| United Nations | A/50/728 |
General Assembly
Distr. GENERAL
7 November 1995
ORIGINAL:
ENGLISH
Fiftieth session
Agenda item 105
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT, INCLUDING QUESTIONS RELATING TO
THE WORLD SOCIAL SITUATION AND TO YOUTH, AGEING,
DISABLED PERSONS AND THE FAMILY
World programme of action for youth to
the year 2000 and beyond
Note by the Secretary-General
By its resolution 1995/64 of 2 November 1995, the Economic and Social
Council recommended to the General Assembly the adoption of the following
draft resolution:
World Programme of Action for Youth to
the Year 2000 and Beyond
The General Assembly,
Recognizing that young people in all countries are both a major human
resource for development and key agents for social change, economic
development and technological innovation,
Bearing in mind that the ways in which the challenges and potentials of
young people are addressed by policy will influence current social and
economic conditions and thewell-being and livelihood of future generations,
Acknowledging that young women and men in all parts of the world aspire
to full participation in the life of society,
Recognizing that the decade since the observance of International Youth
Year: Participation, Development and Peace has been a period of
fundamental political, economic and socio-cultural change in the world,
95-34332 (E) 101195/...
*9534332*
Acknowledging the contribution that non-governmental youth organizations
could make in improving dialogue and consultations with the United Nations
system on the situation of youth,
Recalling its resolution 45/103 of 14 December 1990, in which it
requested the Secretary-General to prepare a draft world youth programme of
action towards the year 2000 and beyond,
Recalling also its resolution 49/152 of 23 December 1994 on the
International Youth Year, in which it requested the Commission for Social
Development at its thirty-fourth session to consider further the draft
world programme of action for youth towards the year 2000 and beyond,
Having considered the report of the Economic and Social Council,
A/50/3.
1. Adopts the World Programme of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and
Beyond, annexed hereto, as an integral part of the present resolution,
including the 10 priority areas identified therein, namely, education,
employment, hunger and poverty, health, environment, drug abuse, juvenile
delinquency, leisure-time activities, girls and young women, and the full
and effective participation of youth in the life of society and in
decision-making;
2. Invites Governments, with the support of the international community,
non-governmental organizations and the public and private sectors, as well
as, in particular, youth organizations, to implement the Programme of
Action by undertaking the relevant activities outlined therein;
3. Requests the Secretary-General to report to it at its fifty-second
session, through the Commission for Social Development and the Economic and
Social Council, on the progress made in the implementation of the Programme
of Action, taking into account the promotion of integrated reporting;
4. Invites, once again, Member States to include, whenever possible,
youth representatives in their delegations to the General Assembly and
other meetings of relevant United Nations bodies, with a view to
stimulating the participation of young women and men in the implementation
of the Programme of Action.
Annex
WORLD PROGRAMME OF ACTION FOR YOUTH
TO THE YEAR 2000 AND BEYOND
CONTENTS
Paragraphs Page
PREAMBLE ................................................... 1 - 24
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE ....................................... 3 - 44
I. UNITED NATIONS DECLARATION OF INTENT ON YOUTH:
PROBLEMS AND POTENTIALS .............................. 5 - 84
II. DEVELOPMENT SETTING .................................. 9 -127
III. STRATEGIES AND POLICY SPECIFICS ...................... 13 - 178
IV. PRIORITY AREAS ....................................... 18 -1079
A. Education ........................................ 21 - 3210
B. Employment ....................................... 33 - 3913
C. Hunger and poverty ............................... 40 - 4714
D. Health ........................................... 48 - 6316
E. Environment ...................................... 64 - 7220
F. Drug abuse ....................................... 73 - 8521
G. Juvenile delinquency ............................. 86 - 9024
H. Leisure-time activities .......................... 91 - 9725
I. Girls and young women ............................ 98 -10326
J. Full and effective participation of youth in the
life of society and in decision-making ........... 104 - 10728
V. MEANS OF IMPLEMENTATION .............................. 108 -14329
A. National level ................................... 112 -11529
B. Regional cooperation ............................. 116 -12030
C. International cooperation ........................ 121 -14330
PREAMBLE
1. The decade since the observance of International Youth Year:
Participation, Development, Peace has been a period during which the world
experienced fundamental political, economic and socio-cultural changes.
These changes will inevitably affect at least the first decade of the
twenty-first century as well.
2. Young people represent agents, beneficiaries and victims of major
societal changes and are generally confronted by a paradox: to seek to be
integrated into an existing order or to serve as a force to transform that
order. Young people in all parts of the world, living in countries at
different stages of development and in different socio-economic settings,
aspire to full participation in the life of society.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
3. The World Programme of Action for Youth provides a policy framework and
practical guidelines for national action and international support to
improve the situation of young people. It contains proposals for action to
the year 2000 and beyond aiming at achieving the objectives of the
International Youth Year and at fostering conditions and mechanisms to
promote improved well-being and livelihood among young people.
4. The Programme of Action focuses in particular on measures to strengthen
national capacities in the field of youth and to increase the quality and
quantity of opportunities available to young people for full, effective and
constructive participation in society.
I. UNITED NATIONS DECLARATION OF INTENT ON YOUTH: PROBLEMS
AND POTENTIALS
5. States Members of the United Nations have agreed to work towards
achievement of the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United
Nations, inter alia the promotion of higher standards of living, full
employment, and conditions of economic and social progress and development.
Young people in all parts of the world, living in countries at different
stages of development and in different socio-economic situations, aspire
towards full participation in the life of society, as provided in the
Charter of the United Nations, including:
(a) Attainment of an educational level commensurate with their
aspirations;
(b) Access to employment opportunities equal to their abilities;
(c) Food and nutrition adequate for full participation in the life of
society;
(d) A physical and social environment that promotes good health and
protection from disease and addiction and that is free from all types of
violence;
(e) Human rights and fundamental freedoms without distinction as to
race, sex, language, religion or any other forms of discrimination;
(f) Participation in decision-making processes;
(g) Places and facilities for cultural, recreational and sports
activities to improve the living standards of young people in both rural
and urban areas.
6. While the peoples of the United Nations, through their Governments,
international organizations and voluntary associations, have done much to
ensure that these aspirations may be achieved, including efforts to
implement the guidelines for further planning and suitable follow-up in the
field of youth endorsed by the General Assembly in 1985, it is apparent
that the changing world social, economic and political situation has
created the following conditions that have made this goal more difficult to
achieve in many countries:
(a) Claims on the physical and financial resources of States, which have
reduced the resources available for youth programmes and activities,
particularly in heavily indebted countries;
(b) Inequities in social, economic and political conditions, including
racism and xenophobia, that lead to increasing hunger, deterioration in
living conditions and poverty among youth and to their marginalization as
refugees, displaced persons and migrants;
(c) Increasing difficulty for young people returning from armed conflict
and confrontation to be integrated into the community, and access to
education and employment;
(d) Continuing discrimination against young women and insufficient
access by young women to equal opportunities in employment and education;
(e) High levels of youth unemployment, including long-term unemployment;
(f) Continuing deterioration of the global environment resulting from
unsustainable patterns of consumption and production, particularly in
industrialized countries, which is a matter of grave concern, aggravating
poverty and imbalances;
(g) Increasing incidence of diseases, such as malaria and HIV/AIDS, and
other threats to health, such as substance abuse and psychotropic substance
addiction, smoking and alcoholism;
(h) Inadequate opportunities for vocational education and training,
especially for persons with disabilities;
(i) Changes in the role of the family as a vehicle for shared
responsibility and socialization of youth;
(j) The lack of opportunity for young people to participate in the
life of society and contribute to its development and well-being;
(k) The prevalence of debilitating disease, hunger and malnutrition that
engulfs the life of many young people;
(l) The increasing difficulty for young people to receive family life
education as a basis for forming healthy families that foster sharing of
responsibilities.
7. These phenomena, among others, are contributing to increased
marginalization of young people from the larger society, which depends on
youth for its continual renewal.
8. We, the peoples of the United Nations, believe that the following
principles, aimed at ensuring the well-being of young women and men and
their full and active participation in the society in which they live, are
fundamental to the implementation of the World Programme of Action for
Youth.
