The AER Sub-Committee on Youth

In recent years, the Sub-Committee on Youth has focused on individual initiatives developed by the Regions for the attention of the young. The concerns of the young, on the one hand, in most cases tackled by the Regions and the problems, on the other hand, that Regions may experience with young people - sometimes certainly due to a deficit in their capacity of listening - showed the need for dialogue and induced the AER to establish a platform and to think of participative models.

The basic principles for action in this field have been laid down in the AER Resolution:

The subsequent Youth Conference in Odessa (19 May2000), through its discussions on subjects as varied as politicalparticipation and disengagement, unemployment, drugs, discrimination,racism, crime, environment, media, education, peer programmes, laid thegrounds for direct dialogue with the young at AER and regional level.

It became clear that, in an increasingly rapidlychanging society, the creativity, reactivity and potential of theyounger generations will become more and more important. No generationcan do without the other, but has responsibility for the other.