The EU-CoE youth partnership organised a symposium on youth participation in the digitalised world to answer questions coming from some recent events and activities, most prominently the World Forum for Democracy, November 2014 in Strasbourg, the Council of Europe No Hate Speech Campaign and the results of the study “Youth Participation in Democratic Life” , published by the European Commission in 2013.

Entering into a digitalised world including new ways of communication and educational approaches, different economic settings, political relationships and representative structures has a crucial impact on (democratic) societies and forms of governance.

In the context of growing political and social extremism across Europe, challenging the existing democratic systems, the symposium allowed deepening the reflections on youth participation and the future of democracies in the digital era, on chances and risks stemming from these developments that young people are facing. It evaluated the young people’s needs and aspirations, identifiable tendencies and prognosis. Related policies and practice examples were shared and discussed. Besides experts in the field of youth policy, representatives of related policy sectors such as child protection, cybercrime, digital agenda for Europe etc. were invited.

The symposium was the major event of the EU-CoE youth partnership in 2015 and was organised in link with the annual meetings of the Pool of European Youth Researchers (PEYR) and the correspondents of the European Knowledge Centre for Youth Policy (EKCYP).