(a) Every State should provide its young people with opportunities for
obtaining education, for acquiring skills and for participating fully in
all aspects of society, with a view to, inter alia, acquiring productive
employment and leading self-sufficient lives;
(b) Every State should guarantee to all young people the full enjoyment
of human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with the Charter of
the United Nations and other international instruments related to human
rights;
(c) Every State should take all necessary measures to eliminate all
forms of discrimination against young women and girls and remove all
obstacles to gender equality and the advancement and empowerment of women
and should ensure full and equal access to education and employment for
girls and young women;
(d) Every State should foster mutual respect, tolerance and
understanding among young people with different racial, cultural and
religious backgrounds;
(e) Every State should endeavour to ensure that its policies relating to
young people are informed by accurate data on their situation and needs,
and that the public has access to such data to enable it to participate in
a meaningful fashion in the decision-making process;
(f) Every State is encouraged to promote education and action aimed at
fostering among youth a spirit of peace, cooperation and mutual respect and
understanding between nations;
(g) Every State should meet the special needs of young people in the
areas of responsible family-planning practice, family life, sexual and
reproductive health, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV infection and AIDS
prevention, consistent with the Programme of Action adopted by the
International Conference on Population and Development, the Copenhagen
Declaration and Programme of Action adopted by the World Summit for Social
Development, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted by the
Fourth World Conference on Women;
(h) Environmental protection, promotion and enhancement are among the
issues considered by young people to be of prime importance to the future
welfare of society. States should therefore actively encourage young
people, including youth organizations, to participate actively in
programmes, including educational programmes, and actions designed to
protect, promote and enhance the environment;
(i) Every State should take measures to develop the possibilities of
education and employment of young people with disabilities;
(j) Every State should take measures to improve the fate of young people
living in particularly difficult conditions, including by protecting their
rights;
(k) Every State should promote the goal of full employment as a basic
priority of its economic and social policies, giving special attention to
youth employment. They should also take measures to eliminate the economic
exploitation of child labour;
(l) Every State should provide young people with the health services
necessary to ensure their physical and mental well-being, including
measures to combat disease such as malaria and HIV/AIDS, and to protect
them from harmful drugs and the effects of addiction to drugs, tobacco and
alcohol;
(m) Every State should place people at the centre of development and
direct our economies to meet human needs more effectively and to ensure
that young people are active participants and beneficiaries in the process
of development.
II. DEVELOPMENT SETTING
9. In 1995, the world youth population - defined by the United Nations as
the age cohort 15-24 - is estimated to be 1.03 billion, or 18 per cent of
the total world population. The majority of the world youth population (84
per cent in 1995) lives in developing countries. This figure is projected
to increase to 89 per cent in 2025. The difficult circumstances that
people experience in many developing countries are often even more
difficult for young people because of limited opportunities for education
and training, viable employment and health and social services, and because
of a growing incidence of substance abuse and juvenile delinquency. Many
developing countries are also experiencing unprecedented rates of rural-
urban migration by young people.
10. Apart from the statistical definition of the term "youth" mentioned
above, however, the meaning of the term "youth" varies in different
societies around the world. Definitions of youth have changed continuously
in response to fluctuating political, economic and socio-cultural
circumstances.
11. Young people in industrialized countries comprise a relatively
smaller proportion of the total population because of generally lower birth
rates and higher levels of life expectancy. They are a social group that
faces particular problems and uncertainties regarding its future, problems
that relate in part to limited opportunities for appropriate employment.
12. Young people in all countries are both a major human resource for
development and key agents for social change, economic development and
technological innovation. Their imagination, ideals, considerable energies
and vision are essential for the continuing development of the societies in
which they live. The problems that young people face as well as their
vision and aspirations are an essential component of the challenges and
prospects of today's societies and future generations as well. Thus, there
is special need for new impetus to be given to the design and
implementation of youth policies and programmes at all levels. The ways in
which the challenges and potentials of young people are addressed by policy
will influence current social and economic conditions and the well-being
and livelihood of future generations.
III. STRATEGIES AND POLICY SPECIFICS
13. The General Assembly endorsed the Declaration on the Promotion among
Youth of the Ideals of Peace, Mutual Respect and Understanding between
Peoples in 1965. General Assembly resolution 2037 (XX). From 1965 to
1975, both the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council
emphasized three basic themes in the field of youth: participation,
development and peace. The need for an international policy on youth was
emphasized as well. In 1979, the General Assembly, by resolution 34/151,
designated 1985 as International Youth Year: Participation, Development,
Peace. In 1985, by resolution 40/14, the Assembly endorsed the guidelines
for further planning and suitable follow-up in the field of youth
(A/40/256, annex). The guidelines are significant for their focus on young
people as a broad category comprising various subgroups, rather than a
single demographic entity. They provide proposals for specific measures to
address the needs of such subgroups as young people with disabilities,
rural and urban youth, and young women.
14. The themes identified by the General Assembly for International Youth
Year - namely, participation, development and peace - reflect a predominant
concern of the international community with distributive justice, popular
participation and quality of life. These were reflected in the guidelines,
and they represent overall themes of the World Programme of Action for
Youth as well.
15. The World Programme of Action for Youth also builds upon other, recent
international instruments, including the Rio Declaration on Environment and
Development, adopted by the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development, Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June 1992, vol. I, Resolutions Adopted by
the Conference (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.93.I.8 and
corrigendum), resolution 1, annex I. the Vienna Declaration and Programme
of Action, adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights, Report of the
World Conference on Human Rights, Vienna, 14-25 June 1993 (A/CONF.157/24
(Part I)), chap. III. the Programme of Action of the International
Conference on Population and Development, Report of the International
Conference on Population and Development, Cairo, 5-13 September 1994
(A/CONF.171/13 and Add.1), chap. I, resolution 1, annex. the Copenhagen
Declaration on Social Development and the Programme of Action of the World
Summit for Social Development, Report of the World Summit for Social
Development, Copenhagen, 6-12 March 1995 (A/CONF.166/9), chap. I,
resolution 1, annexes I and II. and the Platform for Action adopted by the
Fourth World Conference on Women. See A/CONF.177/20 (forthcoming).
16. The World Programme of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and Beyond is
drawn from these general and specific international instruments related to
youth policies and programmes. The Programme of Action is significant
because it provides a cross-sectoral standard relating to both policy-
making and programme design and delivery. It will serve as a model for
integrated actions, at all levels, to address more effectively problems
experienced by young people in various settings and to enhance their
participation in society.
17. The World Programme of Action for Youth is divided into three phases:
the first phase focuses on analysis and on drafting the Programme of Action
and its adoption by the General Assembly at its fiftieth session, in 1995;
the second phase is concerned with world-wide implementation of the
Programme of Action to the year 2000; the third phase, covering the period
2001 to 2010, will focus on further implementation and evaluation of
progress made and obstacles encountered; it will suggest appropriate
adjustments to long-term objectives and specific measures to improve the
situation of young people in the societies in which they live.
IV. PRIORITY AREAS
18. Each of the 10 priority areas identified by the international
community is presented in terms of principal issues, specific objectives
and the actions proposed to be taken by various actors to achieve those
objectives. Objectives and actions reflect the three themes of
International Youth Year: Participation, Development and Peace; they are
interlinked and mutually reinforcing.
19. The 10 fields of action identified by the international community
are education, employment, hunger and poverty, health, environment, drug
abuse, juvenile delinquency, leisure-time activities, girls and young
women, and the full and effective participation of youth in the life of
society and in decision-making. The Programme of Action does not exclude
the possibility of new priorities which may be identified in the future.
20. Implementation of the Programme of Action requires the full enjoyment
by young people of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, and also
requires that Governments take effective action against violations of these
rights and freedoms, and promote non-discrimination, tolerance, respect for
diversity, with full respect for various religious and ethical values,
cultural backgrounds and philosophical convictions of their young people,
equality of opportunity, solidarity, security and participation of all
young women and men.
A. Education
21. Although progress towards universal basic education, including
literacy, has been impressive in recent times, the number of illiterate
people will continue to grow and many developing countries are likely to
fall short of universal primary education by the year 2000. Three main
concerns regarding current systems of education may be expressed. The
first is the inability of many parents in developing countries to send
their children to schools because of local economic and social conditions.
