|
Appendix 4
United Nations World Programme of Action for Youth
"We, the peoples of the United Nations, believe that the following principles, aimed at ensuring the well being of young women and men and their full and active participation in the society in which they live, are fundamental to the implementation of the World Programme of Action for Youth:
- Every State should provide its young people with opportunities for obtaining education, for acquiring skills and for participating fully in all aspects of society, with a view to, inter alia, acquiring productive employment and leading self sufficient lives;
- Every State should guarantee to all young people the full enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and other international instruments related to human rights;
- Every State should take all necessary measures to eliminate all forms of discrimination against young women and girls and remove all obstacles to gender equality and the advancement and empowerment of women and should ensure full and equal access to education and employment for girls and young women;
- Every State should foster mutual respect, tolerance and understanding among young people with different racial, cultural and religious backgrounds;
- Every State should endeavour to ensure that its policies relating to young people are informed by accurate data on their situation and needs, and that the public has access to such data to enable it to participate in a meaningful fashion in the decision making process;
- Every State is encouraged to promote education and action aimed at fostering among youth a spirit of peace, cooperation and mutual respect and understanding between nations;
- Every State should meet the special needs of young people in the areas of responsible family planning practice, family life, sexual and reproductive health, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV infection and AIDS prevention, consistent with the Programme of Action adopted by the International Conference on Population and Development, the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action adopted by the World Summit for Social Development, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women;
- Environmental protection, promotion and enhancement are among the issues considered by young people to be of prime importance to the future welfare of society. States should therefore actively encourage young people, including youth organisations, to participate actively in programmes, including educational programmes, and actions designed to protect, promote and enhance the environment;
- Every State should take measures to develop the possibilities of education and employment of young people with disabilities;
- Every State should take measures to improve the fate of young people living in particularly difficult conditions, including by protecting their rights;
- Every State should promote the goal of full employment as a basic priority of its economic and social policies, giving special attention to youth employment. They should also take measures to eliminate the economic exploitation of child labour;
- Every State should provide young people with the health services necessary to ensure their physical and mental well being, including measures to combat disease such as malaria and HIV/AIDS, and to protect them from harmful drugs and the effects of addiction to drugs, tobacco and alcohol;
- Every State should place people at the centre of development and direct our economies to meet human needs more effectively and to ensure that young people are active participants and beneficiaries in the process of development.
|
