Celebrating the young
International Youth Day will be celebrated at United Nations headquarters in New York with the global launch of the International Year of Youth on August 12. The event will be a celebration of young peoples' energy, imagination and initiatives, and will recognise their crucial contributions to enhancing peace and development.
It is important to recognise that, because of young people's positive contributions to society, the international community has increased recognition of the significance of youth populations in advancing development. And, through that shift in consciousness, we find ourselves celebrating a year dedicated to addressing youth development with focused attention.
As we acknowledge young people as the impetus to this historical event, we cannot help but be inspired by their efforts to jumpstart the Year with enthusiasm and sustained momentum over the next 12 months.
The upsurge in recent years of the number of youth-led organisations is a testament to the fact that today's young people are dedicated social activists possessing sophisticated skills, and are effectively mobilising for collective action despite the multi-faceted challenges they confront.
As the focal point on youth for the UN system, the United Nations Programme on Youth has the unique advantage of organising, participating in and tracking youth-related efforts taking place in every corner of the world. Every day, we learn about the initiatives young people are conceptualising and implementing -- often with profound creativity and compassion -- which adds great value to, and inspires, our own work.
All young people possess unique talents that they may utilise to develop creative activities to raise awareness on issues affecting them and their communities. Talent can be so much more than one might think, and it is sometimes hard to know what talent one possesses. This Year yields an excellent opportunity to find and identify our inner talents by taking action to raise awareness and to contribute something positive to our society.
It is when you work together with others to change or improve something in your community that you have a chance to find out what your talents are. Perhaps, you speak several languages, have artistic abilities, are an excellent communicator, are a natural leader, an effective mediator, possesses project management skills including accounting skills, are good at identifying problems and targeted solutions or motivating and mobilising others. The list can be quite long.
Youth inspire us everyday. We hope they will also serve as sources of inspiration for you to celebrate the International Year of Youth: Dialogue and Mutual Understanding.
There are roughly 70 million unemployed young people in the world today, and many more are struggling for survival on low wages and in poor working conditions, often in the informal sector, with little or no job protection, benefits or prospects for the future. Unemployment affects young people disproportionately; the 15-to-24 age group accounts for more than 40% of the world's total unemployed, and youth unemployment rates are typically two to three times higher than the rates for adults.
Being unemployed as a youth takes an enduring toll, damaging prospects for employment later in life. To break this destructive circle of despair, poverty, and social instability, the United Nations, the International Labour Organization and the World Bank have jointly launched a Youth Employment Network to come up with proposals that cover the full range of the challenge of youth employment.
Young people should be at the forefront of global change and innovation. Empowered, they can be key agents for development and peace. If, however, they are left on society's margins, all of us will be impoverished. Let us ensure that all young people have every opportunity to participate fully in the lives of their societies.
The idea for International Youth Day was proposed in 1991 by the young people who were gathered in Vienna, Austria, for the first session of the World Youth Forum of the United Nations System. The Forum recommended that an International Youth Day be declared, especially for fund-raising and promotional purposes, to support the United Nations.
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