UN YOUTH FLASH

Vol. 6, No.9, September 2009

WELCOME to the UN Youth Flash, a service of the United Nations Programme on Youth to keep you informed about the work of the UN on youth issues. You are encouraged to use and forward the information below to other networks. This update is prepared with input from UN offices, agencies, funds and programmes, and from youth organisations around the world.

In this issue:

Feature: Focusing the Youth Agenda: Youth and armed conflict

News from UN Agencies

Youth in Action

Publications

Calendar of Events

FEATURE: Focusing the Youth Agenda: the World Programme of Action for Youth

The World Programme of Action for Youth (WPAY) is a useful tool for local and national Governments, IGOs, and NGOs championing youth issues around the globe. To assist with its implementation, the United Nations has worked with its partners and Member States to develop a set of goals and targets that can help to shape youth-targeted interventions. This month’s feature is the fifth in a 10-part series that will familiarise our readers with the WPAY and its related goals and targets. On the occasion of the International Day of Peace, commemorated on 21 September, the focus of this issue is on youth and armed conflict.

To read more about the WPAY and to access the full text, please visit http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/global.htm.

Focusing the Youth Agenda: Youth and armed conflict

The number of active armed conflicts in the world has fluctuated between 30 and 40 each year since 2000 after having reached 55 early in the 1990s. Africa and the Middle East are major hot spots; other regions of conflict can be found in Asia and Central America. Young people are often among the victims of the main violence and brutality that occur in periods of conflict, rendering them susceptible to physical disability. Other direct and indirect health consequences include the breakdown of health and social services, the heightened risk of disease transmission and the displacement of populations. The experience of violence and destruction also poses an enormous threat on the mental health of young people leading to anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorders, as well as self-inflicted injury and suicide. However, young people are not only victims, but often also perpetrators. The United Nations Children’s Fund reports an estimated 300,000 children and youth, under the age of 18, currently participating in armed conflict. Most soldiers under 18 are members of non-State armed groups.

To meet these challenges, the World Programme of Action for Youth (WPAY) aims not only at preventing conflict by promoting a culture of peace and by reducing the prevalence of weapons, but also at involving youth in demobilization and reintegration programmes.

Economic incentives, social and political exclusion, unemployment, dissatisfaction with public services, and the breakdown of traditional family and social networks, are among the factors pushing youth into the combatant role. Whereas some research literature suggests that youth bulges constitute a risk factor for violent conflict, young people are also a major point of action to promote a culture of peace and to overcome old animosities. Accordingly the first goal of the WPAY is concerned with the education of young people, especially in conflict zones, and with reducing the prevalence of light weapons in order to establish a culture of peaceful conflict solution. It has three associated targets:

1. by 2015, ensure that units to promote the ideals of peace, mutual respect and understanding among all peoples are included in the curricula of all formal and non-formal education programmes;
2. between 2005 and 2015, double the level of investment in youth formal and non-formal and vocational education in conflict zones, ensuring that curricula are relevant, non-discriminatory, and holistic;
3. between 2005 and 2015, reduce by 50 per cent the availability of small arms and light weapons.

In recent years, increasing emphasis has been placed on preventing the engagement of children and youth in armed conflict, as illustrated by the 119 ratified or acceded parties to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children and youth in armed conflict. There has also been progress in improving the post-conflict reintegration of young people into society. Many thousands of young soldiers have left armed forces as many long-running conflicts have ended. Through demobilization, disarmament and reintegration programmes, Governments and various non-governmental organizations and United Nations system agencies have worked to reintegrate these youth into their communities and to ensure socio-economic rehabilitation, skills development and community development. These programmes, however, may not reach those young people who are in greatest need. The percentage of female beneficiaries, in particular, is often in the single digits. The second goal of the WPAY is therefore to promote the participation of youth in all conflict prevention and post-conflict reconstruction efforts. The two targets of this goal are:

1. by 2015, establish mechanisms of youth governance, participation and advocacy, such as youth councils, forums, and networks, at local and national levels in all post-conflict regions;
2. by 2015, ensure that all disarmament, demobilization, rehabilitation and reintegration programmes engage youth in all aspects of their work.

For more information, contact the United Nations Programme on Youth at youth@un.org, or visit http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/global.htm.

