Young voices for peace and democracy at the international youth seminar Youth4Peace

Bundesregierung/Denzel

From May 3 to 10, 2025, the international youth seminar Youth4Peace took place in Berlin on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Eighty young people from 26 countries across Europe and beyond came together to exchange views on the conditions for peace and democracy. They contributed their own experiences of war, discrimination, or political repression and developed visions and demands for a more peaceful future.

As part of the program, we organized a workshop on Shrinking Spaces for youth organizations. Participants discussed current threats to democracy and restrictions on their engagement and on civil society in their home countries. Together, they developed strategies for resilience and formulated demands for policymakers and public administrations – including better funding for youth work and reduced bureaucracy in funding procedures.

On May 8, we joined the delegation at the official commemoration ceremony in the German Bundestag. Afterwards, we accompanied the group to a meeting with the newly elected Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the Federal Chancellery. The Youth4Peace delegation used the opportunity to present their self-developed Agenda for Peace to the Chancellor and to emphasize their role as agents of change.

Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz wrote on his social media page after the meeting with the delegation: “We want to do more to enable young people in our country to participate more effectively.”

The closing event at the Centre Français in Berlin was also the first official appointment of the new Federal Youth Minister, Karin Prien, who acknowledged international youth work as an important contribution to peacebuilding. During the closing session, the organizing institutions underlined to the minister the valuable role of international youth work. We emphasized the contribution of youth organizations to international youth cooperation and stressed the need for reliable framework conditions for their work in Germany and across Europe.

The seminar was jointly organized and implemented by a consortium of international youth work institutions and funding bodies, with our active contribution. The following organizations were involved:

  • ConAct – Coordination Center for German-Israeli Youth Exchange
  • German Federal Youth Council (DBJR)
  • German-Greek Youth Office (DGJW)
  • German-French Youth Office (DFJW)
  • German-Polish Youth Office (DPJW)
  • IJAB – International Youth Service of the Federal Republic of Germany
  • JUGEND für Europa – National Agency for Erasmus+ Youth and European Solidarity Corps
  • Tandem – Coordination Center for German-Czech Youth Exchange
  • Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO)

Further impressions and the conference video can be found on the project website.

The youth seminar also received media attention:

 

Themen: Democracy Internationale und bilaterale Zusammenarbeit