Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in cooperation with the European Youth Centre Strasbourg and the Youth sector of the Council of Europe, from 4-8 October 2012 hold the Youth Assembly 2012 “Youth and democracy: the young generation sacrificed?”. The assembly gathered over 130 young people from all over Europe and wide, for 3 days to discuss the different aspects and realities of democracy and bring their recommendations to the World Forum of Democracy (WFD), taking place in Strasbourg 8th -11th October.

Targeting the economic crises, Arab spring, decreased youth participation, lack of trust in institutions, the present young people reflected on youth’s current challenges to democracy and formulated common recommendations on how young people can better benefit and develop more democratic and inclusive societies.

The need for co-management as increased participation of young people in decision making, more support structures for youth and funding for youth programmes were the main demands of the participants. They had a chance to present these outcomes during the opening of the WFD.

Finally all of the participants emphasized the need to organize Youth Assembly each year as a platform to discuss and share challenges, as well as learning from each other and cooperating to come to common solutions. CID was represented by Ivana Davidovska, part of the facilitators team of the Youth Assembly.