29th Session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe (Strasbourg, 20-22 October 2015)

Speech of Liam Preston, Advisory Council on Youth of the Council of Europe, on the debate of the Report “Bringing down barriers to youth participation: adopting a lingua franca for local and regional authorities and young people”

20 October 2015

Firstly can I take this opportunity to thank the Congress for giving me the opportunity to speak to this report today. The Advisory Council was part of the original document in 2012 and it is positive to see us discussing the topic today.

The Advisory Council on Youth welcomes the report and the challenging questions it proposes to local and regional members. It is not often that policy documents are as engaging as this one but we truly believe it looks to tackle the issue of how best to bridge the divide between young people and democratic life.

I think the previous report - Youth and democracy: the changing face of youth political engagement - makes the point in great detail - and this report further supports the notion that young people do care about political ideas and causes that are relevant to them but they do not engage in traditional democratic structures.

Across European institutions we talk a lot about conflict resolution within and between states and I believe when it comes to youth participation we face a similar situation. We have two parties - young people and politicians - who both want the same outcome but believe neither party wants to come to the table to discuss it.

I believe the only way we can resolve this issue is if we bring the parties closer together to talk about their differences. On the one hand we have politicians who lament young people for not engaging in political democracy and we have young people who refuse to engage in politics because politicians do not speak to them.

We have a classic example of the chicken and the egg scenario. Young people don’t engage in politics because politicians do not speak with them or engage them in decision making and we have politicians who do not focus issues around young people or engage with them because they choose not to vote.

So with any conflict we have to sit both parties down at the table and talk about what differences we have and how we can make solutions together. But I say again the differences between politicians and young people are not as far apart as one would think.

Think back to when you first become engaged. What was it that got you involved in politics? What it a thirst for power - for a few maybe - but I would bet that the reason you became engaged in politics was because of an issue you were passionate about. A cause you wanted to take a stand on or an injustice you wanted to overturn. All of these things young people are doing now - they are fighting causes and overturning injustices. You have a captive audience that wants to do good in the world and if channelled correctly they will do so - just like you all have done.

The report asks ‘Why are young people not seizing the opportunities proposed by political institutions, including local and regional authorities, to have their voices heard?’ - I would ask what opportunities have actually been given to young people. As the economic crisis unfolded and the austerity measures were implemented budgets for young people and youth services were decimated.

Regional and local elected representatives have been placed under enormous pressures to respond to national governments reducing their funding. With often the first place area to find savings coming from youth services and democratic opportunities for young people.

What role has been placed on local youth participation models over the last five years. They have seen a reduction in funding but being asked to deliver more. Politicians have continued to lament young people for not engaging but have failed to provide them with meaningful opportunities.

Rather than reducing funding for these services they should be prioritised. If you want young people to engage it has to be meaningful and one of the best ways to do this is to give them autonomy and a budget to spend.

I was here one year ago and spoke of the need to implement the co-management system into regional and local democratic structures. I implored members to be bold with what they wanted to achieve as after all it will not happen with your will.

I would ask those that are here today that were also one year ago – what have you done in the past year to engage young people in meaningful representation? Did you leave and look into the democratic structures of your own youth services? Have you done everything you could to empower more young people?

We also have to admit something about ourselves. Politicians when it comes to youth participation ‘talk a good game’ but do not implement what is being asked. We have been adopting resolutions since 1992 in this house on youth participation and yet we have made only small of steps in resolving the same issues we faced back then.

One example would be Congress’ invitation for young people to be included as delegates or substitutes within national delegations. How many people here are under the age of 30?

It is easy to talk at a top level about the need to include young people in democratic life but this has to be implemented by you. Local and regional politics is the ground upon which this engagement can foster and it must be where it begins. The power really is in the hands of those present today.

Influencing the agenda of the school curriculum is one example of how local and regional authorities could boost political and democratic knowledge amongst young people. It is a recommendation in the report and one which we would fully support. You have a responsibility to use your elected positions to influence the wider agenda; working with schools, funding youth democracy effectively - not just talking about democracy but practicing it.

Increasing budgets for youth services is another and as mentioned previously providing structures like the co-management system where young people are equal decision makers in policies that affect them will foster higher participation levels locally.

While there are many ways in which we could change society to engage more young people we also have to be realistic about the young people we want to engage. One of those truths is that when you are at a young age for most people – politics is boring.

Young people (just like many of their elders) struggle to see the relevance it has to them on a day-to-day basis and they look at a system where there is no natural way to influence it.

Not to mention they are doing so at a time when they are going through some of the biggest transitions in their lives. They have school, college, work, an apprenticeships, university to deal with.

Pressures to look good, to feel good, to be who they want to be, while also being like everyone else. They have relationship worries and will be exploring themselves whilst also exploring other people. Who has time for politics when they are coping with all this?

So the reality is that unless politicians make the first move – those young people who are not engaged will continue to get on with their complicated and evolving lives. But there has to be a willingness to engage by politicians.

To address the central point in the report - yes a lingua franca is needed but so is a will to engage meaningfully from both sides. And this engagement must be based on mutual trust. If young people continue to believe politicians are not interested then they will not engage no matter which language you speak.

And It doesn’t have to be all digital - it is not the magic answer or the silver bullet. A lot of time we talk about ‘speaking in young people’s language’ because they have a better grip on technology than their elders but the art of communication is not the medium through which it is delivered but the manner in which it is said. If we take the same attitude to engaging young people but we do it online - it will be seen as tokenistic – and similar levels of engagement will occur.

The final point I would make is that if you only engage young people on ‘youth issues’ you will never convince them that you value their participation. If you want young people to understand that politics matters and you want young people to engage in political life. They have to be shown that all the decisions around them are influenced by politics.

Young people’s contribution to society should not be limited to the issues that have ‘youth’ in the title but should be on all of the issues that society has. If politicians look to young people for engagement and support – they will find not just an ally but a friend – and one who is keen to shape the world around them, who may even know the answer to the issues we face.

I’ll end by imploring you to do the same thing I asked the last time we spoke – go home, find allies and friends in the young people in your regions.  Help them to influence your work and their society to ultimately make our democracy stronger and more diverse.