ACTION PLAN TO EMPOWER YOUNG PEOPLE TO PARTICIPATE IN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT ADOPTED AT CONCLUSION OF FORUM IN BRAGA, PORTUGAL
Press Release
SOC/4460
ACTION PLAN TO EMPOWER YOUNG PEOPLE TO PARTICIPATE IN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT ADOPTED AT CONCLUSION OF FORUM IN BRAGA, PORTUGAL
19980810 Text to Be Presented to World Conference of Ministers This Afternoon in Lisbon(Reissued as received from a United Nations Information Officer.)
LISBON, 8 August -- Young people, governments and the international community were called on to work together to make youth participation in development a reality, as the World Youth Forum of the United Nations System concluded its six-day meeting in Braga, Portugal, on Friday, 7 August.
By adopting the Braga Youth Action Plan, more than 400 young people representing youth organizations from 150 countries, and representatives of the United Nations and intergovernmental organizations underlined that the participation of youth is a prerequisite for the development of humankind as a whole. The Action Plan, containing specific recommendations, is a blueprint for action to empower young people to participate in human development.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the Forum participants that their efforts showed what it meant to intervene to change the world for the better. He called on young people to act on their ideals and to explore new frontiers where older, wiser, more cautious people might not.
At the concluding meeting, when he was presented with the Action Plan, he said courage did not mean lack of fear; it meant "doing things in spite of your fear. Confront those fears, take risks for what you believe, for it is only then you will find what you are capable of; you will discover that even though your opponents may try to hurt you, they can never break you. Go out and make your difference to the world".
President Jorge Fernando Branco de Sampaio of Portugal, in closing remarks, said that young people must have their own voice, their own experience, their own identity, and they must be allowed to hold their destiny in their own hands. To that end, the environment must be created to allow all young people to fulfil their potential.
A delegation from the Forum will formally present the Action Plan to the World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth, beginning this afternoon in Lisbon. Convened by the Government of Portugal in cooperation with the United Nations, the five-day Conference brings together representatives of some 160 governments. The Braga Action Plan will also be considered by the General Assembly at its fifty-third session, beginning next month, and by other policy- making bodies of the United Nations system.
Both the World Youth Forum and the Ministerial Conference are concerned with the review, appraisal and implementation of the World Youth Programme of Action, adopted by the General Assembly in 1995, on the tenth anniversary of the International Youth Year. The Programme of Action aims to effectively address the problems of young people and to increase opportunities for their participation in society. It sets clearly defined targets and guidelines for youth-related planning, and places particular emphasis on the need to strengthen national capacities and to increase the quality and quantity of opportunities available to young people. It especially calls for both the Ministerial Conference and the World Youth Forum to be held to reflect the view of governmental ministers responsible for youth and of youth non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in this process. Action Plan To achieve real and sustainable solutions to the injustice and exclusion facing young people, the Action Plan, in its introduction, calls on the international community, the private sector and especially governments to provide young people with adequate financial resources to realize their full potential. It states that youth should participate in political decision-making on all levels, and young people must be enabled to organize themselves in youth NGOs, student unions, trade unions, political parties and in the creation of mass media in order to fully participate in political, economic, social and cultural life. Stating that young people must be seen as actors in today's society who have direct stakes in the development process, the Action Plan specifies goals and actions to be taken on youth policies, participation and human rights. Its 30 recommendations include those concerning integrated cross-sectoral youth policies; youth NGO cooperation at the national level; youth, poverty eradication and development; education for the twenty-first century; youth employment for social development; youth, health and development; the role of youth in the promotion of human rights; and a special rapporteur on youth rights.
Among specific recommendations, the Secretary-General is called on to appoint a special rapporteur on youth rights before the end of 1999. Sketching a profile of such a rapporteur, the Action plan says someone holding the post should be a young, independent expert -- no older than 35 at the start of the three-year appointment -- recently involved with youth organizations and experienced with human rights issues.
The Secretary-General is also urged to take steps to organize an "ad hoc event on youth rights" to bring together representatives of governments and
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national, regional and international youth groups. The event should be convened either as a special session of the General Assembly or as an independent United Nations world conference on youth rights. The Action Plan calls on the United Nations to produce a "compendium on existing youth rights" and assist youth NGOs in disseminating it. The compendium would consist of a compilation of all existing rights of young people included in reports adopted by the General Assembly and United Nations human rights instruments. It calls upon all States to formulate by the year 2005 cross-sectoral, comprehensive youth policies in line with the goals of the Braga Action Plan and the World Programme of Action. National youth policies should be accorded legal status, and supported by a legislative structure and adequate resources. The international community -- including the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank -- are urged to work in partnership with youth organizations to organize regional seminars before the year 2000 to assess the impact of the debt crisis on young people. Findings could be used to assist the international community in making informed policy decisions, particularly in the areas of structural adjustment programmes, capacity-building, awareness-raising and advocacy aimed at eradicating poverty. The regional meetings should lead to a joint international conference of the United Nations system and youth organizations to review the topic before the year 2001. Affirming the indispensable contribution made by young people in eradicating poverty, the Plan recommends that all major actors concerned with poverty and youth work to promote and fund youth volunteerism. Also, youth-led volunteerism should be given high profile during the International Year of Volunteers in 2001. Recognizing the responsibility of young people to take upon themselves efforts to implement the Braga Action Plan and other United Nations initiatives, participants offered the United Nations the service of youth at the national, regional and international levels. Background on Forum The third session of the Forum, which met under the theme "Youth Participation for Human Development" at Braga from 2 to 7 August, was convened by the United Nations in partnership with the Portuguese National Youth Council. Its overall goals are to develop long-term strategies to place the concerns of young men and women on the development agenda, and to help youth organizations better participate in ongoing policy-making at the international level. The Forum focused on three issues -- youth policies, youth participation, and youth and human rights. As at previous sessions, a World Youth Expo of about 30 booths was held at the Forum site, to give an opportunity to the partners of the Forum -- non-governmental youth organizations, youth-related agencies of the United Nations system and intergovernmental organizations -- to present their specific activities. The Forum's first and second sessions were held at Vienna in 1991 and 1996, respectively, the second being held in partnership with the Austrian Federal Youth Council.
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