The second concerns the paucity of educational opportunities for girls and
young women, migrants, refugees, displaced persons, street children,
indigenous youth minorities, young people in rural areas and young people
with disabilities. The third concerns the quality of education, its
relevance to employment and its usefulness for assisting young people in
the transition to full adulthood, active citizenship and productive and
gainful employment.
22. To encourage the development of educational and training systems more
in line with the current and future needs of young people and their
societies, it would be helpful to share experience and to investigate
alternative arrangements, such as informal arrangements for the provision
of basic literacy, job skills training and lifelong education.
23. Opportunities for young people to pursue advanced or university
education, or engage in research or be trained for self-employment should
be expanded in developing countries. Given the economic problems faced by
such countries and the inadequacy of international assistance in this area,
it is difficult to provide appropriate training for all young people, even
though they are a country's chief economic asset.
24. Governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations are
called upon to assist young people in developing countries to obtain
education and training at all levels in developed countries as well as in
developing countries, as well as mutual academic exchanges among developing
countries, for example through exchanges among developing countries.
Proposals for action
1. Improving the level of basic education, skill training and
literacy among youth
25. Priority should be given to achieving the goal of ensuring basic
education for all (including literacy), mobilizing for that purpose all
channels, agents and forms of education and training, in line with the
concept of lifelong education. Special emphasis should also be given to
the reform of education content and curricula, especially curricula that
reinforce traditional female roles that deny women opportunities for full
and equal partnership in society, at all levels, etc. focusing on
scientific literacy, human moral values and learning of skills, adapted to
the changing environment and to life in multi-ethnic societies and pluri-
cultural societies. The importance of the development of information
skills, that is skills for researching, accessing and using information,
and informatics should be emphasized along with the importance of distance
education. Non-governmental youth organizations and education
organizations should develop youth-to-youth programmes for basic education,
skill training and literacy. Consideration should be given to developing
programmes enabling retired and elderly people to teach literacy to young
people. Particular attention should be given to specific groups of youth
in distressed circumstances, including indigenous, migrant and refugee
youth, displaced persons, street children and poor youth in urban and rural
areas, as well as to special problems, including literacy problems, for
blind youth and youth with other disabilities.
2. Cultural heritage and contemporary patterns of society
26. Governments should establish or strengthen programmes to educate young
people in the cultural heritage of their societies and other societies and
the world. Governments should institute, in cooperation with non-
governmental youth organizations, travel and exchange programmes and youth
camps to help youth understand cultural diversity at both the national and
international levels, develop intercultural learning skills and participate
in the preservation of the cultural heritage of their societies and other
societies and the world around them. The United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in cooperation with
interested Governments and non-governmental organizations, is requested to
expand international programmes, such as youth camps, by which young
people, particularly from developing countries, with different cultures may
help restore major international cultural sites and engage in other
cultural activities.
3. Promoting mutual respect and understanding and the ideals
of peace, solidarity and tolerance among youth
27. Programmes aimed at learning peacemaking and dispute and conflict
resolution should be encouraged and designed by Governments and educational
institutions for introduction to schools at all levels. Children and youth
should be informed of cultural differences in their own societies and given
opportunities to learn about different cultures as well as tolerance and
mutual respect for cultural and religious diversity. Governments and
educational institutions should formulate and implement such educational
programmes that promote and strengthen respect for all human rights and
fundamental freedoms; and enhance the values of peace, solidarity,
tolerance, responsibility and respect for the diversity and rights of
others.
4. Vocational and professional training
28. Governments and educational institutions, in cooperation with regional
and international organizations, could establish or enhance vocational and
technical training that is relevant to current and prospective employment
conditions. Youth must be given the opportunity to access vocational and
professional training and apprenticeship programmes that help them acquire
entry-level jobs with growth opportunities and the ability to adjust to
changes in labour demand.
5. Promoting human rights education
29. Governments should ensure that the United Nations Decade for Human
Rights Education (1995-2005) is adequately observed in schools and
educational institutions. In order to make youth aware of their civil,
cultural, economic, political and social rights, as well their societal
responsibilities, and in order to develop harmonious inter-community
relations, mutual tolerance, mutual respect, equality between women and
men, and tolerance for diversity, Governments should develop human rights
education strategies targeted to youth, taking particular account of the
human rights of women.
6. Training for enterprise programmes
30. Governments, in cooperation with regional and international
organizations, should formulate model programmes of training for youth in
individual and cooperative enterprises. They are encouraged to establish
self-contained enterprise centres where young people may plan and test
their enterprise venture concepts.
7. Infrastructure for training youth workers and youth leaders
31. Governments should assess the adequacy of facilities and programmes to
train youth workers and youth leaders, including the adequacy of curricula
and staff resources. On the basis of such assessments, Governments should
plan and implement relevant training programmes. Non-governmental youth
organizations should be encouraged and assisted to formulate and
disseminate model training courses for use by member organizations.
32. Interested organizations should investigate possibilities to
strengthen international youth worker and youth leadership training, with
priority given to accepting participants from developing countries. In
cooperation with concerned organizations that provide training
opportunities for youth, including internships and volunteer programmes,
establishment of an inventory of such programmes could also be explored.
B. Employment
33. Unemployment and underemployment among youth is a problem everywhere.
It is, indeed, part of the larger struggle to create employment
opportunities for all citizens. The problem has worsened in recent years
because of the global recession, which has affected developing countries
the most. The disturbing fact is that economic growth is not always
accompanied by growth in employment. The difficulty of finding suitable
employment is compounded by a host of other problems confronting young
people, including illiteracy and insufficient training, and is worsened by
periods of world economic slow-down and overall changing economic trends.
In some countries, the influx of young people into the employment market
has carried acute problems. According to estimates of the International
Labour Organization (ILO), more than 100 million new jobs would have to be
created within the next 20 years in order to provide suitable employment
for the growing number of young people in the economically active
populations of developing countries. The situation of girls and young
women, as well as of young people with disabilities, refugee youth,
displaced persons, street children, indigenous youth, migrant youth and
minorities warrants urgent attention, bearing in mind the prohibition of
forced labour and child labour.
34. The crisis of youth unemployment is also a crisis of opportunities for
young people to acquire independently the minimum means of accommodation
and housing necessary for setting up families and participate in the life
of society. Advances in technology and communications, coupled with
improved productivity, have imposed new challenges as well as new
opportunities for employment. Young people are among the most severely
affected by these developments. If effective solutions are not found, the
costs to society will be much higher in the long run. Unemployment creates
a wide range of social ills and young people are particularly susceptible
to its damaging effects: the lack of skill development, low self-esteem,
marginalization, impoverishment and the wasting of an enormous human
resource.
Proposals for action
1. Opportunities for self-employment
35. Governments and organizations should create or promote grant schemes
to provide seed money to encourage and support enterprise and employment
programmes for young people. Businesses and enterprises could be
encouraged to provide counterpart financial and technical support for such
schemes. Cooperative schemes involving young people in production and
marketing of goods and services could be considered. Formation of youth
development banks could be considered. The Committee for the Promotion and
Advancement of Cooperatives is encouraged to develop models for
cooperatives run by youth in developed and developing countries. Such
models could include guidelines for management training and training in
entrepreneurial techniques and marketing.
2. Employment opportunities for specific groups of the
youth population
36. Within funds designated to promote youth employment, Governments
should, as appropriate, designate resources for programmes supporting the
efforts of young women, young people with disabilities, youth returning
from military service, migrant youth, refugee youth, displaced persons,
street children and indigenous youth. Youth organizations and youth
themselves should be directly involved in the planning and implementation
of these programmes.
3. Voluntary community services involving youth
37. Where they do not yet already exist, Governments should consider the
establishment of youth voluntary service programmes. Such programmes could
provide alternatives to military service, or might constitute a required
element in educational curricula, depending on national policies and
priorities. Youth camps, community service projects, environmental
protection and intergenerational cooperation programmes should be included
among the opportunities offered. Youth organizations should be directly
involved in designing, planning, implementing and evaluating such voluntary
service programmes. In addition, international cooperation programmes
organized between youth organizations in developed and developing countries
should be included to promote intercultural understanding and development
training.
4. Needs created by technological changes
38. Governments, in particular those of developed countries, should
encourage the creation of employment opportunities for young people in
fields that are rapidly evolving as a result of technological innovation.
