Youth panel will advise UN on bridging gap between their cultures and traditional ways
With gaps growing between the modern global culture of the young and the traditional cultures of older generations, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has created a Youth Advisory Committee to recommend ways of integrating young people into national development plans.
With gaps growing between the modern global culture of the young and the traditional cultures of older generations, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has created a Youth Advisory Committee to recommend ways of integrating young people into national development plans.
The Youth Advisory Committee, whose two dozen members come from developed and developing countries and represent over 100 million young people worldwide, will identify emerging trends in their reproductive health and rights and allow them to take part in decisions about programmes that address their issues.
Committee members, serving a maximum of two years, will maintain constant communications through an e-forum and will hold an annual meeting.
“We need you and your ideas because the difference between our world today and tomorrow rests with you,” UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid told the committee at a 15 to 16 April meeting in New York. “In a sense, you are a parliament, giving us your views and your constituencies’ views.”
Ms. Obaid asked them to focus on three youth-related topics: their culture, HIV/AIDS infecting 6,000 youngsters daily and adolescent marriages in situations where no reproductive health services address their specific needs.