Publication and event on "Youth in International Law" with Prof. Dr. Anna Holzscheiter

On December 3, Prof. Dr. Anna Holzscheiter published the article Reclaiming the Voice of Youth: Pandemic Politics and Law and the Invisibility of Youth in the blog of the European Journal of International Law EJIL:Talk!. In the article, Julian A. Hettihewa and Anna Holzscheiter argue that there is an acute need to recognize the agency and creative will of young people in the context of political, legal, economic, and social responses to the pandemic.

This was followed by the event „Jugend ins Völkerrecht – aber wie?“ ("Youth into International Law - But How?") on December 8, featuring Prof. Dr. Anna Holzscheiter. The event consisted of a panel discussion and workshops and was organized by the initiative "Jugend im Völkerrecht" in cooperation with the youth delegates to the UN General Assembly and the Institute of International Law at the University of Bonn. The panel discussion also featured Benjamin Günther (European Youth Forum), Dr. Ina Heusgen (Deputy Director of the Political Department of the Permanent Mission of Germany to the UN in New York), and Nicola Popovic (Director of Gender Associations, International Consulting). The workshops that followed the panel discussion were divided into four groups:

• Politics: How can and should politics enable more youth participation?
• Science: What are the risks and opportunities of greater youth participation in science?
• Practice: in which areas of international law are there many or few opportunities for participation?
• Comparison: what marginalized groups exist in international law and how can youth learn from them?

"The starting point of the event is the belief that youth should be represented in international law. While almost half of the world's population is under the age of 24 and youth are gaining more and more recognition as actors, the question arises about the concrete participation opportunities for young people in international law. How can young people succeed in and in international law? What incentives and impulses exist, or which still need to be created? How can a heterogeneous group like youth answer the question of legitimacy?"

Prof. Dr. Anna Holzscheiter has already written on the topic of "Youth in International Law" earlier this year and spoke at an event. More information can be found in the news article from April 18.