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| CSD-11: Youth Participation as an Indicator of Sustainable Development |
 PRINTABLE VERSION |
The United Nations estimated that in 2000 there were 1.1 billion young people between the ages of 15 and 24, representing an unprecedented 18 percent of the global population. If, then, almost 20 percent of the Earth’s population is eager and willing to join global, national and local problem-solving efforts, shouldn’t our governments pay attention and take advantage of this pool of human resources? If the governments of the world are to address sustainable development issues, they must integrate youth into the decision-making processes and implementation schemes. This is in the interest of all governments, for they do not have the capacity to solve all problems; they should allow and exploit youth input. We are here, after all, to help solve the world's problems.
Integrating the power of youth--a strong, significant group within the decision-making process will improve planning and sustainable development implementation. Youth participation at a national level is therefore an indicator of sustainable development; it reflects the ability of governments to capitalize on the skills and ideas of a valuable yet often marginalized group.
Youth participation is a right and enabling effective youth participation is an obligation to which most governments of the world have already committed themselves. However, the link between youth participation and their impact on decisions has been unsatisfactory so far. The Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) should therefore provide guidelines and mechanisms for the accountability and credibility of youth participation at all levels, as well as monitoring mechanisms through which to review and evaluate the extent to which youth concerns have been integrated into national decision-making.
Youth groups should continue to use self-organized mechanisms to identify their representatives. We believe that it is at the national and local levels that young people must have a primary right to participate. Beyond youth-specific issues, young people have innovative ideas, new perspectives and dynamism to bring to the resolution of broader issues.
We do not believe that there is one effective form of youth participation. Globally, both young people and their communities are heterogeneous. Within a social justice and human rights framework, we nonetheless hold that there are certain universal principles that youth participation and representation should follow. Following these principles we seek to identify and analyze one specific mode of youth participation, the formation of National or Local Youth Councils (NYC). The success of NYC is not ensured by following a particular model but adopting a model that reflects the wishes and aspirations of young people within a particular country or community.
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Jan Kozak
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Comments
| Jun 18th, 2006
Thank you for this entry - I had no idea how much youth is in the world, but it sure gives me some reassurance of what I belive in. :)
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