"La familia: Escuela de la dignidad y el entendimiento mutuo" - World Youth Alliance hace un llamamiento a la Reunión de Alto Nivel sobre Juventud para centrarse en las necesidades básicas de los jóvenes mediante el fortalecimiento y apoyo a la familia.

Nueva York: 22 de junio 2011Cientos de jóvenes de varios países han participado en Nueva York durante el lunes, 25 de julio al asistir a las Naciones Unidas para la Reunión de Alto Nivel sobre Juventud. La delegación de WYA a la reunión, contiene miembros de 19 países, que participaron en tres días completos de entrenamiento del 24 al 26 de julio en la sede de WYA.WYA activamente ha presentado sugerencias y enmiendas para la Declaración Política, que será el documento-resultado de la conferencia. Las propuestas de WYA se han centrado en la importancia de las familias de los jóvenes para garantizar el acceso a la nutrición, educación, salud, servicios sociales, empleo y actividades culturales. La familia es también el lugar donde tiene lugar y se respeta por primera vez el diálogo y el entendimiento mutuo; éste el tema de la conferencia.WYA apoya la inclusión de la "familia" en el documento final como una de las instituciones importantes que ayuda a garantizar los derechos de los jóvenes en la sociedad y que fomenta la integración social, la solidaridad inter-generacional, la educación no formal y el crecimiento económico. "La familia es el primer lugar que los jóvenes no sólo aprenden acerca de su dignidad como seres humanos sino también de la comprensión mutua en un contexto donde no todos están de acuerdo", señala Rebecca Marchinda, Directora de Incidencia de WYA. "Para una persona joven, la familia es la clave para satisfacer las necesidades básicas como la educación y la nutrición. Por lo tanto, no puede ser ignorada en el documento final de esta reunión de alto nivel. "Para más información sobre la World Youth Alliance y nuestra labor de incidencia, incluyendo las actualizaciones en la participación WYA en la ONU reunión de alto nivel sobre la juventud, por favor visite nuestra página web o comunicarse con la Directora de Incidencia de WYA, Rebecca Marchinda (becky@wya.net).En este Blog, Ud. podrá leer la "Esperanza!" publicada por WYA durante la Reunión de Alto Nivel sobre Juventud.World Youth Alliance es una coalición mundial de jóvenes dedicados a la promoción de la dignidad de la persona humana en la política y la cultura y a la construcción de la solidaridad entre los jóvenes de naciones en desarrollo y jóvenes de naciones en vías de desarrollo. Con aproximadamente un millón de miembros en más de 160 países, World Youth Alliance es una de las mayores coaliciones de jóvenes en el mundo. www.wya.net

Family: School of Dignity!

For Immediate Release “The family: school of dignity and mutual understanding”- World Youth Alliance calls upon the UN High Level Meeting on Youth to focus on the basic needs of young people by strengthening and supporting the family New York City: June 22, 2011 Hundreds of young people from various countries will descend upon New York City on Monday, July 25th to attend the United Nations High-level Meeting on Youth. World Youth Alliance’s delegation to the meeting, which contains members from 19 different countries, is invited to three full days of training from July 24 – 26 at World Youth Alliance (“WYA”) headquarters. WYA has actively submitted suggestions and amendments for the Political Declaration, the outcome of the conference. WYA’s proposals have focused on the importance of the families of young people in guaranteeing access to nutrition, education, healthcare, social services, employment and cultural activities. The family is also the place where dialogue and mutual understanding, the theme of the conference, is first carried out and respected. WYA supports the inclusion of “family” in the outcome document as one of the important institutions that helps to guarantee the rights of young people in society and that fosters social integration, intergenerational solidarity, informal education and economic growth. “The family is the first place that young people learn not only about their dignity as human beings but also about mutual understanding in a context where not everyone agrees,” notes Rebecca Marchinda, WYA’s Director of Advocacy. “For a young person, family is the key to fulfilling basic needs like education and nutrition. Therefore it cannot be ignored in the outcome document of this high-level meeting.” For more information on the World Youth Alliance and our advocacy work, including updates on WYA’s participation at the UN High-level Meeting on Youth, please visit our webpage or contact WYA Director of Advocacy, Rebecca Marchinda (becky@wya.net). Click here to view WYA's Esperanza for the High Level Meeting on Youth. The World Youth Alliance is a global coalition of young people dedicated to promoting the dignity of the human person in policy and culture and to building solidarity between young people of developing and developed nations. With approximately one million members from more than 160 countries, the World Youth Alliance is one of the biggest coalitions of young people worldwide. www.wya.net To view a PDF version of this press release, click here. Click here to view the WYA at the UN HLMY Press Packet

