News

The UN Reports Rising Youth Unemployment Levels are yet to Peak

2010-08-31

To coincide with the start of the International Year of Youth, the International Labour Organisation (ILO), an agency of the United Nations (UN), has launched a new report on youth unemployment to analyse the impact of the global economic crisis on young people. The report found that for young people, unemployment, underemployment and discouragement can have a long term negative impacts and possibility compromise their future work prospects.

In the European Union, youth unemployment rates increased by 4.6 percentage between 2008 and 2009, which marks the largest annual increase in youth unemployment rates ever recorded in any of the world's regions. Worryingly the report concluded that despite the global youth unemployment rate climbing from 11.9 per cent in 2007 to 13 per cent in 2009, it is still expected to have climbed even higher during the course of 2010.   

Read the ILO Press Release - 11/08/2010 - World economic crisis has spurred a record increase in youth unemployment says ILO

Download the report - 08/2010 - Global Employment Trends for Youth

Call for participants - conference on youth demonstrations and riots

2010-08-24

Estonian National Youth Council (ENL) is organizing a conference on demonstrations and riots and youth participation in those events. The conference will take place from 2nd of November till 3d of November 2010 in Tallinn. ENL is looking for participants to share experience and discuss on youth involvement on demonstrations, the values of young people, the reasons of violent demonstrations and the affect of such events.

Participants should be from following countries: Denmark, Greece, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Georgia, Armenia and Moldova

Participants should have following background: Either responsible for youth campaigns or demonstrations, leaders of youth councils, youth workers, political youth organisation leaders, experts working on youth area etc. Participants should be actively involved in representing youth and active participants of civic society.

Age limit: 18 to 30 years.

Number of conference participants: Approximately 80 participants from above mentioned countries.

Deadline for applications: For people who need VISA - 11th of September 2010, non VISA countries 20th of September.

Type of involvement: ENL covers all costs (accommodation, catering and travel). Accommodation is guaranteed in Swissotel ype of involvement: ENL covers all costs (accommodation, catering and travel). Accommodation is guaranteed in Swissotel Tallinn.

In brief

In the recent years demonstrations in European countries have had violent consequences. Often young people have been involved in such aggressive demonstrations. Young people are very sensitive to all the changes in the society and are very eager on spreading their opinions. They strongly believe in their power to make a change. In society, people aged 14-30 are usually the most active participants in public events and are actively remodeling norms of behavior. By that age they also belong to the group of potential demonstrators.

Therefore it is very important that they would accept demonstrations as a peaceful way of how to express their opinions rather then preferring violent participation for the action itself. It is important for the experts to know how to guide the youth in the matter of demonstrations. Estonian National Youth Council (ENL) finds the subject to be of relevancy. Demonstration is an essential form of expression in a healthy society, but it should be conducted in a peaceful manner.

Topics and value of the conference

The topics of the conference will also include riots and demonstrations. The conference will try to find what are the reasons of recent violent demonstrations. The conference will include experts from Greece, Russia, France, Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, who will introduce the history and tradition of demonstrations in their countries and comment why the riots have taken place in their countries. A discussion will be held around the means that demonstrators use.

In the second conference day a peaceful simulation demonstration will be held together with the participants in the center of Tallinn. The topic of the demonstration will not be a realistic or from any party's or ENL's agenda in order to guarantee objective simulation.

The main aims of the conference:

• Conference will give an overview of the demonstrations held in the three Baltic countries and various European countries over the last years and the organisers of the demonstrations.

• Participants will discuss how and why demonstrations appear and are being held; also what should be the values that demand standing up and engaging in a demonstration. The role of history and culture will be discussed in the frame of demonstrations and riots.

• The conference will give knowledge on how willing are the people really to engage in demonstrations? What are the topics that bring people out on the streets?

• Participants will get to take part in a demonstration, which is being organized the way they should - peacefully. They will learn how to make themselves heard by not causing any inconveniences in the society and by not violating the rules. The will gain this experience in a supervised environment. The topic of the demonstration will not be a realistic or from any party's or ENL's agenda in order to guarantee objective simulation.

• The connection between youth and the development of new media will be discussed in the frames of demonstrations and riots (as for example in 2005 the riot in France, Toulouse, was coordinated entirely by the Internet bloggers).

Background information

The subject of "Youth Involvement in Demonstrations" has not been previously an open topic in any seminar or conference, since the demonstrations in recent years in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have been a new phenomenon. ENL considers it to be an important topic that should be studied. Owing especially to the media, we have been led to the understanding that most of the people participating in these recent demonstrations were, surprisingly, young people. ENL is curious to provide the youth leaders with all the necessary knowledge's on how to demonstrate peacefully based on the recent examples of history in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, France, Denmark, Greece and Russia.

