European Youth Forum launches a book on International Law of Youth Rights
On 7 December, at the United Nations Office in Geneva, Switzerland, the European Youth Forum presented a two-volume book on International Law of Youth Rights. The book results from a compilation of legal sources from the United Nations and international and regional conventions on youth rights and it was revised by professor Jorge Cardona from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Jaakko Weuro, Doctor Giuseppe Porcaro and Giorgio Zecca.
Johanna Nyman, president of the European Youth Forum, stated that “this book is an important stepping stone, but it is not enough: we need a convention stating the rights of young people, in order for us to know what our rights are.”
According to the authors, the youth faces specific challenges related to age, that may not be referred in existing treaties. Cardona pointed out that many instruments used in youth rights are soft law and not binding regulations.
For more information: European Yout Forum
The United Nations calls for youth participation
The Security Council of the United Nations recognized the importance of Youth in the peacebuilding actions to take nowadays.
Today’s generation of youth is the largest the world has ever known and that young people often form the majority of the population of countries affected by armed conflict. (…) Youth for many of those adversely affected by armed conflict, including refugees and internally displaced persons, and that the disruption of youth’s access to education and economic opportunities has a dramatic impact on durable peace reconciliation (2015, UN Resolution 2250).
The efforts of youth in sustainability, inclusiveness and success of peacekeeping and peacebuilding are also recognized by the UN, that goes further and encourage the active engagement in shaping lasting peace and contributing to justice and reconciliation.
Youth will be called, as relevant actors in peacebuilding, to give their contribution in the negotiation process and implementation of the peace agreements, in order to build sustainable peace in all societies.
The full resolution can be read here.