Mr Chairman,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me at the outset express my thanks and appreciation to the Government and the people of Portugal for their hospitality and for providing us with such excellent arrangements. We very much welcome this World Conference as an opportunity to focus global dialogue on youth-related issues with a view to strengthening international co-operation in this important field.

Mr Chairman

As the year 2000 is drawing near, questions about what the new millennium will bring are becoming the focus of increasing attention. At the beginning of the next century, we will notice that the foundations of many new developments have been laid in the last few years of the old millennium. When adopting, in the year 1995, the World Programme of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and Beyond, the United Nations General Assembly stressed this fact and pointed out that measures taken to implement the World Programme will influence the well-being of future generations.

One important step for the national implementation of the World Programme consists in reviewing the situation of young people with respect to the ten priority areas identified therein. In 1996, the Liechtenstein Government commissioned for the first time a comprehensive report on the legal and social situation of children and young people in Liechtenstein. This report was designed to launch discussion of necessary youth policy measures and their implementation. In April 1998, the Liechtenstein Government adopted the initial report under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which will also serve as a reference for future measures. The conclusions of the two reports put much emphasis on the necessity of assessing any policy measure with respect to its bearing on the situation of young people. This approach is to promote a cross-sectoral way of addressing the various needs of youth.

Mr Chairman

Youth policy in Liechtenstein is divided into three areas: care of juveniles (i.e. promotion of the physical, moral, social, cultural and religious development of children and adolescents), assistance to juveniles and protection of juveniles.

Care of juveniles is provided outside the school and the workplace. It takes place in free time, and is the responsibility of municipalities, religious communities, private and public institutions and youth groups. The primary role of the State is to provide financial contributions and technical support and to make premises available. There is a great variety of non-commercial leisure amenities in Liechtenstein, e.g. youth centres run by professionals, music and sports clubs, scouts and other youth groups. More than 50 per cent of the young people in Liechtenstein are members of associations. The aspect of youth participation plays an important role in this field because a considerable part of the work is done on a voluntary basis. In order to promote understanding of different cultures among young people, the Government also encourages the participation of adolescents from Liechtenstein in youth campaigns and exchange programmes of the Council of Europe and the European Union.

In the area of assistance to juveniles, various services are offered in the fields of counselling, intervention, adoption procedures and official assistance. In addition to the State, private institutions are also active in assistance to juveniles. The private assistance services available range from the counselling office for parents, children and adolescents through the telephone help line for children and adolescents to the special residential group for adolescents with various types of problems. These private institutions receive financial support from the State.

Mr Chairman

Protection of juveniles against dangers liable to influence their development has to take society as a whole into account. This holds particularly true when dealing with the problem of drug and substance abuse. Experience has shown that the penal law alone does not prove a suitable tool for bringing about the desired behaviour, namely a health-conscious way of life among young people. „Education rather than punishment" is the motto. The nation-wide addiction prevention campaign the Liechtenstein Government has launched this year is fully in line with this approach. The campaign is conducted under the watchword „Have the courage to educate", and thus reflects the conviction underlying the Government’s anti-drug policy that the drug problem is in the first place a challenge to adults, who must live up to their responsibility for education in relation to drugs as well as in other areas.

Mr Chairman

The fight against sexual abuse constitutes another priority of the Liechtenstein Government in the field of protection of children and adolescents. The World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children made an important contribution both to enhancing international co-operation and designing appropriate national measures in this respect. There is as yet no legal basis in Liechtenstein for punishment of sexual exploitation of children which is committed abroad. The Government therefore plans to amend the law on sexual abuse with a view to establishing the relevant legal basis and contributing to the international efforts aimed at combating sex tourism. In order to improve the protection of victims of sexual abuse, it is planned to extend the time before the statute of limitations becomes applicable to sexual assault, to increase the penalties for sexual acts with minors and to introduce protective measures in relevant criminal proceedings. In addition, the planned revision of the Penal Code is to tighten the ban on pornography involving children by making not only the production, rental or sale but also the simple possession of such material liable to prosecution.

Mr Chairman

When talking about the protection of juveniles in the context of international co-operation, the plight of young people in armed conflicts must not be forgotten. We therefore welcome the increased attention given to the issue of children in armed conflicts by the international community and in particular the appointment of Mr. Olara Otunnu as Special Representative of the Secretary-General on this issue. We hope that his office will receive the support necessary to carry out its important functions and stand ready to make our own contribution to this end. The Liechtenstein Government will also continue to express its solidarity through financial support of international assistance to juvenile victims of armed conflicts.

Mr Chairman

The situation of young people differs from one country to the other. And still, they all have one thing in common: They are the foundation and a major resource for the future development of the world. Intensifying international co-operation by exchanging experiences of national youth policies and addressing common concerns will pave the way towards this future. The adoption of the Declaration on Youth by this World Conference will be an important step in this direction.

I thank you, Mr. Chairman