ENL is not against demonstrations, but believes there is an intelligent way for carrying them out. It is important that people would be aware of it from as early age as possible.

Expected results

The anticipated long-term result of the project is a better-developed civic society and wiser culture of expression. The conclusion of the survey will give a better understanding on how to apply youth-oriented communicative activities.

Other technical details

• Date and place of the meeting: the conference activities will take place in Tallinn on 2nd and 3rd November 2010. The participants are expected to arrive on the 1st of November. Expected departure is in the afternoon of 3d of November.

• Language of the conference: English (no translations)

Please forward this invitation among suitable networks if this is not directly in your interest. Estonian National Youth Council will appreciate the help.

Please find the expert application form here.

Estonian National Youth Council (ENL) is a non political umbrella organisation established in 2002 and unites 50 youth organisations throughout Estonia. ENL promotes cooperation between youth associations and active participation of young people in society. ENL is working for recognition and participation of young people. ENL is a recognized organization protecting the interests of youth associations and enhancing all forms of cooperation between them, so that youth participation and youth initiative would be valued in the society.

Experts needed for conference on demonstrations and riots

2010-08-19

Estonian National Youth Council (ENL) is organizing a conference on demonstrations and riots and youth participation in those events. The conference will take place from 2nd of November till 3d of November 2010 in Tallinn. ENL is looking for experts to share experience and give a lecture on demonstrations, riots and youth participation on them.

Experts should be from following countries: Denmark, Greece, Russia, France, Latvia and Lithuania

Experts should have following experience: Either practical experience (specialist on related subjects, organizers of demonstrations etc) or theoretical experience (research, work related analysis, university studies, academic researches etc)

Number of conference participants: Approximately 80 participants from Estonia, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia and Greece.

Profile of the conference participants: Actively involved in representing youth (umbrella organizations leaders and youth organizations etc) and active participants of civic society.

Deadline for experts to send application form and CV: 11th of September 2010

Type of involvement: ENL covers all costs (accommodation, catering and travel) and a honorary will be agreed with the expert. Accommodation is in Swissotel Tallinn: Accommodation will be guaranteed in Swissotel: http://www.swissotel.com/EN/Destinations/Estonia/Swissotel+Tallinn/Hotel+Home/Hotel+Home.htm

In brief

Topics and value of the conference

The topics of the conference will also include riots and demonstrations. The conference will try to find what are the reasons of recent violent demonstrations. The conference will include experts from Greece, Russia, France, Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, who will introduce the history and tradition of demonstrations in their countries and comment why the riots have taken place in their countries. A discussion will be held around the means that demonstrators use.

In the second conference day a peaceful simulation demonstration will be held together with the participants in the center of Tallinn. The topic of the demonstration will not be a realistic or from any party's or ENL's agenda in order to guarantee objective simulation.

The main aims of the conference:

• Conference will give an overview of the demonstrations held in the three Baltic countries and various European countries over the last years and the organizers of the demonstrations.

• Participants will discuss how and why demonstrations appear and are being held; also what should be the values that demand standing up and engaging in a demonstration. The role of history and culture will be discussed in the frame of demonstrations and riots.

• The conference will give knowledge on how willing are the people really to engage in demonstrations? What are the topics that bring people out on the streets?

• Participants will get to take part in a demonstration, which is being organized the way they should - peacefully. They will learn how to make themselves heard by not causing any inconveniences in the society and by not violating the rules. The will gain this experience in a supervised environment. The topic of the demonstration will not be a realistic or from any party's or ENL's agenda in order to guarantee objective simulation.

Background information

The subject of "Youth Involvement in Demonstrations" has not been previously an open topic in any seminar or conference, since the demonstrations in recent years in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have been a new phenomenon. ENL considers it to be an important topic that should be studied. Owing especially to the media, we have been led to the understanding that most of the people participating in these recent demonstrations were, surprisingly, young people. ENL is curious to provide the youth leaders with all the necessary knowledge's on how to demonstrate peacefully based on the recent examples of history in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, France, Denmark, Greece and Russia.

ENL is not against demonstrations, but believes there is an intelligent way for carrying them out. It is important that people would be aware of it from as early age as possible.

Expected results

The anticipated long-term result of the project is a better-developed civic society and wiser culture of expression. The conclusion of the survey will give a better understanding on how to apply youth-oriented communicative activities.

