During its 35th Session the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted, on 22 June 2017, a resolution on youth and human rights, signaling a step forward for the global youth rights agenda.
The Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth welcomes this resolution and its request of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to conduct a study “on the implementation of human rights with regard to young people.”
This study will take into account the “…views of States and relevant stakeholders, including relevant United Nations agencies, the treaty bodies, the special procedures of the Human Rights Council, national human rights institutions, civil society, and representatives of youth organizations…”
The resolution builds on a previous Human Rights Council resolution and subsequent panel discussion and takes note of the Human Rights Council convened Global Forum on Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law that took place 21-22 November in Geneva and focused on the theme “Widening the Democratic Space: The Role of Youth in Public Decision Making”. Both the outcome of the panel discussion and the report of the Global Forum called for a detailed study on the global situation of young people’s access to human rights.
Urging member states to work to identify best practices regarding the full and effective enjoyment of human rights by young people, the resolution will aid the work of identifying and addressing discrimination of young people in their exercise of their human rights.
To that end, the resolution also encouraged the contributions of international human rights bodies and the work of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth in “identifying and addressing obstacles to the enjoyment of all human rights for youth.”
The report of the High Commissioner will be prepared ahead of the Council’s 39th Session in September 2018.
Read the UN Human Rights Council resolution here.