11/081998

Your Excellencies,
Mr Secretary-General
Dear Colleagues
Ladies and Gentlemen

It is an honour and privilege for me to be participating in the World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth, as Head of the Delegation of the Republic of Cyprus.

We are happy that the Conference is hosted by Portugal, a country with a long tradition and concern in the field of protection and well being of young people.

Mr Chairman, Dear Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen,

"Young people want to be seen as a resource for development - not an obstacle" declared participants in the second session of the World Forum of the United Nations System, held in Vienna in 1996.

The question is always open: What do we expect from young people and what can we offer them?

Taking as tools valuable indicators and signals which point at the attitudes of young people all over the world, we must respond to their needs and concerns, which range from fear of

unemployment with the social consequences it carries, to the conservation of the environment, to the issue of national identity and to the notion mobility.

The United Nations has long recognized that the imagination ideals and energies of young men and women and vital for the continuing development of the societies in which they live.

The World Programme of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and Beyond is the recognition of the importance of youth in shaping the world. We all very welcome this programme that focuses on measures to strengthen national capacities regarding youth and to increase the quality and quantity of opportunities available to young people for their full participation in society.

International cooperation has long existed as youth organisations expanded across frontiers and searched for a multicultural approach to their activities. Youth Organisations became aware of the important part they could play in influencing youth policies on the international scene and consequently cooperation was increased and new instruments were set up which allowed young people to participate in the work of International Organisations.

Youth Organisations must be present at all levels of local and international activities. They must be able to influence the direction of youth policies in Europe and the world at large in a spirit of cooperation and respect for basic human rights.

As Cyprus is steadily joining the efforts in the building of a new Europe, it is taking all necessary measures to align its youth policy with that of Europe and has defined a strategy that reaches towards the young people of Cyprus, meeting their needs and aspirations.

The Principle of co-management where youth organisations are called to have a direct participation in the formulation of a comprehensive youth policy has been adopted since the creation of the Youth Board of Cyprus, which is the institution responsible for the Youth Policy in Cyprus.

While Cyprus is called to participate in the dramatic changes that take place in the World and its young people to join forces in the construction of a democratic World, one cannot but condemn the fact that the basic human rights, that of free movement, is being denied to them.

While the United Nations has stressed the respect for human rights, emphasizing the importance of the principle of free movement, young Cypriots are being prohibited from walking across their own homeland and returning to their homes which have been under Turkish occupation since 1974.

Mr Chairman,

We, the Cyprus Delegation, strongly support the Draft Proposal of the Lisbon Declaration of Youth, knowing that it can be used as a useful tool to our efforts for the satisfaction of young people's needs and concerns.

Finally, I would like to conclude by expressing my conviction that this World Conference under your able leadership will be fruitful and successful. Its conclusions will give impetus for a sincere dialogue that will promote an awareness of young people's rights, foster their participation and lay the basis of international peace, giving young people the tools to become real active citizens of the World.

Thank you for your attention.