About us
The Youth Department is part of the Directorate of Democratic Participation within the Directorate General of Democracy and Human Dignity (“DGII”) of the Council of Europe. The Department elaborates guidelines, programmes and legal instruments for the development of coherent and effective youth policies at local, national and European levels.
It provides funding and educational support for international youth activities aiming to promote youth citizenship, youth mobility and the values of human rights, democracy and cultural pluralism. It seeks to bring together and disseminate expertise and knowledge about the life situations, aspirations and ways of expression of young Europeans.
Guidelines for the translation of Council of Europe texts into non-official languages
Statutory bodies
The European Steering Committee for Youth (CDEJ) brings together representatives of ministries or bodies responsible for youth matters from the 50 States Parties to the European Cultural Convention. The CDEJ fosters co-operation between governments in the youth sector and provides a framework for comparing national youth policies, exchanging best practices and drafting standard-setting texts.
The Advisory Council on Youth comprises 30 representatives of non-governmental youth organisations and networks. It provides opinions and input from youth NGOs on all youth sector activities and ensures that young people are involved in the Council’s other activities.
These two bodies come together in the Joint Council on Youth and the Programming Committee on Youth, which are co-decision bodies.
The European Youth Centres
The European