From Lisbon to Europe and the World | Opinion
2022 marks 50 years of the Youth sector at the Council of Europe. Anniversaries are events worthy of celebration, balance and, above all, reflection for the future. It is this reflection that motivates our text.
Over these generations, members of the group of the 4 Member States of the group, young people who, over time, are many groups of educational and youth support, as well as a set of partnerships of educational and youth support, as well as the citizenship, which promote youth mobility and human rights, the rule of law and democracy.
It is not alien to this context of launching the campaign “Democracy Here, Democracy Now”, aimed at young people and with the aim of revitalizing democracy and strengthening trust between young people and as democratic institutions and processes.
The Portuguese Institute of Sports and Youth (IPDJ) is the coordinator of this campaign in Portugal, developed between March and October 2022, and which is now focused on participation of young people, giving visibility to management mechanisms (in which policy makers and young people decide – together – on impact policies) and the freedom of association and expression of young people.
Portugal has and has always had a prominent role in the development of the sector in the Council of Europe, either in the presence of its statutory bodies (it currently holds a vice-presidency of the European Youth Steering Committee) and in the development and pursuit of the international objectives of youth policy.
Examples such as the two editions of the “All Different, All Equal” campaign and, more recently, the Movimento contra o Discurso de Ódio participation “Odio não!”, developed from 2013 and coordinated in Portugal by the IPDJ, the Youth System in Universidade de Verão do Norte-Sul, and, finally not least, the dynamization of the Lisbon Youth Center (CJL), which celebrates the 8th anniversary of the important, by the Council of Europe, of the Quality Seal.
The CJL is an educational laboratory for developing quality standards and innovation in youth work and youth policy. Based in the Park, this is a safe space for young people to develop their projects and their rights, leaving no one behind.
Here, young people immersed in intense work, can sleep in the Youth Hostel or dining space, such as training rooms and spaces for use and, in particular, count on the IJ workers and partners who, every day Meet, Meet for that people can make a successful transition to adulthood.
There are eight years of work with and for young people, recognized with the seal of quality of the Council of Europe, where the public sector, through the IPDJ, IP, and youth organizations, such as the National Youth Council, the National Federation of Youth Associations , among others, promotes the three foundational pillars of the Council of Europe: Rule of Law, Democracy and Human Rights.
This July 1st, a conversation between young people, youth technicians and the Secretary of State for Youth and Sports, João Paulo Correia, will take place at the CJL, about these three guiding pillars of our democracy. They are also the Portuguese versions of the manual mirrors – a Council of Europe publication aimed at empowering young people, fighting anti-gypsyism and racism against Roma people – and also the publication Insights into social inclusion and digitizationwhich explores the potential of digitization in the social inclusion of young people.
The same publications translation is a knowledge for the democratization of this publication produced for young people and youth professionals, being just a small part of the work developed by the CJL. It is the work developed by young people and their organizations that we are most proud of: the empowerment of girls and boys, women and men, with a view to their empowerment and greater political participation.
They are like 6,524 young people who, throughout their eight eight years, did not have CJ their meeting point, where they learned, experimented and acted in favor of education for human rights and more opportunities for all, in an international context, fulfilling the motto foundational idea of being “An open door to Europe and the World”.
Finally, although the Council of Europe seal of quality awarded to the CJL recognizes local work for an international purpose, it is important to note that the IPDJ has over 17 decentralized services throughout the mainland, one in each capital of the district, where with young people, associations and communities, we expand, mirror and are at this disposal, for the strength of Europe and the World, the motivation: each of our regions and foods.
The author writes according to the new orthographic agreement