Other technical details

• Date and place of the meeting: the conference activities will take place in Tallinn on 2nd and 3rd November 2010. The lecturers have to be present on the 2nd of November and are expected to arrive on the 1st of November. Expected departure is either 2nd of November or 3d of November (depending on the wish of the lecturer).

• The lecture/presentation will be given on the 2nd of November. The time of the lecture/presentation is 1 hour. The usage of presentation techniques is possible and has to be agreed with the organizer. Besides the given lecture experts will take part of a plenary session (1,5 hours) on the 2nd of November.

• The general topics and bullet points of the presentation will have to be sent to Estonian National Youth Council by the 30th of September.

• Language of the conference: English (no translations)

Please forward this invitation among suitable networks. Estonian National Youth Council will appreciate your help.

Please find the expert application form here.

Estonian National Youth Council (ENL) is an umbrella organization established in 2002 and unites 50 youth organizations throughout Estonia. ENL promotes cooperation between youth associations and active participation of young people in society. ENL is working for recognition and participation of young people. ENL is a recognized organization protecting the interests of youth associations and enhancing all forms of cooperation between them, so that youth participation and youth initiative would be valued in the society.

Project is financed by Open Estonia Foundation.

More information and applications:
Martti Martinson
Estonian National Youth Council
Youth Policy Officer
GSM: +372 56 151 626
E-mail: martti@enl.ee
Fax: + 372 6306 578
Home page: www.enl.ee

Youth Day in Estonia: fire show, Brazilian theater and football with the minister

2010-08-12

Estonian National Youth Council
11th of August 2010
PRESS RELEASE

Youth Day in Estonia: fire show, Brazilian theater and football with the minister

Estonian National Youth Council (ENL) celebrates International Youth Day and welcomes the Year of Youth tomorrow, on the 12th of August in a student town Tartu. The celebration program includes fire show, quizzes, sports games, DJs, known bands of Estonia and also a Brazilian theater-performance. The workshops held during the day vary from fishing and juggling works shop to film making or European Parliament simulations.

ENL's member organizations gather together to the youth organizations fair, Estonian Gaid Association is renting people in the frame of the project "Living Library" where people can borrow people instead of books and learn more about differences and develop their tolerance.

Traditionally there will be a football match between the Ministry of Education and Research and Estonian National Youth Council. The Minister of Education and Research has been playing for years together with advisors, chancellors and ministry officials. ENL's team consists on youth organizations activists.

The main topic of the International Youth Day in Estonia is "Find your way!". ENL is gathering together entertainment, youth information, youth organizations, hobby courses, youth centers etc in order to help young people find a suitable way to realize him/herself.

"The best benefit for young people is that they can get a lot of valuable information from one location - starting from what kind of interesting youth organizations there are, how to join them, what kind of youth projects are happening and also learning how to raise their own competitiveness. It is also simply fun event and a great way to spend a nice summer day and celebrate international youth day, " comments ENL's chairman Ott Heidmets.

"The deeper meaning of it for us is to remind everybody to consider young people before making any decisions or planning projects - this goes for government officials, private companies, teachers and everybody else. We want to promote that young people should be an equal partner as from them naturally depends the development of the country. We motivate everybody for a bigger co-operation, find each other and find their own place and way of doing thigs," adds Heidmets.

Estonian National Youth Council (Eesti Noorteühenduste Liit; ENL) is an umbrella organization that unites 49 Estonian youth organizations. ENL's main goals are to represent youth organizations, shape a supporting public opinion and to develop legislative environment. ENL supports active participation of youth and also represents members' youth political interests in Estonia and in the international level. ENL has been celebrating International Youth Day from the year of 2002.

More information:
Meelika Jürisaar
Estonian National Youth Council
GSM: +372 50 41 258
E-mail: meelika@enl.ee
www.enl.ee
www.noortepaev.com

President of World Youth Assembly sends greetings on international youth day

2010-08-11

I extend greetings to all the youth and youth leaders on this year's International Youth Day. An exciting eleven years have passed since the celebration of the awareness of Youth on this day.

I wish to congratulate all youth and youth leaders around the world that have made it to this International Youth Day 2010, for it also marks the beginning of the International Year of Youth. This year's them "Dialogue and Mutual understanding" opens my eyes to the last decade of dialogues that the World Assembly of Youth have had. Not forgetting conferences and activities that youth have held worldwide to combat, enforce or encourage the societies in essential topics that govern
our world today. Topics like: Climate, Drug abuse, Gender Equality, Participation for development and ICT to mention a few.

All around the world Youth and youth leaders have gathered to give hope, and this year we can tell it was not in vain. We should continue to support these Dialogues and have a mutual understanding to achieve more of our goals as youth.

