34/46 First session of the Forum on Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law - Report of the Co-Chairs

GE.17-01412(E)



Human Rights Council Thirty-fourth session

27 February-24 March 2017

Agenda items 3 and 5

Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil,

political, economic, social and cultural rights,

including the right to development

Human rights bodies and mechanisms

First session of the Forum on Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law

Report of the Co-Chairs

Summary

In accordance with Human Rights Council resolution 28/14, the first session of the

Forum on Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law was held in Geneva from 21 to

22 November 2016 with the theme “Widening the democratic space: the role of youth in

public decision-making”. The present report contains a summary of the discussions,

conclusions and recommendations of the Forum.

United Nations A/HRC/34/46

Contents

Page

I. Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 3

II. Opening of the Forum on Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law................................. 3

III. Creating an enabling environment for effective participation of youth in

public decision-making ................................................................................................................. 5

A. Discussion ............................................................................................................................. 5

B. Recommendations ................................................................................................................. 7

IV. From formal to transformative participation of youth .................................................................. 8

A. Discussion ............................................................................................................................. 8

B. Recommendations ................................................................................................................. 11

V. Participation of youth in sustainable development and human rights protection in

specific contexts ............................................................................................................................ 12

A. Discussion ............................................................................................................................. 12

B. Recommendations ................................................................................................................. 14

VI. Moving the global youth agenda forward: the role of youth in shaping the

agenda of the United Nations and regional organizations ............................................................. 15

A. Discussion ............................................................................................................................. 15

B. Recommendations ................................................................................................................. 17

VII. Concluding remarks ...................................................................................................................... 18

I. Introduction

1. In its resolution 28/14, the Human Rights Council decided to establish a forum on

human rights, democracy and rule of law to provide a platform for promoting dialogue and

cooperation on issues pertaining to the relationship between these areas and to identify and

analyse best practices, challenges and opportunities for States in their efforts to secure

respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

2. The first session of the Forum was held on 21 and 22 November 2016 in Geneva

with the theme “Widening the democratic space: the role of youth in public decision-

making”.

3. In accordance with resolution 28/14, the President of the Human Rights Council

appointed Daniiar Mukashev, Permanent Representative of Kyrgyzstan to the United

Nations Office at Geneva, and Ahmad Alhendawi, Envoy of the Secretary General on

Youth, as Co-Chairs.

4. At its first meeting, the agenda, as contained in the annotated provisional agenda

(A/HRC/FD/2016/1) prepared under the guidance of the Co-Chairs with inputs from

relevant stakeholders, was adopted. The present report was prepared by the Co-Chairs and

contains a summary of the discussions at and the recommendations adopted by the Forum.

5. More than 600 participants attended the Forum, including representatives of

Member States, United Nations bodies and specialized agencies, regional and

intergovernmental organizations, national human rights institutions and non-governmental

organizations, including youth advocates and representatives of youth organizations from

all regions. The final list of participants is available from www.ohchr.org/democracyforum.

II. Opening of the Forum on Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law

6. In his opening remarks, the President of the Human Rights Council noted that

strengthening youth participation in public affairs should be a core objective for any society

aspiring to build inclusive and democratic institutions that respected human rights. Noting

the role of the Council in drawing international attention to the obstacles faced by young

people around the world in the exercise of their right to meaningfully and effectively

participate in public decision-making, he acknowledged that more must be done to

mainstream the rights of young people in the work of human rights mechanisms, including

the Council and its universal periodic review process. Citing the Secretary-General’s

statement on the occasion of the 2016 International Youth Day, the President recalled that

the world’s young people, who made up the largest generation of youth in history, could

lead a global drive to break the patterns of the past and set the world on course to a more

sustainable future. Furthermore, he called for the empowerment of young people to lead

societies and contribute to finding solutions to the many challenges ahead.

7. The Deputy Secretary-General, in a video message, stated that all stakeholders

should work not only for young people, but also with them. He stressed that respect for

human rights, including the rights to non-discrimination, freedom of expression and

freedom of peaceful assembly, and the rule of law were essential to the claims of younger

generations. The adoption by the Security Council of resolution 2250 (2015) on youth,

peace and security constituted a historic step towards recognizing the need for youth to take

an active role in making and building peace. Widening the democratic space helped to

promote socioeconomic opportunities for all and was essential to build accountable and

accessible institutions that functioned fairly and impartially. In that regard, he recalled the

role of young people as key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, including

goal 16, to promote peaceful and inclusive societies, access to justice for all and effective,

inclusive and accountable institutions at all levels, leaving no one behind.

8. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights recalled that honest,

effective, democratically operated and responsive Governments was one of the top

priorities for today’s younger generation. He stressed that a society that did not fully respect

everyone’s equal right to participate was fundamentally unsound. He emphasized the

importance of the protection of fundamental rights, such as the right to freedom of opinion

and expression, to ensure that State institutions were accountable and grounded in service

to the people. He regretted that younger generations were not adequately represented in

political institutions such as parliaments and in political parties and public administrations,

thereby fuelling disenfranchisement and distrust in formal structures, electoral processes,

leaders and policymakers. The High Commissioner stressed the need to help young people

regain trust in formal structures and to remove barriers to their meaningful participation. He

further called for concrete action in response to youth’s concerns, and emphasized that the

contribution of young people was vital to providing an adequate response to current

challenges; they needed to stand up for others, be the voice for the common good, and act

to support inclusion, equality and human dignity for years to come.

