Voices Before the Vote: Youth, Migration & Democratic Participation Forum
While elections are approaching, the voices of some of the most vulnerable communities in our society, including asylum seekers and refugees, often remain missing from the public sphere, while at the same time these communities are too often used as scapegoats in political discourse and electoral narratives.
On Saturday, 16 May, Generation for Change CY organized Voices Before the Vote: Youth, Migration & Democratic Participation Forum at the University of Nicosia. The Forum brought together young people, migrants, refugees, civil society actors, and political representatives for an open discussion on democratic participation, representation, and the realities affecting communities in Cyprus today.
Throughout the discussions, participants highlighted a wide range of interconnected issues affecting both migrant/refugee communities and young people in Cyprus. Topics such as unaffordable housing, uncertainty about the future, mental health, exclusion from decision-making spaces, labor exploitation, lack of representation, rising hate speech, and difficulties accessing rights and opportunities were repeatedly raised across both panels.
One of the strongest reflections from the Forum was that many of these struggles are not experienced in isolation. Young citizens and migrant/refugee communities often face similar feelings of insecurity, exclusion, frustration, and lack of trust that their voices are genuinely heard within political and institutional systems. The discussions showed the importance of creating more spaces where these communities can meet, exchange perspectives, and engage directly with political actors and one another.
We would like to sincerely thank everyone who attended, participated, and contributed to the discussions and reflections throughout the event. Our special thanks also go to the parliamentary candidates and political representatives who accepted the invitation to attend, listen, engage, and take note of the experiences and concerns expressed during the Forum.
We hope these discussions continue to inform and shape conversations and decision-making processes beyond the elections themselves.
Thank you to everyone who helped make this important dialogue possible.
The Forum was organized within the framework of the VoteByVote Project, a European initiative promoting inclusive democratic participation and civic engagement among migrants, refugees, and young or infrequent voters. The Forum was co-organized by Generation for Change CY and Tap Seu Pou.
VotebyVote is co-funded by the European Union through the CERV-2025-CITIZENS-CIV program. Project number: 101254183
