New handbook: Stepping Up our Engagement with Youth

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.
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. National equality bodies have a big role to play in this picture. 

The Equinet Handbook on Stepping Up our Engagement with Youth 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.

Equinet Handbook on Stepping Up our Engagement with Youth

Source: Equinet European Network of Equality Bodies