The role of youth in the promotion and protection of human rights, including the question of conscientious objection to military service

39 (XXXVII). The role of youth in the promotion and protection of human rights, including the question of conscientious objection to military service

The role of youth in the promotion and protection of human rights[1]84 The Commission on Human Rights, Recalling that the Charter of the United Nations expresses the determination to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war and to promote social progress and development, Noting that the United Nations is called upon to promote, among other things, better standards of living, full employment of the population and favourable conditions for economic and social progress and development, Bearing in mind that young people constitute a substantial proportion of the world's population and play an important part in all fields of human activity, and that the future belongs to them, Drawing attention to the particular importance of promoting in every way the large-scale participation of young people in socially-useful activities to further the economic and social development of their country and safeguard economic, social, cultural, political and civil rights, Reaffirming the need to educate young people in the ideals of peace and mutual understanding among nations, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and dedication to the aims of social progress and development, Convinced that young people can make a valuable contribution to the economic and social development of their country, to international co-operation and to efforts to establish a new international economic order, Considering that States should first of all take action at the national level to create conditions that enable young people to play an effective and active role in the economic and social development of their country, Welcoming the designation of 1985 by the General Assembly of the United Nations as International Youth Year with the slogan "Participation, development, peace",

1. Emphasizes the important role of young people in the promotion of their country's economic and. social development, especially in the efforts to overcome such obstacles to social and economic development as colonialism and neo-colonialism, all forms of racial discrimination, racism and apartheid, foreign domination and occupation, aggression and threats to national sovereignty, national unity and territorial integrity, and denial of the right of peoples to self-determination and the exercise of full sovereignty over their natural wealth and resources;

2. Calls upon States Members to take the necessary action to encourage and ensure the active participation of young people in the formulation and implementation of programmes for the economic and social development of their countries and in the efforts to surmount obstacles to that development;

3. Decides to consider at its thirty-eighth session the question of the role of youth in the promotion of the social and economic progress of peoples.



[1]84 Adopted at 1640th meeting, on 12 March 1981, without a vote. See chap. XVI.
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