9. Mr. Alhendawi invited participants to reflect on how young people understood

democracy today and why the most engaged generation in history was not given adequate

access to politics and policymaking. Politicians tended not to prioritize the issues that

mattered to youth, as young people were trapped in a vicious cycle of political

marginalization; large proportions of the young did not vote, while the majority of people

over the age of 65 did. That contributed to young people’s withdrawal from a system that

often did not represent them, leading to even greater levels of distrust, and even lower voter

turnouts. Legal and other barriers faced by young people in running for public office

represented a major obstacle to the promotion of youth participation, particularly in the

political process. He urged that the narrative with regard to young people be changed to

address youth “rights” rather than youth “issues”; that would address those concerns more

accurately and acknowledge the related human rights obligations to be fulfilled by duty

bearers. He also reflected on the recent advances made in the relevant normative

framework, such as Human Rights Council resolution 32/1 on youth and human rights,

Security Council resolution 2250 (2015), the importance of youth rights as a cross-cutting

issue in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and youth-related commitments

made in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on

Financing for Development. He expressed the hope that the Forum, the first United Nations

meeting to focus on widening the democratic space by strengthening youth participation,

would offer an opportunity for frank discussions and would result in concrete

recommendations to support the international community in advancing young people’s

rights worldwide.

10. Mr. Mukashev emphasized that the skills, energy and ideals of young people were

vital for strengthening democratic institutions and building inclusive societies without

discrimination. He stressed the importance of protecting and respecting human rights and

creating a conducive environment to allow youth to thrive and develop their potential,

contribute to strengthening democratic institutions and build inclusive societies. He

reminded government representatives of their role in mobilizing resources and ensuring that

young people’s issues received specific institutional attention, and welcomed the increase

in recent years in the number of policies focusing on youth and the establishment of

dedicated youth structures at the national level. Such policies and structures contributed to

creating the conditions for increased participation of youth in public life, including in

shaping the 2030 Agenda, and in the work of international organizations, including through

participation in Member States’ delegations to the United Nations. Finally, Mr. Mukashev

congratulated the members of the Human Rights Council on their decision to establish the

Forum and stressed the importance of the recognition by the Council of the crucial role

played by youth in widening the democratic space, protecting and promoting human rights

and strengthening the rule of law.

III. Creating an enabling environment for the effective participation of youth in public decision-making

A. Discussion

11. The discussion on agenda item 2 was moderated by Romulo Dantas, Executive

Secretary for Youth Empowerment of the World Young Men’s Christian Association. The

panellists were Sara Oviedo, member of the Committee on the Rights of the Child; Chaeli

Mycroft, ability activist, founding member of KidsRights Youngsters and founder of the

Chaeli Campaign; Gulalai Ismail, peace activist and founder of Aware Girls; and Dejan

Bojanic, member of the board of the European Youth Forum. The discussions focused on

the legal and institutional framework required to enable youth to contribute to the

formulation of public policies and to hold policymakers accountable, and on the realization

of all human rights without discrimination as a prerequisite to an enabling environment for

the participation of youth in decision-making.

12. Ms. Oviedo noted the importance of an adequate legal framework, including at the

international level, that specifically recognized youth as rights holders and ensured the

promotion and protection of all civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights as a

precondition for the participation of youth in public decision-making. She recalled the

invaluable role played by youth for the promotion and protection of human rights and the

rule of law in many countries. While acknowledging positive legislative developments in

some countries, which had provided for a lower voting age, Ms. Oviedo noted the

generalized lack of political will for the creation of mechanisms for the sustainable,

effective and meaningful participation of youth in all decisions in which they had a direct

interest. She stressed that such mechanisms contributed to ensuring that States complied

with their human rights obligations, and ultimately to strengthening democracy and the rule

of law. Ms. Oviedo also regretted that existing consultative mechanisms did not ensure that

the views of youth were systematically and effectively taken into account in law- and

policymaking as well as in accountability processes. She also emphasized the generalized

need for more accurate research and data on the violations of human rights of youth as a

necessary tool for assessing existing gaps in the effective implementation of their right to

participate.

13. Ms. Mycroft discussed the importance of tackling disability as a cross-cutting issue

rather than in isolation, particularly in the light of the systemic discrimination suffered by

young people with disabilities in all spheres of life. Acknowledging and understanding the

impact of discrimination on many young people with disabilities and their families

represented a first, necessary step towards addressing the issue. She recalled that

discrimination often stemmed from stigma and was grounded in false assumptions about

the capability of youth with disabilities to contribute to public life, thus ignoring their

potential to contribute to the community. She regretted the use of such negative

terminology as “economic burden”, “health hazards” and “social disempowerment”.

Education on disability and human rights played a critical role in addressing discrimination

and eradicating stigma. She underlined the importance of eliminating all forms of

discrimination and ensuring that all members of the society were given the opportunity to

contribute and realize their potential. Finally, she stressed the need to strive for full

inclusion and to ensure that all voices were heard and considered when decisions were

being made in order to maximize the participation of people with disabilities at all levels;

that would represent a true understanding of democracy as well as recognition that every

person had a unique and valuable contribution to make to society.

14. Ms. Ismail spoke about the importance of empowering young women to increase

their access to decision-making processes and structures and ultimately to build more

democratic, inclusive societies that respected the rule of law and human rights. The

empowerment of young women was beneficial for the community as a whole because when

young women were empowered, they were able to defend their rights, including the right to

access information; that in turn fostered inclusive political and decision-making processes.

Women’s marginal role in society, including in decision-making, was the result of a

number of structural barriers, including a systematic denial of socioeconomic opportunities

and limited autonomy and decision-making power within patriarchal social systems, as well

as restrictive social norms and gender stereotypes. Such structural barriers, combined with

discrimination based on age, heavily restricted young women’s right to participate in

democratic decision-making. In that context, she shared her experience with Aware Girls in

increasing young women’s effective political participation by adopting a holistic approach

that included wide-ranging capacity-building and mentoring programmes aimed at

providing resources to initiatives led by young women and linking those initiatives to

policymaking processes, political parties and decision makers. She also stressed the

importance of engaging with communities and their leaders to bring about a shift in the

norms and values that restricted women’s access to decision-making.

