Human Rights Council

The Human Rights Council during its midday meeting held a panel discussion on youth and human rights in order to identify challenges, best practices and lessons learned in the exercise of human rights by young people, as well as relevant opportunities for the empowerment of youth in the exercise of their rights.

In her opening statement, Kate Gilmore, United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, noted that today’s demographic realities and the pace of global change combined to make of young people the most important generation of our time.  There were 1.8 billion young people worldwide, the most the world had ever seen, which meant that there was no sustainable development without them and no sustained development if not for them. 

Speaking in a video message, Ahmad Alhendawi, Envoy of the Secretary-General on Youth, emphasized that the adoption of the resolution on youth and human rights provided an opportunity to bring youth issues to the Human Rights Council in a systematic and meaningful way.  Together the international community could widen the democratic space by strengthening youth participation and promoting their rights. 

Anna Korka, Permanent Representative of Greece to the United Nations Office at Geneva and Panel Moderator, said that the objective of the panel discussion was to identify challenges and best practices in the exercise of human rights for young people.  Today’s youth made up the largest young generation the world had ever known.  Young people should not, and could not, be left behind. 

Virginia Bras Gomes, Member of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, stressed that the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights had strong cross-cutting anti-discrimination provisions and contained explicit and implicit provisions for young people.  The implicit Covenant provisions dealt with technical and vocational training, and social services to support families.  The panel ought to identify challenges to the exercise of human rights by young people. 

Johanna Nyman, President of the European Youth Forum, urged the Council to call for the preparation of a report that would map the obstacles that young people faced in accessing their rights, and to develop guidelines directing States in implementing a rights-based approach to youth policies.  She also suggested the establishment of a Special Procedure on the human rights of young people.   

Simon-Pierre Escudero, Representative of the Asociación de Tierra de Jóvenes from El Salvador, said that adolescents living and working in the streets in El Salvador could be taken advantage of by adults due to their ignorance and their inability to defend themselves.  There was a lack of coordination among institutions in helping youth; efforts were often insufficient or duplicated.  Access of young people to services needed to be facilitated and improved. 

Maria D'Onofrio, Representative of VIDES International, stated that young people were frequently seen as the cause of tensions, even on the global scale.  But the impulse to change the status quo was the truest meaning of being young.  To ensure that youth rights issues remained on the agenda of the Human Rights Council, a report should be requested by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights or the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee.

Yvonne Matuturu, Head of the Social and Human Sciences Section at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Multisectoral Regional Office for Central Africa in Cameroon, said that in Africa young people made up to 50 per cent of the population.  The challenges facing young people were multifarious and unemployment was a destabilizing factor.  It was time to step up investment in policies and programmes so that young people could be positive innovators.  There should be studies with disaggregated data on the challenges facing young people. 

In the ensuing discussion, speakers noted that today’s generation of young people was the largest in history, and brought attention to the common challenges that affected youth worldwide, including the disproportionately high rates of youth unemployment, insufficient vocational education and on-the-job training, and the importance of the involvement of youth in the realization of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.  It was noted that, in many countries, youth were much more exposed to poverty than other groups. 

Speaking were: Australia on behalf of a group of countries, Dominican Republic on behalf of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean Countries, Philippines on behalf of the Association of South Asian Nations, European Union, Canada on behalf of l’Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, Brazil on behalf of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, Sudan on behalf of the Arab Group, Portugal, Georgia, Brazil, El Salvador, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria, Italy, Namibia, Greece, Bangladesh, United States, Israel, Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Council of Europe, Romania, Egypt, Republic of Korea, Pakistan, Libya, Indonesia, Spain, and Maldives.

Also taking the floor were the following civil society organizations: Australian Human Rights Commission, World Young Women’s Christian Association, CIVICUS – World Alliance for Citizen Participation, Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, Action Canada for Population and Development, Save the Children International, and Rencontre Africaine pour la Defense des Droits de l’Homme.   