As this day marks the beginning of the International Year of Youth, I urge members of the World Assembly of Youth to celebrate the day with youth around them, and bring awareness of how important it is for us to have one voice and understanding.

May we give a hand where our brothers and sisters are falling, may we understand each other and learn to work together, and may we be heard for a brighter future.

Have a happy International Youth Day.
Rt. Hon. Datuk Seri Mohd Ali bin Rustam,
President of the World Assembly
of Youth (WAY)

MEPs Advise Four Month Limit on Youth Unemployment

2010-07-20

The European Parliament has adopted a resolution on promoting youth access to the labour market and strengthening trainee, internship and apprenticeship status. A major element of the resolution is the 'European Youth Guarantee', which aims to ensure that young people throughout Europe do not remain jobless for more than four months. The parliament states that such a guarantee should be established to give every young person in the EU, who has been unemployed for more than four months, the right to a job or apprenticeship.

The resolution was tabled by the Parliament's youngest member, 25 year old Danish MEP Emilie Turunen, who sits as a substitute on the Committee for Employment and Social Affairs. Other areas of the resolution saw a call to set up a 'European Quality Charter on Traineeships', to ensure their educational value and to avoid exploitation. Proposals highlight that the charter should set out time limits, social security benefits and location appropriate minimum allowances for traineeships throughout the EU.

In recent years, the European Youth Forum strives to help strengthen the situation of young people in the labour market through developing good practices on the creation of jobs and decent working conditions for young people. Especially in times of crisis, traineeships must not replace real jobs, and should continue to be educational experiences. The European Youth Forum welcomes proposals for a charter to end exploitation of young people on the labour market through the creation of clear legal requirements for trainees.

Whilst the European Youth Forum sees the idea of a 'European Youth Guarantee' as an important step towards tackling youth unemployment in Europe, there is still much more that the EU could do to tackle the urgent issue of youth unemployment.

Baltic Sea - Young Wildlife Photographer 2010 Competition starts soon

2010-07-12

Guides and Scouts of Finland (SP-FS) are organizing a Baltic Sea - Young Wildlife Photographer 2010 Competition (YWP 2010) in co-operation with WWF and Finnish Nature Photographers Association. The patron of the competition is Tarja Halonen, the President of the Republic of Finland.

The competition is open and free for all 15 to 18-year-olds. It opens already on July 15, 2010 and closes on the 1st of September 2010. The major prize is a Nikon SLR camera package (valued at 3,500 €). Winners of each category will be invited on a cruise to the Archipelago National Park in Finland during the summer of 2011.

All the information about the competition can be found on its website: www.ywp2010.com. There is also a country specified section for each country. General information is in English, but the rules and instruction have been translated to each language.

The competition is in itself an incentive to explore nature, develop oneself as a photographer, learn about the Baltic Sea (from the website) and promote solidarity among partner countries.

HELP campaign introduces sports and smoking contradictions factsheet

2010-07-04

The EU campaign ‘HELP - For a life without tobacco' introduces its new factsheet ‘Sport and Smoking: A Contradiction!' which is available for download on the Help website at http://www.help-eu.com/pages/download/press-releases/en/sports-smoking.pdf.

"Smoking impairs physical performance and is the most significant preventable cause of disease and early death in the European Union. Tobacco smoke is a complex poisonous mixture of over 4800 chemicals, of which at least 250 are toxic or carcinogenic. By contrast, regular sport improves health, reduces the probability of starting to smoke, and is an important means of helping people to quit the habit. So smoking and sport don't go together, and not only in competitive sport," is reported in the anti smoking campaign.

The 'HELP - For a lie without tobacco' program is also strongly critical towards tobacco industries who have been offensively using sport competitions to promote its products.

Constitutional Committee of Parliament supports the discussion over the integrated youth policy

2010-06-21

The Constitutional Committee of Estonian Parliament (Riigikogu) announced on Friday the 18th of June 2010 in reply to Estonian National Youth Council's (ENL) proposal to organise a discussion in the topic of integrated youth policy as a joint meeting of the Consitutional Committee and Cultural Affairs Committee that it supports such meeting.

Committee says in it's letter that the most important topics that should need attention are the reasons of school drop-outs, youth unemployment, discrimination of young people and the rights of youth and children. The chairman of the Consitutional Committee, Väino Linde, also says in his letter that the Committee doesn't support the discussions about th possible lowering of the voting age as a separate topic in this meeting at present time.