15. Mr. Bojanic recalled that human rights were interdependent and interrelated and that

the capacity of young people to participate in decision-making was largely dependent on

the extent to which all their civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights were

realized. He stressed the importance of the right to free, equally accessible and quality

education for the development of autonomous, supportive, responsible and committed

young citizens. He recalled that Member States were the duty bearers for all human rights

and therefore were responsible for the fulfilment of the right to education. Quality

education for young people depended fully on how well Governments designed their

education systems. Education curricula were often outdated or designed to meet market

demands, while quality education had the potential to equip individuals with the necessary

knowledge, skills and understanding to exercise and defend their rights and responsibilities

in society, as well as to internalize democratic values. Youth organizations offered an

opportunity to foster active citizenship, including by bringing young people of different

backgrounds together to work with and learn from each other. Participation was intrinsic to

the culture of youth organizations that were youth-led and democratic. By engaging with

them, young people were able to develop civic and political competences, thereby fostering

a culture of active participation and responsibility from within.

16. In the ensuing discussion, participants recalled that youth were an essential resource

for community development and positive social change. They called on States to abide by

their legal obligations under international human rights law and to display strong political

will to reduce exclusion and ensure accountability for the implementation of youth rights

without discrimination, particularly for the most excluded and marginalized young people,

such as women and girls, youth with disabilities, indigenous youth, youth belonging to

minorities and migrant youth. Addressing the multifaceted challenges faced by youth in

exercising their right to participate called for an integrated and comprehensive approach to

the promotion and protection of the human rights of youth. In that regard, the right to

inclusive, affordable and quality education and the empowerment of young people should

lie at the heart of any efforts towards addressing those challenges.

17. Both panellists and participants repeatedly stated that there were gaps in the

protection of the human rights of young people in all regions, who experienced violations

of their rights merely because they were young. The enjoyment of economic and social

rights and the right to information for the most marginalized youth were essential elements

of political empowerment and the ability to take part in public decision-making.

18. Participants put particular emphasis on the importance of the Convention on the

Rights of Persons with Disabilities, as it represented a profound paradigm shift in the

approach to disability whereby persons with disabilities, including youth, were not

“objects” to be cared for, but rather “subjects” who enjoyed human rights on an equal basis

with others, including the fundamental right to participate in public affairs.

19. The critical role of young human rights defenders in the promotion and protection of

human rights and in advocating so that States complied with their obligations with regard to

ensuring accountability for human rights violations was emphasized. In the face of a

shrinking democratic space, participants referred to increasing reports of attacks directed at

youths who stood up against human rights violations, and stressed the need for mechanisms

to protect young human rights defenders and ensure accountability when their rights were

violated.

20. Responding to some of the questions regarding how youth and youth organizations

should strategically engage with other sectors of society, panellists noted that collaborative

approaches were required to “deconstruct the dynamics of power” and to challenge the false

assumptions around the lack of capability of youth to participate. In that regard, it was

suggested that the youth movement had much to learn from the women’s rights movement.

B. Recommendations

21. A gender-sensitive approach to the implementation of laws, programmes and

measures relating to young people is imperative, given that at all levels of public

decision-making, in virtually all countries, young women and girls may be exposed to

multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination that prevents them from the full,

effective and equal enjoyment of the right to participate in public affairs.

22. States should promote the full realization of all human rights, in particular the

rights to the freedoms of opinion and expression, association and peaceful assembly,

as a prerequisite to the effective enjoyment by youth of the right to participate in

public affairs.

23. States should adopt specific measures to ensure that young people participate

without discrimination in the design, implementation and evaluation of any laws,

regulations, policies, programmes or strategies affecting their rights. In this context,

particular attention should be given to the direct participation of youth with

disabilities in the drafting of laws and policies affecting their human rights, in line

with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

24. States should take all appropriate measures to ensure the full exercise by young

women and girls of their right to participate in public affairs. To this end, they should

implement empowerment programmes and remove structural barriers to the exercise

by women and girls of their right to participation in formal and informal decision-

making processes. This entails, inter alia, the adoption of measures promoting the

engagement and collaboration of all relevant stakeholders, including grass-roots

community and religious leaders, to bring about a shift in the norms and values that

restrict women’s access to decision-making processes. This also requires allocating

adequate resources to initiatives led by young women.

25. States should create structures and adopt measures for the regular, effective

and meaningful participation of youth in all established national mechanisms for

reporting and follow-up on the implementation of State obligations under

international human rights law.

26. Efforts to ensure full and effective participation of youth in public affairs

should be combined with the promotion and protection of the right to equality and

non-discrimination in national legislation, policies and practice. In this context, States

should conduct more research and collect disaggregated data on the actual status of

youth rights and their protection at the national level, with a view to exposing and

assessing the extent of violations suffered by young people, including discrimination.

27. States should take all necessary measures to ensure the full realization of the

rights of young human rights defenders, in particular their right to promote and

strive for the protection and realization of human rights. They should take effective

measures to protect young human rights defenders and youth organizations against

any violence, threats, intimidation, discrimination, pressure, reprisals or any other

arbitrary action, including abuses by non-State actors. States should exercise due

diligence in preventing violations and abuses against women human rights defenders,

who face particular risks, including gender-specific violations, and in combating

impunity by ensuring that those responsible for violations and abuses, including

gender-based threats and violence, are promptly brought to justice through impartial

investigations.

28. States should ensure that all measures to protect the right to education and the

regulatory framework for public and private education systems are grounded in the

principles of equality and non-discrimination. In this regard, States should eliminate

all legislative, physical, financial and cultural barriers preventing children and youth

from accessing quality education, including by strengthening efforts to ensure that

mainstream education systems become more inclusive of children with disabilities and

by adopting effective programmes in the fields of teaching, education, culture and

information, with a view to promoting an environment that values diversity and the

right of all young people to participate in society.

29. States should include human rights and citizenship education, including media

literacy, in the curricula at all levels of general and vocational education and training.