The Council will next consider the outcomes of the Universal Periodic Review of Antigua and Barbuda, Swaziland, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Opening Statements

KATE GILMORE, United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in her opening statement that today’s demographic realities, and the pace of global change, for better and for worse, combined to make of young people the generation of our time.  Today, there were 1.8 billion young people worldwide, the most the world had ever seen, and this meant that there was no sustainable development without them and no sustained development if not for them.  Today, young people were three times more likely to be unemployed and when they did find work, they laboured in far more precarious conditions than adults, in absence of equal pay for equal work.  Some 27 million young people were migrants: far from their homes, travelling sometimes unaccompanied, often precariously, in flight from a life they believed they could not sustain. 

Young people under 30 constituted 43 per cent of all homicide victims.  Sexual violence disproportionately affected young girls and women, and complications in pregnancy and childbirth were the second leading killers of adolescent girls in developing countries, despite being largely preventable.  On the global scale, this meant that relative poverty and lack of opportunity was young, young, young.  The median age of Niger was 15; South Sudan 17; of Yemen and Nigeria, 18.  The demography of relative privilege was so much older and ageing – the median age of Denmark was 41, Austria 44, and Germany 46.  The world cried for better and more inclusive engagement with the largest generation of potential – for energy, creativity, passion and talent – to which the world had ever had access, and yet, around the world, only 1.65 per cent of parliamentarians were in their 20s.  In fact, the average age of parliamentarians globally was 53.  This most interconnected, most educated, healthiest generation was also the generation at gravest risk of being left far, far behind.  As the economic and social histories of countries that leaped-frogged the development curve post World War Two proved, investing in young people and reaping demographic dividend of young populations was of benefit to all. 

The needs of the world’s adolescents and young people were significant: for schooling and higher education, life skills and vocation training, meaningful employment, safe homes, protection from violence, exploitation and exclusion, and for evolving personal autonomy in decision-making about their own sexual and reproductive health.  Underpinning those needs and central to the assignment of responsibility for the meeting of their needs and their rights:  violations of their rights were the gravest threats to young peoples’ and adolescents’ wellbeing; denial of their rights further exacerbated vulnerability and entrenched inequality; and violation and denial of their rights derailed other rights.  States must institutionalize robust civic registration, including of births, marriages and causes of death as those were the building blocks of legal personhood; remove laws and tackle cultural norms that impeded access of young people to information, services and contraceptive commodities; end child marriage in law and in practice; give boys and girls unfettered access to comprehensive sexuality education; keep adolescents in school or keep them in education; and build opportunities for them to keep learning and to bridge them back into learning.  A child’s safe passage from birth to adulthood was not the child’s responsibility, it was ours.  Sharing economic, social and political space, assets and opportunities with this generation was essential, as was building stable platforms for ongoing intergenerational dialogue, which must be made an urgent priority.

AHMAD ALHENDAWI, Envoy of the Secretary-General on Youth, in a video message, noted that the adoption of the resolution on youth and human rights provided an opportunity to bring youth issues to the Human Rights Council in a systematic and meaningful way.  While today’s generation of youth was the largest the world had ever known, significant gaps remained in human rights protection for youth, including access to political rights, the right to seek health services, and the right to education.  Lack of participation and opportunity isolated peoples and communities.  The Security Council had adopted resolution 2250 to recognize the positive role of young people in peacebuilding and prevent violent extremism.  The outcome of the Financing for Development Conference had called for special financing for youth development for the first time in its history, and the United Nations Economic and Social Council had been holding a youth forum since 2012.  The Sustainable Development Goals had included the voices and the global youth calls; the Sustainable Development Goals included 17 goals featuring the question of youth development at large.

Additional developments included the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, and the Compact for Young People and Humanitarian Action that had been launched at the summit.  Young people were also involved in the lead-up to and during the United Nations conference on climate change in Paris and the World Conference for Disaster Risk Reductions in Sendai in 2015.  The global youth movement had made great efforts in the past few years to ensure that youth issues were taken seriously on all fronts and that youth issues were plugged into all those processes.  There were two opportunities in 2016.  The first one was the current panel discussion on the question of youth rights, and the second one in November 2016 when the Human Rights Council would for the first time convene a Forum on Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law.  Together the international community could widen the democratic space by strengthening youth participation and promoting their rights.  It was far past time to set procedure and instruments that would ensure the systematic inclusion and review of the question of youth rights in the work of the Council.  