NEWS FROM UN OFFICES

(Find out more about the work of United Nations system organizations on youth issues at: http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/agenda.htm).

INEE: Update of the Minimum Standards for Education in Emergencies, Chronic Crises and Early Reconstruction
The INEE (Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies) is a global open network of UN agencies, non-governmental organizations, donors, practitioners, researchers and individuals. The Minimum Standards for Education in Emergencies, Chronic Crises and Early Reconstruction are the network’s foundation tool and provide concrete guidance based on education rights and good practices. The INEE is facilitating a 'light' revision process, with a view to launching the updated version in April 2010. The purpose of the update process is not to change the qualitative standards, nor to overhaul the handbook. Rather, it is to simplify its format and language while strengthening cross-cutting issues and reflecting new issues in the field of education in emergencies and post-crisis recovery. UNICEF’S Adolescent Development and Participation Unit and the Women's Commission are leading a reference group of researchers, practitioners and policy-makers to make the Standards ever more relevant for adolescents and young people through a series of discussions and consultations to take place across all regions. For more information please contact Naseem Awl, ADAP, UNICEF-HQ, New York, nawl@unicef.org

UN HABITAT Working Group Session on Urban Children and Youth
The UN HABITAT Working Group Session on Urban Children and Youth is planned for October 7th, 2009 in Washington D.C. as part of World HABITAT Day activities. The purpose of this one-day Session will be to lay the groundwork for the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the issues facing urban children and youth.
The goals of the symposium are:
1. To share current research activities and agendas and identify gaps in knowledge
2. To understand the state of the art of effective collaboration in networks
3. To explore the formation of a Urban Youth Knowledge network and how it can advance existing global knowledge
4. To map out a way forward for establishing a network, if there is such a desire, and launching it at the World Urban Forum in Rio in 2010.
To achieve the above stated goals, UN HABITAT will be partnering with Cities Alliance and the International Centre for Sustainable Cities to bring together key researchers and practitioners to Washington, DC.

For more information, please visit: http://www.unhabitat.org/categories.asp?catid=588

UNICEF: 2009 San Marino-Alexander Bodini Foundation Children's Awards
UNICEF is providing support for the presentation of the Alexander Bodini
Charitable Foundation children’s awards, which will honour three child-led organizations that have successfully and meaningfully contributed to creating a world fit for children.

The 2009 San Marino-Alexander Bodini Foundation Children’s Awards will comprise a grant of US$20,000 for each finalist. The awards will be presented at an event in New York City in February 2010 in the presence of members of the Government of San Marino and the Executive Director of UNICEF.

For further information, please contact María Cristina Gallegos, Voices of Youth Coordinator, Adolescent Development and Participation (ADAP) Unit, UNICEF Headquarters, email cgallegos@unicef.org.

UNICEF: General Comment on Article 12: The right of the child to be heard
In Geneva, during its 51st session, 25 May-12 June 2009, the Committee on the Rights of the Child adopted the General Comment on Article 12 on the rights of the child to be heard. The overall objective of the General Comment Art No.12 (2009) is to support States parties in the effective implementation of article 12. In so doing it seeks to:

Strengthen understanding of the meaning of article 12 and its implications for governments, stakeholders, NGOs and society at large;
Elaborate the scope of legislation, policy and practice necessary to achieve full implementation of article 12;
Highlight the positive approaches in implementing article 12, benefiting from the monitoring experience of the Committee.

The general comment on Art 12 is available to download at
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/docs/AdvanceVersions/CRC-C-GC-12.pdf.

For further information please contact Victor Karunan, ADAP, UNICEF-HQ, New York, vkarunan@unicef.org

UNICEF: Symposium Children and Young People Affected by War, Rome, Italy, 23 June 2009
Two young people, former child soldiers, who have transformed their brutal life experiences toward helping the more than one billion children whose lives are currently touched by war, told the international community what must be done to ensure that children are fully protected even in the heat of war The young people highlighted that children who have been affected by war need extra support and attention in order to overcome their difficulties. A photo exhibit, "Children of War - Broken Childhood" was opened with four themes: girl-child soldiers, reintegration, small arms and light weapons and the fight against impunity and was taken from the book by Leora Kahn, “Child Soldier” – that features the work of renown war photographers.

