The Human Rights Council today saw the launch of the report of the inaugural United Nations Forum on Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law, which focused on the theme of “Widening the Democratic Space: Youth Participation in Public Decision-Making” .  The report was presented by H.E. Daniiar Mukashev, the Permanent Representative of the Kyrgyz Republic to the United Nations Office at Geneva, who co-chaired the Forum together with the then Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, Ahmad Alhendawi, who has in the meantime departed from this position.

H.E. Ambassador Mukashev emphasized in his statement that “the full realization of all human rights, in particular the rights to freedom of opinion and expression, association and peaceful assembly, is a prerequisite for the effective enjoyment by youth of their right to participate in public affairs.” He also recognized however that “youth too often face discrimination and various obstacles, including physical, financial and cultural barriers, which, when coupled with a shrinking democratic space, hinder their participation.”

You can read the report here in the six official languages of the United Nations:  http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/34/46

The Forum, which was called for in Human Rights Council resolution 28/14 and held 21-22 November 2016, brought together over 600 representatives from youth organizations, youth activists, human rights defenders, UN and government officials and offered an important platform for promoting dialogue and cooperation, identifying best practices, and analyzing challenges and opportunities for UN Member States and other duty-bearers in their efforts to secure respect for young people’s human rights, and promote their engagement in public decision-making processes. The report of the Co-Chairs contains a detailed overview of key contributions made by the vast array of speakers and panelists, as well as the discussions that followed, and captures the numerous concrete recommendations that emanated from the Forum’s deliberations.

Key recommendations in the report include the need to promote youth participation without discrimination through the design, implementation and evaluation of laws, policies, programmes or strategies affecting their rights. They also include suggestions to ensure an enabling environment by, for instance, promoting human rights and global citizenship education in school curriculae; and the special attention required to ensure gender sensitive approaches and a focus on most marginalized youth. The report also includes proposals for Member States to consider aligning minimum voting age and minimum age of eligibility to run for public office; and strengthening national and local institutions such as youth councils and other consultative mechanisms.

The report reflects the discussions that took place on the need for further analysis of the obstacles faced by young people in the exercise of their human rights and guidance as to how to ensure a rights-based approach to the development and implementation of national youth policies; as well as the better deployment of existing human rights monitoring mechanisms, including by mainstreaming youth rights in the work of those mechanisms and by strengthening the implementation of States’ human rights obligations at the national level.

With regards to suggestions for the UN-System and particularly the Human Rights Council itself, the report offers concrete recommendations on how to improve the participation of young people and the focus on their rights, such as in the context of the Universal Period Reviews; the establishment of youth consultative mechanisms in support of the Council’s work; and the engagement of youth in the role of experts to the Council, as well as part of Member States’ official delegations.

“There is a need to mainstream youth rights in the work of human rights mechanisms, including the Council” concluded H.E. Ambassador Mukashev, while in closing “encouraging  all stakeholders to make every effort to implement these recommendations and to commit to promote and protect the right of youth to participate in public decision-making.”

During the interactive debate following the presentation, numerous Regional and other Groups, Member States as well as several Civil Society Organizations, welcomed the report and expressed their appreciation for the work of the Forum, underscoring the critical importance of expanding and strengthening the space for young people’s engagement in public decision making processes and expressing their desire for seeing the recommendations that are reflected in the report come to fruition.

Speaking on behalf of the African Group, the representative of Tunisia said, “We welcome the fact that this first session provided a platform for youth to raise awareness of the challenges they face as well as to discuss ways to strengthen their participation in global, regional, national, and local governance processes.”

Continuing in her remarks, she commented, “Since they are critical thinkers, change makers, innovators, and communicators, young people play a leadership role in achieving sustainable development goals, ” and that, “the African Group firmly believes that youth have a crucial role in shaping the future.” 

Concluding her intervention, on behalf of the African Group, the representative said, “The African Group is encouraged by the outcome of this first session and we will also continue to follow the closely implementation of the recommendations contained  in the report.  To this respect, the group estimates that empowerment of youth, necessarily involves the promotion of international cooperation to ensure an adequate and effective response to the many challenges affecting them.”

Speaking on behalf of the core group on Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law, which consists of Morocco, Norway, Peru, the Republic of Korea, Romania, and Tunisia, the representative of Romania stated that, “The core group expresses its commitment to build on the outcome of the first session of the Forum and to this purpose to submit a new draft resolution aiming at expanding the discussion with the role of parliaments as the promoters of human rights, democracy and the rule of law.”

Noting that that, “Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law are linked and interdependent,” the representative of the Republic of Korea also emphasized the importance of youth political participation, by commenting that the, “Active participation of youth was important in advancing the Republic of Korea’s democracy.”

Also, highlighting the negative effects of discrimination on the lives and opportunities of young people, the representative of Benin called the UN Forum on Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law, an, “Important step…to highlight the importance of combating discrimination.

The representative from Tunisia, speaking in her national capacity, welcomed the report, stating, “We hope that it will continue to empower young people who must be heard, because they are the only safeguards to the challenges we face as an international community.”

You can read the report here in the six official languages of the United Nations:  http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/34/46

Learn about the campaign for young people’s right to run for office, led by the Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth: Not Too Young To Run http://www.nottooyoungtorun.org/

Links to previous stories:

First Human Rights Forum Focuses on Role of Youth in Public Decision-Making

Human Rights Council Appoints Alhendawi as Co-Chair of Forum on Human Rights, Democracy and Rule of Law

UN OHCHR website:

UN Human Rights Video “Youth and Democracy”