A subset of the employment data compiled by Governments should track the
employment of youth into those fields marked by newly emerging
technologies. Measures should be taken to provide ongoing training in this
area for youth.
39. Special attention should be paid to developing and disseminating
approaches that promote flexibility in training systems and collaboration
between training institutions and employers, especially for young people in
high-technology industries.
C. Hunger and poverty
40. Over 1 billion people in the world today live in unacceptable
conditions of poverty, mostly in developing countries, particularly in
rural areas of lowincome countries of Asia and the Pacific, Africa and
Latin America and the Caribbean and the least developed countries. Poverty
has various manifestations, including lack of income and productive
resources sufficient to ensure sustainable livelihoods; hunger and
malnutrition; ill health; limited or lack of access to education and other
basic services; increased morbidity and mortality from illness;
homelessness and inadequate housing; unsafe environments; and social
discrimination and exclusion; it is also characterized by a lack of
participation in decision-making and civil and socio-cultural life. Poverty
is inseparably linked to lack of access to or control over resources,
including land, skills, knowledge, capital and social connections. Without
those resources, people have limited access to institutions, markets,
employment and public services. Young people are particularly vulnerable
to this situation. Therefore, specific measures are needed to address the
juvenilization and feminization of poverty.
41. Hunger and malnutrition remain among the most serious and intractable
threats to humanity, often preventing youth and children from taking part
in society. Hunger is the result of many factors: mismanagement of food
production and distribution; poor accessibility; maldistribution of
financial resources; unwise exploitation of natural resources;
unsustainable patterns of consumption; environmental pollution; natural and
human-made disasters; conflicts between traditional and contemporary
production systems; irrational population growth; and armed conflicts.
Proposals for action
1. Making farming more rewarding and life in agricultural
areas more attractive
42. Governments should enhance educational and cultural services and other
incentives in rural areas to make them more attractive to young people.
Experimental farming programmes directed towards young people should be
initiated, and extension services expanded to maintain improvements in
agricultural production and marketing.
43. Local and national Governments, in cooperation with youth
organizations, should organize cultural events that enhance exchanges
between urban and rural youth. Youth organizations should be encouraged
and assisted to organize conventions and meetings in rural areas, with
special efforts to enlist the cooperation of rural populations, including
rural youth.
2. Skill-training for income-generation by young people
44. Governments, in cooperation with youth organizations, should develop
training programmes for youth which improve methods of agricultural
production and marketing. Training should be based on rural economic needs
and the needs of young people in rural areas for the development of
production and the achievement of food security. Attention should be given
in such programmes to young women, youth retention in rural areas, youth
returning to rural areas from the cities, young people with disabilities,
refugee and migrant youth, displaced persons and street children,
indigenous youth, youth returning from military service and youth living in
areas of resolved conflicts.
3. Land grants for young people
45. Governments should provide grants of land to youth and youth
organizations, supported by financial and technical assistance and
training. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and
the International Labour Organization are invited to document and
disseminate information about national experience with land-grant and
settlement schemes for use by Governments.
46. Governments, consistent with their rural development schemes and with
the assistance of international organizations, as appropriate, are
encouraged to work with volunteer youth organizations on projects which
enhance and maintain the rural and urban environments.
4. Cooperation between urban and rural youth in
food production and distribution
47. Non-governmental organizations should organize direct-marketing
groups, including production and distribution cooperatives, to improve
current marketing systems and to ensure that young farmers have access to
them. The aim of such groups should be to reduce food shortages and losses
from defective systems of food storage and transport to markets.
D. Health
48. Young people in some parts of the world suffer from poor health as a
result of societal conditions, including such factors as customary
attitudes and harmful traditional practices and in some cases by their own
actions. Poor health is often caused by lack of healthy environments and
by missing support systems in everyday life for health promoting patterns
of behaviour, by lack of information and by inadequate or inappropriate
health services. Problems are, among others, the lack of safe and sanitary
living environments, malnutrition, the risk of infectious, parasitic and
water-borne diseases, the growing consumption of tobacco, alcohol and
drugs, unwarranted risk-taking and destructive activity, resulting in
unintentional injuries.
49. The reproductive health needs of adolescents have been largely
ignored. In many countries, there is a lack of information and services
available to adolescents to help them understand their sexuality, including
sexual and reproductive health and to protect them from unwanted
pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS.
Proposals for action
1. Provision of basic health services
50. All young people should have access to basic health services in the
interest of all and of society as a whole. It is the indispensable
responsibility of each Government to mobilize the necessary awareness,
resources and channels. These measures should be supported by a favourable
international economic environment and cooperation.
51. Efforts should be expedited to achieve the goals of national Health-
for-All strategies, based on equality and social justice in line with the
Alma Ata Declaration on Primary Health Care, by developing or updating
country action plans or programmes to ensure universal, non-discriminatory
access to basic health services, including sanitation and drinking water,
to protect health, and to promote nutrition education and preventive health
programmes.
52. Support should be provided for stronger, better coordinated global
actions against major diseases that take a heavy toll of human lives, such
as malaria, tuberculosis, cholera, typhoid fever and HIV/AIDS; in this
context, support should be continued for the Joint and Co-sponsored United
Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS.
53. Young people in some parts of the world suffer from poor health as a
result of societal conditions, as well as their own actions. Poor health
is often caused by lack of information and lack of health services for
youth, mostly in developing countries. The resulting problems are, among
others, sexually transmitted diseases, including infection with the human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV); early pregnancies; lack of hygiene and
sanitation, leading to infection, infestation and diarrhoea; genetic and
congenital diseases; psychological and mental diseases; narcotic and
psychotropic drug abuse; misuse of alcohol and tobacco; unwarranted risk-
taking and destructive activity, resulting in unintentional injuries;
malnutrition; and poor spacing of births.
2. Development of health education
54. Governments should include, in the curricula of educational
institutions at the primary and secondary levels, programmes focusing on
primary health knowledge and practices. Particular emphasis should be
placed on the understanding of basic hygiene requirements and the need to
develop and sustain a healthy environment. These programmes need to be
developed in full awareness of the needs and priorities of young people and
with their involvement.
55. Cooperation among Governments and educational and health institutions
should be encouraged in order to promote personal responsibility for a
healthy lifestyle and provide the knowledge and skills necessary to adopt a
healthy lifestyle, including teaching the legal, social and health
consequences of behaviour that poses health risks.
3. Promotion of health services, including sexual and
reproductive health and development of relevant
education programmes in those fields
56. Governments, with the involvement of youth and other relevant
organizations, should ensure the implementation of the commitments made in
the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and
Development, as established in the report of that Conference, in the
Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action of the World Summit on
Social Development, and in the Declaration and the Platform for Action for
the Fourth World Conference on Women, as well as in the relevant human
rights instruments, to meet the health needs of youth. The United Nations
Population Fund and other interested United Nations organizations should
continue to take effective steps on these issues. The reproductive health
needs of adolescents as a group have been largely ignored to date by
existing reproductive health services. The response of societies to the
reproductive health needs of adolescents should be based on information
that helps them attain a level of maturity required to make responsible
decisions. In particular, information and services should be made
available to adolescents to help them understand their sexuality and
protect them from unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and
subsequent risk of infertility. This should be combined with the education
of young men to respect women's self-determination and to share
responsibility with women in matters of sexuality and reproduction. This
effort is uniquely important for the health of young women and their
children, for women's self-determination and, in many countries, for
efforts to slow the momentum of population growth. Motherhood at a very
young age entails a risk of maternal death that is much greater than
average, and the children of young mothers have higher levels of morbidity
and mortality. Early child-bearing continues to be an impediment to
improvements in the educational, economic and social status of women in all
parts of the world. Overall for young women, early marriage and early
motherhood can severely curtail educational and employment opportunities
and are likely to have a long-term adverse impact on their and their
children's quality of life.
57. Governments should develop comprehensive sexual and reproductive
healthcare services and provide young people access to those services
including, inter alia, education and services in family planning consistent
with the results of the International Conference on Population and
Development, the World Summit for Social Development and the Fourth World
Conference on Women. UNFPA and other interested United Nations
organizations are to be encouraged to continue assigning high priority to
promoting adolescent reproductive health.
