Search
The European Youth Week 2024 (EYW) will take place from April 12 to 19. It is a biennial event organized by the European Commission to promote the commitment and active participation of young people in Europe. Under the slogan “Give voice to your vision”, this year it focuses on the importance of democratic participation of young people in the context of the next elections to the European Parliament, to be held from 6 to 9 June 2024. At Ayuda en Acción, we work every day to promote youth as a catalyst for change in the face of the challenges of today's world.
Ayuda en Acción at the European Youth Week
Our vision of change focuses on the potential of children, adolescents and youth as protagonists and entrepreneurs capable of transforming their own lives and their environment. We accompany the younger generations so that, as educated and prepared people, they become agents of change, capable of shaping just societies, in which it is possible to end the cycle of poverty and exclusion.
The democratic participation of European youth is fundamental in this transformation we are pursuing. A youth committed to the defense of their rights, that knows and demands to the European institutions and their representatives, laws and policies that allow to fight inequality and global challenges (economic and social inequality, climate crisis, gender inequality, negative consequences of human mobility) that cause a systematic violation of human rights.
Youth participation in our projects
We support youth participation with a focus on rights and gender equality around the world:
- Promoting socioeconomic inclusion with projects on violence prevention, quality education, employment and disadvantaged transitions. With projects such as eMprende we support youth in Europe through vocational guidance, acquisition of key competencies, entrepreneurship and relationship with the environment to enhance their personal plan and try to create partnerships in the community.
- Facing the climate emergency, with projects that increase young people's resilience to climate change and their critical and proactive awareness in this regard. These are projects that go from the international to the local level, articulated under the umbrella of the Planet concept, such as Edutacion4thePlanet, which trains and mobilizes urban and rural youth to generate their own proposals for change.
- Defending the rights and understanding of human mobility and combating hate speech. We believe that migration should be a right and not a desperate flight. With projects such as YouthInMotion we promote the understanding of migratory phenomena and the value of coexistence, diversity and peace. We claim from the leadership of the youth and the migrant population itself the importance of an intercultural and supportive society where human rights are for all people.
In all these lines we promote partnerships between young people from different parts of the world, with different backgrounds. We support youth exchanges through digital tools and face-to-face meetings, training workshops, collaborative debates and mobilization and advocacy activities.
Recommendations for the European Youth Week
The European Union recognizes that the active participation of youth in civic and political life is one of the keys to strengthening democracy in Europe.
In the last European elections in 2019, the younger generation (under 25) increased their electoral participation by 14% to 42%, while those aged 25-39 increased by 12% to 47% compared to 2014. That is why the European Union expects that, in the next elections, the youth will continue in this line and increase their participation in June 2024.
In this sense, it calls on the political class to include the so-called “youth perspective” in the analysis of reality, information and transparency towards citizens and the proposals they develop. Taking young people into account is seen as a fundamental element for a stronger and fairer European Union.
At Ayuda en Acción, we support this call, and we hope that all young people will make this commitment to democracy and institutions their own, but we are concerned that this participation will not be the same in all countries or from all sectors of society. According to the latest Eurobarometer of February 2024, to the question “Likelihood of voting in the European elections of 2024” countries such as Germany respond as certain in 70% compared to Spain which is at 50%). This is an assessment by country, without taking into account elements such as income, level of education or age. According to different reports, the lower the income level, the higher the abstention rates. Abstention rates are also directly related to educational levels, and these variables have even more weight among the young population.
In the framework of the European Youth Week and valuing in a very positive way the interest of the EU for the political participation of the youth, Ayuda en Acción considers that it is necessary to:
Continue with policies that allow a real and effective participation of the European youth in the political life.
- Promote critical and proactive awareness of all European youth, including knowledge of the realities of young people in other countries (platforms, exchange experiences ...) to strengthen their commitment to justice and the defense of human rights globally.
- Promote institutional training so that European institutions have the practical knowledge to know how to integrate this youth perspective.
- Develop the so-called “youth control” with tools to ensure that the effects of EU policies on youth, their needs and views are systematically taken into account when designing policies.
That these measures are truly inclusive and promote opportunities for the participation of European youth as a whole, including those who are disadvantaged.
- That the so-called youth perspective is intertwined with elements of inequality that enable equal access to European youth.
- Promote a data-driven policy that takes into account not only age but also diversity and the different situations of vulnerability faced by European youth.
