Lost for years!?

Gains in employment rates for young people have been wiped out by the economic crisis. According to the ILO's Global Employment Trends for Youth 2012, it may take 4-5 years before jobs rebound. In the meantime, many of the 75 million unemployed young people will completely give up looking for work or maybe going abroad.
How is it about you? Whats your plan or what do you think could be useful?

Source: ILO

Play, Learn, Build and Share!

From17th till 18st November speakers and performers on the TEDxYouthDay events around the world will share their great ideas with audiences of youth. These events are designed to empower and inspire young people. TEDxYouthDay events present a combination of live speakers and TEDTalks to audiences around the world. These events vary widely in size, format, and theme, but they share a common vision: inspiring curiosity, igniting new ideas, and empowering young leaders.
What can you share with the world?
This is an important question. You can answer on Twitter, with a video or on the TED Conversation and share it with the world and be involved in this great day.
Play, learn, build and share - at TEDxYouthDay events around the world!

We all want to change the world

“You say you want a revolution, well you know…we all want to change the world.” said John Lennon.
At the brink of social and cultural revolution in the 60s, young people and also the Beatles were calling for change; they wanted to be heard by policy makers and the world. In 1972, the Council of Europe took a step towards connecting young people with their representatives by creating the European Youth Centre in Strasbourg.
This year the European Youth Foundation and the European Youth Centre are celebrating 40 years of “building Europe together” with young people.
Youth of today are still active in the effort for political rights and representation, and the European Youth Centre provides a place for young people to develop ideas and solutions to the problems affecting their world. Joint innovation has led to the creation of initiatives like Youth Peace Ambassadors, the Compass and Compasito human rights training manuals and, most recently, Young People Combatting Hate Speech On-line.
To commemorate the 40th anniversary, the Council of Europe will be holding an Open Doors Day on the 16th September as well as a Ministerial Conference from 23rd-25th September. The year will be rounded out "Youth Assembly 2012: Youth and Democracy, the young generation sacrificed?" from 5th-7th October.

TUNZA - Treat with care

TUNZA is a word in Kiswahili (the common language of most East African countries) that means to "treat with care".This is a programme which is based on a strategy that aims to provide young people with information and tools on how to "treat Mother Earth with care" and how to Act for a better world.
UNEP works in partnership with Children from all over the world. Children are represented by Junior Board which is elected every 2 years during UNEP's TUNZA International Children's Conference.

Under the overall concept of TUNZA, the 22nd session of the Governing Council adopted the long-term UNEP strategy for the engagement of young people in environmental issues.
The UNEP strategy is a six-year plan designed to consolidate all UNEP activities for youth and children into a unified global network called TUNZA. The Tunza Network will work to enhance current activities and introduce new ones in a unified programme that reaches out to young people and inspires them to take action for the environment. The key focus areas are awareness building, capacity building, information exchange, and facilitating the involvement of young people in decision making mechanisms.

Also, have a look at the videos, competitions and storys and join the network.

Vote for best Young Innovators

Young entrepreneurs from around the world have submitted innovative ICT-based early concepts or mature projects demonstrating how fresh thinking and talent for technology can provide real-world solutions to real-world problems and change the future for the better.
The finalists will be invited to join the ITU Telecom World 2012 in Dubai.
So, now its your turn, to choose your favourites and vote for the best. You can review all the competition entries here - comment and vote till 20th August!

Young people´s rights and realities

There is a important and really interesting web portal for Youth and about their policy - youthpolicy.org.
This portal aims to consolidate knowledge and information on youth policies built with open-source software and based on the principles of social networks.
The structure allows youth policy actors across the globe to interact and leverages the wisdom of crowds by aggregating information through the expertise embedded in the portal and its community.
Youthpolicy.org is carried by a community of volunteers, including a network of knowledge managers. If you want to subscribe the newsletter there are a lot of informations included about:

• youth policy links, documents and websites
• youth policy frameworks and instruments
• youth policy implementation and practice
• youth policy research and knowledge
• youth policy actors and stakeholders

If you have some inquiries, suggestions, ideas and partnerships - they are welcome!
So, write an email to curious@youthpolicy.org .

9th International Human Rights Summit

From 7th till 9th September the 9th annual International Human Rights Summit will be hosted in Brussels. The purpose of this event is to teach youth around the world about human rights and inspire them to become advocates for tolerance and peace. It will bring youth delegates from around the world together to discuss human rights and the important role of Human Rights Education.
Only the 30 Youth Delegates representing their respective countries are eligible to apply for sponsorship based on merit for their expenses in Brussels. All other participants are at their own expense. Limited participation and seating requires early application.
So don´t waste time, apply for it!

Contact: YHRIsummit@yahoo.com

Building a better world!

