To advocate for their rights to be protected, respected and fulfilled, it is crucial that young people are provided with a better understanding of equality and the tools available to them to tackle the discrimination they face. And national equality bodies have a big role to play in this picture! The Equinet Handbook on Stepping Up our Engagement with Youth gives practical suggestions on how!
Mismatch: Experiencing discrimination & under-reporting
Statistics show that a social Europe is important to most Europeans. Yet young people still experience some form of discrimination or harassment regularly.
According to the 2019 Barometer on Discrimination in the EU, in 2018, one in four young people aged 15 to 24 had personally felt discriminated or experienced harassment. If you zoom in on certain characteristics, the numbers double, with 15-17 year old LGBTIQ persons having experienced discrimination in at least one area of life, or one out of two 16-24 year old person of colour experiencing racially motivated police stops.
And yet, despite these high numbers of youth experiencing discrimination, very few young people report such discrimination or harassment to national equality bodies. This mismatch is most likely due to a lack of awareness of their rights or the existence of institutions such as equality bodies, where they could turn to for support. So, something needs to be done to raise young people’s awareness about their rights relating to equality and non-discrimination and the support they can access in this fight…
A world of potential: Ambassadors for rights
Beyond their personal experience of discrimination, young people can be passionate and very effective advocates for equality and non-discrimination. Just think of the awareness raised by Malala Yousafzai on gender equality in education for example. If we treat young people as champions of equality and non-discrimination, and give them the tools that empower them as such, they will be able to explore and act to effectively develop their identities, interests, and ambitions around the themes of equality and non-discrimination. And some national equality bodies in Europe have already tapped into this potential.
For example, the Defender of Rights in France has created a community of Young Ambassadors for Rights, who are being trained and supervised by the Defender to raise awareness of their rights to other young people. In Ireland, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has worked closely with the National Youth Council of Ireland to hear the youth vision for a more just and equal society, free from racial discrimination. This work has contributed to the feedback given to the UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination during their examination of Ireland. The ways to engage with young people on issues of equality and non-discrimination are only as limited as our imaginations…
So, why should we step up our engagement with youth?
Equality bodies play a central role in promoting equality and in fighting discrimination experienced by young people in many fields. Equality bodies are mandated to assist victims of discrimination and raise awareness of rights. At European level, equality bodies report a spectrum of key issues that affect young people, including issues of economic, political, cultural and social inequality. Yet, their capacity to assist youth victims of discrimination and to raise awareness of rights among young people is often limited by their mandates, under-reporting and lack of casework, as well as absence of data at national level.
Nevertheless, as Equinet’s growing body of work on tackling discrimination against young people can attest to, there are many options for equality bodies to work on this topic. How?
- Do your homework. Identify what the main needs of young people are in your country and see where you can engage. This information may come from European level data, but could just as easily come from your individual case work. Based on your learnings, you can more easily establish your priorities.
- Communicate & Empower. If young people are informed about their rights and what can be done if these rights are violated, you are creating a new generation of empowered ambassadors for equality and non-discrimination. You can do this through well-planned communication & education.
- Partner-up. You should not do this work alone. Youth organisations, as well as other civil society, education and social partners will have many insights on relevant issues, as well as a better outreach amongst young people. Build collaboration & cooperation into your work to make sure youth have a seat at your table of discussions. In exchange, you will inform your partners about all things equality and non-discrimination.
How to get started?
To help you step up your engagement with youth, the Equinet Working Group on Communication Strategies and Practices has developed a useful Handbook to guide you through this process. It aims to help equality bodies to better understand what equality means to young people in practice, to involve young people and their organisations in developing and sharing good practices, as well as to raise awareness of rights under equal treatment legislation with initiatives specifically designed for young people.
May this guide, with its case studies and practical tips, enable you to develop new protection and promotion actions, to exchange with your colleagues in other institutions, and to draw on the energy of young people to innovate!
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Further Reading
- Workshop: Tackling age discrimination: Stepping Up our Engagement with Youth (2021)
- Seminar: Tackling Age Discrimination Against Young People (2018)
- Discussion Paper: Fighting Discrimination on the Ground of Age (2018)
- Perspective: Equality Bodies Combating Discrimination Against Young People (2016)