World Youth Report 2005 10-Year Review of the World Programme of Action for Youth

1
World Youth Report 200510-Year Review of the
World Programme of Action for Youth
2
This presentation

1. Introduction and concepts
2. Highlights of the World Youth Report 2005
   (E/2005/7)
3. Recommendations of the report
4. Next steps

3
1. Introduction and concepts
4
What is youth?

• A statistical definition 15-24 years
• A period of transition from protection in
  childhood to self-determination in adulthood
• Why does the concept change?
• Changes in historical age
• Changes in social age

5
How do youth fit in globally?
Children (lt15) 1.8 billion 30
Youth (15-24) 1.1 billion 18
Adults (25-64) 2.8 billion 46
Elderly (65gt) 0.4 billion 7

Total 6.1 billion 100
6
Over 1 billion youth 85 per cent in the South
Asia and the Pacific 659 million
Africa 161 million
Latin America and the Caribbean 101 million

North America 42 million
Europe 100 million
7
2. Main highlights of the Report
8
Ten priorities of the United Nations for youth

1. Education
2. Employment
3. Hunger and poverty
4. Health issues
5. The environment

1. Drug abuse
2. Delinquency
3. Leisure
4. Girls and young women
5. Participation in decision-making

9
Three clusters

• Youth in the global economy
• Poverty, education, employment
• Youth in civil society
• Environment, leisure, participation
• Youth at risk
• Health, drugs, delinquency, girls and young women

10
Youth in the Global Economy

• Hunger and Poverty
• Education
• Employment

11
Hunger and Poverty
12
Hunger and Poverty

• How many young people live in poverty?
• Undernourished up to 160 million
• On lt1 per day 206 million
• On lt2 per day 515 million
• World Youth Report 2005, Table 1, page 5

13
Coping with poverty

• Labour forced entrepreneurship and
  self-employment in the informal sector
• Migration of young workers
• Domestic rural-urban migration(50-50 point
  rural/urban population was reached in 2002)
• International migration(175 million migrants in
  2002)

14
Education
15
Education The Good News

• The best-educated generation ever
• Since 1995, more children than ever complete
  primary school
• Four out of five eligible youth are in secondary
  education
• Some 100 million youth currently in tertiary
  education

16
Education The Bad News

• Large differences globally
• 130 million children currently not in school
• 133 million youth are illiterate
• Large gender differences
• Large differences between groups of countries

17
Employment
18
Employment

• 88 million young people were out of work in 2004
  (up from 58 million in 1995)
• Youth unemployment has a lasting impact on a
  young life
• Youth are almost half of the worlds unemployed
• Globalization forces young people to become
  increasingly competitive internationally

19
Youth unemployment

• The international response
• An increased notion of a demographic bulge with
  dangers for stability and security
• World Summit for Social Development
• MDG 8 Partnership for Youth Employment (YEN)

20
Youth in Civil Society

• Youth and the environment
• Leisure-time activities
• Participation in decision-making

21
Youth and the environment
22
Youth and the environment

• Youth have a special concern for the environment
• Youth have a special responsibility for the
  environment
• Messages in the media and the education system
  are most crucial to activate young peoples
  involvement
• But participation in decision-making is essential.

23
Leisure
24
Leisure-time activities

• Leisure discretionary hours not in school and
  not in paid work
• Is beneficial for the young persons development
  and promotes social integration and cohesion of
  society

25
Participation in decision-making
26
Participation in decision-making

• Youth participation, through dialogue and
  consultation, promotes social integration and
  cohesion in society
• New forms of participatory structures among youth
  in the past ten years away from membership-based
  organizations towards looser, network-based
  structures
• Yet, still very active student movements that
  bring about social change

27
Youth at Risk

• Health
• Drug abuse
• Juvenile delinquency
• Girls and young women

28
Young people and health
29
Young people and health

• Some health risks of young people
• Reproductive health risks
• Unsafe sex, contraception, teenage pregnancy
• Behavioral risks 1 million deaths worldwide
• Accidents
• Violence
• Alcohol, tobacco, and drugs
• Risk of poverty-related disease
• Pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria, measles, HIV/AIDS

30
Drug abuse
31
Drug abuse

• Most alcohol, tobacco and illicit drug use starts
  during adolescence
• Supply side slow progress on restrictions (curbs
  on advertising and marketing), yet more choice of
  drugs
• Demand Globalization of demand for drugs among
  young people (more high rates in ever-more
  countries)