ENL made a proposal to the Consitutional Committee and Cultural Affairs Committee of Riigikogu to hold a joint meeting in April this year.

Estonian Parliament adopted a new Youth Work Act

2010-06-21

The Parliament of Estonia (Riigikogu) adopted a new Youth Work Act on Thursday 17th of June 2010. 83 members out of 101 voted for it, none of the delegates voted against the new law. The first Youth Work Act after Estonia's reindependence was adopted by Riigikogu in 1999. Since then the Act has remained unchanged, except minor changes.

Estonian National Youth Council made it's first amendments to Youth Work Act in 2005. It has been a very long process of preparing the new Youth Work Act which has been coordinated by the Ministry of Education and Research. In the ministry and in parliament long debates and discussions were hold before the adoption of the new law.

The new Youth Work Act wil take effect from the 1st of Septmeber 2010. For the first time in the history of Estonian youth policy local youth councils and their rights as well as the national youth council are defined by law. The definition of youth organisation is also changed. The act changes the definition and defines the principles of youth work and the regulation of youth camps, youth organisation's annual support etc.

Young people is deifined in Estonia as a person aged between 7 and 26 years of age.

Logo and slogan for the International Year of Youth launched!

2010-06-07

A logo and a slogan for the International Year of Youth have been launched. The slogan was chosen to be "Our Year. Our Voice.".

The Year starts on 12 August 2010 and is geared to promote the contribution made by youth and to encourage governments to do more to support youth participation in development. To learn more and to find out what youth can do to celebrate the Year, become a friend of the UN Programme on Youth at www.facebook.com/UNyouth.

For more updates on the International Year of Youth, please see the latest edition of Youth Flash, which is available at http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/flash.htm.

HELP' Youth Declaration on Tobacco Control was drafted and adopted

2010-05-26

‘HELP' Youth Declaration on Tobacco Control was drafted and adopted by all participants of the EC ‘Help' Student Network Meeting taking place in Riga from 5-7 May 2010.

87 participants representing 59 EU youth and student organizations from 24 EU Member States drafted a youth declaration based on the Help experiences and recognizing the steps undertaken by European and national bodies in the field of tobacco control but urging EU institutions, national authorities as well as NGOs to follow their recommendations concerning the problems associated with tobacco addiction.

Read the declaration here!

Enter! project website launched

2010-05-26

Enter! project website has been launched and it is available in English and French at: http://www.coe.int/enter. The website contains up-to-date information on the development of the long term training course for youth workers, the core of the project, and other activities aimed at identifying and developing youth policy approaches. The project aims at sharing experiences and develop innovative and effective youth work and youth policy responses to exclusion, discrimination and violence affecting young people in multicultural disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

You might find particularly interesting the description of the thirty ongoing projects run by the participants of the Enter! course with young people, based on active participation, intercultural learning and human rights education. The projects of the participants would serve in the end as a basis for a policy recommendation on the access of young people to social rights.

The Enter!project is the most visible dimension of the work priority "Social Cohesion and Inclusion of Young People" of the Directorate of Youth and Sport of the Council of Europe.

Second phase of structured dialogue begins

2010-05-17

National Working Groups of the Structured Dialogue on Youth are invited to launch the second phase of the national consultations process. The first phase of national consultation was held in each Member State to provide an overview of young people's expectations. The process was finalised in the build-up to the Spanish EU Youth Conference in Jerez, Spain, on 13-15th April. The second phase of the national consultations should identify concrete measures to address the identified priorities.

The theme for the period from January 2010-June 2011 set by the Trio Presidency is youth employment. Amongst the priorities identified during the Spanish EU Youth Conference were the needs to recognise non-formal education outcomes and to support new ideas to provide access to loans and EU funding programmes. Also, protecting young people against precarious contracts was seen as a particular concern for young people from all over Europe, as well as the need to support and promote voluntary activities. The third phase of the structured dialogue will aim for political implementation of the agreed concrete measures.

The European Steering Committee of the Structured Dialogue, of which the European Youth Forum is part, invites the National Working Groups to implement national consultations and to present their outcomes by the 5th of September.

Spanish Precidency youth event started

2010-04-14

Today, the EU Youth Conference on youth employment and social inclusion, organised under the Spanish Presidency, started and will last till 15th of April in Jerez, Spain. The aim of the conference is mainly to contribute to the process of the Structured Dialogue on youth. More specifically, the information from National consultations will be discussed and used in an attempt to define the priorities and objectives of policies to improve employment conditions and access to the labour market for young Europeans.

In November 2009, the Resolution on the renewed framework for the European cooperation in the youth field was approved by the Council of Ministers. Among its guiding principles was the need for a continuous structured dialogue with young people and youth organisations.

