Shadow Report on Youth Policy
One of the very important platforms to which OBESSU belongs is the European Youth Forum (YFJ), which represents 99 youth organisations, both National Youth Councils and International Non-Governmental Youth Organisations. Naturally, the Youth Forum advocates for more youth-friendly policies all around Europe and one very important topic for this is the EU Youth Strategy.
Last week, the Youth Forum presented its Shadow Report on Youth Policy. The EU Youth Report was launched in September and according to its website it “presents a full picture of the situation of young people in Europe and how policymakers have addressed it in the period 2013-2015”. Although there were interesting things in the report, it did not sufficiently take into account the views of the most important group of all – young people themselves. That is why the Youth Forum launched this Shadow Report, largely based on the same topics and questions as the “original”, but solely based on input from their Member Organisations. OBESSU was one of the organisations which provided input.
The report is quite broad, but a few of the key points can be highlighted here:
- Unfortunately, 72% of the youth organisations do not feel valued enough by public authorities.
- Democratic, participative and youth-led grass-root organisations should be partners in all youth policy-making. For this, they need more support and recognition of their work.
- There should be free access to formal education for all, as its absence is one of the most discriminatory factors leading to social exclusion and marginalisation.
At the launch of the report, there was also a presentation from the Committee of the Regions (CoR), which also has a report on the topic. The “rapporteur” – the person who prepares the file from CoR – is actually a former Vice President of OBESSU’s Member Organisation Makosz.
OBESSU is glad to see this comprehensive report and encourages all policy-makers in the field of youth to listen to the recommendations from the report.