Statements by the Moderator and Panellists

ANNA KORKA, Permanent Representative of Greece to the United Nations Office at Geneva and Panel Moderator, said that the objective of the panel discussion was to identify challenges and best practices in the exercise of human rights for young people.  Today’s youth made up the largest young generation the world had ever known.  Young people should not, and could not, be left behind.  The ability of youth to exercise active citizenship and making them feel an integral part of society were of utmost importance.  More fora ought to organize events at both national and international levels to that end.  The empowerment of youth was an undeniable obligation of everyone in the Human Rights Council.

VIRGINIA BRAS GOMES, Member of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, stressed that the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights had strong cross-cutting anti-discrimination provisions and contained explicit and implicit provisions for young people.  There were measures to protect children and young people from economic and social exploitation.  The implicit Covenant provisions dealt with technical and vocational training, and social services to support families, inter alia.  The panel ought to identify challenges to the exercise of human rights by young people.  States ought to enact legislation to combat all forms of discrimination, adopt and implement long-term policies with effective monitoring and evaluation mechanisms, as well as provide goods and services that were accessible, affordable and of high quality.  Ms. Bras Gomes stated that the implementation, monitoring and information gaps underpinned the lack of fulfillment of rights for young people.  In their efforts to connect and work with young people, States should be guided by their potential to champion not only their own rights, but also of disadvantaged and marginalized groups.  

JOHANNA NYMAN, President of the European Youth Forum, welcomed the initiative taken by the Human Rights Council and expressed hope that the Youth Forum would be able to work with the Council in changing the realities for young people in the world.  She reminded that more than 500 million young people aged between 15 and 24 lived on less than two USD per day.  If that had been a country, it would have been the third largest in the world.  Some 126 million young people were illiterate, whereas according to the International Labour Organization’s estimates for 2016, more than 40 per cent of the world’s active youth population was expected to be either unemployed or living in poverty despite being employed.  Youth affected by migration were particularly vulnerable to human rights violations, especially upon reaching the age of majority.  In their daily lives young people encountered multiple discrimination based on gender, disability, ethnic origin, religious beliefs, sexual orientation and gender identity.  They were often shut out of politics at best, and at worst criminalized for speaking out.  Political will had evidently been lacking; youth were left behind.  It was time to act for youth, recognizing that they were clearly deprived of their human rights.  

Ms. Nyman shared several points of action.  First, a full picture of the realities young people faced was required.  She urged the Council to call for the preparation of a report that would map the obstacles that young people faced in accessing their rights.  Secondly, she suggested the establishment of a Special Procedure on the human rights of young people, such as an Independent Expert or Special Rapporteur.  Thirdly, the Council should call for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, in cooperation with youth-focused United Nations stakeholders, to develop guidelines directing States in implementing a rights-based approach to youth policies.  Fourthly, she called on the Council to invite all treaty bodies to develop a joint general comment or joint statement on youth, thus underlining the indivisibility of all human rights for young people.  Finally, youth rights had to be mainstreamed in existing human rights mechanisms, such as addressing them through the Universal Periodic Review by involving youth organizations in national consultations. 

SIMON-PIERRE ESCUDERO, Representative of the Association Tierra de Jovenes in El Salvador, said that overnight an adolescent living and working in the streets in El Salvador would turn 18 and as an adult lose the right to certain social protections.  A large number of adolescents living in the streets had been taken to institutions, but, when they were released at the age of 18, they were recruited by notorious Central American gangs.  Adults tried to take advantage of them, their ignorance and their inability to defend themselves.  Many such youth remained in the informal employment sector.  Young people wanted justice, but many were marginalized and did not have an opportunity to seek justice.  What was needed was a fairer, more dignified society, in which everyone was respected.  There was a lack of coordination among institutions on helping youth; efforts were often insufficient or duplicated.  Access of young people to services needed to be facilitated and improved.  Being 25 years old himself, Mr. Escudero shared his story of empowerment through volunteering.  Governments ought to understand that young people asking for their human rights were not the enemy; quite the contrary, they were positive actors, and they would not rebel if their rights were guaranteed. 

