“Safe Spaces for Youth”
With almost half the human population being represented by youth (United Nations), the engagement and participation of youth is quintessential for the achievement of sustainable human development. The International community, including the United Nations, has realized the criticality of youth participation in development and many international conferences and treaties have been established and signed emphasizing on meaningful youth participation. However, opportunities for youth to engage politically, economically and socially still remain low or non-existent.
On 17 December 1999, the United Nations General Assembly endorsed the recommendation made by the World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth (Lisbon, 8-12 August 1998) and declared August 12th as the International Youth Day. Accordingly, every year the youth day is celebrated with a specific theme and this year’s theme is “Safe Spaces for Youth”. Today statistics on youth, conflicts and disasters are horrific; Nearly 3 in 10 young people aged between 15 and 24 years(approximately 59 million)are living in countries affected by conflict or disaster and are illiterate. This is triple the global rate (UNICEF, 2018). Almost half of the developing countries are facing extremism, conflicts, civil war, terrorism, disasters (both natural and man made) and as a result human rights violations, poverty, unemployment, crimes, unsafe migration, corruption, extrajudicial killings, state terrorism, inequalities, etc.continue to foster at alarming rates. With majority living in developing countries,it is this young population that is affected the most. Although the United Nations’ Security Council has passed two resolutions; UNSCR-2250 focusing on “Youth Peace and Security” and UNSCR-2419 focusing on “Increasing Role of Youth in Negotiating, Implementing Peace Agreements”,however the road to their effective implementation is still long. These efforts of the world body will remain not more than just on papers up to the time those responsible states and organizations are held accountable for these violations.
According to the UNDP, Pakistan is 2nd youngest South Asian nation having more than 64 percent young population under 29.Being top 5th in the global terrorism index and ranking top 2nd in hosting refugees in the world, around 39 percent of Pakistanis live in multidimensional poverty. With resilience being one of the core values which underpin the ethos of the society, there is continuous exhibition of growth in our economy,successful demonstration of continuous democratic transition of power, and the nourishment of the industry and IT sector,warranting the need for dedicated, skilled, politically and socially engaged educated workers and entrepreneurs to contribute through their vital role both nationally and internationally.
I hope the upcoming government will undertake its responsibility to focus on youth development through the provision of safe spaces and an enabling environment that fosters youth, especially young girls who are studying or contributing in the economy, to participate politically, economically and socially. I believe family planning is a key solution to counter the problems associated with high growth rate in Pakistan as the current government is limited in its ability to generate the needed jobs to absorb the youth entering the market every year and provide the resources needed for food, health,shelter, and education for more than 201 million.While the youth need to continuously strive for more effective engagement, it is those in authority who can foster an enabling environment and abide with international commitments. It is only the educated, responsible and active citizens who can provide safe spaces to young people.
