Advisory Council on Youth: Voice of German youth organisations represented again

With Clara Föller, former President of JEF Germany, the voice of Germany's youth is once again represented on the Advisory Council on Youth of the Council of Europe via the German National Committee for International Youth Work (DNK).

The Advisory Council on Youth is the non-governmental partner in the Council of Europe's joint management structure, the so-called co-management. Together with the European Steering Committee for Youth, representing the member states, it forms the Joint Council on Youth - the supreme decision-making body for the Council of Europe's youth sector. This is where the positions, priorities, objectives and budget of the youth sector are determined. The Advisory Council on Youth consists of 30 representatives of national youth rings and youth organisations in Europe, who are elected by the General Assembly of the European Youth Forum (YFJ).

Through these bodies, the Council of Europe is a pioneer in youth participation issues: no other political institution is as active in youth participation as the Council of Europe. All decisions on youth issues are taken jointly by governments and young people, and youth participation is thus actively practised - this is unique. The Council of Europe wants to include and institutionalise the perspective of young people in all areas of its work in the future.

German National Committee for International Youth Work (DNK)

The DNK is a working group of the German Federal Youth Council (DBJR), the German Sports Youth (dsj) and the Political Youth Council (RPJ). The DNK has been in existence for over 60 years and since then has aimed to champion the interests of young people worldwide. An important task of the DNK is to reach agreements on the joint international work of German youth organisations and to represent them in the multilateral arena.