4. HIV infection and AIDS among young people
58. Governments should develop accessible, available and affordable
primary health care services of high quality, including sexual and
reproductive health care, as well as education programmes, including those
related to sexually transmitted disease, including HIV/AIDS, for youth.
Continued international cooperation and collective global efforts are
necessary for the containment of HIV/AIDS.
5. Promotion of good sanitation and hygiene practices
59. Governments, in cooperation with youth and volunteer organizations,
should promote the establishment of youth health associations to promote
good sanitation and hygiene programmes.
6. Prevention of disease and illness among youth
resulting from poor health practices
60. Governments, in cooperation with youth organizations, should promote
healthier lifestyles and, in this context, should investigate the
possibility of adopting policies for discouraging drug, tobacco and alcohol
abuse, including possibly banning advertisements of tobacco and alcohol.
They should also undertake programmes that inform young people about the
adverse effects of drug and alcohol abuse and tobacco addiction.
61. Programmes should be instituted, with the appropriate assistance of
the United Nations bodies and organizations concerned, to train medical,
paramedical, educational and youth work personnel in health issues of
particular concern to young people, including healthy lifestyles. Research
into such issues should be promoted, particularly research into the effects
and treatment of drug abuse and addiction. Youth organizations should be
enlisted in these efforts.
7. Elimination of sexual abuse of young people
62. As recommended by the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, the
International Conference on Population and Development, the World Summit on
Social Development and the Fourth World Conference on Women, and bearing in
mind that young women are specially vulnerable, Governments should
cooperate at the international level and take effective steps, including
specific preventive measures to protect children, adolescents and youth
from neglect, abandonment and all types of exploitation and abuse, such as
abduction, rape and incest, pornography, trafficking and acts of
paedophilia, as well as from commercial sexual exploitation resulting from
pornography and prostitution. Report of the International Conference on
Population and Development, Cairo, 5-13 September 1994 (A/CONF.171/13 and
Add.1), chap. I, resolution 1, annex, para. 6.9. Governments should enact
and enforce legislation prohibiting female genital mutilation wherever it
exists and give vigorous support to efforts among non-governmental and
community organizations and religious institutions to eliminate such
practices. Ibid., para. 4.22.
8. Combating malnutrition among young people
63. Governments should promote post-primary-school and out-of-school
health projects by individuals and youth organizations, emphasizing
information on healthy eating practices. School lunch programmes,
provision of food supplements and similar services should be available
whenever possible to help ensure proper diets for young people.
E. Environment
64. The deterioration of the natural environment is one of the principal
concerns of young people world wide as it has direct implications for their
well-being at present and in the future. The natural environment must be
maintained and preserved for both present and future generations. The
causes of environmental degradation must be addressed. The environmentally
friendly use of natural resources and environmentally sustainable economic
growth will improve human life. Sustainable development has become a key
element in the programmes of youth organizations throughout the world.
While every segment of society is responsible for maintaining the
environmental integrity of the community, youth have a special interest in
maintaining a healthy environment because they will be the ones to inherit
it.
Proposals for action
1. Integration of environmental education and training into
education and training programmes
65. Emphasis should be given in school curricula to environmental
education. Training programmes should be provided to inform teachers of the
environmental aspects of their subject-matter and to enable them to educate
youth on environmentally friendly habits.
66. The participation of youth groups in gathering environmental data and
in understanding ecological systems and actual environmental action should
be encouraged as a means of improving both their knowledge of the
environment and their personal engagement in caring for the environment.
2. Facilitating the international dissemination of information
on environmental issues to, and the use of environmentally
sound technologies by, youth
67. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), in cooperation with
Governments and non-governmental youth organizations, is invited to
intensify production of information materials illustrating the global
dimension, its origins and interrelated effects of environmental
degradation and describing the outcome of initiatives undertaken in
developing and developed countries as well as countries with economies in
transition. UNEP is requested to continue its efforts to disseminate and
exchange information with and among youth organizations. Governments
should encourage and assist youth organizations to initiate and develop
youth-to-youth contacts through town-twinning and similar programmes in
order to share the experience gained in different countries.
68. Relevant United Nations organizations and institutions and governments
of technologically advanced countries are encouraged to help spread the use
of environmentally sound technologies in developing countries and in
countries with economies in transition and to train youth in making use of
such technologies in protecting and conserving the environment.
3. Strengthening participation of youth in the protection,
preservation and improvement of the environment
69. Governments and youth organizations should initiate programmes to
promote participation in tree planting, forestry, combating of desert
creep, waste reduction, recycling and other sound environmental practices.
The participation of young people and their organizations in such
programmes can provide good training and encourage awareness and action.
Waste management programmes may represent potential income-generating
activities that provide opportunities for employment.
70. As recognized by the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development, the involvement of youth in environment and development
decisionmaking is critical to the implementation of policies of sustainable
development. Young people should be involved in designing and implementing
appropriate environmental policies.
4. Enhancing the role of the media as a tool for
widespread dissemination of environmental
issues to the general youth public
71. Governments should, to the extent consistent with freedom of
expression, encourage the media and advertising agencies to develop
programmes to ensure widespread dissemination of information on
environmental issues to continue to raise awareness thereof among youth.
72. Governments should establish procedures allowing for consultation and
possible participation of youth of both genders in decision-making
processes with regard to the environment, involving youth at the local,
national and regional levels.
F. Drug abuse
73. The vulnerability of young people to drug abuse has in recent years
become a major concern. The consequences of widespread drug abuse and
trafficking, particularly for young men and women, are all too apparent.
Violence, particularly street violence, often results from drug abuse and
illicit drug networks.
74. As the number of psychotropic drugs increases steadily and their
effects and appropriate prescriptive practices are often not fully known,
some patients may not be adequately treated and others may become over-
medicated. Misuse of prescription drugs, self-medication with
tranquillizers, sleeping-pills and stimulants can also create serious
problems, particularly in countries and regions where distribution controls
are weak and habit-forming drugs are purchased abroad or diverted from
licit channels of distribution. In this context the vulnerability of young
people raises a particular problem and specific measures are therefore
needed.
75. The international community places particular emphasis on reducing
the demand for and supply of illegal drugs and preventing misuse. Supply
reduction includes combating international illicit drug trafficking. Drug
misuse prevention initiatives range from discouraging people from taking
drugs, thus preventing involuntary addiction, to helping those who are
misusing drugs to stop doing so. Treatment programmes need to recognize
that drug misuse is a chronic relapsing condition. It is essential for
programmes to be adapted to the social and cultural context and for there
to be effective cooperation between various approaches to treatment. To
this end, national initiatives and measures to combat illicit drug
trafficking should be fully supported and reinforced at the regional and
international levels.
76. Drug control strategies at the national and international levels
consistently emphasize initiatives aimed at reducing drug abuse among young
people. This is reflected in the resolutions of the Commission on Narcotic
Drugs and in the demand reduction programmes of the United Nations
International Drug Control Programme.
Proposals for action
1. Participation of youth organizations and youth in demand
reduction programmes for young people
77. To be effective, demand reduction programmes should be targeted at all
young people, particularly those at risk, and the content of the programmes
should respond directly to the interests and concerns of those young
people. Preventive education programmes showing the dangers of drug misuse
are particularly important. Increasing opportunities for gainful
employment and activities which provide recreation and opportunities to
develop a variety of skills are important in helping young people to resist
drugs. Youth organizations can play a key role in designing and
implementing education programmes and individual counselling to encourage
the integration of youth into the community, to develop healthy lifestyles
and to raise awareness of the damaging impact of drugs. The programmes
could include training of youth leaders in communication and counselling
skills.
78. Government entities, in cooperation with relevant agencies of the
United Nations system, non-governmental organizations, particularly youth
organizations, should cooperate in carrying out demand reduction programmes
for illicit drugs, tobacco and alcohol.
2. Training medical and paramedical students in the rational
use of pharmaceuticals containing narcotic drugs or
psychotropic substances
79. The World Health Organization, associations of the medical,
paramedical and pharmaceutical professions and pharmaceutical corporations
and medical faculties and institutions could be asked to develop model
training courses and disseminate information material for young medical and
paramedical students on the proper handling of drugs and the early
identification and diagnosis of substance abuse.