32
Typical lifetime drug use rates, youth age
15-16, OECD countries

• _____________________________
• Alcohol 68 to 98 per cent
• Tobacco 47 to 86 per cent
• _____________________________
• Cannabis 35 to 43 per cent
• Inhalants up to 22 per cent
• Ecstasy 4 to 5 per cent
• _____________________________
• Conclusion Many young people have been in
  contact with drugs

Source World Youth Report 2003, Chapter 6 table 3
33
Juvenile Delinquency
34
Young people are more likely to commit an offense
than any other group
Source U.S. Census estimates, 1999 Uniform Crime
Report
35
Juvenile Delinquency

• Most young people will eventually desist from
  criminal or deviant behavior
• Some delinquency takes place in youth subcultures
  (gangs)
• Policy option Deter and incapacitate or
  engage and rehabilitate

36
Girls and young women
37
Girls and young women

• Gender-based stereotyping, including
  discrimination
• Unequal treatment in the worlds of education and
  work

• Access to reproductive health services to prevent
  STDs and pregnancy
• Violence against women female infanticide,
  genital mutilation sexual abuse and exploitation

38
Five New Youth Issues since 1995

• World Youth Report 2003, and noted in GA
  resolution 58/133
• Globalization (youth in a global economy)
• ICT (youth in civil society)
• HIV/AIDS (youth at risk)
• Youth and conflict prevention (youth at risk)
• Intergenerational relations (youth in civil
  society)

39
Youth and Globalization
40
Youth and Globalization

• Economic globalization two views
• Benefits young people they are quick adapters
• Hurts young people they are being exploited
• Social aspects of globalization
• young people come closer together local issues
  become global issues vice versa glocalization
• it has created a more uniform youth culture -gt
  see next topic.

41
Information and communication technology
42
Information and communication technology

• Traditional forms of socialization of young
  people are being challenged
• New technology brings a uniform culture of
• Information
• Pleasure
• Autonomy
• ?A new global youth culture, increasingly
  media-driven

43
HIV/AIDS
44
HIV/AIDS

• Almost 12 million young men and women live with
  HIV/AIDS
• 5,000 to 6,000 young people get infected every
  day 2 million new cases in 2004
• Gender imbalance in infection rates
• gt95 percent of all infections among young people
  through unsafe sex,
• In some regions young IDUs and MSM

45
Young people and conflict
46
Young people and conflict

• Young people are offenders and victims - they
  kill and are being killed, more than any other
  group.
• 111 armed conflicts over the last decade
• 2 million deaths and 5 million wounded
• 300,000 child soldiers have been fighting in some
  49 countries

47
Intergenerational issues
48
Youth in an ageing world
49
Intergenerational issues

• An ageing society 4 times as many old people in
  2050
• Increasing dependency ratios
• Multi-generational societies
• Who gets to decide on how to share the resources?

50
3. Recommendations of the Report
51
Twelve main findings of the report

• Need for new commitment to youth
• Urbanization, globalization, ICT and media lead
  to convergence of youth cultures
• Youth policy is driven by negative stereotypes
• Start with children
• Scale up investment in youth
• Youth can be partners in reaching the MDGs
• gt

52
Twelve main findings of the report

1. Need for integrated youth policies
2. Indicators allow for better measurement of
   progress
3. Increased coordination within the UN system
4. GA may endorse the 5 new issues
5. Youth delegates should participate in the GA
6. Governments should continuously review their
   youth policy

53
4. Next steps Plenary meetings of the 60th
General Assembly
54
Preparations for the GA sessions on youth

• Consultations with youth organizations
• Consultative meetings held with youth
  organizations in Coimbra, Portugal, 31/1
  3/2/05, and in New York, 14-17/2/05
• Interagency collaboration in support for the
  review and the youth face of the MDGs
• National reviews by youth organizations
  Toolkit
• These consultations will be reflected in an SG
  Report to be submitted in addition to the World
  Youth Report 2005

55
National youth policy evaluations

• Making Commitments Matter
• A Toolkit to Evaluate
• National Youth Policy
• Hard copies available in
• English, French, Spanish
• Available for download at www.un.org/youth
• Also available on CD-ROM

56
Review World Programme of Action for Youth, 2005

• The General Assemblys WPAY10 review could
• Recommit Member States to youth
• Raise awareness of global youth concerns
• Celebrate the positive role of youth in society
  and their contribution to achieving the MDGs
• Build new partnerships with youth for development
• Provide new mandates for interagency work and
  indicators on youth development
• Agreed outcome could encompass this vision for
  the future.

57
Thank you!

• www.un.org/youth
• youth_at_un.org