States should ensure the effective participation of youth in the design of citizenship

education and human rights curricula and in their regular review to ensure their

relevance to the needs of young people. Concrete targets and benchmarks should be

set for the evaluation of citizenship and human rights programmes to measure and

increase their effectiveness.

30. States should provide teachers, trainers and youth leaders with the necessary

initial and continuing training in citizenship education and human rights. States

should also support non-governmental organizations, in particular youth

organizations, including through adequate financial assistance, and recognize them as

valuable partners in providing citizenship and human rights education.

IV. From formal to transformative participation of youth

A. Discussion

31. The discussion on agenda item 3 was moderated by Ian Power, Executive Director

of SpunOut.ie, the youth information website of Ireland, and President of the National

Youth Council of Ireland. The panellists were Anne Lambelin, Senator in the Federal

Parliament of Belgium and delegate at the Inter-Parliamentary Union Forum of Young

Parliamentarians; Tomaž Deželan, Associate Professor of Political Science, Jean Monnet

Chair for Citizenship Education and Vice-Dean for Quality Assurance and Development at

the University of Ljubljana; Aya Chebbi, activist and blogger, and member of the Board of

Directors of CIVICUS World Alliance for Citizen Participation; and Anshul Tewari,

founder and editor-in-chief of YouthKiAwaaz.com and director of the board of the Indian

organization Collectively. Discussions focused on ways to ensure that young people had

access to formal institutions, including their representation in parliaments and political

parties. Opportunities and challenges related to online activism and e-participation were

also debated.

32. Ms. Lambelin discussed the role of youth in parliaments and its importance for

strengthening the rule of law and building inclusive democracies. Increasing demands by

young people to be included in decision-making came from the informal space, thus

questioning the ability of formal institutions to receive and address those demands. Formal

and informal mechanisms were complementary in increasing the participation of youth in

public affairs. Ms. Lambelin provided statistics showing how few young people were

members of parliament and the absence of bodies or committees dedicated to youth issues,

and the level of disenchantment of youth with politics and political institutions. She shared

her experience as a young female parliamentarian confronting the many barriers preventing

young people, particularly women, from becoming parliamentarians, including sexism and

discriminatory attitudes. Additional economic, social and cultural barriers, including lack of

adequate financial means, contributed to fostering the exclusion of young people from

formal politics and institutions. Ms. Lambelin praised initiatives by the Inter-Parliamentary

Union to mobilize parliaments to encourage greater participation by young people in

political life, including through the establishment of the Forum of Young Parliamentarians,

an international youth-led body that brought together young parliamentarians from around

the world to monitor and promote youth participation. Finally, she noted that, at a time

when the number of young people in the world had never been larger, their representation

was a real necessity to inspire confidence in and to preserve and strengthen democracies.

33. Mr. Deželan highlighted some of the challenges faced by contemporary

democracies. He noted that when a large segment of the youth were absent from the

political process, the preconditions of collective self-rule were threatened and the social

contract broken. Democracies suffered when decisions were made for youth without proper

representation, particularly when those decisions concerned the adoption of austerity

measures, as they often impacted disproportionally on youth, who were in a situation of

socioeconomic vulnerability. It was important to understand why youth did not participate

or were not adequately represented in politics and democratic institutions as a necessary

preliminary step towards developing strategies to reform political structures and make them

more relevant to youth. To that end, he explained the differences between the following

categories of youth: those who were apathetic towards public life; those who were

uninformed, or not interested in politics because they believed they did not know enough

about politics to engage; those who were distrustful of politicians and the political system;

and those who felt disempowered, despite being well informed about politics, and felt that

nothing would change through their participation. In that context, he identified two critical

goals that had the potential to improve the legitimacy, political efficacy and performance of

political institutions: the creation of enabling structures grounded in the principles of

inclusion and non-discrimination, and the improvement of the capacity of young people to

act independently and to make their own free and informed choices.

34. Ms. Chebbi shared the experience of Tunisian young people in the post-revolution

era and the expectation of an emerging young generation that they could participate

effectively in shaping democratic institutions and political processes. Democratic transition

brought with it both challenges and opportunities for the youth. She provided statistics

showing the low levels of involvement of youth in politics and of trust in State institutions

but also a higher level of trust in the military and in religious organizations, demonstrating

that younger generations were seeking ways to engage and express themselves but avoiding

doing so through institutionalized politics. In that context, Ms. Chebbi noted that there was

a direct correlation between the unfulfilled expectations of youth in terms of participation in

public affairs and their growing sense of disengagement from politics and distrust in

democratic institutions, which in turn fuelled exclusion and more mistrust. Another

challenge stemmed from the lack of an appropriate legal framework to support civil

society’s efforts to build young people’s political and leadership skills. She regretted that in

many countries, youth tended to be asked for their views and participation only with regard

to issues related to sports and music. She referred to a number of opportunities for

increased youth participation, such as the lowering of the minimum age requirement to

stand in parliamentary and presidential elections in Tunisia and to the system of quotas to

ensure youth representation in local elections. She also referred to the positive practice of

engaging youth in election observation programmes, which had proven to be successful in

preventing electoral violence and fostering youth engagement in the electoral process.

35. Mr. Tewari spoke about the diversity of Indian society, including in terms of gender,

ethnicity, culture and religion, and underlined that such diversity also existed among the

youth, who were expected to number 700 million by 2020. However, although young

people were very closely interconnected and engaged, they were also “growing in a culture

of silence”, in which the two most influential systems — the media and politics — were

heavily top-down and not designed for participation, and were taught not to question the

norm. Mr. Tewari stressed that the Internet and information and communications

technologies (ICTs) constituted unique platforms for youth engagement. However, the lack

of inclusivity and of access to ICTs for most marginalized and excluded youth were two

major challenges to participation. He expressed concern regarding the nature of the

engagement taking place online, which included the dissemination of rampant sexism,

discrimination, patriarchal ideologies and other challenges that had been passed on to

young people by older generations. While the responsibility to address those challenges lay

with young people, they were not given enough space in politics or the media. He stressed

that every single decision made had an impact on young people, and called for moving

beyond lip service and creating more online and offline platforms, including in the media

and civil society, in order to engage young people and give them the opportunity to

influence decision-making.