The EU Youth Conferences play a key role in this process, and it was decided by the European Steering Committee that youth employment would be the common theme of the three EU Youth Conferences of the current trio presidency. After the Spanish conference, the Belgian conference will deal with the measures and instruments used. The Hungarian conference will finalise the actions and conclude the process.

From Estonian National Youth Council Chairman Ott Heidmets, Executive Director Anni Kuller and Youth Policy Officer Martti Martinson are participating.

The Commission sets youth priorities for 2010

2010-04-14

On the 31st March, the European Commission unveiled its Work Programme for 2010 and beyond. The plan sets the annual objectives of the Commission and defines the concrete policy measures intended to achieve them. Recognising the heavy impact of the economic crisis on young people, the Commission formulates several initiatives directly aimed at youth issues.

As it elaborates its flagship initiatives for EU 2020, the Commission will present 'Youth on the move'. This new initiative aims to specify measures to improve the quality and reinforce the attractiveness of Europe's higher education. More mobility programmes, such as "ERASMUS for young entrepreneurs", and their accessibility to young Europeans are the main priorities. The existing 'Lifelong Learning' and 'Youth in Action' programmes will be drawn together in support.

The Commission also plans proposals to guide Member States to better recognition of informal and non-formal learning, as well as measures to tackle the issue of early school leaving. Lastly, a communication on youth employment is intended to increase job opportunities for young people, explore how to ease the transition from education to the labour market, and further promote training and apprenticeships.

The European Youth Forum is encouraged by these initiatives. In its proposals for a new Youth Agenda, the European Youth Forum called on the EU to make all possible efforts to prevent the increasing unemployment of youth and to cutting early school leaving. Expanding and improving the quality of mobility programmes were also requested, as well as support for the development of a framework for quality assurance in Non-Formal Education, in cooperation with youth organisations.

Video: Why do we need youth rights convention?

2010-03-28

Estonian National Youth Council's, Finnish Youth Council Allianssi's, student bodies' and other national youth councils' representatives talk about why it is needed to agree and work on youth rights and raise awareness about the issue.

Youth Rights from European Youth Forum on Vimeo.

Budget cuts in Council of Europe hit hard on youth organisations

2010-03-16

The Joint Council on Youth of the Council of Europe decided in its bi-annual statutory meeting in Strasbourg to transfer the costs of the five European Youth Foundation Secretariat posts from the ordinary budget to that of the European Youth Foundation.

This decision of the Joint Council - composed of the Advisory Council on Youth and the Government representatives signatory to the Cultural Convention - was made under the pressure of a proposal coming from the new Secretary-General for budget cuts in all sectors. It significantly reduces the money allocated for youth organisations and was made upon the condition that the Secretariat of the Directorate of Youth and Sport of the Council of Europe checks the necessity of a statutory revision of the Foundation. The agreement also included a request that no more than 15% of the budget be allocated to staff costs in the future.

The Joint Council agreed to recommend States to increase their "obligatory" contributions to the Foundation. This, however, seemed quite an unlikely option to most governments because of the budgetary strains affecting countries in a time of economic crisis. The Advisory Council on Youth of the Council of Europe regretted its decision in a statement outlining that "...these budget reductions have strongly affected the decision-making capacity of the co-management system".

The budget cuts, drastically decreasing the amount of money distributed to youth organisations by the institution, are occurring in times of preparation for reform in the continent's largest human rights watchdog. So as to allow the Secretary-General more flexibility to follow specific priorities for the struggling institution, a proposal of a new priority pool of flagship projects has been put forward. The budget cuts affecting the different sectors of the institution are partly due to the need to finance such a priority pool. The Joint Council on Youth proposed a large Peace Ambassadors Project for the Secretary-General to consider when making the decision on which projects to choose from the intended priority pool.

EP urges Commission to tackle Youth Unemployment

2010-03-16

On the 10th March, the European Parliament passed a resolution urging the Commission to make combating youth unemployment a priority.

The resolution was a follow-up of the 11th February Informal European Council, organised by President Herman Van Rompuy in which the details and focus of the EU 2020 strategy were discussed by EU Heads of State. In its paragraph 32 and within its broader section on the promotion of SMEs and jobs, the resolution demands of the Commission to pay particular attention to youth unemployment. It is also noted that unemployment is a core issue to be taken into consideration in the context of the crisis and calls for an ambitious EU social agenda. Early school leaving, fostering lifelong learning and gender mainstreaming are seen as key concerns.