3. Treatment and rehabilitation of young people who are drug
abusers or drug-dependent and young alcoholics and
tobacco users
80. Research has been undertaken into the possibility of identifying
medication to block cravings for specific drugs without creating secondary
dependency, but much remains to be done in this area. The need for medical
and social research in the prevention and treatment of substance abuse as
well as rehabilitation, has become more urgent, particularly with the
world-wide increase in abuse and addiction among young people. In such
research, emphasis should be given to the fact that intravenous substance
abuse raises the risk of communicable diseases including HIV/AIDS and
hepatitis, arising from the sharing of needles and other injection
equipment. The fruits of all such research should be shared globally.
81. Research on issues such as the medical treatment and the
rehabilitation of young drug abusers, including the combination of
different types of treatment, the problem of recidivism and the
administrative aspects of drug treatment, and the inclusion of students in
the relevant faculties in such research, should be encouraged.
82. In cooperation with the institutions of civil society and the private
sector, drug abuse prevention should be promoted as should preventive
education for children and youth, rehabilitation and education programmes
for former drug and alcohol addicts, especially children and youth, in
order to enable them to obtain productive employment and achieve the
independence, dignity and responsibility for a drug-free, crime-free
productive life. Of particular interest is the development of treatment
techniques involving the family setting and peer groups. Young people can
make significant contributions by participating in peer group therapy to
facilitate the acceptance of young drugdependent persons and abusers upon
their re-entry into society. Direct participation in rehabilitation
therapy entails close cooperation between youth groups and other community
and health services. WHO and other world-wide medical and mental health
organizations could be requested to set guidelines for continuing research
and for carrying out comparable programmes in different settings, whose
effectiveness could be evaluated over a given period of time.
4. Care for young drug abusers and drug-dependent suspects
and offenders in the criminal justice and prison system
83. Authorities should consider strategies to prevent exposure to drug
abuse and dependence among young people suspected or convicted of criminal
offences. Such strategies could include alternative measures, such as daily
reporting to police stations or requirements for regular visits to parole
officers, and fulfilment of a specified number of hours of community
service.
84. Prison authorities should cooperate closely with law enforcement
agencies to keep drugs out of the prison system. Prison personnel should
be discouraged from tolerating the presence of drugs in penal institutions.
85. Young prisoners who are already drug-dependent should be targeted as
priority candidates for treatment and rehabilitation services and should be
segregated as appropriate. Guidelines and standard minimum rules should be
prepared to assist national authorities in law enforcement and prison
systems in maintaining the necessary controls and initiating treatment and
rehabilitation services. Action along these lines constitutes a long-term
advantage to society, as the cycle of dependence, release, repeated
offences and repeated incarcerations constitutes a heavy burden on the
criminal justice system, quite apart from the wasted lives and personal
tragedies which result from drug dependence and criminal behaviour.
G. Juvenile delinquency
86. Juvenile crime and delinquency are serious problems all over the
world. Their intensity and gravity depend mostly on the social, economic
and cultural settings of each country. There is evidence, however, of an
apparent world-wide increase in juvenile criminality combined with economic
recession, especially in marginal sectors of urban centres. In many cases,
youth offenders are "street children" who have been exposed to violence in
their immediate social environment, either as observers or as victims.
Their basic education, when they have it, is poor; their primary
socialization from the family is too often inadequate; and their socio-
economic environment is shaped by poverty and destitution. Rather than
relying solely on the criminal justice system, approaches to the
prevention of violence and crime should thus include measures to support
equality and justice and to combat poverty and to reduce hopelessness among
young people.
Proposals for action
1. Priority to preventive measures
87. Governments should give priority to issues and problems of juvenile
delinquency and youth criminality, with particular attention to preventive
policies and programmes. Rural areas should be provided with adequate
socio-economic and administrative opportunities and services that could
discourage young people from migrating to urban areas. Youth from poor
urban settings should have available specific educational, employment and
leisure programmes, particularly during long school holidays. Young people
who drop out of school or come from broken families should benefit from
specific social programmes that help them build self-esteem and confidence
conducive to responsible adulthood.
2. Prevention of violence
88. Governments and other relevant organizations, particularly youth
organizations, should consider organizing information campaigns,
educational and training programmes in order to sensitize youth to the
personally and socially detrimental effects of violence in the family,
community and society, teach them how to communicate without violence, and
promote training so that they can protect themselves and others against
violence. Governments should also develop programmes to promote tolerance
and better understanding among youth, with a view to eradicating
contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and
related intolerance and thereby prevent violence.
89. To prevent violence and crime, the development of social organization,
particularly through youth organizations and community involvement, should
be fostered by a supportive social policy and within a legal framework.
Government assistance should focus on facilitating the abilities of
community and youth organizations to express and evaluate their needs
concerning the prevention of violence and crime, to formulate and implement
actions for themselves, and to cooperate with each other.
3. Rehabilitation services and programmes
90. Destitution, poor living conditions, inadequate education,
malnutrition, illiteracy, unemployment and lack of leisure-time activities
are factors that marginalize young people, which makes some of them
vulnerable to exploitation as well as to involvement in criminal and other
deviant behaviour. If preventive measures address the very causes of
criminality, rehabilitation programmes and services should be made
available to those who already have a criminal history. Mostly, youth
delinquency begins with petty offences such as robbery or violent
behaviour, that can be easily traced and corrected through institutions and
community and family environments. Indeed law enforcement should be a part
of rehabilitation measures. Finally, the human rights of young people who
are imprisoned should be protected and principles of penal majority
according to penal laws should be given great attention.
H. Leisure-time activities
91. The importance of leisure-time activities in the psychological,
cognitive and physical development of young people is recognized in any
society. Leisure-time activities include games, sports, cultural events,
entertainment and community service. Appropriate leisure programmes for
youth are elements of any measure aimed at fighting social ills, such as
drug abuse, juvenile delinquency and other deviant behaviour. While
leisure programmes can contribute greatly to the development of the
physical, intellectual and emotional potential of young people, they should
be designed with due care and concern so that they are not used as a means
for excluding youth from participating in other aspects of social life or
for indoctrinating them. Leisure-time activity programmes should be made
freely available to young people.
Proposals for action
1. Leisure-time activities as an integral part of
youth policies and programmes
92. In planning, designing and implementing youth policies and programmes,
Governments should recognize the importance of leisure-time activities,
with the active involvement of youth organizations. The importance given
to such activities should be reflected in appropriate funding.
93. Governments are invited to establish public libraries, cultural
centres and other cultural facilities in rural and urban areas with the aid
of international organizations, and to provide assistance to young people
active in the fields of drama, the fine arts, music and other forms of
cultural expression.
94. Governments are invited to encourage the participation of young people
in tourism, international cultural events, sports and all other activities
of special interest to youth.
2. Leisure-time activities as elements of educational
programmes
95. A means by which Governments may accord priority to leisure-time
activities is to provide educational institutions with resources to develop
the infrastructure required for their establishment. In addition, leisure-
time activities could be part of the regular school curriculum.
3. Leisure-time activities in urban planning and
rural development
96. National Governments as well as local authorities and community
development agencies should incorporate leisure-time activity programmes
and facilities in urban planning, giving particular attention to areas with
a high human concentration. Equally, rural development programmes should
pay due attention to the leisure needs of rural youth.
4. Leisure-time activities and the media
97. Communications media should be encouraged to promote youth
understanding and awareness of all aspects of social integration, including
tolerance and non-violent behaviour.
I. Girls and young women
98. One of the most important tasks of youth policy is to improve the
situation of girls and young women. Governments therefore should implement
their obligations under international human rights instruments as well as
implementing the Platform for Action of the Fourth World Conference on
Women, the Programme of Action of the International Conference on
Population and Development, the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action
of the World Conference on Human Rights and other programmes of relevant
United Nations conferences. Girls are often treated as inferior and are
socialized to put themselves last, thus undermining their self-esteem.
Discrimination and neglect in childhood can initiate a lifelong downward
spiral of deprivation and exclusion from the social mainstream. Negative
cultural attitudes and practices as well as gender-biased educational
processes including curricula, educational materials and practices,
teachers' attitudes and classroom interaction, reinforce existing gender
inequalities.
Proposals for action
1. Discrimination
99. Discrimination and neglect in childhood can initiate a lifelong
exclusion from the society. Action should be taken to eliminate
discrimination against girls and young women and ensure their full
enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms through comprehensive
policies, plans of action and programmes on the basis of equality.
