May I first express my deep appreciation to our hosts, the Government and people of Portugal. This is the very first time that a government has initiated a meeting of Ministers Responsible for Youth to discuss youth and development. I believe it will send a strong message about the importance the international community attaches to this vital matter.

The Needs

One of the pressures driving countries towards action is simply that there are more teenagers than ever before, nearly 1.2 billion worldwide, the largest generation of young people the world has ever seen, or possibly ever will see. Nearly 900 million of them are in developing countries. These young people are the future of development. Their education, health and life opportunities will determine the economic and social prospects of every country.

One of the most important, yet most neglected areas of concern is adolescent reproductive health. Pregnancy and childbirth are very hazardous for very young women: yet 20 to 40 per cent of women under 18 are married. Approximately 15 million young women between 15 and 19 give birth each year, and they account for more than 10 per cent of all babies born worldwide. A high proportion of their pregnancies are unwanted, and many result in abortion: yet only 17 per cent of the age group use any form of contraception. Unsafe abortion is a threat to the lives and health of young women: access to information and the means to avoid pregnancy is the only effective way to minimize abortion.

Young people are getting married later in life, but they may be starting sexual activity earlier. One such symptom of more widespread sexual activity is that 1 in 20 adolescents contracts a sexually transmitted disease each year: fully half of new HIV infections are among young people.

Sexual violence aimed at adolescents is an international concern. There is growing sentiment and action against female genital mutilation, but it is still difficult for many communities to grapple with, and too many leaders still condone it. Commercial sex draws in an estimated 2 million girls between 5 and 15 every year. Violence at home, including incest, is just as much a threat to the physical and mental health of adolescents as many more obvious conditions: yet it is so common and so widely condoned that statistics in many countries do not exist.

Obstacles to Action

Legal, religious and social obstacles stand in the way of better adolescent reproductive health. For a variety of reasons--fear, traditional mores, or lack of information -- adults are often uneasy discussing reproductive health and sexuality with young people. Parents and relatives may be confused about what teenagers want and need in the modern world. Reproductive health services can compound these difficulties by imposing age restrictions or by requiring consent from partners and parents. Service providers may not want to talk to young people, or they may have difficulty in doing so. Teenagers themselves may be getting mixed messages about what is expected of them, and about what they should expect.

However, the primary concern in most countries now is to concentrate political leaders' and policy makers' attention on the urgency of the issue. Only strong leadership can provide the necessary will to remove the barriers in the minds of many key decision makers, at all levels.

Many adolescents do not have the education and information they need. The number without information of any kind is estimated at over 100 million. Most education programmes are based in schools or work only with parents. These are effective, but they miss many young people, those who are out of school or live on their own; the millions of 'street children' are not discovered in surveys.

Progress and Future Action

I am happy to report that there has been substantial progress towards overcoming these obstacles.

In the Cairo Programme of Action, countries were quite explicit about adolescent reproductive health. Paragraph 6.15 emphasizes the importance for youth to be involved in and have access to "information, education and communication activities and services concerning reproductive and sexual health, including the prevention of early pregnancies, sex education and the prevention of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases". This is also stressed in other sections of the Programme of Action, such as paragraph 6.7 and Chapter VII E on adolescents. The consensus document also recognized the need to promote responsible and healthy attitudes and behaviour, including abstinence and the provision of adequate counselling and services. It is notable that the concept of sexual and reproductive health for girls was accepted without debate or demur by the Commission on the Status of Women which met earlier this year. Furthermore, I am very pleased to note that paragraph 69 of the Draft Lisbon Declaration reinforces this consensus.

In some countries, there is evidence that government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have lost some of their reluctance to approach the question. Programmes are being put in place in these countries to address adolescent reproductive health needs.

We know from our experience and research that adolescents want to take responsibility for their own lives, including their sexual and reproductive health. Therefore, we must encourage their active involvement, which empowers them to make their own decisions and choices in all aspects of their lives. UNFPA has given substantial support to the Third Session of the World Youth Forum which just concluded in Braga, Portugal. That forum saw the participation of several hundred young people who have joined us here in Lisbon.

UNFPA gives high priority to our work with and on behalf of adolescents. We have worked actively, in partnership with youth NGOs and other organizations, in promoting adolescent reproductive health and rights, including family planning, which minimizes the need for abortion; enhancing gender equality; assuring basic education, particularly for girls; and upholding young people's rights. We are becoming increasingly active in the areas of sexual abuse and exploitation of youth, and gender-based violence.

We work with youth organizations, with parents, with communities, with policy makers and with political leadership at all levels. Our aim is to promote adolescent reproductive health and rights in line with the ICPD Programme of Action, and to ensure that they have the attention and priority they deserve.

For example, UNFPA has supported population education in schools, and programmes to reach out-of-school youth, in over 100 countries, sensitizing leaders and policy makers and mobilizing support from parents and communities. We emphasize adolescents' reproductive health needs in all our country programmes. We encourage political leaders and policy makers to look at the needs of young people with fresh eyes, and we help them search for practical and innovative responses.

There are formidable challenges, but the successes of recent years should give us heart. It is only recently that universal acceptance of the concept of reproductive health has been accepted as a human right; this conference has made excellent progress in establishing that this right extends to adolescents. Our task now is to make sure that reproductive health is a reality for all the world's young people.

To be sure, policies regarding adolescents and their needs are still evolving, but it is for this very reason that we must encourage their active involvement. They must speak out and assist us in reflecting their ideas, perspectives and recommendations, and advise us on how best we can address their needs.