MARIA D’ONOFRIO, Representative of VIDES International, shared some key points from the work of VIDES International, which aimed to promote active citizenship among youth, and to enable them to become promoters of development, democracy and peace in 42 countries.  While efforts continued to ensure the human rights of many vulnerable groups, youth were often left aside in human rights-based policies and interventions.  Even worse, they were perceived as the emblem of problems both at the local and at global level.  “Youth” often meant “trouble” in the family, in school, in society and in the international context.  Young people were frequently seen as the cause of tensions, even on the global scale.  On the other hand, the impulse to change the status quo was the truest meaning of being young.  The difficulties experienced by youth in the enjoyment of their human rights not only affected youth but also had a strong detrimental impact on society at large.  In that respect, access to quality education was a major challenge since lack of education affected not only labour, but also the exercise of citizenship by the young population and in the long term, durable peace and reconciliation.  Youth participation was also a matter of priority.  It was important to look at youth as citizens to be valued and taken into account, especially in decisions affecting them and future generations.  

Ms. D’Onofrio proposed the following actions to be recommended at the international level: mainstreaming youth rights through existing United Nations mechanisms, such as the Universal Periodic Review and the treaty bodies; issuing a joint general comment  or statement by treaty bodies on the application of relevant United Nations treaties to the particular situation of youth; establishing a Special Procedure mandate on youth to monitor and assess their enjoyment of human rights; and ensuring that youth rights issues remained on the agenda of the Human Rights Council by requesting a report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights or the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee. 

YVONNE MATUTURU, Head of the Social and Human Sciences Section at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Multisectoral Regional Office for Central Africa in Cameroon, said that she would focus her remarks on Africa.  Young people could be up to 50 per cent of the population in Africa.  The expanding youth population brought challenges in education, training and employment.  The young population of Africa was the continent’s greatest asset.  Under international instruments on human rights, it was known that the enjoyment of human rights was an inalienable right and young people had to be allowed to enjoy them fully.  Yet in many African countries, that remained “a pious hope.” 

The challenges facing young people were multifarious; unemployment was a destabilizing factor.  Gender violence was a violation of human rights.  The spread of terrorism led to a rise in the risk of radicalisation in terms of religious and ideological terms.  The youth of Africa also faced climate change and ethnic and religious conflict.  Many countries were undergoing poorly managed democratic transitions.  Young people were killed and tortured by their own governments in post-election periods.  UNESCO considered young people as the holders of both responsibilities and rights.  It was time to step up investments in policies and programmes so that young people could be positive innovators.  There should be studies with disaggregated data on the challenges facing young people.  

Discussion

Australia, speaking on behalf of a group of countries, believed that young people had to be enabled to contribute to addressing major global challenges.  While many youth had experiences in common, their diversity should also be celebrated.  Dominican Republic, speaking on behalf of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, said that the panel discussion provided an opportunity to identify mechanisms to expand the respect of human rights for all young men and women.  Businesses should be more involved, given the importance of first job experiences and on-the-job training.  Philippines, speaking on behalf of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), stated that the ASEAN region had a young population with more than 50 per cent of its people under the age of 35.  The ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community 2025 was envisioned to move towards a more inclusive community, which entailed the promotion and protection of the human rights of youth.

European Union informed that the European Union Youth Strategy 2010-2018 aimed to create more and equal opportunities for all young people in education and the labour market.  The European Union supported young people’s employability and social inclusion, especially under its agenda for jobs, growth and investment.  How could the Council contribute to youth empowerment in the context of the 2030 Agenda?  Canada, speaking on behalf of l’Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, noted that the planet had never had such a large number of young people between 10 and 24 years of age.  Creating decent quality work was one of the challenges shared by all States.  The commitment of the French-speaking countries to the issue of youth was continuous.  Brazil, speaking on behalf of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, said that the Community of Portuguese Language Countries Youth Charter contained principles on which to build policies adapted to young people’s priorities.  Youth were a strategic segment for sustainable development.  Unemployment disproportionately affected youth, which was why training and apprenticeships were important.  

