12/08/2025 | Writer: Defne Güzel
The Youth Advisory Board of Kaos GL and the May 17 Association, consisting of 19 members, is beginning its work. The board will contribute to guiding and enhancing the youth work of the associations.
Last month, Kaos GL Association and May 17 Association issued a call for applications to form a Youth Advisory Board, receiving responses from various cities across Türkiye. Nineteen people were selected for the board.
Who applied?
58% of applications came from young people aged 25–30, while 42% were in the 18–24 age group. Among the participants are young people organized within LGBTI+ associations and communities such as the Free Colors Association, Pink Life LGBTI+ Solidarity Association, November 20 Association for Combating Hate Crimes, May 17 Association, Kaos GL Association, Boğaziçi LGBTI+, QueerAnka, Kalabalık LGBTQIA+, and Pride Week Committees.
Participation and expectations
In terms of thematic areas, applications reflected strong expertise and experience in topics such as sexual and reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, education, housing, poverty, freedom of association, freedom of expression, activist well-being, and youth rights.
Strengthening the voice of young people
The Youth Advisory Board aims to increase the participation of young LGBTI+ people in decision-making processes, enable them to contribute directly to the youth work of organizations, and make young people’s needs more visible.
It aims to bring together activists, academics, experts, community representatives, and relevant institutions who have rights-based work experience with young people aged 18–35.
The board will contribute to guiding and developing the youth work of Kaos GL and the May 17 Association, adopting an approach based on power-sharing, youth agency, and a queer-feminist perspective.
Among the aims of the Advisory Board are to:
-
Support the empowerment of young LGBTI+ people through volunteering and internship processes,
-
Discuss age-sensitive, stigma-free service models in sexual and reproductive health and HIV,
-
Develop policy recommendations addressing the rights-based needs of refugee youth,
-
Strengthen access to social service supports and jointly address barriers in this area,
-
Combat discrimination in access to the right to health and develop inclusive service models,
-
Strengthen a right-to-work perspective prioritizing young LGBTI+ people’s access to secure, non-discriminatory employment,
-
Develop solutions to structural inequalities related to education, housing, and poverty,
-
Jointly assess barriers to the right to freedom of association and expression for youth,
-
Create mechanisms to support young activists’ well-being,
-
Strengthen young people’s participation in processes as knowledge producers, implementers, and decision-makers.
The first online meeting of the Advisory Board will be held on 23 August 2025. The board will convene periodically and will jointly carry out the process through regular feedback and recommendations.
Tags: human rights
