The United Nations set aside August 12 every year as International Youth Day to draw governments and other stakeholders’ attention to issues, including legal and cultural, surrounding the young people across the world.
The idea for International Youth Day was proposed in 1991 by the young people who attended the first session of the UN World Youth Forum held in Vienna, Austria.
The UN General Assembly on December 17, 1999 endorsed the recommendation made by the World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth that August 12 be declared International Youth Day.
The celebration gives young people from all walks of life the opportunity to truly be active participants in the social and political life of their societies, as well as in the multilateral projects.
ISSUES AFFECTING YOUTHS
Issues affecting young people vary across countries and regions. For young people, the problem of unemployment, underemployment and poor job quality have proven to be a serious challenge that required serious attention from authorities.
A survey revealed that youth are more likely to be unemployed than adults with the number of young people currently out of job across the world pegged at 14.2 percent in 2021.
The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine that has shot up prices of food and energy resulting in hunger, and inflation – is a typical example of how conflicts affecting millions around the world, including children, cause discomfort and alter societal process.
There are other cases that exposed the world’s fragility such as the COVID-19 pandemic which highlighted the need for strong global health security and many countries remain at risk.
There’s also the impact of soaring inflation on families and children.
There is also a problem of food insecurity occasioned by climate change bottlenecks in key supply chains, and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
As prices go up, families across the world find it tougher to feed their children.
This, therefore, reinforced the need for governments to make the world’s food systems more resilient to mitigate the problem.
Other issues include the energy crisis, especially in countries like Nigeria, Niger, Mali, Uganda and others in Sub-Saharan Africa where inadequate supply and sharp increase in energy prices are making life uncomfortable for millions of citizens, and nothing forgetting, the threat to democracy.
The latter is more pronounced in West and Central Africa, two regions that had recorded seven military takeover of governments since 2020.
To be continued…
Adegboyega Shobiye
Copy Editor
News Dept., Union Television
LiDa Broadcasting Systems