Sudan, speaking on behalf of the Arab Group, said that primary responsibility lay with States to provide an enabling environment for youth, while noting that Arab States had integrated relevant principles in their development plans, and that human rights education and training was important for youth.  Portugal said that for several decades, youth had been an essential part of Portugal’s work on human rights, especially in the General Assembly.  Portugal took seriously the challenges that youth saw in the realization of their human rights.  Georgia said that special attention should be paid to youth with disabilities and in vulnerable situations, especially in rural areas, adding that human rights education and training was important for allowing youth to enjoy human rights and fundamental freedoms. 

Brazil said that unemployment and social exclusion affected youth all around the world, adding that youth policies were necessary to advance the Sustainable Development Goals, asking the panellists if an international binding instrument on youth could contribute positively.  El Salvador said that everyone knew that young people faced a number of challenges, and noted that El Salvador was implementing policies aimed at aiding them; young people should be partners in development and should have an impact on society to promote positive change.  Bosnia and Herzegovina said that when looking at youth around the world, it appeared that the future was in trouble; youth had been particularly affected by the global economic crisis. 

Australian Human Rights Commission stated that it was imperative that all States integrated children into all aspects of policies and programmes.  The annual statutory report was made to the Parliament of Australia by the Children’s Rights Commissioner.  Recent revelations about abuses of children’s rights in detention stressed the urgent need for Australia to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture.  World Young Women’s Christian Association said that young people had little guidance or knowledge on how to follow human rights bodies and promote human rights in their countries.  Member States and the Secretariat were called upon to create more youth-friendly ways and platforms in order to engage the young.  Every high-level panel should include a minimum of one young person.  CIVICUS, speaking in a joint statement, noted that in more than 100 countries, freedom of expression and assembly was under threat.  On the other hand, a number of countries had taken measures to facilitate the participation of youth in public life.  Young people had to play an essential part in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

Remarks by the Panellists

VIRGINIA BRAS GOMES, Member of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, said there ought to be more guidance to States on youth policies, such as on work-related rights focused on youth.  Another aspect was in capacity-building and awareness-raising activities, where efforts could be targeted on the civil, political, social and cultural rights of youth.

JOHANNA NYMAN, President of the European Youth Forum, said that young people should be involved in implementation and should participate in decision-making.  Education was key, but so was making young people feel they had the possibility to participate.  It was crucial to take down formal barriers to participation, which were sometimes stipulated legally, such as when young people could vote or run in elections.  Questions that were on the agenda should be relevant to youth, and the economic and social rights of youth should be addressed at all levels.  That would be key to youth participation.  Europe was facing huge levels of youth unemployment.  There should be coherence between what was heard in decision-making fora and the reality youth faced. 

SIMON-PIERRE ESCUDERO, Representative of the Asociación de Tierra de Jóvenes, El Salvador, said that there was a lack of trust in the political system and in politicians.  It was unfortunate that young people grew tired of the system as they could not see any way of making their voices heard.  More needed to be done to get young people to participate.  With regard to the panel, he called for more young people to be present at meetings such as the current meeting.  Human rights education and training for young people was very important, but if there was no trust it would not be possible to educate young people.

MARIA D’ONOFRIO, Representative of VIDES International, said that it was important to look at the issue from two points, from ensuring implementation of youth rights and ensuring that youth were treated in a human rights based approach, but also that youth adopted the human rights based approach in their own actions.  In terms of the question raised by the European Union on participation, she said it should not just be formal, but transformative.  Youth-led organizations could help States reach out to youth.  Participation should be truly inclusive. 

