1.2 National youth law
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Existence of a National Youth Law
In 2011, the Agency of Youth and Sport submitted an initiative for developing National Youth Law which addressed youth participation in decision making processes at local and national level and youth organizing. After approval from the Government, the Ministry of Justice formed a working group and drafted a text which was submitted to the Parliament. However, it was decided that the draft Law on Youth should be more widely consulted with the youth organizations throughout North Macedonia, and therefore, the Government redraw the text to additional revision.
As well, on April 12, 2011, the Government of the Republic of Macedonia sent a letter to the President of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia for starting a process for adopting a proposal for the National Youth Law. The draft law was discussed and voted on at the government session day as well as the letter to the Parliament. In the summer months of 2011, young people and youth organizations had the opportunity for the first time to reach the draft law, publicly.
After several unsuccessful attempts to adopt the Youth Law at the beginning of 2018, the matter of drafting a National Youth Law was revisited. The initiative came from the Club on Youth Affairs and Policies of the Assembly of North Macedonia, which decided to restart the entire process from the beginning, aiming to create a completely new version of the Youth Law.
During 2019, a working group of representatives of youth organizations, institutions and youth of political parties drafted the final version of the first Law on Youth. Finally, the National Youth Law was adopted in January 2020.
Scope and contents
The subject of regulation of the law are the forms of youth organization, youth participation in the process of creating youth policies and decision-making related to them, strategic documents at national and local level, activities and measures undertaken by state administration bodies and local self-government units for advancing the position of young people in society, as well as informing and joint planning of activities related to and for young people.
According to Article 2, the purpose of the law is to provide:
- Creating and implementing youth policy at all levels through a multi-sectoral approach, starting from the needs and interests of young people;
- Strengthening the participation of young people in the processes of creating policies for young people, active information, promotion and protection of the interests of young people, as well as strengthening the awareness of the importance of young people and their social role;
- Promoting intergenerational partnerships to support youth participation in the decision-making and policy-making process;
- Support and promotion of youth organization;
- Encouraging structural dialogue at national and local level;
- Encouraging volunteering, youth activism and youth work and
- Encouraging personal, professional and social development of young people.
The law defines in more detail the forms of youth organization and representation (youth organization, youth umbrella organizations, national assembly for youth), the forms of youth participation, the establishment of local youth councils, the different types of youth policies (national strategy for youth, local youth strategy), and youth services (youth office, youth center, youth officer).
Revisions/updates
In 2023, a process for submitting proposals for revisions to the Law on Youth Participation and Youth Policies was initiated, but the proposed changes were not adopted.