36. Participants discussed whether setting voluntary or compulsory quotas were a

driving factor for promoting long-term, sustained inclusion of young people in political

processes, or rather stigmatized them. Most participants were of the view that quotas had

the potential to break the vicious cycle of young people’s marginal role in politics and

decision-making when they were supported by additional measures, such as legislation that

aligned the minimum voting age with the minimum age of eligibility to run for office,

automatic voter registration and limitations on electoral campaign expenses, to allow young

people to compete on an equal basis.

37. Participants discussed the need to create and preserve structures that offered

inclusive opportunities for youth to influence decision-making, drawing from existing

positive experiences at the local, national and regional levels such as participatory

budgeting, youth councils, youth parliaments and co-management systems. The role of

traditional political parties was also emphasized in the context of young people who wished

to enter politics, particularly youth belonging to the most excluded groups, including rural

youth, who often did not enjoy equal access to online platforms or to self-representation in

the media.

38. It was acknowledged that ICTs had the potential to improve political participation

and transparency, including by connecting grass-roots activities to institutionalized politics

through online monitoring and participation in parliamentary activities. However,

reservations were expressed with regard to a disturbing trend towards the proliferation of

inaccurate information available on social media, particularly in the so-called “post-truth”

era when objective facts were less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to

emotion and personal belief, and in situations where youth were “tech confident but not

tech competent”.

B. Recommendations

39. To ensure greater participation of youth, States should consider adopting or

amending national legislation to align the minimum voting age and the minimum age

of eligibility to run for office.

40. States and electoral management bodies, as appropriate, should consider

introducing quotas with the aim of increasing youth participation, with adequate

gender balance in parliaments and other elective positions. When quotas are

introduced, monitoring of compliance and implementation of sanctions for non-

compliance should be envisaged.

41. States should establish or strengthen accessible and inclusive structures, such

as local youth councils, youth parliaments or other consultative mechanisms, to foster

youth participation in all institutions. Such mechanisms should be grounded in law,

provided with an adequate budget and tasked with the formulation of

recommendations that should be acted upon and followed up.

42. National authorities and regulatory bodies at all levels should collect data to

track youth participation, representation and inclusion in political processes and

institutions. This could be achieved by, inter alia, creating focal points within public

institutions to collect and periodically publish data on youth participation,

representation and influence (e.g., a youth index).

43. To ensure inclusive online participation, States should take measures to

increase access to the Internet for marginalized and excluded youth, including

through media education programmes. These programmes should address the

technical fundamentals of the Internet and also explore how to harness youth

engagement to foster dialogue with political authorities and participation in political

processes via online platforms. Media education curricula should address issues

related to combating hate speech, xenophobia, sexism and gender stereotypes, racism

and any other form of intolerance.

44. As community media fulfil an important democratic role and contribute to

empowerment and media pluralism, States should provide an enabling legal

environment and financial support to youth-led media with a view to promoting the

right of youth to freedom of expression and participation, strengthening connections

between youth, civil society organizations and policymakers and raising awareness of

youth issues, particularly those affecting the most excluded youth.

45. States should introduce mechanisms to promote an intergenerational dialogue

within existing policymaking structures. The promotion of inclusive and safe spaces

for informal dialogue across generations should also be encouraged.

V. Participation of youth in sustainable development and human rights protection in specific contexts

A. Discussion

46. The moderator of the panel on agenda item 4 was Francine Muyumba, President of

the Pan African Youth Union. The panellists were Ana Saldarriaga, member of the

Supervisory Board of AIESEC; Scott Atran, anthropologist at the National Center for

Scientific Research of France, Oxford University and the University of Michigan; Hajer

Sharief, co-founder of Maan Nabniha (Together We Build It) and member of the advisory

group of experts for the Secretary-General’s progress study on youth, peace and security,

mandated by the Security Council in resolution 2250 (2015); and Martine Kessy Ekomo-

Soignet, founder of URU (Take off) and member of the advisory group of experts for the

Secretary-General’s progress study. Discussions focused on the role of youth in the

implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and in strategies for the resolution

of conflicts, peacebuilding efforts and the prevention of violent extremism.

47. Ms. Saldarriaga recommended that young people not be seen as an “issue” that

needed to be addressed in each of the Sustainable Development Goals, but rather as

protagonists and partners in making the Goals a reality. That perspective would help

challenge biased attitudes towards the role of youth and open channels for youth

participation in the implementation of the Goals. Ms. Saldarriaga identified three main roles

for youth: to raise awareness among young people about the Sustainable Development

Goals and their potential impact on their lives; to engage with local and national

governmental structures and hold them accountable for implementing the Goals; and to act

as role models and become influential leaders. She explained some of the challenges and

barriers encountered in strengthening the role of youth in the implementation of the

Sustainable Development Goals, such as the lack of transparent, accessible and inclusive

implementation plans and the lack of official channels for youth participation in measuring

progress. Gender inequality and discrimination against women were among the main

obstacles hindering young women’s chances to become influential leaders and drivers for

change. She proposed innovative ways to overcome those barriers that would involve

traditional and social media, both the public and the private sector and academia. As a

preliminary step, it was important to understand young people’s needs and to take into

account differences in cultures and education levels among youth, so as to leave no one

behind.

48. Mr. Atran noted that human rights, democracy and equality before the law had not

been commonplace notions for most of human history and across cultures, and that those

principles had been and would continue to be made to prevail only through costly battles.

