CoD YouthLeads’ Call-to-Action.

a. Strengthen meaningful youth engagement in policy-making and decision-making processes at the local, national, regional and global levels.

b. Urge political parties to actively include and engage youth in their structures, decision-making processes, and leadership positions,

c. Strengthen fairer laws on political financing and monitor their implementation to ensure equal access to political campaign tools, media coverage, and resources during electoral processes.

d. Address legal, policy, sociocultural, financial, digital and physical barriers that directly or indirectly prevent young people from running for public leadership positions.

e. Create, support and fund relevant youth policies and frameworks.

f. Promote inclusive political participation of all youth, including encouraging women, persons with disabilities, and representatives of minority communities to stand for elections.

a. Invest in political literacy programs to enhance understanding of political and civic rights to increase informed participation of youth in elections.

b. Incorporate democratic governance and human rights concepts in secondary school curricula to help build a culture of democratic participation.

a. Adopt country-specific strategies leveraging technology and innovative approaches to engage young people in elections and make electoral processes more available and accessible for youth, including through providing comprehensive and accurate information.

a. Address the risks of disinformation and emphasize the protection of civic and political engagement against undue interference in a way that upholds citizens’ rights to information and to debate openly and freely, while combating hate speech both online and offline.

a. Commit to end all forms of discrimination, abuse of, and violence, including sexual and gender-based violence, against young people active in politics and public affairs.

a. Act beyond national borders or specific sectors to ensure the inclusion of diverse youth voices in the global political process. Facilitate the participation of young people from all regions, including those with complex political challenges, in international forums and organizations. Provide platforms for them to share their perspectives, and recognize their potential to contribute to international policy-making and experience sharing.

b. Recognize and utilize the dynamic nature of youth political participation, which is flexible, experimental, innovative, and unconventional. This participation should operate free from traditional constraints and transcend conventional political concerns. Uphold the universal value of human rights and ensure that every party has the opportunity to be represented and heard.

a. Commission a comprehensive global study on youth political participation to better understand, measure, monitor and evaluate the state of political and civic rights, barriers, levels and impact of their engagement.

b. Create a Special Procedure, such as an Independent Expert or a Special Rapporteur on youth, under the auspices of the Human Rights Council. A dedicated human rights expert focusing on youth would enhance the existing efforts and establish a crucial point within the UN system for advocating for young people's rights.

a. Convene a high-level debate on youth political participation discussing findings of the global study during a High-Level Week of the U.N. General Assembly or a similar U.N. gathering.

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We will present the campaign results, including the number of signatures collected, to the U.N. Human Rights Council members ahead of the vote on the resolution.