Working Towards Dialogue and Mutual Understanding Among Youth as Agents of Development, Social Inclusion, Tolerance and Peace

This year’s High Level Meeting on Youth, concluding the UN International Year of Youth, will be dedicated to Dialogue and Mutual Understanding. The United Nations has invited a limited number of youth delegates to dialogue on issues they are facing today, so as to foster “mutual understanding,” among youth but also between authorities and youth. The World Youth Alliance and its members also prepared for the meeting and ensured that the voice of the world’s young people would be heard by representatives of Member States and the Secretariat of the U.N. In order to accomplish this, we proposed a series of amendments to the outcome document, and I was in charge of doing the initial analysis and creating an outline of our proposals.

In preparation for this meeting, the UN Secretariat issued a draft outcome document that Member States were invited to amend and develop. This document heavily drew upon the World Programme of Action on Youth (WPAY), drafted and signed by the General Assembly in 1995. But it also refers to other international texts–including the Millennium Development Goals. Draft amendments were proposed, accepted, altered or refused; paragraphs were deleted and moved; new issues were added. All in all, keeping a clear head while following this process and drafting our own amendments and proposals has been challenging.

There are ten priority areas addressed by the international community in the WPAY. These are all reflected in the final outcome document of this week’s High Level Meeting. The title of the document implies that the HLMY is about dialogue and mutual understanding. However, besides a few introductory paragraphs, only Paragraphs 18 and 26 specifically mention the official theme of the conference. The following title would have better mirrored the substance of the draft: “Involving youth with a view to more effective and better focused development.” The current draft combines the MDGs with the WPAY and focuses mostly on development issues: fostering “development,” enabling “youth development” and implementing the Millennium Development Goals. Therefore, the World Youth Alliance has strong hopes that young people from developing countries will be well-represented.

The World Alliance proposed three amendments to the draft outcome. The first emphasized respect for the dignity of the human person as the foundational principle underlying human rights. The second stressed the special vulnerability of young people to the multiple challenges that the world at large faces. The third added a dimension that is too often forgotten: the family plays a very important role of the life of all young people, since it is the first setting in which a youth learns how to dialogue, understand and compromise with the persons closest to him.

Personally, I would have added much more: An emphasis on the best interests of youth, a more pronounced acknowledgment of the role men and boys play in respecting women and fostering gender equality, an encouragement to strengthen policies supporting family unity as a measure to prevent crime, a stated need for policies supporting the integral development of each person in order to bring about “youth development.” I trust, however, that despite the absence of these issues in the final document, representatives of States will keep them in mind by implementing the outcome according to the principle of subsidiarity. In the end, the main challenge of my work on amendments was the likelihood that with so many proposals, none of them would make their way into the next draft. I just had to restrain myself and keep to the most essential ones. I didn’t realize how much reading would have to be done just to analyze a UN outcome document, but I enjoyed every minute and gladly accepted the challenge.

Bernadette

WYA Member, France

Age 29

Esperanza!

The Value of Family Promotion in Protecting the Intrinsic Dignity of the Human Person

The World Youth Alliance welcomes the General Assembly’s proclamation of the International Year of Youth: Dialogue and Mutual Understanding. Youth represent a significant proportion of the world and are therefore not only the future, but also the present. The World Youth Alliance recognizes that educating and empowering youth is integral to the improvement of social and economic conditions and the well-being and livelihood of future generations. The World Youth Alliance also recognizes that all persons have intrinsic dignity; it is only through respecting this dignity that the ideals of peace, freedom, justice, tolerance, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, solidarity and development can be effectively achieved.

With this as our foundation, it is clear that authentic human development begins with investment in the human person. This needs to ensure that the person is placed in the right conditions and environment to foster his well-being, fulfillment and productivity. Such investment must begin with the family, which the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares is the “fundamental unit of society.”

The family promotes a stable environment that is necessary for the person to flourish. Children with supportive parents are more likely to be engaged with their school education at home and receive help from their parents if faced with difficulties. Also, with the support of the family, children are encouraged to strongly value their education and are often guided to pursue post-secondary education. With a supportive family, an attitude of positive optimism and future ambition is cultivated. Indeed, the family encourages development of skills and concepts necessary for social change. For instance, the family plays an invaluable role in the child’s development of language and speech and the nurturing of cognitive abilities. This is consistent with the established relationship between language and power and the fact that language is fundamental to human agency and social transformation.

