Mainstreaming Youth Rights
At the European Youth Forum, we are working towards ensuring that young people can fully enjoy their rights around the world. To achieve this, we are advocating for a UN Convention on the Rights of Young People. This is because, despite the UN’s existing human rights instruments, young people’s rights form only 1% of the recommendations that are made to UN countries. This shows that world countries need to do more to protect young people’s rights.
This resource aims to support our members in defending youth rights at the national and international level, by engaging with the United Nation’s Human Rights Council and its different human rights processes: Treaty Bodies, Special Procedures, and Universal Periodic Review. It assumes some knowledge of the UN’s human rights processes, which you can learn more on through the Youth Forum’s Youth Rights Toolkit!
Why get involved?
While you may not have engaged with the UN before, advocating for youth rights through the UN can bring changes both at the national and international levels.
States need to be reminded of their legal obligations under international law, including when it comes to protecting youth rights. Engaging with these human rights processes will bring further international pressure to issues you are advocating for at the national level, and demand that countries hold a high standard of youth rights.
We want to ‘socialise’ or ‘mainstream’ the idea of youth rights so that it is widely understood by decision-makers, is normalised in international law, and makes it harder for countries to ignore. Engaging with the UN’s human rights processes will not only promote a youth rights-based approach to national and international level policy-making and data collection. It will make a case to put additional accountability mechanisms in place like a UN Convention or UN Special Rapporteur. This is how young people can truly enjoy their rights worldwide.
How to know if these UN processes are right for you?
To know if you should engage or not, check out the Youth Forum’s youth rights toolkit, notably:
- Chapter 1: Introduction
- Chapter 2: Human Rights and Young People
- Chapter 3: The United Nations and Youth Rights (see ACTION POINTS: Promoting youth rights through the UN human rights instruments)
Writing and structuring submissions around youth rights
Once you’ve decided to engage with a process and to submit an NGO report, you can use the following structure to write about youth rights:
1. State the Right and its Legal Basis
Start by clearly asserting the human right you want to talk about, and reference 2-3 legal bases, starting from legally binding instruments to non-binding.
You can refer to legally binding instruments such as the UN Human Rights Treaties, and/or any supporting General Comments (these give further details or widen the scope of existing human rights). Check is your country has ratified/acceded to the relevant Treaty!
Tip: If you are unsure which Treaty to start with, try: International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child :)
You can also refer to non-binding instruments, such as reports or recommendations from UN Treaty Bodies, UN Special Procedures (based on thematic mandates or country visits), or youth-specific resolutions or reports by the UN General Assembly or the UN Human Rights Council.
2. Highlight Specific Issues Affecting Youth
Provide concrete examples of how young people’s rights are not being protected at the national or local level, or instances where there are clear violations, citing relevant data and supporting statistics, where applicable.
3. Question for State to clarify (optional)
If submitting a report to a UN Treaty Body, you can present a question to them to further clarify with the State, such as to give more information around a youth right that may be missing or is unclear in the States’ national report.
4. Propose Recommendations
End with clear, youth-focused recommendations and/or a call for action for the country to address. For example:
We call for, we urge, we demand, we stipulate, we request, we insist, we stipulate, we recommend, we advocate, we encourage, we invite, we propose, etc.
States should/ must/ are obliged to/ have to/ are called to/ are required to/ should clearly articulate/ are advised to, etc.
Example 1: The right to non-formal education
Legal basis
“The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) recognises that education extends beyond formal schooling. General Comment No. 1 on Article 29(1) clarifies that "education extends 'beyond formal schooling to embrace the broad range of life experiences and learning processes which enable children...'" to develop fully (Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2001, para. 2). The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) explicitly addresses non-formal education in General Comment No. 13, establishing that "all education, whether public or private, formal or non-formal, shall be directed towards the aims and objectives identified in article 13(1)" (Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1999, para. 4). This establishes that non-formal education carries the same obligations and protections as formal education systems.”
Youth issue
“Non-formal education for youth remains underfunded and insufficiently recognised across national education systems, labour markets, and national qualification frameworks, and is largely excluded from systematic monitoring of the right to education. Youth organisations providing non-formal education continue to face underfunding and limited recognition, preventing them from realising their full potential of providing young individuals all around the world with quality education.”
Question for State to clarify
“Please provide information as to whether the State party will take steps to ensure that non-formal education is recognised as an integral part to the right to education and anchored in legislation with adequate policies, strategies, and funding.”
Recommendations
“The State party should recognise, promote and adequately fund non-formal education and the youth organisations providing it, and ensure that the skills from non-formal education are recognised and accredited through formal educational pathways and the world of work.”
Example 2: Right to meaningful participation
Legal basis
The right to meaningful participation in political and social life is recognised under Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Building on this essential right and following the approach of recognising youth as a transitional period from childhood (UNCRC comment No.20), we should consider Articles 12 and 13 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The UNCRC General Comment No. 12 (2009) recognises that processes that engage the right to be heard can also be considered as participation and that participation emphasises more than a momentary involvement of children in processes. The full, effective, meaningful, constructive and inclusive youth participation in society, in all spheres of political, civil, economic, social and cultural life, including engagement in policymaking and decision-making processes, particularly in designing and implementing policies, programmes and initiatives, has also been called for in the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee, in its Resolution “Policies and Programmes Involving Youth”.
Youth issue
“Young people and youth organisations are underrepresented in all phases of policy-making. Globally, only 2.6% of parliamentarians are under 30 years old, considering that 50% of the world’s population is under 30. Furthermore, young people and youth organisations lack the spaces and structures to meaningfully contribute to the development, implementation, follow-up and evaluation of policies and programmes, leading to decisions that do not reflect their realities. There is a gap between young people and traditional institutions of democracy, particularly those on the margins of society, such as those living in poverty or social exclusion. Confirming these ideas, the Be Seen Be Heard Global Youth Survey (2022) found that three-quarters (76%) of under-30s think politicians don’t listen to young people, and more than two-thirds (69%) of people across all age groups believe that more opportunities for younger people to have a say in policy development and change would make political systems better.”
Question for State to clarify
“Please provide information as to whether the State party will take steps to ensure that young people, including marginalised groups, have access to meaningful participatory spaces linked to policy- and decision-making spaces, at all levels, and that are relevant to a young person’s life.”
Recommendations
“We urge the state party to ensure that young people and organised youth reflected through youth organisations should have access to meaningful participatory spaces linked to policy- and decision-making spaces, at all levels, and that are relevant to a young person’s life.
This resource was made by the Expert Group on Youth Rights 2024-2025: Adam Lambe (NYCI), Andrea Granata (CNG), Celal Can Bilgiç (GoFor), Katrina Lambert (YWCA), Larisa Bejan (CTR), Lukáš Langer (CRDM), Lou Borderie (ATD Fourth World), Marko Petrović (WOSM), Rawand Ben Brahim (ENGSO Youth), Xabi Triana Gomez (YEE).
For more information
- Contact Jessica Nguyen, Policy and Advocacy Manager - Youth Rights: jessica.nguyen@youthforum.org.
- Follow the Policy Corner on the United Nations below 👇
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