For more information please contact Ravi Karkara, ADAP, UNICEF-HQ, New York, rkarkara@unicef.org

UN Programme on Youth: Initiatives on Adolescent and Youth Indicators
The UN Programme on Youth (UNPY) would like your assistance in identifying existing initiatives on adolescent and youth indicators. At the 47th session of the Commission for Social Development, Member States requested the UN Secretariat to further develop and propose a set of possible indicators linked to the World Programme of Action for Youth and the related goals and targets, in order to assist States in assessing the situation of youth. The set of indicators will be submitted to the Statistical Commission and to the Commission for Social Development.

To ensure that UNPY take existing initiatives into account and incorporates the indicators that your organizations work with, please send an email to youth@un.org, subject line "Youth Indicators" by 7th of October 2009 to inform us about your work on indicators and the indicators you use in your programmatic work. Please also inform UNPY if you are aware of any other organizations that are working on the topic.

YOUTH IN ACTION

SEACHANGE movement, Southeast Asia Youth For Change
The Southeast Asia for Change (SEAforCHANGE) movement on http://yes2009.asia, will bring together 1,000,000 Southeast Asian youths between the ages of 15 to 35 in a peer-network for regional change. The Youth Engagement Summit, YES2009 will be held on 16 and 17 November 2009 in the Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
More information is available at the official YES2009 website, info@youthdecide.com.au.

Youth Climate Campaigning Down Under
Between 14 and 21 September, over 37 400 young Australians participated in the world’s biggest per capita mobilization of young people on climate change – ‘Youth Decide’ – Australia’s national youth vote on climate change run by the Australian Youth Climate Coalition and World Vision Youth. The aim of Youth Decide has been to develop a united youth voice that compels the Australian Government to show the leadership needed to secure an ambitious, fair and binding global climate agreement at December’s Copenhagen Climate Conference. 330 youth led voting events were organized to mobilize youth support. As a result, over 90% of voters decided they wanted to inherit a world that benefited from a target of 40%+ cut in emissions set in Copenhagen. These results will now be shared during UN Climate Week, with Australian Members of Parliament, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and showcased during the Copenhagen Conference.

See www.youthdecide.com.au and contact info@youthdecide.com.au for more information.

WFUNA-Youth Plenary Meeting 2009
From 12 to 14 August, the 3rd WFUNA-Youth Plenary Meeting successfully took place in Seoul, Korea, with the participation of 24 United Nations Youth Associations.

During the Meeting, participants shared their experience with UN related Youth projects. They furthermore discussed on how WFUNA-Youth can contribute to strengthen its member organizations until 2012.

The World Federation of United Nations Associations Youth (WFUNA-Youth) is the youth section of the World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA) and thus the global umbrella organization for all United Nations Youth Associations and UNA Youth Sections/Programmes around the world. WFUNA-Youth aims to gain more support for the United Nations’ principles among populations and especially young people by strengthening the activities of United Nations Youth Associations (UNYAs) and UNA Youth Sections/Programmes worldwide. It seeks to promote the establishment of UNYAs or Youth Sections/Programmes where they do not exist.

For more information, please visit www.wfuna-youth.org

Rwanda Human Rights Delegation for Young Leaders 28 December- 11 January 2010, Rwanda
Global Youth Connect, an international human rights organization, is pleased to accept applications from young leaders (ages 18-30) for it’s winter international human rights delegation to Rwanda.

Human rights delegations are a unique, first-hand opportunity to cross cultural boundaries and learn about the daily reality of human rights as experienced in a complex and increasingly globalized world. Each delegation weaves together three core sets of activities: site visits to local organizations, hands-on fieldwork projects, and a human rights training workshop with local youth activists.

This delegation will explore the roots of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, how this legacy of violence has impacted the country and its people, particularly Rwandan youth, and also how the country is attempting to rebuild today.

For detailed information please visit: www.globalyouthconnect.org/participate, or contact GYC Rwanda Programme Director Jesse Hawkes directly at jesse@globalyouthconnect.org.