Finally, Member States are encouraged to create more training opportunities and internships for young people, and to protect their youth against unfair employment practices.

The European Youth Forum has been calling for a strong approach to combating youth unemployment in the EU 2020 strategy. In February, Giuseppe Porcaro, Secretary-General of the European Youth Forum, together with a delegation from the Spanish Youth Council, met with Spanish Minister for Labour and Immigration Celestino Corbacho Chaves in Madrid to discuss the issue. Furthermore, the European Youth Forum wrote an open letter to Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion Laszlo Andor, in which it urged to make the current situation of unprecedentedly high youth unemployment a priority of the Commission.

European Youth Forum is not satisfied with political declaration on women's issues

2010-03-08

On the occasion of International Women's Day, the European Youth Forum (YFJ) highlights its concern regarding the weak political declaration adopted on March 2nd as an outcome of the UN Commission on the Status of Women's (CSW) 54th session in New York. The session is examining the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, 15 years after it was adopted.

"The outcome document of the CSW's 54th session fails to strengthen the commitments undertaken in Beijing. The fact that effective implementation is still not achieved in key areas of life for young women, such as education and training and sexual and reproductive health and rights, will certainly not be contributing to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals", said Tine Radinja, President of the European Youth Forum.

The YFJ calls for a more integrated approach among EU Policies in the areas of education, youth, health, non-discrimination and equality in the follow-up of the EU Roadmap for equality between women and men, and for the effective implementation of existing instruments at the Council of Europe level, so as to achieve the objectives agreed upon in Beijing in 1995.

Although some effective indicators have been established at the EU level, a real need still exists to develop further the Beijing indicators related to education and training for both women and men, including those on Non-Formal Education and Sex Education.

Notes to the editor:

The Beijing Platform for Action was adopted in 1995 at the Fourth World Conference on Women, convened by the United Nations. The Platform for Action concentrates on key issues identified as obstacles to the advancement of women around the world. The Commission on the Status of Women 54th Session (02-13 March) is reviewing the status of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, 15 years on.

Some facts: Education - Whilst the proportion of women studying subjects such as education and teacher training is very high in all EU countries (almost 70% on average at the EU level), less than 40% women on average at EU level study science, mathematics, and computing. Even less (30% on average) study engineering or manufacturing (Eurostat - Key data on education in Europe 2009).
Health - Girls are 1.6 times less likely to use condoms than boys (IPPF-Y safe research report - sex and young people in Europe)

YFJ has launched Youth Policy Watch

2010-02-19

2010 promises to be a decisive year for young people in Europe and in the world more generally. At the same time, there seem not to be enough information about youth available!

To fill the gap, the European Youth Forum has designed a new tool that aims to keep track of the latest news concerning young people, and provide a new easily accessible source of information on any recent youth policies at a European level. This new bulletin will monitor and relate any political decisions and events that have particular significance for youth, as well as provide an overview of the European media's coverage of the latest most relevant news topics.

Subscribe to Youth Policy Watch on www.youthforum.org!

In the first issue: while the UN has proclaimed 2010 to be the International year of Youth, unemployment rates of young people are at their highest since the late 1990s, and European leaders seem to believe that the answer to the financial crisis in Europe is more investment in education.

To read the first issue of the Youth Policy Watch, click here.

Shadow Elections was chosen to be civic society action of 2009

2010-02-09

Network of Estonian Nonprofit Organizations (NENO) traditionally recognizes people, organizations and actions with the award of The Actor of The Civic Society of The Year. NENO also awarded Estonian National Youth Council (ENL) on the 9th of February in the Parliament of Estonia. Estonian National Youth Council and Tartu Youth Council were awarded for civic activities concerning elections. ENL's member organization Estonian Debating Society also got an award in the same category organizing trainings in critical thinking and recognizing arguments and debates with politicians.

The event took place for the 14th time and competition had 41 candidates. NENO awarded a non profit organization of the Year, a private company of the year, representative of the government sector, mission person of the year and action of the year.

Action of the year in civic society was the category ENL was awarded together with PRAXIS Center for Policy Studies, Estonian Debating Society, Transparency International (Estonia), E-Governance Academy and Tartu Youth Council.

Gallery of the awarding ceremony here!

Shadow Elections was nominated to be the best youth project by Tartu

2010-01-12

Tartu City Government was awarding youth work projects and youth workers on the 15th of December 2009. Estonian National Youth Council got the award of best youth project of 2009 with Shadow Elections.

The best youth organization award went to Tartu Local Youth Council who was also our partner during organizing Shadow Elections.