Initiatives should be taken to prepare girls to participate actively,
effectively and equally with boys at all levels of social, economic,
political and cultural leadership.
2. Education
100. Universal and equal access to and completion of primary education for
girls and young women as well as equal access to secondary and higher
education should be ensured. A framework should be provided for the
development of educational materials and practices that are gender balanced
and promote an educational setting that eliminates all barriers that impede
the schooling of girls and young women, including married and/or pregnant
girls and young women.
3. Health
101. Discrimination against girls and young women should be eliminated in
health and nutrition. The removal of discriminatory laws and practices
against girls and young women in food allocation and nutrition should be
promoted, and access should be ensured to health services in accordance
with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population
and Development and the Platform for Action of the Fourth World Conference
on Women.
4. Employment
102. Girls and young women should be protected from economic and related
forms of exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be
hazardous, to interfere with their education or to be harmful to their
health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development, in
conformity with the Convention of the Rights of the Child and the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
Equal access for young women in all employment opportunities should be
promoted and their participation in the traditionally male-dominated
sectors should be encouraged.
5. Violence
103. Governments should cooperate at the international level and enact and
enforce legislation protecting girls and young women from all forms of
violence, including female infanticide and prenatal sex selection, genital
mutilation, incest, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, child prostitution
and child pornography. Age appropriate safe and confidential programmes
and support services to assist girls and young women who are subjected to
violence should be developed in cooperation with relevant non-governmental
organizations, particularly youth organizations as appropriate.
J. Full and effective participation of youth in the life of
society and in decision-making
104. The capacity of progress of our societies is based, among other
elements, in their capacity to incorporate the contribution and
responsibility of youth in the building and designing of its future. In
addition to their intellectual contribution and their ability to mobilize
support, they bring unique perspectives that need to be taken into account.
105. Any efforts and proposed actions on the other priority areas,
considered in this programme are, in a certain way, conditioned by enabling
economic, social and political participation of youth, as a matter of
critical importance.
106. Youth organizations are important forums for developing skills
necessary for effective participation in society, promoting tolerance, and
increased cooperation and exchanges between youth organizations.
Proposals for action
107. The following actions are proposed:
(a) Strengthening youth's access to information in order to enable them
to make better use of their opportunities to participate;
(b) Developing and/or strengthening opportunities for youth to learn
their rights and responsibilities, promoting their social, political,
developmental and environmental participation and removing obstacles that
affect their full contribution to society and respecting, inter alia,
freedom of association;
(c) Encouraging and promoting youth association through financial,
educational and technical support for youth associations and promotion of
their activities;
(d) Taking into account the contribution of youth in designing,
implementing and evaluating national policies and plans affecting their
concerns;
(e) Encouraging increased national, regional and international
cooperation and exchange between youth organizations;
(f) Inviting Governments to strengthen the involvement of young people
in international forums, inter alia, by considering the inclusion of youth
representatives in their national delegations to the General Assembly.
V. MEANS OF IMPLEMENTATION
108. Effective implementation of the World Programme of Action for Youth
will require significant expressions of commitment by organizations and
institutions responsible for its adoption and implementation and the
involvement of such organizations and especially of youth from all sectors
of society. Without such commitment by governmental, intergovernmental and
non-governmental entities at the national, regional and international
levels, the Programme of Action will remain little more than a global
statement of intent and general standard for action.
109. Therefore the development of an overall system of enabling mechanisms
is necessary for the Programme of Action to be implemented. Such
mechanisms should engage, on a continuing basis, the human, political,
economic, financial and sociocultural resources necessary to ensure that
the Programme of Action is implemented efficiently and effectively.
110. Implementation of the World Programme of Action for Youth is
ultimately the responsibility of Governments with the support of the
international community and in cooperation, as appropriate, with the non-
governmental and private sectors. Translation of the Programme's proposals
for action into specific plans, targets and law will be influenced by
national priorities, resources and historical experience. In this process,
Governments can be assisted, at their request, by regional and
international organizations.
111. In implementing the World Programme of Action for Youth, Governments,
youth organizations and other actors should promote an active and visible
policy of mainstreaming a gender perspective in all policies and programmes
in accordance with the results of the International Conference on
Population and Development, the World Summit on Social Development, and the
Fourth World Conference on Women.
A. National level
112. Governments that have not already done so are urged to formulate and
adopt an integrated national youth policy as a means of addressing youth-
related concerns. This should be done as part of a continuing process of
review and assessment of the situation of youth, formulation of a cross-
sectoral national youth programme of action in terms of specific, time-
bound objectives, and systematic evaluation of progress achieved and
obstacles encountered.
113. Reinforcing youth-related concerns in development activities can be
facilitated through the existence of multilevel mechanisms for
consultation, dissemination of information, coordination, monitoring and
evaluation. These should be cross-sectoral in nature and multidisciplinary
in approach and should include the participation of youth-related
departments and ministries, national non-governmental youth organizations
and the private sector.
114. Special and additional efforts may be required to develop and
disseminate model frameworks for integrated policies and to identify and
organize an appropriate division of responsibilities among both
governmental and non-governmental entities concerned with youth-related
issues. Special and additional efforts could also be directed towards
strengthening national capacities for data collection and dissemination of
information, research and policy studies, planning, implementation and
coordination, and training and advisory services.
115. National coordinating mechanisms should be appropriately strengthened
for integrated youth policies and programmes. Where such mechanisms do not
exist, Governments are urged to promote their establishment on a multilevel
and cross-sectoral basis.
B. Regional cooperation
116. The activities of the United Nations regional commissions, in
cooperation with concerned regional intergovernmental and non-governmental
youth and youth-related organizations, are essential complements to
national and global action aimed at building national capacities.
117. Regional commissions, within their existing mandates, are urged to
promote the implementation of the Programme of Action through incorporation
of its goals in their plans and to undertake comprehensive reviews of the
progress achieved and obstacles encountered and identify options to further
regional-level action.
118. Regional intergovernmental meetings of ministers responsible for
youth, in cooperation with the concerned United Nations regional
commissions, regional intergovernmental organizations and regional youth
non-governmental organizations, can make particular contributions to the
formulation, implementation, coordination and evaluation of action at the
regional level, including periodic monitoring of regional youth programmes.
119. Data collection, dissemination of information, research and policy
studies, interorganizational coordination and technical cooperation,
training seminars and advisory services are among the measures which can be
provided on request at the regional level to promote, implement and
evaluate youth programmes.
120. Regional youth non-governmental organizations, regional offices of
bodies and organizations of the United Nations system and regional
intergovernmental organizations concerned with youth are invited to
consider meeting on a biennial basis to review and discuss issues and
trends and identify proposals for regional and subregional cooperation.
United Nations regional commissions are also invited to play an essential
role through the provision of a suitable venue and appropriate input
regarding regional action.
C. International cooperation
121. An essential role for international cooperation is to promote
conditions conducive to the implementation of the World Programme of Action
for Youth at all levels. Means available include policy-level debates at
the policy level and decisions at the intergovernmental level, global
monitoring of issues and trends, data collection and dissemination of
information, research and studies, planning and coordination, technical
cooperation, and outreach and partnership among interested constituencies
from both the non-governmental and private sectors.
122. In its capacity as the subsidiary body of the Economic and Social
Council responsible for global social development issues, the Commission
for Social Development has an important role to play as the focal point for
the implementation of the Programme of Action. The Commission is called
upon to continue the policy-level dialogue on youth for policy coordination
and for periodic monitoring of issues and trends.
123. Current regional and interregional conferences of ministers
responsible for youth affairs in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and
the Caribbean and Western Asia are invited to intensify cooperation among
each other and to consider meeting regularly at the international level
under the aegis of the United Nations. Such meetings could provide an
effective forum for a focused global dialogue on youth-related issues.
124. Youth-related bodies and organizations of the United Nations system
are the above-mentioned conferences. In this connection, the existing ad
hoc inter-agency group on youth should meet annually and invite all the
bodies and agencies of the United Nations system concerned and related
intergovernmental organizations to discuss ways and means by which they can
further and promote the implementation of the Programme of Action on a
coordinated basis.
