INTERNATIONAL YOUTH DAY 2009: “SUSTAINABILITY: OUR CHALLENGE. OUR FUTURE”

The 12th of August each year is commemorated as International Youth Day.
The General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) adopted resolution 54/120 on 17 December 1999 to endorse the recommendations made by the World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth (held in Lisbon from August 8 to 12, 1998) that 12 August should be declared International Youth Day.
The Assembly recommended that public information activities should be organized to support the day as a way to promote better awareness of the World Programme of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and Beyond which was also adopted by the General Assembly in 1995 in resolution 50/81. This is to recognize the imagination, ideals and energies of young people as vital for the continuing development of the societies in which they live.
Earlier in 1965 the Member States of the UN acknowledged this when they endorsed the Declaration on the Promotion among Youth of the Ideals of Peace, Mutual Respect and Understanding between Peoples.
Two decades later the UN General Assembly then observed 1985 as the International Youth Year with the theme Participation, Development and Peace which drew international attention to the important role young people play in the world and in particular, their potential contribution to development.

The World Programme of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and Beyond is therefore supposed to guide policy initiation and implementation in the area of youth and youth development. In its original form, the World Programme of Action for Youth (WPAY) outlined 10 thematic areas to be addressed. However in 2007 Member States agreed to add five additional areas.
The first ten areas of WPAY are education, employment, hunger and poverty, health, environment, drug abuse, juvenile delinquency, leisure-time activities, girls and young women and the full and effective participation of youth in the life of society and in decision-making. The other five added in 2007 comprise globalization, information and communication technologies, HIV/AIDS, conflict, and intergenerational issues.
Each of the fifteen priority areas is meant to reflect the three themes of the International Youth Year: Participation, Development and Peace. These objectives are interlinked and mutually reinforcing.
Last year’s celebration was on the theme “Youth and climate change:Time for Action”. And this year’s celebration is on the theme “Sustainability: Our Challenge. Our Future.”
Sustainability does not only refer to maintaining environmental balance and renewal. Sustainability encapsulates three facets of life: the environment, society and the economy. We live our lives in the overlaps and intersections of these facets, and our actions and attitudes help shape them. Their changing shapes in turn affect the way we are able to live our lives. The negative effects of unsustainable behaviour are not easily contained.
For instance it is estimated that Ghana may lose its forest cover in 23 years. Statistics has it that Ghana’s forest cover has shrunk from 8.3 million hectares in 2000 to 1.5 million hectares in 2006 and continue to deplete at a rate of 65000 hectares. This gives clear indications that programmes on aforestation may not be yielding the desired results.
In the area of the economy. There are five economic indicators which are the rate of inflation, the interest rate, the exchange rate, the GDP growth rate and the rate of unemployment. In 2005 the World Youth Report estimates that about 88.2 million youth are unemployed globally and according to the estimations of the International Labour Organisation this represents a significant 14.5 percent of young persons who are unemployed in the world.
In Ghana, at President Kufour’s first major press conference at the castle Osu, the then President of the Ghana Journalist Association, Madam Adjoa Yeboah Afari asked the then President of the Republic about the unemployment rate. The President observed that the figures are not readily available and indicated that the Ghana Statistical Service was not adequately resourced to produce these figures. While this situation is worrying, it is not surprising due to the nature and character of unemployment itself coupled with the reluctance of many job seekers to make full disclosure over their employment situation.

Indeed the unemployment situation is a youthful phenomenon. The unemployment rate in the younger age group 15 to 24 is more than twice that of the 25 to 44 age group and more than thrice that of the older age group of 45 to 64. Conscious efforts must therefore be made to provide gainful employment opportunities to the youth. The policy of the government of Ghana to freeze employment in the public sector does not seem to go down well with many.

Youth unemployment is only a tip of the iceberg. Although more difficult to quantify, there are two other groups that together suffer similar frustrations as the unemployed: the discouraged youth and the working poor. Permit me to say that the youth are hardworking and not lazy. A careful look at streetism will justify how young people living on the streets struggle and work very hard to survive though they may be on the streets through no fault of theirs.

Graduate unemployment is a big issue, so is streetism. Streetism has the tendency to breed violence, armed robbery and drug addiction – all of which are injurious to the human person with a high social cost.

This brings our attention to the society. There seem to be a general challenge in parenting. The phenomenon of cyber fraud and armed robbery are profound statements on the issue of parenting. The burdens of keeping a responsible family as a basic unit of society seem to increase by the day. Our social and religious forums must be seen to articulate the essence on maintaining a family that conforms to societal norms and values.

The WPAY and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) should together help us maintain a clear view about the future. Priority must be placed on education if we want to make much progress. Government, policy-makers and the civil society should give special attention to promoting free and universal education up to the second cycle level in poor communities where the opportunity costs to staying in school are prohibitively high for young people and their families. Stakeholders must in particular give their unconditional support to the Capitation Grant. It is observed that investing in youth in rural areas in a way that decreases their likelihood of migrating would have the added effect of helping to improve conditions for young people in urban areas.

Access to free education is not only one of the eight MDGs or one of the fifteen priorities of the WPAY but a provision of Article 25 of the 1992 constitution of Ghana, whose wording is almost the same as Article 13 of the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Finally the saying that the youth are the future leaders is at best a cliché. Whilst the youth may not view it as ruse intended to render us inactive till the future comes, it may have factual deficiencies. The fact that the youth are the part of the current generation that is more likely to be a part of the future generation is without doubt. Youth participation in all aspects of society is therefore essential to our sustainability and continuous development. It is through participation that we will understand the rationale of the decisions of today and those meant for the future.

We welcome concerted efforts by all stakeholders to harness the potentials of the youth. The National Youth Council in particular must make available to all stakeholders the contents of Ghana’s national youth policy if there is any.
From the foregoing let us emphasise on the need to adopt a global sense of social responsibility. With this in mind, and as the energizers of today and the holders of tomorrow, it is imperative that the youth embrace the challenge of sustainability in its fullness as they help pave the way forward through the 21st century and beyond. Youth action, inclusion, and their full participation are keys to developing today’s world for the generations of today and tomorrow. And there is no gain saying that these are central to a sustainable existence.

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Saeed Musah-Khaleepha
rafani@email.com
+233(0)208121764
Box NB 889, Nii Boitown, Accra, Ghana and
Box AS 194, Asawasi, Kumasi, Ghana.