Building a better world: Partnering with Youth - this is the theme, the slogan for this year International Youth Day (IYD). This slogan that communicates the scope, direction and objectives of the year´s youth initiatives and that also provides a unifying banner from under which individuals can draw the inspiration to take action. So it is a global call for young men and women, as well as other stakeholders around the world, to take action, to develop and engage in partnerships with and for youth towards building a better world.
Celebrate International Youth Day 2012 on 12th August, too!

Tell them about your efforts to partner with and for youth for a better world!
Tell them how you think the United Nations should partner with young people, especially in the areas of employment, entrepreneurship, political inclusion, citizenship and protection of rights and education.
Tell them your stories to youth@un.org

Or you prefer to celebrate this day in a special way? Do it!

• TEAM UP! Get key actors by exploring various and innovative ways.
• ORGANIZE! Forums, public discussions and information campaigns.
• CELEBRATE! Plan and organize performances to showcase.

“To unleash the power of young people, we need to partner with them.”

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moo

Source: UN

The UN is developing an Action Plan on Youth!

There will be a new Action Plan on Youth which will affect the UN work with and for youth in the coming years.
This Action Plan will focus on the five priority areas identified by the Secretary-General:

• Employment
• Entrepreneurship
• Education (including education on sexual and reproductive health)
• Citizenship and protection of rights
• Political inclusion

Before developing this Action Plan, they need your support!

Youth, youth-led organisations and all the others have to seek their inputs!

So, please take a moment and fill out this questionnaire and tell them what you think!

Source: FAO - YUNGA

Your Rights, Your Future!

Any person who holds the nationality of an EU country is automatically also an EU citizen. So you have special rights:

• move, travel and live freely anywhere in the EU
• vote for and stands as a candidate in European Parliament
• be protected by the diplomatic and consular authorities of any other EU country 
• petition the European Parliament and complain to the European Ombudsmen

Since 9th May till 9th Semptember you have the chance to give your opinion and your view about the rights of an EU citizen. They want to know about any obstacles you might be facing in your daily life as a European Citizen living, studying, workling, shopping or simply travelling within the EU. Also you can tell them your ideas about how to remove these obstacles and further develop EU citizenship.

In 2012, the European Commission issued the first EU Citizenship Report to inform EU citizens about their rights. Now your views about being a citizen of EU will help to prepare the next EU Citizenship Report which will be published in 2013. 

2013 will be "The European Year of Citizens" because of celebrating the 20th birthday since its introduction with the entry into force of the Treaty of Maastricht.

The European Commission would like to hear your views about the issues that concern you. The Commission will prepare a consolidated and anonymous analysis of all responses to the questionnaire and publish it online.

So, you can get part of it if you answering the questionnaire or you can send contributions on any issues you consider relevant for developing EU citizenship, by email to: JUST-EUCITIZENSHIP-CONSULTATION@ec.europa.eu

In the email specify your name, nationality, and also (if relevant) the name of your organisation and your function in it.

Source: European Commission

Youth-to-Youth-Fund

The Youth Entrepreneurship Facility (YEF) enables African Youth to turn their energy and ideas into business opportunities to increase their income and create decent work for themselves and others. It is an initiative by the Africa Commission, implemented by the Youth Employment Network (YEN), and the International Labour Organization (ILO).

The Facility’s mission is to contribute to job creation in East Africa through youth entrepreneurship development. The five components aim to...

• foster a culture of entrepreneurship among young people
• introduce entrepreneurship education in schools
• ensure that potential and existing young entrepreneurs have access to business development services and finance
• provide opportunities for youth to actively engage in employment generating projects through a youth-to-youth fund 
• promote evidence-based advocacy to better understand what works in youth entrepreneurship development.

So, it´s a good opportunity for local youth-led organizations to actively participate in the development of youth entrepreneurship in their communities.  It supports small-scale youth entrepreneurship development projects implemented by youth-led organizations. More information.

Source: ILO

Peacebuilding through Storytelling

The co-founder and director of the Society for Awareness, Harmony, and Equal Rights (SAHER) in Mumbai (India), Rama Shyam was honored on 21st of June with the Martti Ahtisaari Peacebuilder Award, presented by the International Youth Foundation to a young leader who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in the field of peacemaking and/or peacebuilding.

"I feel more at peace with myself," said 20-year-old Toral at the end of a group discussion "I recently facilitated involving youth from various religious, caste, gender, socio-economic, and educational backgrounds." Belonging to a Hindu family, Toral was often told “to beware, Muslims are dangerous.” Her discomfort with such advice, and desire to know more about this ‘other’ community, drove her to seek out SAHER’s office located in a Muslim ghetto. After hearing other Hindu and Muslim youth tell their stories and connect on a deep level, Toral found herself sharing her own fears and strengths. In the space of two hours, the room full of strangers she had entered was transformed into a familiar space where all felt welcome.

