A youth-friendly legal framework is crucial in enabling youth political participation. In one-third of countries, laws stipulate an eligibility age to run for parliament at 25 years or higher, creating a gap between the legal age of majority and/or voting age, on the one hand, and the age at which an individual can serve in elected office.
Since national governments and parliaments can review the legal framework,
they can consider:
- aligning the minimum voting age and
the minimum age of eligibility to run for office where appropriate (i.e. where
the voting age is 18 or above, as it may be controversial in cases of voting
age set below 18)
- introducing youth and women’s quotas
in electoral laws (bearing in mind that this may only be appropriate under
certain electoral systems). If this is introduced, it should be done in a
manner that effectively ensures the inclusion of women and youth and avoids a “pool”
quota of specialized groups (for example youth, women, people with
disabilities), which could cause competition among them.
- identifying and addressing
context-specific legal barriers to youth participation, such as to make it
easier for youth-led organizations to register as legal entities.
Constitutions
Formerly written in closed-door
meetings by mostly male and elder legislators, constitutions are now usually
drafted in more open and transparent processes that include all citizens. The
increased involvement of historically excluded groups often
has resulted in the incorporation of special provisions to foster political
participation of youth.
In 2012–2013, UNDP supported a
nationwide dialogue between National Constituent Assembly (NCA) members and citizens and CSOs in all 24 of Tunisia’s
governorates. A total of
80 Assembly deputies
were provided with training in both legislative and constitutional
drafting, and in public consultation techniques. More than 6,000 citizens, 300 CSOs and 320
university representatives provided input during the dialogue. A national
survey of 1,100 young people provided
detailed information on the desires
and expectations of Tunisian
youth, the segment of the population whose exclusion sparked the 2011
revolution.[i] Article 8 of the Constitution acknowledges the role of youth
with this language: Youth are an
active force in building the nation. The state seeks
to provide the necessary conditions for developing the capacities
of youth and realizing their potential, supports them to assume responsibility,
and strives to extend and generalize their participation in social, economic,
cultural and political development.
Constitutions with special provisions
for historically marginalized groups lay a strong foundation to foster broad
and comprehensive electoral processes. Because constitutions are the highest
law within legal systems, they give relevant stakeholders (including EMBs) a possible
instrument to develop targeted interventions to promote the participation of
historically excluded groups, which can include youth.
Youth policies and strategies
The increasing focus on youth
participation by international actors such as the United Nations and other
development organizations has, since the beginning of the 21st century, given
rise to a number of events, declarations, and calls for actions to enhance the
quality of youth participation in decision-making processes. In responding to
this agenda and the 2015 SDGs, national governments have written or updated
their youth policies and strategies: 127 countries in 2016 had a national youth
policy (up from 99 countries in 2013).[ii]
National policies provide an operational framework for multiple actors to
develop concrete actions to facilitate meaningful participation of youth in
decision-making processes.
Many countries have developed national strategies and action plans but
there are often challenges surrounding their implementation. Commonly there is
a lack of resources allocated to their implementation, and a lack of horizonal
accountability and lack of political incentives. Morocco provides an
example of a comprehensive plan and strategy, including concrete action plans,
preliminary indicators of implementation outcomes, and extensive an M&E
plan
While having a national policy does
not on its own guarantee effective youth participation, it is a starting point.
National youth policies can mandate government actions, set targets, and
provide impetus for organizations to increase youth participation in a range of
decision-making processes and strategies. These processes include youth
parliaments, youth participation in consultative forums, dialogues,
peace-making processes, and policy-making bodies.
