In 2023, the new Youth Committee was engaged and present in both EDF’s work and the youth movement.
In the beginning of the year, they attended two dialogues with commissioners, organised in the framework of the European Year of Youth. The Committee also went to the Zero Project Conference, were active in a project of the European Youth Forum on Activism and participatedin several events of EDF members or EDF itself.
The highlight of the year was the European Youth Event organised by the European Parliament’s Youth Outreach Unit event attended by most of the Committee members. Although the committee has not chosen to cover a particular topic this year, they have paid particular attention to the upcoming European Union (EU) Election. They ensured that the EDF Manifesto published on 23 May with the Occasion of the 5th European Parliament of Persons with Disabilities had a youth perspective. They also sent messages with how they envision the future Union on International Youth Day, collected under title: Envisioning the EU elections: Amplifying the rights of young persons with disabilities.
In addition, the first-ever event we co-organised with Meta within our co-operation focused on the Role of Modern technologies in mobilizing young people with disabilities.
The Committee organised or co-organised 5 workshops and 2 committee meetings, one of which was online and one in person, and took the floor at 20 other events. The Committee also wrote a newsletter on Youth, and messages for Youth Day and the European Day of Persons with Disabilities. Members of the Youth Committee, together with other young people participating in youth events, wrote 9 blogs on our website and 3 news articles. They also participated in various other events, more than 20 of which they took the floor. In the 5th European Parliament of Persons with Disabilities, the European Day of Persons with Disabilities, the members of the Youth Committee spoke and handed out the Access City Award, a European Award that recognizes efforts of cities to become accessible.
Finally, members of the Youth Committee took part in 2 videos, 1 done by #TogetherEU platform on how to organize Inclusive Events, (on the platform find the module with the above name), and a video for the European Year of Skills made by EuroDesk.