Youth below the age of 35 constitute more than 74% of the population and this proportion will be a constant given the age pyramid for the next two decades. More than half the population (55.1%) is less than 20 years of age.

The development of youth is hampered by several factors which include: (i) the failure of institutional frameworks characterized by poor coordination of youth associations and sports, inadequate and lack of diffusion of existing texts, (ii) insufficient or poor state of infrastructure for socio-educational purposes and sports, … (iii) a large deficit in staff quality, as well as in design, animation, management, monitoring and evaluation of social and educational activities and sports, (iv) unemployment, (vi) the difficulties of access to youth health services, … (v) non-involvement and participation of youth in public life, especially in decision-making. The issue of employment and socio-economic integration remains a major concern given the unemployment and underemployment affecting young people, in particular women and disabled people. Faced with this major challenge, several initiatives have been taken to facilitate their integration into working life.

The Committee is concerned at the high level of gender-based violence, with nine out of ten women aged between 15 and 64 being victims of violence in 2012.

The Committee is […] concerned at the limited budgetary allocations to the education sector and that one third of children remain completely deprived of access to education. The Committee is particularly concerned that: (a) The disparity in schooling between boys and girls remains an important challenge in all indicators related to education; […] (c) Only one child in every 5 ends primary school at the required age of 12; the teacher/pupil ratio remains high, 44.1 for primary and 35 for secondary education; giving teachers less time to devote to students thereby reducing the quality of education. Between 2000 and 2001, thousands of young people, including children as young as 13 were recruited into militias known as “Young Volunteers”, operating under the Ministry of Defence to participate in counter-attacks against Liberia, and that many of them have been integrated into the army, whereas the remain der were reportedly abandoned to their fate; and only a small minority of the “Young Volunteers” followed the process of demobilization in 2004 and that a large number of former child soldiers lived, without any support, in the country’s forests.

The socio-economic situation in 2012 was characterised by persistent poverty (with a 55.2% poverty incidence) even though reforms aimed at reviving economic and social development were implemented and the HIPC Initiative completion point was reached at the end of September 2012.

The political scene has long been conspicuous for inadequate dialogue between the protagonists, in particular in respect of the conditions of the organisation of the forthcoming parliamentary elections. Tensions have however eased, relatively speaking, with the government taking into account some of the opposition’s demands, such as suspension of the process of revising the electoral register and recomposition of the independent national electoral commission (CENI) on a basis of parity. But as was shown by recent events at the beginning of March 2013, a crisis of confidence still prevails between the different actors in political life.

Most household income comes from work. Less income from work means greater poverty. Analysis of the labour market shows that in recent years there has been a shift in the structure of employment towards less productive jobs such as employment in micro-businesses, household work and caregivers. This has undoubtedly been helped by the expansion of the informal sector and more widespread underemployment. It is accordingly important that the measures to be taken to foster the expansion of employment be accompanied by steps to increase workers’ productivity. Between 2002 and 2010, the unemployment rate rose from 10.2% to 15% in Conakry, but dropped from 6.7% to 3.2% in towns in the country’s interior. The fall can be better explained by migration to the capital than by an increase in job opportunities.

The government has instituted a work of dialogue and concentration on issues relating to youth employment and in August 2012 launched a plan to help the socio-economic inclusion of young people and women at risk through operations seeking to soak up youth and female joblessness. It also continued initiatives to help young people enter active life through construction work on infrastructure to recycle plastic and organic waste.