Tobias, a staff member at SCI Switzerland, was nominated by SCI to be a candidate to the Council of Europe’s Advisory Council on Youth and an advocate for youth rights & global justice.

The Advisory Council on Youth, made of 30 representatives from youth NGOs and networks in Europe, brings the voices of young people to the Council of Europe (CoE). As a non-governmental partner to the CoE, it co-creates standards and work priorities of the Council of Europe’s youth sector and makes recommendations for future priorities, programmes and budgets.

Candidates were voted by the European Youth Forum members, in their General Assembly on 9-10 May 2025.

With 1576 votes, Tobias was voted as a member of the Council of Europe’s Advisory Council on Youth and their mandate will start in January 2026!

We asked them to tell us more about themselves and their priorities for the upcoming mandate.

Hi Tobias, congratulations on your election! How do you feel?

I feel very excited and honoured to have this fantastic opportunity to bring our values and peace-related topics to the Advisory Council! It is both a privilege and a great responsibility to serve on this Advisory Council, and I am very much looking forward to taking on this role. 

Why did you decide to run for this position?

Over the past few years, I have more and more realised that my education, knowledge and experience result in a passion to bridge different forms of activism. I value and prioritise grassroots work and believe that especially policy-making institutions must be informed by these realities on the ground. Therefore, I aim to bridge these perspectives and come into the Advisory Council with a critical perspective that is shaped by the diverse work and voluntary engagement I did in the past as well as our movement and its members. 

I have in the past worked on youth, peace, migration, global justice and sustainability – as policy researcher, workshop facilitator, advocate for change, student, humanitarian activist and in many more positions. This allowed me to gain insights into the different realities we encounter in Europe and the world and brought me to have a very critical mindset while still believing in the power of collective action, humanity and our drive for change.

This is what sparked my interest in this position: it is a unique access to an important European institution that allows us to shape it, bring our youth perspective forward, be a catalyst for so many of our communities and push for topics that shape Europe today.  

What is your approach to this role, and what are your priorities?

My approach is to stay authentic and keep on speaking up for the causes I and we as a movement care for, to enter into dialogue and allow for collective processes within the Advisory Council to happen – only together can we develop bold and intersectional perspectives/policies that make this planet and continent a bit more just. 

That said, I have three main priorities: 

• Youth, peace and security 

With an eye for intersectionality, I aim at ensuring meaningful youth participation in discussions and policy-making processes on peace and security, to define solutions that take complexities into account. I will focus especially on accountability and implementation mechanisms. 

• Peace education and activism for youth engagement

In light of the current European remilitarisation, I will advocate for support to peace education and critical activism. Currently, a working group is developing a new recommendation on peace education and I aim at using this momentum to advocate for the importance of peace education in these polarised times. 

• Decolonising youth mobility and international cooperation

I will bring the lens of decolonisation to the Advisory Council. A perspective that is most important nowadays and still not considered enough. I will especially engage youth with different lived experiences to co-create a paradigm for international cooperation that considers colonial continuities and critically engages in a meaningful future.

What do you hope to accomplish in your mandate?

I hope to position and establish these three priorities well within the Advisory Council and hope to start needed discussions in questions of inclusion/exclusion. I hope that as a group of young people working together, we can create an environment of learning and supporting each other that values processes and thereby has an even greater outcome in terms of policies. I also hope to bring in even more diverse and intersectionally affected youth to make them be heard and have their realities included within the Council of Europe. 

Why is it important for SCI to be present in spaces like the Advisory Council on Youth?

Especially at this moment, when Europe is polarised on topics such as militarisation, when fears dominate narratives on peace and security, it is important that organisations such as SCI focusing on peace take their responsibility seriously and are part of the discussions and policy-making. Already throughout this campaigning period, I have become aware of how important it is for us to also have a seat at this table and pro-actively shape the future of Europe. 

What is your message for young people?

Be bold! If you have the privilege to access decision-taking spaces, approach them and stand up for your perspectives. We need to take up space and do so in a reflective and critical way, considering our blind spots while knowing our values and utopian dreams. We need to go out of our comfort zone from time to time and it has to be uncomfortable sometimes, that’s where growth and change happens! And we must never forget that the future is collective, so organise yourselves with like-minded people to strategise, advocate together and also have fun.