This is what you can call BUILDING BRIDGES! SAHER creates safe spaces through which youth connect. As they share their personal stories, peace becomes a possibility that transcends mere promises.

Beyond this focus on individual youth, we recognize that peacebuilding demands conversations at multiple levels and needs to include not only young people but adults, community leaders, policy makers, and social systems. Success over the long-term requires larger-scale systems change that addresses everything from electoral processes to how the media reports on events to how businesses invest their resources.

This is an example to see the possibility of creating such spaces and foster a new generation of young adults who perceive conflict from the position of facilitator, and who enable people to connect and overcome difficulties through fostering meaningful conversations and relationships.

Source: International Youth Foundation

Build a bridge to Youth employment?

Talk of youth unemployment is everywhere; as the rates rises to 22% across the EU and maximums at 52% in Spain. So, the worlds best-educated generation also has the fewest chances to get a job, and the government is under growing pressure to find a solution.

Of course, youth unemployment rates are generally much higher than unemployment rates for all ages. High youth unemployment rates do reflect the difficulties faced by young people in finding jobs. However, this does not necessarily mean that the group of unemployed persons aged between 15 and 24 is large because many young people are studying full-time and are therefore neither working nor looking for a job (so they are not part of the labour force which is used as the denominator for calculating the unemployment rate). For this reason, youth unemployment ratios are calculated as well, according to a somewhat different concept: the unemployment ratio calculates the share of unemployed for the whole population.

Anyways, youth employment still exists. In an effort to facilitate the transition of young Europeans from school into work, the European Commission has recently released a study about apprenticeship and a study about traineeship practices across the member states. From definition to quality assessment, the studies provide an in-depth look at multiple aspects of traineeships and apprenticeships and make recommendations from the findings.

Hopefully these studies are building a bridge to youth employment!

Source: http://www.youthforum.org/

Youth Award - Start some good

The WSYA (World Summit Youth Award) is a yearly online competition to promote the best digital content made by young developers, focused on the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Be it websites, software or other media to raise awareness and to contribute to achieving the MDGs. The WSYA wants to show that there is a digital grassroots movement towards achieving the 2015 deadline. You can find more information as well as former winning projects on their website. Winners of the WSYA will be featured on the World Congress on Information Technology which will take place in Montréal, Canada on October 22-24, 2012. The call-for-registrations is now open and during the outreach they stumbled on the World Assembly Youth-website.

The World Summit Youth Award (WSYA) based at ICNM, the International Center for New Media, a non-profit organization in Salzburg, Austria.

Young creators of digital content can register their products themselves. An international young expert jury will then judge the products and select a winner in each of the six WSYA categories which are:

1. Fight Poverty, Hunger and Disease!
2. Education for All!
3. Power 2 Women!
4. Create your Culture!
5. Go Green!
6. Pursue Truth!

The reward for winners is to be recognized on a world stage, to be invited to the winners' events (with all related cost covered by organizers). There you be able to connect with each other and discuss with renowned experts in the field of ICT for development because the Winner´s Event will be hosted by the 18th World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT 2012). It will take place in Montréal, Canada from October 22 to 24, 2012.

Youth Peace Camp

Every year the Youth Peace Camp engaging young people and youth organisations from conflict-striken regions in dialogue and conflict transformation. Some young people growing up in regions affected by armed conflicts, being exposed of the consequences of extreme forms of physical and structural violence, are often confronted with dramatic life forming experiences, emotions and challenges. Such experiences may strongly influence their views and behavior towards their own and other communities, their relation to conflict and peace and to their identity. 

The aim of the Youth Peace Camp is to engage these young people and youth organisations in dialogue and conflict transformation activities based on human rights education and intercultural learning and to provide them with a positive experience in living and learning together.

Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe Maud de Boer-Buquicchio closed the peace camp with words of support for the participants: “Too often young people are involved in violent conflicts against their will. They are among the first casualties. It is therefore your right – everyone’s right – to participate in the resolution of these conflicts, through dialogue, trust-building, co-operation and the search for common ground… I would like to thank each and every one of you for your commitment to promoting peace and dialogue. It may seem more difficult to engage in dialogue than to replicate hatred, prejudice and rejection. And I am sure that some of you will have difficulties in being understood by your friends and neighbours back home who did not take part in the peace camp. But don’t be deterred. Dialogue is more rewarding and infinitely more sustainable than conflict and hatred. Dialogue is about understanding each other, in spite of differences of opinion. It is about making friends, not enemies. Dialogue is the path to peace.”


