Legal provisions on youth consultation

Youth consultation in Serbia is primarily regulated through youth-specific legal and strategic frameworks. The key instruments are:

1. Law on Youth (Zakon o mladima)
2. Youth Strategy in the Republic of Serbia for 2023-2030 (Strategija za mlade u Republici Srbiji za 2023-2030)
3. Action Plan (2023-2025) for implementing Youth Strategy (Akcioni plan za sprovođenje Strategije za mlade)
4. Confirmation Law on Aarhus Convention (Zakon o potvrđivanju konvencije o dostupnosti informacija, učešću javnosti u donošenju odluka i pravu na pravnu zaštitu u pitanjima životne sredine (Arhuska konvencija).

The Law on Youth represents the main legal framework governing youth rights and regulating measures and activities undertaken by the Republic of Serbia. These measures and activities are aimed at improving the social status and position of youth and at creating conditions for addressing young people’s needs and interests.

As such, the Law represents support to young people in organisation, social activism, development and fulfilment of their potential. The Law regulates and supports 6 principles that set the foundation of the youth policy in Serbia (see Chapter 1/1.2. National Youth Law/Scope and Context). Two of those principles are related to youth activism and participation: Principle of Raising Awareness on the Importance of Youth and their Social Role and Active Youth Participation Principle.

Through the Principle of Raising Awareness on the Importance of Youth and their Social Role, the Law ensures that everybody, in particular Youth Policy actors, will encourage and support the raising of awareness on the importance of young people and the social role of young people. This would be done through Youth Policy implementation, social empowerment for the purposes of youth well-being, promotion and protection of their interests and needs and creating opportunities for active participation in the society.

Through the Active Youth Participation Principle, the Law ensures a stimulating environment, supports the implementation of young people’s youth activities, their initiatives and involvement in decision-making processes. Furthermore, the Law ensures youth participation in processes of decision implementation as well, which decisions contribute to personal and social development, upon young people’s receiving complete information. 

The Law on Youth also regulates youth participation in the development and monitoring of youth policy through the establishment of the Youth Council, stipulating that at least one-third of its members must be young people, thereby ensuring their representation in formal consultation processes.

The Youth Strategy further emphasises that young people are active and equal participants in all spheres of social life and recognizes youth participation in decision-making as a key area for development. It is stated that youth participation is improving each year (also according to international indicators as well), but that the conditions should be further improved to ensure stronger participation of young people in these processes. 

The Action Plan 2023-2025 foresees a number of measures aimed at supporting youth participation, including financial support to youth projects and programmes focused on democratic values, decision-making processes, civil and political rights, and the political system and culture; 2) financial support to participation of young people and SOPs in international bodies/processes/forums; 3) financial support for youth activities and projects that involve young people in the work of bodies that initiate and/or adopt public policy documents and decisions of importance for young people, and promote active participation and dialogue with decision makers, to name a few.

The Law on the Ratification of the Aarhus Convention, confirms the international convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters. The Law acknowledges:

• the right to receive environmental information that is held by public authorities - access to environmental information,
• the right to participate in environmental decision-making - public participation in environmental decision-making,
• the right to review procedures that have been made without respecting the two aforementioned rights or environmental law in general - access to justice.

The Confirmation Law on Aarhus Convention refers only to consultation mechanisms to policies of environmental matters.

The Law on Youth, the Youth Strategy 2023-2030 with the Action Plans refer to youth consultation mechanisms to policies directly influencing the situation of young people. 

Levels of consultation

Young people in Serbia are officially consulted at national, regional (at the level of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina) and local levels in a manner determined by the respective institutions conducting them. 

Consultation methods

At the national level, consultation with young people primarily takes place through representative bodies such as the Youth Council and Student Conference of Serbian Universities (SKONUS) (see section 5.3 Youth representation bodies). These mechanisms are mainly used for consultation and monitoring related to the implementation of the Youth Strategy. 

Additional consultation methods include public hearings open to general public, participation of youth representatives in working groups or ad hoc consultations initiated by the Government or other public institutions.

At the level of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, consultations are conducted through the Vojvodina Youth Forum (Forum mladih Vojvodine) and the Youth Council of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina (Savet za mlade APV).

At the local level, young people are consulted through Local Youth Councils (see Chapter 1/1.4 Youth policy decision-making/Structure of decision-making) which enable youth participation in local decision-making processes. 

Regularity of consultations

National Youth Council meetings are held on a semi-annual basis. Other forms of consultations are generally organised on a case-by-case basis.

Actors 

Youth actors

Youth participation in consultation processes is primarily ensured through the Youth Council (see Chapter 5/5.3 Youth Representation Bodies/Youth Council). Youth members of the Youth Council are representatives of youth and for youth organisations and associations. In addition, young people are consulted through surveys and research initiatives addressing the position of youth, their needs, employability, and living conditions. These surveys generally target the youth population as a whole. 

Specific target groups

Top-level authorities do not implement specific proactive measures aimed at increasing the participation of particular target groups. However, the Law on Youth explicitly prohibits any unjustified discrimination among young people on grounds such as race, gender, nationality, religion, language, social background, financial status, affiliation with political, trade union or other organizations, disability, health status, physical appearance, sexual orientation or gender identity. Furthermore, the Youth Strategy recognizes young people who are vulnerable, marginalised, at risk of social exclusion and poverty and those exposed to multiple forms of discrimination. The Strategy emphasizes the need for improved identification of vulnerable groups and for providing targeted support.

Public authorities

Public authorities involved in youth consultation processes include the Government of the Republic of Serbia and line ministries responsible for youth-related policy areas, in particular:

• Ministry of Tourism and Youth;
• Ministry of Education;
• Ministry of Labour, Employment, Social and Veteran Affairs;
• Ministry of Finance;
• Ministry of Information and Telecommunications;
• Ministry of Culture;
• Ministry of Interior;
• Provincial Secretariat for Sports and Youth,
• Local self-governments.

Additional stakeholders

Additional stakeholders participating in youth consultation processes, particularly through the Youth Council, include representatives of youth and for youth organisations, youth offices, experts in the field of youth policy and representatives of relevant educational and public institutions.

Information on the extent of youth participation 

Public authorities in Serbia do not systematically collect or publish data on young people’s participation in the consultation processes. In some cases, information on participation can be identified through meeting minutes or accompanying documentation related to specific consultation processes.

For example, the Youth Strategy documents the consultation process for its development and reports that 296 young people participated in consultations related to the preparation of the current Strategy. 

Outcomes 

Main outcomes

Input from young people is most commonly sought in relation to the implementation of the Youth Strategy, assessment of the Youth Policy or it’s revision, as well as regarding the position of young people, their needs and employability. Their contribution is typically used as a basis for identifying key challenges and for setting priorities and objectives within strategies, guidelines and action plans. 

Public availability of outcomes

At the national-level, outcomes of consultations conducted through the Youth Council are documented in the form of meeting minutes (Zapisnici sa sednice Saveta za mlade). These minutes are publicly available on the website of the Ministry of Tourism and Youth.  

Large-scale initiatives for dialogue or debate between public institutions and young people 

At present, there are no top-level or large-scale initiatives in Serbia that enable structured dialogue or debate between public authorities and young people outside formal consultation mechanisms or established youth representative bodies.