He pointed out that youth had an important role to play in keeping those principles alive

and to ensure that radical Islam and xenophobic ethno-nationalism did not tear apart the

social and political fabrics. Yet, youth were becoming increasingly marginalized from

engagement with the political structure. With regard to the jihadi movement, he expressed

the view that perhaps never before in history had so few, with such meagre means, caused

such fear in so many, dominating global political discourse like no other subject since the

Second World War. He discussed the increasing involvement of women, especially young

girls, in facilitating social connections within that movement without being directly

involved in the violence or logistical support. To counter the movement’s ideology, rather

than focusing on counter-narratives with negative mass messaging, he advocated

engagement with real people and actual places. He cited as an example social development

projects initiated by young people, in consultation with local sheikhs, that had proven to be

successful in turning youth away from violence and fostering feelings of self-worth. He

also stressed the need to involve women and young people in all peace negotiations, and

warned against transforming youth into “just another advocacy group within the neo-liberal

framework of identity politics”.

49. Ms. Sharief referred to her experience of a society that had turned to violence. She

stressed the importance of the international community’s support in such environments and

highlighted the impact of such support on power structures on the ground. She invited

participants to reflect on some questions to be asked when such support was provided: who

were the recipients of international support? Who was entitled to take part in peace

negotiations? Who was recognized as an important player on the ground and whose security

was prioritized? Ms. Sharief welcomed the adoption of Security Council resolution 2250

(2015) and explained that, although the Council explicitly asked for the inclusion of youth

in peacebuilding processes, the question remained how to make the resolution relevant to

local communities. Drawing from her experience, including with the implementation of

resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security in Libya, she explained that one of

the main challenges in translating such resolutions into reality at the local level was that

they were difficult for local communities to understand. What was needed was to explain

the world to the United Nations, not to explain the United Nations to the world. Ms. Sharief

also referred to a friend who had been killed by an armed group in Libya because of his

work in defending youth human rights, and asked participants to join her in paying tribute

to the human rights defender by standing up and promising never to remain silent and to

speak up for human rights.

50. Ms. Ekomo-Soignet offered some insights into the situation of youth participation in

the peace process in the Central African Republic. She stressed that the notion of human

rights did not necessarily resonate with young people, who sought specific and tangible

solutions for difficulties in their daily lives and were often not familiar with human rights

instruments. Small initiatives had the potential to inspire other young people to engage and

sensitize their communities, local leaders and international actors to seek practical and

durable solutions. She regretted the focus on sensational stories and recommended adopting

a bottom-up approach to making human rights more relevant. She provided an example

from the largest internally displaced person camp in her country, where young people

succeeded in regaining freedom of movement where international organizations had failed,

simply because youth belonging to the Muslim community and Christian youth wanted to

play football together. She explained how social cohesion had been restored, and that

Christian children were able to return safely to schools close to the Muslim neighbourhood

and women to the local market, thereby having a concrete impact on their human rights.

She asked young leaders to mobilize and work with the 75 per cent of young people in the

Central African Republic who were currently affected by armed conflict and to think of

actions that could have a real impact at the local level. Turning to the participation of youth

in peace negotiations and peace processes, she regretted the lack of structured and

systematic participation by young people, particularly those most marginalized and living

in rural areas, in peace initiatives at all levels.

51. Participants discussed the importance of youth taking the Sustainable Development

Goals to the grass-roots level and translating them into concrete achievements. In that

regard, participants provided examples of successful activities that might be replicated in

various country situations, including partnering with the business sector, to champion the

implementation of the Goals. The importance for youth organizations to assess the

convergence of the Sustainable Development Goal targets with existing State initiatives,

policies and programmes and to secure the Government’s support for the implementation of

youth-led projects, including those aimed at ensuring that youth needs and expectations

were effectively met, was also emphasized.

52. Participants highlighted the potential of the Sustainable Development Goals to

provide young people with concrete means to improve their lives, which in turn could

contribute to countering the appeal of violent extremist groups. Factors that pushed young

people to join extremist movements were discussed, including the assumption that

socioeconomic marginalization was the exclusive driver for radicalization, disregarding the

importance of the aspiration to feel empowered and part of a community that some youth

sought by joining extremist groups.

53. Participants identified some of the major challenges that hampered youth

participation in peacebuilding and peace negotiation processes, including the lack of

recognition of the positive role youth could play in implementing the peace and security

agenda. Such an approach was often based on narratives that described youth either as the

people most likely to be violent and receptive to appeals to take up arms and violent

extremism, or as mere victims of conflicts. Consequently, youth were consulted only

sporadically, most often through ad hoc meetings. Participants also recognized the

difficulties that youth, particularly marginalized youth, faced in securing funds to cover

their participation in multi-stakeholder conferences and forums where peace and security

issues were discussed and important decisions made.

54. Participants also discussed possible synergies between Security Council resolutions

2250 (2015) and 1325 (2000) and the lessons learned from the latter, particularly with

regard to effective initiatives to translate abstract concepts such as peace and security into

local reality.

B. Recommendations

55. States should ensure that young people are encouraged to develop a sense of

opportunity and ownership in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals and are

engaged in their implementation. This can be achieved, for example, by raising

awareness about the 17 Goals and their relevance to local needs through campaigns

and other creative approaches, particularly in remote areas and among marginalized

young people. In this context, States should provide safe spaces for youth to express

their concerns, needs and priorities in relation to the implementation of the Goals.

They should also work with youth to ensure that implementation plans take local

needs into account.

56. Traditional media should disseminate information to help youth, particularly

youth with no access to the Internet, understand the Sustainable Development Goals

and their potentially transformative impact at the local level. The media should

support accountability initiatives and mechanisms, including by disseminating

information on actions undertaken by the authorities, their shortcomings and

achievements in the implementation of the Goals. Moreover, the media should

contribute to fostering a dialogue between Governments and young people, including

by providing youth with the opportunity to express their views and to influence

decision makers.