So, the main objectives are:

1. Developing of conceptual and practical meanings of conflict, peace and conflict transformation.
2. Sharing their personal experiences of conflict and violence and their coping strategies, identifying commonalities and specificities between the participants.
3. Developing the competences of participants in conflict transformation and intercultural learning, including a critical understanding of the personal and collective identities and their role in armed conflicts.
4. Learning about human rights and human rights education as frameworks for conflict transformation and dialogue.
5. Learning from existing practices and experiences of people who are working in the youth field for dialogue and conflict transformation.
6. Motivating and supporting participants in their role as multipliers and peer leaders in peace building activities with young people from their organisations and communities.
7. Increase the role and expertise of the Council of Europe, in particular its youth sector, which is working with conflict transformation as part of its mission in relation to intercultural dialogue.

Such events are a symbol of the Council of Europe for working with and for young people since 40 years.

Let´s bridge!

"Let's bridge" - this is the motto from 31st August till 2nd September 2012 in Budapest. Thousands of young people meet there for the 10th Genfest. This international event expect young people from all continents.

Which meaning has "Let´s bridges"?

• Let’s bridge people.
  Build bridges between people from everywhere all over the world.

• Let’s bridge countries.
  Build bridges between countries. Let´s organize a benefiz event to collect some money
  for travel cost of people from poor countries.

• Let’s bridge and make it visible.
  There is a Austria photo and video competition. How can you present the topic "Build
  bridges" with a photo or video?

They want to build bridges between people of different cultures, ethnicities, religions and social classes. The Genfest is more than "just" a intercultural and interreligious experience of a lifetime: It shall be a concrete expression of social commitment to have a united world that is accessible for all.

Besides music, performance, dialogue and a flash mob will be presented global activities, projects and initiatives for a more united world.

Be part of it and build bridges!

For more informations: www.genfest.org

Youth of the world without a voice?

The UN Conference on Sustainable Development was planned not only as a meeting of 193 member states of the United Nations. For the first time the civil society, as an equal member, should also participate on this UN Conference. The "Major Group for Children and Youth" was promised "full participation" by the UN. The conference ended on 22^nd of June and also during the closing ceremony the participation of youth representatives was ended.

The "Major Group for Children and Youth", like many other delegations, had prepared a document for the final meeting, which could not perform at the end. Kiara Worth, co-organizer of the group said: "We have drafted a two and half minute’s long final declaration to reflect the results of the conference. And they were told us earlier that they will not allow us to hold this speech because there was no time for it." In her opinion, this shows that the civil society at Rio +20 have no voice.

So, you can find a lot of criticism in the statements of the youth representatives. The youth had hopes up to this conference and were proud to have voice. In a pre-arranged UN youth conference in Rio de Janeiro for young people from around the world had expressed their wishes and ideas for a "sustainable development" and "green economy".

All for nothing?

Not for Kiara Worth, the co-organizer of the group. The South African woman wants to continue the work for the future generations and give it a voice. The South African is more motivated than before.

UN News: Jackie Chan helps to combat child trafficking

Jackie Chan, the Chinese action-film star and UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) Goodwill Ambassador since 2004, is this week in Myanmar to help United Nations efforts to combat child trafficking in the country. 

He said: “Trafficking and exploiting children are horrific crimes. They leave lifelong scars and rob children of their childhoods.” Also “Children are not for sale. For the sake the world's children, we must work hard to stamp out these damaging and criminal practices.” 

During these days in Myanmar, Jackie Chan will visit a vocational training center for trafficked children who have managed to return to their homes but are in need of special care and support. He will also travel to UNICEF-supported projects assisting children at risk of being trafficked, including those without parental care and children who are living and working on the street. 

But how they can effectively combat trafficking? This question has to be discussed with Myanmar´s Ministry of Social Welfare and with members of the anti-trafficking police task force. Also “It is very important that young people know how to protect themselves,” said Mr. Chan. “Simple things, like knowing not to trust anyone who promises you a dream job in another country; never going to an unknown place alone; knowing your parents and your own full name and age; and being able to explain where you live, help children guard against traffickers.”


But can this visit of an important person change anything? Or is it only an interest of Jackie Chan to increase his own popularity?  What do you think? Share your opinion!

Source: www.un.org

About Youth in United Nations

Everywhere is another definition of Youth. According to the UN definition Youth are people between 15 and 24 years. Young people of this age represents approximately 18% of the global population. Seems not much, but this corresponds to 1.2 Billion people. Also 87% of them living in developing countries!
Everyone, as a member of societies, deserves full access to education, health care, employment, financial services and of course participation in our public life.
So it is really important to support the Youth in our world.
The next weeks I will introduce some projects which support our Youth and programs which allow to be part of being active for the Youth in United Nations.
First you can have a look at the web links to get some instructive information.