OSCE Chairpersonship Youth Forum – from Helsinki to the next 50 years

The OSCE Chairpersonship Youth Forum was convened in Helsinki on 29 and 30 July 2025, on the 10th anniversary year of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2250.

The event was organized with and for youth, taking stock of the added value that the OSCE offers in implementing the Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) agenda. The Forum fed into an OSCE-wide Roadmap that Finland will launch during its Chairpersonship.

The Youth Forum

• Assessed current engagement: Reviewed the OSCE’s current involvement in YPS initiatives to identify strengths, gaps, and additional needs;
• Defined OSCE’s unique role: Helped clarify what makes the OSCE uniquely positioned compared to other international and regional organizations in advancing the YPS agenda;
• Enhanced youth participation: Suggested ways to improve meaningful engagement with and for youth, ensuring that their voices and perspectives are included in decision-making processes;
• Provided actionable recommendations: Created specific recommendations and options for future action within the OSCE, with the aim of contributing to the OSCE-wide YPS Roadmap.

The OSCE Chairpersonship Youth Forum consisted of interactive plenary sessions, thematic panel discussions and parallel working groups aiming at gathering recommendations for the Chairpersonship’s YPS Roadmap, to be launched later in the year.

Participation

The Finnish Chairpersonship invited all delegations of OSCE participating States and Partners for Co-operation to nominate young individuals, aged 18 to 29, to participate in the event. From this pool of nominees, the Chairpersonship selected one participant from each State.

The Forum brought together a diverse group of young stakeholders. In addition to state-nominated participants, this included civil society representatives, Finnish experts, OSCE Youth Focal/Contact Points from various Secretariat units and teams, the three autonomous institutions, the Parliamentary Assembly and field operations. Additionally, experts from relevant international organisations were invited to contribute as appropriate.

Some sessions of the event (excluding working groups) were live-streamed. You can access the recording here.