PLURAL+ Video Festival Calls on Youth to Submit Their Videos. Entries due 30 September!
Youth from around the world (9 to 25 years old) are invited to participate in the PLURAL+ Video Festival on the themes of migration, diversity, and identity. The festival is a joint initiative of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAoC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in partnership with many important international agencies. The deadline for submission of short videos is 30 September 2009. Three young winners will be flown to New York City to attend awards ceremonies on 18 December 2009, coinciding with International Migrants Day. The winning videos will be awarded exciting prizes and receive professional opportunities in addition to international exposure through film festivals, conferences, broadcast, satellite, and internet.
All details about the PLURAL + Video Festival, including the entry form and Rules and Regulations, can be found at www.unaoc.org/pluralplus.

E-consultation on Migration and Development
The Ghana-based organization Young People We Care (YPWC), with support from TakingITGlobal and UNICEF Voices of Youth, is organizing an E-Consultation in preparation for the 3rd Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) taking place in Greece in November 2009. The 4-week E-Consultation – from Sunday, 27 September to Saturday, 17 October 2009 – will collect youth responses to a variety of migration-related questions. It seeks to substantively include young people in migration debates as well as to influence migration polices that work in the interest of young migrants. The GFMD has become one of the principal international spaces in which governments discuss migration and development policy, an area that crucially affects opportunities for young people.

Your perspectives, experiences and contributions to the project are welcome. For more information visit: http://groups.takingitglobal.org/migration

Commission on Sustainable Development Youth Caucus
The CSD Youth Caucus recently elected new leadership for the CSD-18/19 cycle. The names and contact information of your leaders can be found at: http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/dsd_aofw_mg/mg_orgapart1011.shtml#child.

The Guidelines for Major Groups' Participation in CSD-18 are now available in English on the DSD website at: http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/dsd_aofw_mg/mg_csdguid.shtml

Additional information on CSD-18, including dates of the upcoming Regional Implementation Meetings, can be found at: http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/csd/csd_csd18.shtml

The Hague International Model United Nations Youth Network
The Hague International Model United Nations (THIMUN) Youth Network hosts annual Youth Assemblies in the Hague, the Netherlands. THIMUN is an international network of youth that come together to learn how to create successful projects to raise awareness about different global issues. The network will be hosting its next conference from January 24-29, 2010. More information about the THIMUN Youth Network and its Assembly can be found here:http://www.thimunyouthnetwork.org/index.php?p=t_conf_14.

The National Learn & Serve Challenge (USA)
The 2009 National Learn & Serve Challenge is a sustained, focused effort to promote youth civic engagement and service-learning, a hands-on teaching method that engages young people in solving problems within their schools and communities as part of academic studies and other out-of-school time learning activities.

The National Learn & Serve Challenge will take place from 5 to 12 October 2009 by issuing a national call to action to schools, college campuses and youth-serving organizations to commit to engaging a significant number of young people in service-learning activities that address the tough problems facing the country.

Visit www.learnandservechallenge.org for additional information.

PUBLICATIONS

(For UN documents on youth, visit: http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/library.htm).

A Digital Shift: Youth and ICT for Development – Best Practices
The Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA-GAID) recently published “A Digital Shift: Youth and ICT for Development – Best Practices.” This document was prepared by the UNDESA-GAID Committee of eLeaders for Youth and ICT, in collaboration with TakingITGlobal and the Youth Unit of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie.
“A Digital Shift: Youth and ICT for Development – Best Practices” showcases the best practices of community transformations through ICT, to ensure the survival and growth of these projects, and to learn from their lessons for the improvement of future initiatives.
The publication was launched at the “Global Forum 2009: ICT & Innovation for Education”, which was organized by UNDESA-GAID in Monterrey, Mexico at the beginning of September. Several e-Leaders were present and gave a vibrant presentation about their work. To read the publication online, please visit http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/gaid/unpan036084.pdf

CALENDAR OF YOUTH EVENTS

(Please send us information on major international youth events that do not appear below)

1-3 October 2009: 6th UNESCO Youth Forum (Paris, France)
The 6th UNESCO Youth Forum will take place from 1-3 October 2009 in Paris as an integral part of the 35th UNESCO General Conference. The Youth Forum will give its youth participants the vital opportunity to exchange views, share experiences, and identify common opportunities and challenges. The Forum’s main theme "Investing out of the crisis: towards a partnership between UNESCO and youth organizations” will be complemented by a cross-cutting theme on "Youth participation - UNESCO Youth Forum, a long term approach''. The Forum will result in a final report which will be presented at the General Conference.
Youth delegates will be nominated by UNESCO Member States as members of their official delegations. Youth organizations, international and national NGOs and UN agencies will be invited as observers.

