Policies and programmes involving youth : resolution / adopted by the General Assembly

  • Author: UN General Assembly (44th sess. : 1989-1990)
  • Document source:
  • Date:
    8 December 1989

The General Assembly,

Recalling its resolution 43/94 of 8 December 1988,

Recalling also its resolution 40/14 entitled "International Youth Year: Participation, Development, Peace", adopted on 18 November 1985 by the General Assembly acting as the United Nations World Conference for the International Youth Year, by which the guidelines for further planning and suitable follow-up in the field of youthwere endorsed, and its other relevant resolutions,

Recalling further its resolutions 32/135 of 16 December 1977 and 36/17 of 9 November 1981, by which it adopted guidelines for the improvement of the channels of communication between the United Nations and youth and youth organizations, and its other relevant resolutions,

Recalling its resolution 40/16 of 18 November 1985 entitled "Opportunities for youth" and its other relevant resolutions,

Recalling also its resolution 36/29 of 13 November 1981 and its subsequent resolutions in which it, inter alia, recognized the need to adopt appropriate measures for securing the implementation and the enjoyment by youth of human rights, particularly the right to education and to work,

Having considered the report of the Secretary-General submitted in accordance with resolution 43/94,

Recognizing that the guidelines for further planning and suitable follow-up in the field of youth provide a constructive framework for a long-term strategy in the field of youth,

Expressing its serious interest in systematically consolidating and building further on the results of the International Youth Year in order to contribute to the increasingly active participation of young people in the political and socio-economic life of their countries,

Convinced of the importance of making the channels of communication between the United Nations and youth and youth organizations more effective and efficient as a means of providing adequate information on young people and of encouraging their active participation in the United Nations system at the national, regional and international levels,

Recognizing that in many countries the majority of young people, under prevailing critical social and economic conditions, are facing serious problems in the exercise of their right to education and to work and that insufficient education and unemployment of young people limit their ability to participate effectively in the development process and impede their full integration into society,

Emphasizing that the suitable education of young people, which equips them with proper and up-to-date skills and qualifications, prepares them for entering the labour market at a level commensurate with their skills,

Noting that the year 1990 will mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the proclamation by the General Assembly, in its resolution 2037 (XX) of 7 December 1965, adoption of the Declaration on the Promotion among Youth of the Ideals of Peace, Mutual Respect and Understanding between Peoples,

1.         Calls upon all States, all United Nations bodies, in particular the Economic and Social Council through the Commission for Social Development, the specialized agencies and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations concerned, in particular youth organizations, to continue to exert all possible efforts for the implementation of the guidelines for further planning and suitable follow-up in the field of youth;

2.         Appeals to all States to adopt effective measures, in accordance with their legislations, particularly in the fields of teaching and education, culture, and information, in order to strengthen and promote among nations and, primarily, among youth understanding, mutual respect and friendship, for further progress towards an international climate free of mistrust and discord;

3.         Requests the Secretary-General to promote and monitor intensively, by using the Centre for Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs of the Secretariat as a focal point, the inclusion of youth-related projects and activities in the programmes of United Nations bodies and the specialized agencies, specifically on such themes as communication, health, housing, culture, youth employment and education, drug abuse and the environment;

4.         Calls upon Member States, United Nations bodies, the specialized agencies and other governmental and intergovernmental organizations to implement fully the guidelines relating to the channels of communication adopted by the General Assembly in its resolutions 32/135 and 36/17;

5.         Requests the Secretary-General to organize a meeting, from extrabudgetary resources if necessary, between United Nations bodies and the specialized agencies concerned and non-governmental youth organizations to discuss the problems of existing channels of communication between the United Nations system and youth organizations with a view to improving those channels and establishing effective structures of communication and co-operation between youth and the United Nations;

6.         Also requests the Secretary-General to develop methods that indicate specifically how the channels of communication could efficiently be attuned to youth-related projects and activities of the United Nations organs and of the specialized agencies, and to include in a report, on the implementation of the present resolution, to be submitted to the General Assembly at its forty-fifth session, concrete suggestions for co-operation between the United Nations system and the non-governmental youth organizations;

7.         Calls upon youth mechanisms that have been set up by youth and youth organizations at the national, regional and international levels to continue to act as channels of communication between the United Nations and youth and youth organizations by putting forward their proposals for co-operation with the United Nations system and, where such mechanisms do not exist, recommends that national co-ordinating committees of the International Youth Year should continue to act as channels of communication;

8.         Calls upon all States, all governmental and non-governmental organizations, interested United Nations bodies, in particular the Economic and Social Council through the Commission for Social Development, and specialized agencies to continue to give priority to the formulation and implementation of effective measures for securing the exercise by youth of the right to education and to work, with a view to resolving the problem of unemployment among youth;

9.         Calls upon Member States to enable young people to obtain a proper and up-to-date education and to pay increased attention to the promotion of the employment of youth in all sectors of the economy, thereby facilitating their integration into social and professional life;

10.       Stresses the importance for youth and youth organizations of freedom of association, in accordance with the relevant national legislation, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other relevant international human rights instruments, that would enable their active and direct participation at all stages of implementation of the policies, projects and activities organized at the local, national, regional and international levels in the field of youth;

11.       Emphasizes that providing education and employment to each young person is a worthy goal for all States and should serve the full development of the human being, which can best be ensured by countries that respect the fundamental rights and freedoms of everyone;

12.       Requests the Secretary-General to continue to explore the possibilities for a linkage between the Centre for Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs and the Institute of HOPE '87, referred to in his report, taking into account the importance of that Institute for promoting, technically and financially, income-generating youth employment projects;

13.       Again invites Governments to include youth representatives in their national delegations to the General Assembly and other relevant United Nations meetings and international conferences dealing with youth-related issues, thus enhancing and strengthening the channels of communication through the discussion of such issues, with a view to finding solutions to the problems confronting youth in the contemporary world;

14.       Invites Governments and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to contribute generously to the United Nations Youth Fund, in order to enable it to continue its mandated role and to contribute effectively to the needs of developing countries in the field of youth;

15.       Requests the Secretary-General to continue to include the United Nations Youth Fund among the programmes for which funds are pledged at the United Nations Pledging Conference for Development Activities;

16.       Also requests the Secretary-General to prepare a report on the implementation of the guidelines for further planning and suitable follow-up in the field of youth and to include therein a draft programme of action to mark the tenth anniversary of the International Youth Year and to submit the report to the General Assembly at its forty-eighth session, through the Commission for Social Development and the Economic and Social Council;

17.       Decides to consider the item entitled "Policies and programmes involving youth" at its forty-fifth session on the basis of the report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of the present resolution.

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