YOUTH REPRESENTATIVES FROM 150 COUNTRIES TO MEET AT VIENNA FOR WORLD YOUTH FORUM, 25-29 NOVEMBER
Press Release
ENV/DEV/385
SOC/4409
YOUTH REPRESENTATIVES FROM 150 COUNTRIES TO MEET AT VIENNA FOR WORLD YOUTH FORUM, 25-29 NOVEMBER
19961112 Forum To Address Global Challenges Faced By Youth, Forge Improved Partnerships With United Nations SystemVIENNA, 12 November (UN Information Service) -- The world's young people especially those living in developing countries, are being increasingly subjected to such global trends as unprecedented rural-to-urban migration, unemployment, substance abuse, armed conflicts, juvenile violence and sexual exploitation. In a world of shrinking "social nets", they often faced severely limited opportunities for education, training, employment, health and social services.
These are among a broad array of issues to be addressed later this month, when representatives of youth organizations from more than 150 countries gather in Vienna for a World Youth Forum. It is designed to provide a unique opportunity for a joining of forces between youth organizations and the United Nations system, aimed at improving the living conditions and future prospects of young people.
The second World Youth Forum of the United Nations system, to be held at the Vienna International Centre from 25 to 29 November, will bring together non-governmental youth organizations and the youth-related agencies and organizations of the United Nations system, as well as organizations representing regional conferences of government ministers responsible for youth affairs. An earlier World Youth Forum was held at Vienna in 1991. The forthcoming gathering will be the largest event of its kind ever held by the United Nations.
The main objective of the Forum is to promote the implementation of the "World Programme of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and Beyond", which was adopted by the General Assembly last year. Through 12 thematic workshops corresponding to the issues addressed by the Action Programme, the Forum aims to identify and promote policies and projects that could be undertaken jointly by youth organizations and United Nations entities to reinforce youth leadership and improve the situation of young people everywhere.
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The Programme builds on the basic themes of participation, development and peace, as set forth by the Assembly for International Youth Year (1985), but sets more clearly defined targets and guidelines for youth-related planning. It places particular emphasis on the need to strengthen national capacities and to increase the quality and quantity of opportunities available to young people.
In its 1989 resolution convening the Forum, the Assembly stressed that effective channels of communication between youth organizations and the United Nations system, as well as joint projects between youth organizations and the United Nations system, were essential if the Programme of Action was to become a reality for the benefit of future generations.
The Forum's working groups will discuss the relationship of youth to education, employment, hunger and poverty, health, the environment, drug abuse, juvenile delinquency, leisure-time activities, human settlements, gender questions and participation in decision-making and communications. Each group will be co-managed by representatives of a non-governmental youth organization and the relevant youth agency of the United Nations system.
Austrian Chancellor Franz Vranitszky and Giorgio Giacomelli, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna, are expected to open the Forum on 25 November. Hirofumi Ando, Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) will make a statement on behalf of UNFPA Executive Director Nafis Sadik.
Also during the Forum, the UNFPA plans to present awards to 17 winners of the Fund's international youth essay contest on "Promoting Responsible Reproductive Health Behaviour: The Youth Perspective". The Forum itself will present awards to the non-governmental youth organizations which submitted the most outstanding projects on "best practices" for youth work.
The Forum is being organized by the New York-based Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development of the United Nations and is co-hosted by the Austrian Federal Youth Council. Funding was contributed by Austria, Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway.
The Forum's recommendations for joint action on youth policy, communications, training and youth projects will be reported to next year's session of the General Assembly through the Commission for Social Development.
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