As part of their youth partnership, the European Commission and the Council of Europe organised a seminar in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, on 28-29 October 2015,  entitled “Beyond Barriers: a youth policy seminar on social inclusion of young people in vulnerable situation in South East Europe“.

The seminar aimed at developing responses to this particular challenge in a mixed format involving policymakers, youth workers, researchers and youth organisations.

About 50 participants from Western Balkans and Turkey explored the landscape of youth policy in the region and looked at good practices and tools for social inclusion.

The seminar was opened by Ms. Biljana Čamur, the Assistant Minister of Civil Affairs, Karin Lopatta-Loibl from DG Education and Culture and Mary Ann Hennessey, Head of the Council of Europe Office.

Participants highlighted the need for more opportunities for actors in the field of youth to meet and exchange across the region. They called for political commitment to youth policy implementation and for support to mainstreaming successful bottom-up initiatives such as local youth club networks, personalised approaches to social inclusion, more research and more updated data on the situation of young people in South East Europe.

Involvement of local authorities in implementing youth policy and involvement of young people in municipal councils was seen as a crucial step to making social inclusion of young people an agenda item in the contexts closest to their living realities.

Finally, there was an agreement that new answers are needed to the challenges that young people face in their transition to autonomy, requiring commitment across all national and local services.