Youth and Global Progress

Abstract

The celebration of the International Year of Youth (IYY) during the period 12 August 2010 - 11 August 2011 and the High-level Meeting of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on Youth: Dialogue and Mutual Understanding (New York, July 25-28, 2011) encouraged a large and significant debate about youth and global progress. The article analyzes the positions of the UN Member States on the necessity to move from commitments to results-oriented actions in the field of youth. The specific challenges and opportunities facing a very important population group in its march to progress, as well as the main ways and means for advancing young people’s aspirations, human rights and fundamental freedoms are scrutinized on the basis of the most relevant and recent UN, UNESCO and ASEAN documents.

The critical approach demonstrated by youth representatives towards current plans of action on youth issues, as well as some important and far-reaching initiatives formulated at global and regional levels recognizing the close relationship between youth and global progress are presented in a detailed manner in the article. Existing development strategies have to be adapted to make youth a more dynamic agent of global progress. One of the main conclusions is that by actively promoting an universalist vision of progress, the younger generation has the historic chance to provide a solid building block for a new world order based on fundamental values proclaimed by the UN.