Youth and Human Rights

A group of participants seated and standing on tiered wooden steps inside a modern conference venue. The group poses for a photo in front of a stepped display featuring colorful square artworks and multiple panels showing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals icons. The setting includes vertical wooden wall panels, wide steps used as seating, and bright indoor lighting, highlighting collaboration and youth engagement in a UN event.

The United Nations Youth Office advances a human rights-based approach to youth participation, grounded in the recognition of young people as both rights-holders and agents of change. In line with General Assembly resolution 76/306, the Office leads system-wide efforts to strengthen youth engagement and advocacy across peace and security, sustainable development and human rights.

This work is guided by the UN Youth Office Strategic Plan (2025–2028) and the UN Youth Strategy, Youth2030, and responds to intergovernmental mandates, including the Human Rights Council resolution on Youth and human rights (A/HRC/RES/57/30), which calls for strengthened collaboration to advance youth rights and participation.

The UN Youth Office works as a system-wide catalyst to advance youth human rights by:

  • Integrating a youth lens across human rights processes and frameworks;
  • Enabling and advocating for a safe, inclusive and meaningful youth participation in human rights mechanisms as well as other mechanisms across the work of the United Nations; and
  • Strengthening accountability and implementation of youth-related human rights commitments.

Youth Rights Matter

Human rights are central to ensuring the dignity, inclusion and full participation in decision-making and policymaking processes of young people in all their diversity. Yet, many young people continue to face structural barriers, discrimination and shrinking civic space, limiting both their access to rights and their ability to shape decisions that affect their lives.

A meaningful approach to youth and human rights requires:

  • Recognizing the diversity of youth, shaped by intersecting identities such as gender, race, ethnicity and disability;
  • Addressing inequalities in access to rights and participation; and
  • Moving beyond one-dimensional narratives to reflect the lived realities, agency and leadership of young people.

Protecting youth is a core priority. Many young people, particularly those engaging with the United Nations, operate in increasingly restrictive and, in some contexts, unsafe environments. Ensuring their safety, dignity and protection from reprisals, intimidation, harassment and other forms of harm or adverse consequence is essential to enabling meaningful participation.

This work is further guided by the UN Call to Action for Human Rights and the UN Guidance Note on the Protection and Promotion of Civic Space.

Our Work in Action

The UN Youth Office collaborates closely with partners across the UN system, in particular with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), to strengthen youth participation in global human rights processes.

Building on the adoption of the Pact for the Future in September 2024 (A/RES/79/1), which includes commitments to advance meaningful youth participation, the Office has supported efforts to operationalize these commitments within the human rights pillar.

Following the adoption of the Human Rights Council resolution 57/30, which emphasizes the importance of safe, inclusive and meaningful youth participation, the Youth Office, OHCHR, and UNFPA have worked together to explore more structured approaches to youth engagement within the Council.

As part of these efforts, an expert roundtable was convened in Geneva in June 2025, bringing together youth representatives, Member States and UN experts to discuss practical pathways to strengthen and institutionalize youth participation in the Human Rights Council, including in the context of its biennial panel on youth and human rights. This exchange contributed to ongoing reflections ahead of the Council’s 60th session and the tenth anniversary of the resolution.

Moving Forward

The UN Youth Office remains committed to advancing a human rights-based approach to youth engagement, one that ensures young people in all their diversity can participate safely, influence decisions and hold institutions accountable.