Ways to engage young migrants in public and political life explored at Warsaw event

Engaging young people with a migrant background in political and public life was the focus of discussions at an event held in Warsaw on 19 September 2019, during the annual OSCE human rights conference, the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM).

The event, organized jointly by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the delegation of Spain to the OSCE, brought together experts to discuss how these young people experience barriers to political participation and how these are different from those experienced by their peers without a migrant background. Some of the examples heard centred on effective methods to support the engagement of young migrants, including alternative modes of engagement.

“Over the past few years, ODIHR has increased the inclusion of young people in its work,” said Augusta Featherston, ODIHR’s Youth Focal Point and Democratic Governance Officer. “It is exciting that we are today discussing the political participation of young migrants, who are so often left out of policy discussions that will affect their future."

Thirty-eight per cent of the population in the OSCE region is under thirty years of age, and recent European Commission survey findings suggest that today's youth – the largest young generation ever by numbers – are less engaged in political processes than previous generations and are beginning to disengage from democratic institutions.

Among the participants were representatives of OSCE participating States, civil society organizations working on youth political participation and migrant rights organizations.