1.2 National youth law
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On this page
Existence of a National Youth Law
There are two most important acts:
- the renewed Child Protection Act, which defines the principles of ensuring the rights and well-being of children in the age group of 0-18;
- the Youth Work Act, which defines the age range for young people from 7-26 and the obligations of different authorities in the youth field.
As described in the previous section of the chapter, there are many different laws, which carry more or less direct relevance for young people as they define the obligations and rights of municipalities and central government towards the young people as well as entitlements, rights, duties and limitations of young people.
Therefore, in the following paragraph the main focus is on the Youth Work Act that was approved in 1999 by the Parliament and it was re-adopted in 2010.
Scope and contents
Youth Work Act provides the legal basis for the organization and financing of youth work. The Act defines the main terms used in the youth field, main institutions, organizations and forms of youth work, the principles of youth work, financing of youth work, etc. The Act provides the responsibilities regarding youth work of the Ministry of Education and Research, county governors, and local municipality. The Act defines municipal and local youth councils.
There is no description of the rights and obligations of young people in the act.
The key policy domains relevant for the youth field identified in the Youth Work Act are written in the 2nd and 3rd chapter of the act.
Revisions/updates
Youth Work Act has been adopted three times:
- Adoption in 01.04.1999
- Adoption in 01.09.2010
- Adoption in 01.08.2020
Young people have been consulted. There is a systematic approach to involving represenatives of young people when amendments of the Youth Work Act are planned and discussed by the Ministry of Education and Research.