YVONNE MATUTURU, Head of the Social and Human Sciences Section at the UNESCO Multisectoral Regional Office for Central Africa in Cameroon, stressed the importance of developing a human rights culture through the quality of education focused on young people in and outside of school.  It should focus on education for citizenship as a way to avoid radicalization.  The second issue was the loss of trust of young people in leaders, and there was a good reason for it, as many African States were not well run, and the continent needed to address the issues of armed conflict and rule of law.  Another reason for the loss of hope was the lack of employment.  The youth had to be empowered for participation and leadership.

Discussion

Austria remarked that lack of employment and working poverty had a detrimental impact on youth and society at large, and that this situation was further exacerbated by the lasting impact of the economic and financial crisis; the employment of youth was the key challenge to address.  What role could the Human Rights Council play in empowering youth?  Italy asked what Member States could do to advance youth participation.  Namibia said that it was crucial to create new spaces for youth who were excellent agents of change – good and bad – in societies.  The most effective tool for peace and development was empowering youth.  Around 50 per cent of youth in Greece were unemployed, and the rate was even higher for women.  Greece said that this must be countered with opportunities for education, employment and political participation.  

Bangladesh agreed that if empowered, young people could be agents of positive change, and employment opportunities at the national level must be complemented with opportunities abroad, and safe and orderly migration could become a positive phenomenon for both countries of origin and destination.  United States said that its youth were actively engaged with government officials to discuss both challenges and ideas for change and asked how governments could ensure that they were responsive to young persons who felt deprived of their rights.  Israel stressed the importance of laws and administrative procedures that demanded that the child’s opinion be heard prior to making a decision that concerned her or him.  Organization of Islamic Cooperation called upon all States and stakeholders to take the necessary measures to involve young people in activities which promoted their economic, social and cultural development and to ensure active respect for the rights of the youth.

Council of Europe said that young people had an important role to play, both as holders of rights and as active citizens, adding that the Council of Europe had a campaign for young people’s activism for human rights named the No Hate Speech Movement.  Romania said it was high time to address the challenges that millions of young people faced, asking the panellists about their expectations regarding the future outcome of the Forum, and what might provide added value to the work of the Human Rights Council. Egypt said that addressing the realization of the human rights of young people could influence social and economic conditions and the well-being and livelihood of future generations, adding that the Egyptian Government had been implementing a comprehensive strategy to combat short- and long-term unemployment.  Republic of Korea said that although there was no youth-specific Sustainable Development Goal in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the role of youth mattered across all aspects of the Agenda.  The panellists were asked how the linkage could be strengthened between the promotion of young people’s human rights and the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals. 

Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation said there existed a bottleneck for Russia which was the lack of a comprehensive system of human rights education and training.  The human rights course was carried out only in certain areas due to enthusiastic teachers and grants.  A group of higher education institutions and the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights had developed a Master programme on human rights.  There was also public television programing on human rights, as well as a summer camp which taught young people about working in the human rights field.

Action Canada for Population and Development, said young people faced multiple barriers to their rights, including the absence of comprehensive sexual and reproductive education and services.  Save the Children International, in a joint statement with Child Helpline International; Consortium for Street Children, The; Defence for Children International; Edmund Rice International Limited; Franciscans International; and International Federation of Social Workers, noted that involving children in public decision-making processes played an important role in ensuring the realization of their rights.  It was not acceptable that their voices were often marginalized and civil society space was shrinking.   

Pakistan stated that nearly 60 per cent of its population was under the age of 30.   The Government was making concerted efforts through a wide range of policy measures for the advancement of youth.  Ensuring the right to education was an important part of those efforts.   Libya said that tackling unemployment among youth, and providing them with technical and vocational training, were one of the major priorities for Libya.  However, Libya needed international support to prevent extremism and intolerance among youth as the country was going through a difficult transition period. 

Indonesia said that youth had a significant role to play in the promotion of peace, sustainable development and human rights, and that their growing participation in decision-making should be further encouraged.  Spain had a new policy which underlined the role of victims of terrorism and asked about the best context in which to disseminate the experience of victims in an effort to fight violent extremism through human rights education and training.  Maldives said that more than 47 per cent of its population comprised of youth; efforts were being made to analyse their needs and cater to them in order to harness their energy, vitality, and vision, including the establishment of the Youth City, which would also look into the issue of youth employment.