125. Effective channels of communication between non-governmental youth
organizations and the United Nations system are essential for dialogue and
consultations on the situation of youth and implications for the
implementation of the Programme of Action. The General Assembly has
repeatedly stressed the importance of channels of communication in the
field of youth. The Youth Forum of the United Nations system could
contribute to Programme implementation through the identification and
promotion of joint initiatives to further Programme objectives so that they
better reflect the interests of youth.
1. Data collection and dissemination of information
126. Capacities to collect, analyse and present data in a timely and
accurate fashion are essential for effective planning and target-setting,
for monitoring issues and trends and for evaluating progress achieved in
implementing the World Programme of Action for Youth. Special attention
should be directed towards building national capacities and institutions to
collect and compile regularly socio-economic data series that are both
cross-sectional and disaggregated by cohort. To this end, interested
centres and institutions may wish to consider the possibility of jointly
strengthening or establishing, in cooperation with the United Nations,
networks concerned with collection of data and publication of statistics
and to realize thereby greater economies of scale in the development and
dissemination of statistics in the field of youth.
127. Major contributions are currently being made by the United Nations
related to data and statistics in the field of youth. Such contributions
include the socio-economic data collection and statistical development
activities of the Statistical Office of the United Nations Secretariat; the
youth policies and programmes information activities of the Division for
Social Policy and Development of the Department for Policy Coordination and
Sustainable Development; the educational and literacy data collection
activities of UNESCO; and the youth advisory networks of the United Nations
Environment Programme. Concerned bodies and agencies of the United Nations
system are urged to explore ways and means of achieving greater coherence
in data collection and the publication of statistics. This could include
programme planning and coordination on an inter-agency basis. For example,
the data bank programme on adolescent health of the World Health
Organization is coordinated with the work of the Statistical Office of the
United Nations Secretariat. Other bodies and agencies of the United
Nations system are invited to contribute data in their respective areas of
expertise to an integrated socio-economic data bank on youth. For
instance, the international drug abuse assessment system of the United
Nations International Drug Control Programme is urged to consider including
a component on youth and drugs. An inventory of innovative youth policies,
programmes and projects could be coordinated and made available to
interested users by the Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable
Development. Other topics that could be considered for joint action
include juvenile delinquency, runaways and homeless youth.
128. Public information and communications are equally important in
building awareness of youth issues, as well as a consensus on appropriate
planning and action. The bodies and organizations of the United Nations
system concerned are urged, as a matter of priority, to review publications
currently produced and identify ways in which these publications can better
promote the Programme of Action and areas in which they may need to be
complemented through the production of leaflets and posters in connection
with special events.
129. To encourage widespread awareness of and support for the Programme of
Action, Governments, non-governmental organizations and, as appropriate,
the private sector, are urged to consider the possibility of preparing both
printed and audiovisual materials related to areas of concern in the
Programme of Action. This could be carried out with the assistance of and
in cooperation with the United Nations and materials could be disseminated
through United Nations public information channels. In addition young
people and youth organizations are urged to identify and plan information
activities that focus on priority issues, which they would undertake within
the context of the Programme of Action.
2. Research and policy studies
130. Comparative studies on issues and trends concerning youth are
essential to the continuous expansion and development of the global body of
knowledge on relevant theory, concepts and methods. International,
regional and national research centres and institutions concerned with
youth-related issues are urged to consider the possibility of establishing
cooperative relationships with the United Nations to ensure effective links
between the implementation of the Programme of Action and relevant research
and studies.
131. A closely related concern is cooperation in strengthening and
improving national capacities for the research design, conduct and
dissemination of relevant studies on the situation of young people.
132. A third concern is improved planning and coordination of the scarce
human and financial resources available so that appropriate attention is
accorded to initiatives at all levels, undertaken by young people, related
to priority areas identified in the Programme of Action, to the
identification and assessment of issues and trends, and to the review and
evaluation of policy initiatives.
3. Planning and coordination
133. Using the mechanisms currently available within the United Nations
system for planning, programming and coordinating activities concerning
youth, interested bodies and organizations of the United Nations system are
urged to review their medium-term planning process to give appropriate
consideration to reinforcing a youth perspective in their activities. They
are also urged to identify current and projected programme activities that
correspond to the priorities of the Programme of Action so that these
activities can be reinforced throughout the system. Appropriate attention
should be directed towards identifying opportunities for joint planning
among interested members of the system so that joint action may be
undertaken that reflects their respective areas of competence and that is
of direct interest to young people or that responds to priority needs of
young people in special circumstances.
134. A complementary mechanism for coordination is provided by the
channels that have been developed between the United Nations and
intergovernmental and non-governmental youth organizations. Such
mechanisms require appropriate strengthening to enable them to respond
better to priorities for action, as identified in the Programme of Action.
4. Technical cooperation, training and advisory services
135. Technical cooperation is an essential means for building national
capacities and institutional capabilities. Bodies and organizations of the
United Nations system that have not already done so are urged to review and
assess their range of programmatic and operational activities in the light
of priorities for action identified in the Programme of Action and to
reinforce a youth dimension in technical cooperation activities. In this
regard, special attention should be directed towards measures that will
serve to promote expanded opportunities for international technical
assistance and advisory services in the field of youth as a means of
building expanded and strengthened networks of institutions and
organizations.
136. There is a need to continue to improve the impact of technical
cooperation activities carried out by the United Nations system, including
those that relate to youth activities. The United Nations system must
continue to assist Governments, at their request, to ensure implementation
of national plans and strategies within the national priorities and
programmes to support youth activities. As administrative overheads can
reduce the resources available for technical cooperation, these should be
reduced. National execution should be the preferred modality for the
implementation of projects and programmes and, where required, developing
countries should be assisted to improve their national capacities for
project and programme formulation and execution.
137. The countries with economies in transition, where required, should
also be assisted to improve their national capacities for project and
programme formulation and execution.
138. The organization, on an inter-agency basis, of missions to review,
assess and plan technical cooperation concerning youth, available on
request to Governments, represents a specific contribution by the United
Nations system to the implementation of the Programme of Action.
139. The United Nations Youth Fund represents a unique resource to support
catalytic and innovative action concerning youth. Programme implementation
can be furthered through the Fund's support, in both a technical and a
financial sense, of pilot action, studies and technical exchanges on issues
concerning youth that encourage the participation of youth in devising and
carrying out projects and whose short time-frames often make it difficult
to obtain needed support from conventional budgeting processes. The
capacities of the Fund for innovative action are, however, limited in the
light of Programme priorities, and interested Governments, non-governmental
organizations and the private sector are invited to consider the
possibility of supporting the activities of the Fund on a predictable and
sustained basis. To this end, the parties concerned may wish to consider
the possibility of constituting an advisory body at an appropriate level to
review the application of the terms of reference of the Fund, priorities
and means of strengthening its capacities.
5. Outreach and partnership among specialized constituencies
140. A crucial element in implementing the Programme of Action is
recognition that governmental action alone is not sufficient to ensure its
success, rather it should further be complemented by the support of the
international community. This process will also require both systematic
outreach and partnership among the Programme's many constituencies in both
the non-governmental and private sectors.
141. A critical first step is phased expansion and regularization of
channels of communication between the United Nations and non-governmental
youth organizations to include representatives of interested private sector
organizations. This would build upon the provisions of the General
Assembly in resolution 45/103 concerning the involvement of youth and non-
governmental youth organizations in formulation of the Programme of Action.
Youth, youth-related organizations and interested private sector
organizations are urged to identify, in partnership with Governments, ways
in which they could contribute to action at the local level to implement
the Programme, and to the periodic review, appraisal and formulation of
options to achieve its goals and objectives.
142. Implementation of the Programme of Action offers important
opportunities to expand technical and cultural exchanges among young people
through new partnerships in both the public and private sectors; to
identify and test improved ways to leverage public resources, in
partnership with the non-governmental and private sectors, to further
Programme priorities; and to encourage and plan jointly innovative
approaches to critical issues concerning youth.
143. Relevant voluntary organizations, particularly those concerned with
education, employment, juvenile justice, youth development, health, hunger,
ecology and the environment, and drug abuse, can further Programme
implementation by encouraging involvement of young people in their
programme planning and field activities. The Programme of Action can
contribute to the work of such organizations because it provides a global
policy framework for consultation and coordination.
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