EU Youth Conference Belgium

There will be over 300 people attending the EU Youth Conference in Ghent. Among the participants, you will find…

• Youth Delegates

The youth delegates represent the views and concerns of young people taking an active part in the program. Their task is to keep the youth's perspective in the debate, ensuring that young people's needs are taken into account in the political process. They will express their views and concerns as part of this European consultation to feed into the conference report.

• Ministerial Delegates

Ministry delegates represent their country’s youth administration and actively participate in the programme. In a joint dialogue with young delegates, they support with their knowledge and expertise which are valuable resources, as Ministry delegates are linked to the political decision-makers in European countries.

• International Non-governmental Youth Organisations (INGYOs)

As with youth delegates, representatives of INGYOs also take an active part in the programme but they represent young people from their organisations, during this cycle specifically focussed on inclusion issues. Together with other young delegates, they can help ensure that young people's needs are taken into account in the political process. They can support with the expertise of their organisation and a European /international vision of the problem.

• Policymakers or Experts

Decision-makers and experts are invited to the conference on the second working day to support the participants with their expertise in different inclusion areas. They will discuss with the conference participants what has already been developed and proposed in the working groups.

Check out the video about the different participants and their roles at the EU Youth Conference below.

• Working group session

Ahead of the Conference, you will be assigned a specific working group working on one of the subtopics of social inclusion. You will spend most of the time of the Conference in this working group, consisting of a gender- and geographically balanced mix of youth and ministerial participants who remain the same throughout the Conference. In this working group, you will discuss your topic and work towards policy recommendations and measures.

• Inclusion practices session

During this session, different organisations working on social inclusion will come to the EU Youth Conference to present their practice aiming to inspire the working groups. You will be able to choose two inclusion practice presentations via the App.

• Dialogue with policymakers

During this session, you will engage with your working group in a dialogue with two to three policymakers from the European, national, regional or local level, about your social inclusion subtopic. The purpose of this dialogue is to present your ideas to the policy maker, to receive their feedback, but also to inspire them.

• Evening programme

Aside from working in the different sessions, we also want you to have fun and relax! Therefore, each evening of the Conference, an informal event is organised to get to know each other, Belgian culture and Ghent as the European Youth Capital.

All national working groups have conducted consultation activities during the consultation phase. This consultation report is compiled by researchers Dan Moxon and Ondrej Barta based on the input they have received from the national consultation results.

Read the document below

The EUYC is part of the EU Youth Dialogue. Familiarise yourself with the EU Youth Dialogue by watching the short video below.

Do you know:

• What the EU Youth Dialogue is?
• What the EU Youth Strategy is?
• What the European Youth Goals are?

Enable and ensure the inclusion of all young people in society.

One-third of young people in Europe are at risk of poverty and social exclusion. Many do not have access to their social rights. Many continue to face discrimination and experience prejudice and hate crimes. New migratory phenomena brought several social and inclusion challenges. Therefore, it is crucial to work towards the fulfilment of the rights of all young people in Europe, including the most marginalised and excluded.

Goals:

1. Provide legal protection and enforce international legal instruments to fight against all kinds of discrimination and hate speech, recognising that young people are subjected to multiple forms of discrimination.
2. Strengthen outreach of information to marginalised young people, to ensure they are aware of spaces, opportunities and experiences available to them.
3. Ensure that all marginalised young people have equal access to formal and non-formal learning environments, addressing all the dimensions of inclusion.
4. Strengthen the capacities of educators to work with marginalised young people.
5. Provide more spaces, opportunities, resources and programmes to foster dialogue and social cohesion, and combat discrimination and segregation.
6. Strengthen social support by implementing the right to a living wage, fair work conditions, universal access to quality health care, and ensuring specific measures for marginalised young people.
7. Ensure that marginalised young people are participating in all decision-making processes and are key players, particularly in processes concerning their own rights, well-being and interests

Societal challenges

During the 6th cycle of the EU Youth Dialogue entitled Europe – what’s next? (2017-2018), more than 50,000 young Europeans identified eleven European Youth Goals as the next priorities upon which the European Union should act. 

The topic of the 10th cycle is European Youth Goal #3 on Inclusive Societies: Societal challenges

#EYG3-Inclusive Societies aims to enable and ensure the inclusion of all young people in society. Recently, their position in society has been impacted by global crises, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, and the climate crisis, as well as the Russian aggression in Ukraine and its ensuing societal and economic impact on European societies, among others.

More specifically, in recent years young Europeans identified the following challenges: persistent poverty, social exclusion of minorities and vulnerable youth, health problems (such as Covid and mental wellbeing-related problems), access to quality employment and training, the climate crisis, peace and security, migratory flows (and the associated distribution of resources) and the use of new technologies (including artificial intelligence).

These developments put significant pressure on social cohesion in European societies and on the situation of young people in particular. Strengthening social inclusion and cohesion contributes to the resilience of European societies and of young people, especially young people with fewer opportunities. Developing more inclusive societies offers young people the opportunity to take an active role in tackling new challenges. By reaching out to those from minorities, in rural areas, with disabilities, from a socially vulnerable background, inter alia, the EU youth dialogue partners strive to enable all young people to take an active part in and contribute to the dialogue in the fields impacting their lives.

Subgoals

The cycle will focus on: subgoal 3 (access to learning environments), 4 (the capacity of educators) and 6 (social support). . Instead of focusing on marginalised young people, the activities will address young people with fewer opportunities. To ensure continuity and coherence in the dialogue, this cycle will further the work on social inclusion that was undertaken during the third, fifth and ninth cycles of the structured / EU youth dialogue.

Methodology

In order to support the implementation of these priorities, subgoals 2 on outreach of information and 7 on participation in decision-making processes will serve as methodological baseline: as both sub-targets have already been addressed during previous cycles of the EUYD, and in order to avoid repetition of the work already done, the trio partners agreed that these targets will serve as guiding principles for the process and methodology of the cycle’s implementation.