Discrimination, isolation and poverty are integrally linked. When the person is isolated from her family she is more susceptible to discrimination due to the associated vulnerability that comes with the absence of support and solidarity. The UN Committee on Educational, Social and Cultural Rights has correctly recognized that poverty is often caused by people having no access to existing resources because of who they are, what they believe or where they live. Especially in developing countries, belonging to a family provides more locus standi, and allows for easier integration into the wider community.

Statistics have shown a clear and consistent relationship between the ideal of united families and economic buoyancy. For instance, when compared to single adults, married adults have a significantly higher average household income. Likewise children of married parents in comparison to those of unmarried parents have been found to do better economically. The breakdown of the family unit goes against the world’s aspirations for forward strides to be made in social and economic matters. Research has shown that divorced adults, especially women, experience greater economic hardship.

Promoting the family is essential to providing the right conditions for the human person to develop and flourish. The simple and yet integral value of family promotion is often overlooked in international documents. Promoting the family would have far-reaching positive effects on education and empowerment of the human person. It will also work to negate the possibilities of discrimination and thus enhance dialogue and mutual understanding as well as increase the integration of youth within society at large. Strong family units lead to the development of strong young men and women, empowered and equipped to positively contribute to our world, and to ensure the dignity of every person is recognized. The World Youth Alliance recognizes that dignity is something shared by all human persons and therefore there must be solidarity in recognizing this immutable fact. The essence of family promotion is to promote solidarity in its most fundamental form.

A Call to Action!

Letters from World Youth Alliance members in Saint Lucia

Dear delegate, I am an eighteen year old, and I have written this letter in hopes that some of the issues facing Saint Lucian youth may be alleviated. I believe that my homeland is blessed with many beautiful young persons, some of whom are not granted the necessary opportunities to nurture their God-given talents. I say this because most of the crimes committed in my country are committed by young persons between the ages of fifteen to thirty. Most of these individuals lack opportunities–either for education or opportunities which stimulate good impulses for instance, the importance of being a good citizen. I believe there should also be forums and development programmes on parenting as some youth may be poverty stricken and parenting as some youth may be poverty stricken and parenting as some youth may be poverty stricken and suffering from neglect from parents and the home, indeed is where it all starts. I believe that young persons with so much energy to spend need to be channeled in the right direction. We need development programmes, more education opportunities, mentors, counselors. Young persons need help and guidance. We need to know that there is still hope despite any predicament, be it poverty, teenage pregnancy or parental neglect. People in St Lucia are very critical of St Lucian youth because of all the crimes. We are considered to be lazy and fail in comparison to the generations that have gone before us, or so the adults say. Regardless, I do admit that it would be an amazing feeling to have a sense of security restored when walking the streets. Sincerely, Latonia Age 18 Saint Lucia Sir Arthur Lew Community College

Dear delegate, Quality education is the gateway to the development of our world in order to impact our community; we must learn to harvest the infinite reserves of the human mind. Yet, millions of youth from around the work are constantly denied opportunities of self-awareness and realization. Human dignity is denied when education is withheld. In countless instances where education is provided it serves not necessarily to encourage brilliance and ingenuity of thoughts, but rather to dampen creativity and force conformity. Education must inspire us to grow and change to have the audacity to create. To solve this issue the developing world must adapt comprehensive policies which recognize both the human and strategic importance of education. True education should be filled with both compassion and information. Teachers should receive adequate training so as to inspire their students. Students must be supplied with relevant and advanced materials which encourage them not only to accept conventional teaching, but also to discover the world around them. Measures should be implemented to build student confidence in order to produce emotionally intelligent and balanced world citizens. Inadequacies in teaching compromise both student self-esteem and ability to learn. We in the developing world grow weary of waiting. It is the hour for change. Sincerely, Jarnickae Age 16 Saint Lucia St Mary’s College

You’re invited to join us at…

Our Voices, Our Aspirations: A Youth Dialogue on Sustainable Development

A High Level Meeting on Youth side event sponsored by the Bahá’í International Community United Nations Office, Alas de Rio, and the World Youth Alliance.

Tuesday, July 26^th from 1:15-2:45pm ~ 866 United Nations Plaza, Suite 120 ~ RSVP: bic-nyc@bic.org

ART SPEAKS

Art Speaks will celebrate the conclusion of the High Level Meeting on Youth with an evening of performances by professional actors and musicians, a photography and sculpture exhibit, short film screenings, and testimonials by young delegates and participants from the High Level Meeting on Youth.

Tuesday, July 26^th from 7-9pm ~ World Youth Alliance Headquarters ~ FREE ADMISSION

228 East 71st Street, New York, NY / www.wya.net