youth policy
  Young people form a particular social group, united not only by their age, lifestyle and circumstances they share, but also by the problems related to their condition. Youth is also a category that often falls through the ‘nets’ of protection that existing legislation and support mechanisms offer and hence young people are not able to fully enjoy their political and social rights.
  The Advisory Council therefore calls for a rights-based approach to youth policy to ensure that young people have access to their full human and social rights. This rights-based approach is cross-sectoral in its nature and thus offers a way of not only combating the problems and challenges that youth today already face, but also to create a policy with the aim of preventing marginalization and exclusion of young people.
  In this priority, the Advisory Council is focusing on the following:
  • Youth and Human Rights
  • Democracy and Participation – Promote youth participation at all levels.
  • Recognition of the role of youth organizations as the main channel for participation
  • Recognition of non-formal education and recognition of youth work
  • Environmental Protection

• Agenda 2020 Implementation
  The Advisory Council reaffirms the priorities of the youth policy of the Council of Europe, as they are described in Agenda 2020.

Can I join their activities?

• 9th Council of Europe Conference of Ministers responsible for Youth in September 2012 in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation and will organize the Youth Event prior to the Conference;
• 40th anniversary of the Council of Europe’s work in the youth sector in 2012;
• ENTER! Project and Hate Speech Online project;
• Support of the Roma Youth Action Plan, the Youth Peace Ambassadors project, the Human Rights Education Youth Program and the implementation of the Council of Europe Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education (EDC/HRE );
• Support a European campaign for the recognition of Youth Work and Non-Formal Education;

What if I want to contact them?
For being always updated on AC news or to find out more please visit www.coe.int/youth and follow AC’s official Facebook page. LAst but not least, you can also drop an email to Alexandru

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