Rencontre Africaine pour la défense des droits de l’homme stressed that an investment in young people was an investment in peace and security and encouraged the strengthening of youth organizations and their participation in the Council to overcome platitude and fatalism.


Concluding Remarks

ANNA KORKA, Permanent Representative of Greece to the United Nations Office at Geneva and panel moderator, asked the panellists to summarise the discussion and share their thoughts on some aspects.

YVONNE MATUTURU, Head of the Social and Human Sciences Section at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Multisectoral Regional Office for Central Africa in Cameroon, said that a lot of issues raised in the discussion today were connected to bad governance and the impossibility of political transitions in Africa.  Young people were demanding change and would not put up with this situation any longer; there must be rule of law.  The poor, unemployed youth, without prospects, were instrumentalized, and they were also victims.  With good governance and democracy, there could be hope.

MARIA D’ONOFRIO, Representative of VIDES International, in response to the question on the role of the Human Rights Council for youth empowerment, said that there was a need for more substantial information on the role of youth and for young people to have more information about legal aspects.  Regarding how to advance the mainstreaming of youth rights and how governments could be responsive to young people deprived of their rights, she said that efforts by Member States to systematically consult young people would help to ensure effective mainstreaming for youth rights.

SIMON-PIERRE ESCUDERO, Representative of the Asociación de Tierra de Jóvenes, El Salvador, said that he wanted to answer the question about school bullying.  In Colombia, there was a school that worked like a city, they elected a mayor who had a cabinet, and since each young person had a role in the school, violence was reduced.  If it did occur, young people acted as mediators and resolved the dispute.  In France, that practice was being adapted to a French context.  It was very important to involve children in resolving conflicts in schools.  In response to a question on youth participation, he said that young people should be taught about human rights in an appropriate fashion for their age groups.  Regarding teaching youth living on the streets, he said that his non-governmental organization did not sit inside its offices waiting for youth to come to it, but sought them out where they were.

JOHANNA NYMAN, President of the European Youth Forum, in concluding remarks, welcomed that the Forum on Human Rights, Democracy and Rule of Law would be focusing on youth rights and encouraged States to include youth organizations in their delegations, and also to ensure direct participation of youth organizations in the Forum.  The panel discussion today had been interesting and it was important for Member States to take action and take the issues forward, including to produce a report on obstacles of youth people in accessing their rights.  They should ensure that guidelines were available to States on a human rights-based approach to youth policies, and that the voice of youth and their organizations was heard in the Universal Periodic Review.  Another measure could be a joint statement by human rights treaty bodies on youth issues and youth rights.  The panel was not enough, it was but a beginning.

VIRGINIA BRAS GOMES, Member of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, in her concluding remarks, thanked all Member States who had shared examples of policies and measures taken nationally, and reminded all that those measures must be in line with international human rights standards and have a clear responsibility of duty bearers.  It was important to ensure that the youth were listened to; otherwise, their participation would be just a token participation.  It was up to the States to decide on a new human rights treaty body, but the real issue was the implementation of treaties and their monitoring, and there was a lot to do to strengthen the efforts, and ensure the coordination of the efforts undertaken.

ANNA KORKA, Permanent Representative of Greece to the United Nations Office at Geneva and panel moderator, in her closing remarks, said that the discussion had been a great opportunity to reflect on the challenges that youth faced, which were multifaceted and required a coordinated response by States and other stakeholders.  In some parts of the world, the younger generation faced many challenges, including to the right to life, protection, education, sexual orientation, in addition to lack of employment and education.  The promotion and protection of the rights of the youth must be a priority for the international community and States, that must pay greater attention to issues facing youth, and work with them to define the measures to address the challenges.  Laws were in place, but more effort was needed in their implementation and monitoring.  The Human Rights Council should decide how to take forward the conclusions of the panel.
For use of the information media; not an official record

HRC16/141E