57. States should allocate adequate political, technical and financial support to

ensure that Security Council resolution 2250 (2015) is relevant to local communities,

that the resolution is implemented and that it gives rise to concrete peace and security

programmes and policies. Such programmes and policies should be designed,

implemented and monitored with the full, effective and meaningful participation of

youth organizations and youth from local communities. States should commit to

provide adequate financial support to such organizations and work with them to

ensure their participation in efforts towards the implementation of the peace and

security agenda, including raising awareness on resolution 2250 (2015) and its

potentially beneficial impact at the local level.

58. States should establish mechanisms for the sustainable, effective and

meaningful participation of youth in peace negotiations, peacebuilding and

transitional justice initiatives and processes. Special attention should be given to

groups that are often disproportionately affected by conflict, such as young people

with disabilities, internally displaced youth and refugees and young women and girls,

to ensure their participation in peace negotiations and peacebuilding initiatives,

including by creating safe spaces to raise their specific concerns.

59. Youth-led initiatives that have proven to contribute to peacebuilding should be

recognized, promoted and supported. The media should promote the positive role of

young people in peace-related initiatives, as well as disseminate successful stories of

youth-led initiatives at the local level.

60. Responding to the multifaceted drivers and conditions contributing to the

emergence of violent extremism requires comprehensive and sustained participation

of young people at all levels of decision-making. Any measures and programmes to

prevent violent extremism should comply with human rights norms and standards

and include a major focus on strengthening the local and endogenous capacities of

youth for preventing violent extremism and on supporting the resilience of

communities to threats of violent extremism, including through mutual support and

community-based mentorships.

61. States should develop violence-prevention strategies that are in full compliance

with their human rights obligations and that go beyond simple security responses, for

example, by ensuring that youth have the opportunity to contribute to the

development of their communities. Attention should be paid to ensuring that such

measures neither discriminate against nor stigmatize particular groups or

communities.

VI. Moving the global youth agenda forward: the role of youth in shaping the agenda of the United Nations and regional organizations

A. Discussion

62. The moderator of the panel on agenda item 5 was Mr. Alhendawi. The panellists

were Max Trejo Cervantes, Secretary-General of the Ibero-American Youth Organization;

Alexander Kauschanski, former youth delegate to the United Nations from Germany and

member of the World Federation of United Nations Associations; and Rita Muyambo, Head

of Programmes for the World Young Women’s Christian Association. Discussions related

to measures to ensure the participation of young people in the work of the United Nations

and regional organizations, including possible avenues for young people to bring

allegations of human rights violations before international and regional human rights

mechanisms, and ways to ensure that issues relevant to youth were considered by those

mechanisms.

63. Mr. Trejo Cervantes described the activities of the Ibero-American Youth

Organization and its mandate to provide a platform for working towards ensuring the

human rights of millions of young people living in the region, and outlined the

organization’s achievements. Among the initiatives it had promoted were the Ibero-

American Pact for Youth and the Ibero-American Convention on the Rights of Youth and

its additional protocol. He explained that the Pact had been developed with young people,

including Afrodescendants, indigenous people and representatives of the lesbian, gay,

bisexual and transgender community, through a participatory, inclusive and bottom-up

approach and taking into consideration young people’s expectations and diverse

experiences. The Pact provided a legal and programmatic framework for the development

of concrete actions and tangible initiatives developed by and with young people in 21

States. It was complemented by a plan of action for the effective implementation of youth

rights through a holistic and comprehensive approach in which participation featured as a

cross-cutting right. The guarantee of youth participation as a right was also made explicit in

the updated Ibero-American Convention and its additional protocol, international legally

binding instruments dedicated to the promotion and protection of the rights of young

people. He concluded by recalling that young people were strategic stakeholders, economic

players and agents of social change, and noted that the positive developments in the field of

youth participation had shown that youth participation was no longer an idea, but a fact.

Mr. Trejo Cervantes urged relevant stakeholders not to limit their efforts to merely listening

to the voices of youth but rather to act upon them.

64. Mr. Kauschanski shared his experiences as a young person participating in decision-

making at the international level. He explained that the role of youth delegates was to

strengthen linkages between civil society and the United Nations. At the international level,

for example, that translated into the responsibility to draw attention to youth concerns and

ideas when important resolutions were negotiated and adopted, as well as to advocate for

more youth representation in international decision-making forums. At the national level,

youth delegates, through their access to politicians, could contribute to making the priorities

of the international community a political reality. They raised awareness among young

people about the United Nations, shared ideas and empowered youth to engage with

political processes. Despite the recommendations made since 1981 to Member States to

include youth in their delegations, only about 35, mostly developed, countries (the highest

number in the history of the youth delegate programme) included youth in their delegations

to United Nations meetings. However, aside from the youth members of State delegations,

many young people had taken concrete action to make their voices heard at the

international level, including representatives of youth organizations, young human rights

defenders and unpaid United Nations interns. All those efforts combined were now paving

the way for the enhanced participation of youth in the United Nations. Mr. Kauschanski

made a plea to all participants to continue their engagement to empower the young

generations to take an active role in decision-making.

65. Ms. Muyambo discussed the role of youth in the work and activities of the Human

Rights Council and her experience with the organization of the youth forum at the

Commission on the Status of Women, as well as of the first youth forum held in connection

with the Council, prior to its thirty-second session. Ms. Muyambo welcomed the adoption

by the Council of resolution 28/14 establishing the Forum and congratulated the Permanent

Mission of Romania to the United Nations Office at Geneva and the core group for having

created a space for young people. She shared lessons learned from the youth forum of the

Human Rights Council, and stressed the need to educate youth about the mandate of the

Council and to provide clearer guidance on how young people could participate and engage

meaningfully with its work, including the universal periodic review. Ms. Muyambo raised

the issue of how to ensure that discussions held in the Forum would have an impact at the

local level, particularly among the most marginalized youth, including young women. She

noted the high level of frustration among young people, who already felt distant from

policymaking at the local level, and how such frustration was amplified vis-à-vis the work

of the Council, which was perceived as being even further away from their reality.