For more information please go to http://portal.unesco.org/shs/en/ or email ucj@unesco.org.

28–30 October 2009: Young Commonwealth Climate Change Summit (London, United Kingdom)
The Young Commonwealth Climate Change Summit will take place in London, UK from 28 to 30 October. The summit's agenda will examine how young people’s voices are represented and heard in climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction across the Commonwealth policy and decision-making process, and how this process can best be facilitated and promoted. The Summit will include panel discussions, networking events, youth roundtables and the launch of the Commonwealth Youth Network on Climate Change. More information is available on the Summit's website: http://youthclimate.org.uk/

24 October-2 November 2009: Indigenous Climate Connections: Indigenous Youth and Climate Change (Aotearoa, New Zealand)
Indigenous Climate Connections aims to help youth to understand and take action on climate change as an issue of Indigenous rights/self-determination. Indigenous Climate Connections will empower Indigenous youth to take action on their rights as indigenous peoples. This will involve trainings on UN mechanisms (e.g. the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues) and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Delegates will be able to use these trainings to apply the UNDRIP and UN mechanisms to their local, national situations. To know more on the ICC, or to register for the conference, follow this link http://climate.conscious.maori.nz/.

16 November-18 November: World Summit on Food Security (Rome, Italy)
A World Summit on Food Security will be held in Rome from 16-18 November 2009 to address the worsening situation of global food insecurity which is being aggravated by the economic crisis. As part of the summit a Civil Society Forum will be held from 14 to 16 November 2009 to give civil society constituencies their own platform to contribute to the summit. Youth will be a major constituent with other groups such as farmers, indigenous peoples, women and international non-government organizations. For details on the summit see: www.fao.org/wsfs/world-summit/en/ or contact reuben.sessa@fao.org

16-18 November 2009: 6th SAYEN Regional Meet - Managing Climate: My responsibility and I can (Islamabad, Pakistan)
The 6th SAYEN Regional Meet - Managing Climate: My Responsibility and I can, will be organized and hosted by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), Islamabad, Pakistan and jointly conducted by the Centre for Environment Education (CEE), SAYEN and UNEP.

For further information please contact Gopal Kumar Jain, Programme Coordinator, Youth Programmes, SAYEN Secretariat, Centre for Environment Education, E-mail: gopal.jain@ceeindia.org, Website: www.sayen.org

30 November - 4 December 2009: UNICEF Children’s Climate Forum (Copenhagen, Denmark)
Ahead of the UN conference on climate change in December, children and adolescents (aged 14-17), from 42 countries will meet in the Danish capital to agree on recommendations for world leaders. For more information visit www.unicef.org.

2-6 December 2009: International Seminar on EuroMediterranean Voluntary Work (France)
This seminar aims to introduce the EuroMediterranean Voluntary service and its impacts and encourage new initiatives in the Euromed Region. The seminar targets promoters, members of NGOs, representatives of institutes and public bodies who are already experienced in the voluntary work and/or European Voluntary Service and wishing to share their experiences and to exchange practices on volunteering.

For more information and application please visit http://www.salto-youth.net/euromedevsfrance/

7-18 December 2009: United Nations Climate Change Conference COP15 (Copenhagen, Denmark)
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change entered into force on 21 March 1994. The Convention sets an overall framework for intergovernmental efforts to tackle climate change and recognizes that the climate system is a shared resource whose stability can be affected by industrial and other emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The Convention enjoys near universal membership and has been ratified by 192 countries. A number of nations had approved the Kyoto Protocol, as an addition to the treaty with more powerful (and legally binding) measures. The Protocol’s first commitment period ends in 2012. A strong multilateral framework needs to be in place by 2009 to ensure that there is no gap between the end of the Kyoto Protocol’s first commitment period in 2012 and the entry into force of a future regime. COP15 (Conference of Parties) in Copenhagen is a vital step in this process. For more information, visit: http://www.cop15.dk.

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