Existence of a National Youth Law

There is no National Youth Law and there is no public discussion about the need for a single law. 

However, there are 5 Decrees that concern youth policy implementation at the community level. 

Three of them are completely managed by the Youth Department: 

1.    Youth Centres, Youth Hostels and Youth Information Centres are ruled by the decree related to youth centres (décret determinant les conditions d’agrément et de subventionnement des maisons de jeunes, centres de rencontres et d’hébergement et centres d’information des jeunes et de leurs fédérations);

2.    Youth Organisations are ruled by the decree relate dto youth organisations (décret fixant les conditions d’agrément et d’octroi de subventions aux Organisations de Jeunesse); 

3.    The Youth Forum is ruled by the decree related to the Youth Forum (décret instaurant un Forum des jeunes). This decree concern the implementation of an independent association working on youth participation.

Two decrees are at the intersection of the youth and childhood sector:

4.    Homework Schools are ruled by the decree “décret relatif à la reconnaissance et au soutien des écoles de devoirs” (Decree of 28 April 2004 related to the recognition and the support of Homework Schools) ;

5.    Holidays Centres are ruled by the decree “Décret relatif aux centres de vacances” (Decree of 17 May 1999 related to the Holiday Centres). The Youth Department is in charge of the training section of the Decree. 

Scope and contents

The 5 decrees organise and rule:

• the field of actions of every type of youth structure ;
• the conditions to be recognised as a youth structure ;
• the conditions to receive public support ;
• the role of the Advisory Commissions ;
• the schedule and framework in which the evaluation of the decrees takes place.

Revisions/updates

The Observatory of Childhood, Youth and Youth Welfare is charged to coordinate the evaluation of the decrees related to youth organisatons and to youth centres (see section 1.4 youth-policy decision-making). 

The evaluation of the decree relatd to Youth Centres and the evaluation of the decree related to youth organisations have been published in March 2017. These evaluations have been conducted by the Observatory of childhood, youth and youth welfare.