A great encouragement for us which keeps us motivated to think big and even bigger for 2011 when there will be government elections in Estonia.

Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Shadow Elections in Tartu successful - 42 % participation

2010-01-12

Estonian National Youth Council (Eesti Noorteühenduste Liit - ENL) and Tartu Local Youth Council (Tartu Noortevolikogu - TNV) organized as a pilot project shadow elections in Tallinn and Tartu from 5th till 8th of October 2009 in order to raise awareness among young people and motivate them to participate in elections and public issues.

The participation rate in Tartu was 42 per cent from all the young people who had the possibility to participate. In Tartu 1392 young people shadow-voted from the possible 3316. The project was organized in 15 schools - in each school students could vote during one day in the breaks.

Shadow elections in such extent and format were organized for the first time in Estonia. Therefore the result is good and such participation percentage shows that repeating shadow elections could break the myth as if young people do not care what is happening around them.

ENL's opinion is that mostly low youth participation is caused by unattractive ways. It is natural that a 15 year old will not enjoy offer of participation when it's done in bureaucratic way.

If it's easy, clear and interesting, young people will take part of it!

A lot of grownups get confused in the sea of bureaucracy and political games, therefore if to play with the idea, such project could be useful for many grownups as well - makes democracy it understandable finally!

15 participated schools in Tartu had one day of shadow elections in each. If the voting boxes would have stayed more days in every schools (let's say two or three) then the voting participation could have been even higher.

Even though the project by participation number failed in the capital (Tallinn) due misunderstandings with the City Government, it also made clear that participation for young people can be successfully organized only if it's easily reachable. Therefore organizing such citizen educational projects in school is natural and productive. To attract young people somewhere where they normally do not go is more complicated and expensive (campaigns, motivating, reaching the youth etc). The same truth is in the agenda with the real elections - participation rate goes down with very bad weather, E-voting is getting rapidly more and more popular etc.

Human being is lazy by nature, it is a sad truth, but considering people are never perfect and accepting this, we can be over the lazyness :)

--
Text translated from ENL's blog post

2010 International Year of Youth: 365 days of Youth!

2010-01-12

The United Nations General Assembly has proclamed 2010 as the International Year of Youth, starting from 12 August 2010, International Youth Day.

Many challenges await the European Youth Forum and young people in Europe in the year to come, including fighting youth unemployment, promoting youth participation and supporting the work of youth organisations in Europe. Many Governments committed themselves to the Year at the UN GA in New York, 2010 is here and we're really looking forward to what they want to achieve!

European Youth Forum will continue the efforts to have a Convention for the Rights of Young People in Europe within the Council of Europe and work in cooperation with the EU for a renewed European Youth Pact that will allow young to be empowered to take an active role in the recovering from the economic crisis, in line with the objectives of the post-2010 Lisbon framework.

In the occasion of the World Youth Conference set to take place in Mexico in August 2010, European Youth will reinforce its cooperation with other regional youth platforms, promoting a more sustainable and fair future for all.

Estonian National Youth Council (ENL) has celebrated International Youth Day already 7 years, which makes it a tradition for ENL that has been kept since establishing ENL.

A New Arena for Youth Policy in the European Parliament

2009-12-11

European Youth Forum
10.12.2009
Press Release

A New Arena for Youth Policy in the European Parliament

A new era for youth issues has started. The European Parliament, for the first time in its history has adopted a new instrument to better address the expectations and need of young people. On 10 December, following the decision of the Political Groups, support was given for the creation of a transversal intergroup on Youth.

The elected Members of the European Parliament are going to face several challenges in the field of youth during their upcoming five years term of office. The newly created intergroup will gather Member of the European Parliament across political parties and parliamentary committees to discuss and encourage the active participation of young people, their transition from education to employment and their mobility, among other issues.

The creation of an intergroup on Youth Issues for the 2009-2014 legislative term is building on the adoption of the European Parliament written declaration (33/2008) on devoting more attention to youth empowerment in EU policies and on the regular cooperation of the European Youth Forum with several Members of the European Parliament.

"The European Youth Forum welcomes this move towards a stronger involvement of the European parliament in youth policies," declared Tine Radinja, President of the European Youth Forum.

"With the establishment of an intergroup on Youth, the Members of the European Parliament are ready to become the champions of a true cross-sector youth policy approach, considering all aspects of young people living in Europe in their work and strengthening the role of the European Parliament in the youth policy area."

"We are looking forward to further cooperation with the European Parliament to continue empowering young people to actively participate in the society they live in, give them the space and the opportunity to articulate their concerns and equip them with the necessary tools to become active citizens."