66. Participants discussed whether an international legally binding human rights

instrument for youth rights would strengthen the protection and promotion of those rights.

Reference was made to the regional experiences in Latin America and Africa and to the

Ibero-American Convention and the African Youth Charter, and to the potential benefits of

a youth-specific binding instrument provided that such an instrument comprehensively

addressed the fast-evolving challenges and needs of today’s young generation.

67. The possibility of establishing new mechanisms to strengthen the protection of the

rights of youth at the international level was also discussed. Participants referred to the

possibility of creating a dedicated new special procedure of the Human Rights Council.

Reference was also made to a possible joint general comment on the rights of youth to be

adopted by human rights treaty bodies. Participants were of the view that, aside from any

new mandate, mechanism or instrument, more efforts should be deployed to make better

use of existing human rights monitoring mechanisms, including by mainstreaming youth

rights in the work of those mechanisms and by strengthening the implementation of States’

human rights obligations at the national level. It was also suggested that the Council should

consider requesting the submission of a report containing an in-depth analysis of the

obstacles faced by young people in the exercise of their human rights. It was also

recommended that guidance be developed for States regarding the adoption and

implementation of rights-based approaches to national youth policies.

68. Participants acknowledged that the United Nations had made good progress in

making youth rights visible across the system, including through the creation of the

mandate of the Special Envoy of the Secretary General on Youth and the adoption by the

Security Council of resolution 2250 (2015). Nevertheless, much more needed to be done,

for instance, with regard to the establishment of a youth delegate programme in all

countries and the systematic inclusion of youth delegates in States’ delegations to the

various United Nations organs and bodies. That would be particularly important for

engaging and obtaining the support of older generations of decision makers in ensuring that

youth rights were a priority in the United Nations system, as “youth speaking to youth”

would not be likely to change anything. Participants agreed that the Human Rights Council

should offer more channels and entry points for the voices of youth, particularly in the light

of its mandate as the main body responsible for the global promotion and protection of

human rights. In that context, participants welcomed the panel on youth and human rights

that had been held during the thirty-third session of the Council.

B. Recommendations

69. International and regional intergovernmental organizations should ensure that

their member States’ legal and policy frameworks guarantee the effective promotion

and protection of the human rights of youth, including the inclusive, full and effective

participation of youth in decision-making.

70. States should guarantee the right of young people, individually and in

association with others, to unhindered access to, and communication with,

international bodies, in particular the United Nations, its representatives and human

rights mechanisms. They should create the conditions to support the participation of

young people in regional and international forums and, in particular, their

engagement with regional and international human rights mechanisms. This should

include the removal of barriers to their meaningful participation, such as undue

restrictions placed on the sources of funding of youth associations and overly

restrictive legislation on freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association,

and freedom of movement.

71. States should consider creating mechanisms to ensure effective and meaningful

participation of youth in the work of the Human Rights Council, including through

youth consultative mechanisms and the participation of youth in relevant discussions,

including as expert members of panels. States should include or increase youth

representation within their delegations to all relevant regional and international

forums, notably the Council. Youth activists should consider assisting States in this

effort, including by advocating for the creation in their country of a youth delegates

programme with adequate financial resources.

72. Civil society organizations, in their respective areas of expertise, should more

consistently draw attention to issues related to the human rights of youth, including

when interacting with United Nations human rights mechanisms. They should also

include or increase participation of young people in their delegations to regional and

international human rights forums and facilitate their engagement with regional and

international human rights mechanisms.

73. States and civil society organizations should invest in education, training and

awareness-raising initiatives at the local level to raise awareness among young people

with regard to regional and international human rights instruments and mechanisms,

including individual communication procedures.

74. In the context of the universal periodic review, Governments and civil society

organizations should regularly submit information and make recommendations about

youth rights. Youth-related recommendations should be widely disseminated by

Governments and civil society organizations in order to ensure adequate follow-up.

VII. Concluding remarks

75. In their concluding remarks, both Co-Chairs expressed their appreciation to all

participants for their engagement and commitment, and thanked all panellists and

moderators for their excellent contributions and the Office of the United Nations High

Commissioner for Human Rights for the organization of the Forum.

76. Mr. Mukashev summarized the main issues that had been discussed over the two

days of the Forum and recalled the importance of combating discrimination, the need for

the empowerment of youth and the importance of education to ensure more meaningful

participation of young people. He expressed his satisfaction at the large number of

participants and encouraged youth delegates to attend the next session of the Human Rights

Council in March 2017, when the report of the Forum would be presented. He concluded by

saying that, beyond the challenges faced by youth, the inspiration and hope that had

permeated the first session of the Forum gave him solid ground for believing that the

inspiration it had generated would be manifested in a world where youth voices were heard

and taken into account. He invited all participants to remember the importance of listening

to young people. All measures taken to implement the recommendations of the Forum

should be developed, implemented, monitored and assessed in consultation with, and with

the participation of, young people, including young women and girls.

77. Mr. Alhendawi said that the Forum represented an important landmark for

advancing the youth human rights agenda. He stressed that Governments and nations

should remain united around the common objective of advancing human rights for all, and

should not fail the largest young generation in history. He expressed the hope that

democracy and the rule of law would continue to benefit from the talent, enthusiasm and

contributions of young people. He mentioned the “Not Too Young to Run” campaign

launched by his Office together with partner organizations with the aim of raising

awareness on the challenges young people faced in running for elected office. While

recognizing that the challenges to youth participation remained enormous, Mr. Alhendawi

was confident that progress was possible, with the support of the United Nations and others.

He also expressed the hope that the Human Rights Council would continue to pay attention

to the question of youth participation and youth rights.