Institutionalized processes of cooperation
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3.2. INSTITUTIONALIZED PROCESSES OF COOPERATION
The institutionalization of international cooperation in the youth field has taken many years and is still a work in progress. Governments do not take lightly the idea that anyone else, whether it is an international institution, a nongovernmental organization, or another state, should have a say over their sovereign fields of responsibility. This is no different in the youth field, although it has a long history of international cooperation, and some consider it a model field in this regard.
Even so, many of the present-day mechanisms for international cooperation suffer the trappings of nineteenth-century style realpolitik in international relations. It, therefore, remains difficult to speak about the development of “international youth policies,” except possibly with respect to those few cases of international legislation pertaining to youth issues that are legally binding on nation-states.[14]
Nevertheless, the youth field has managed to develop some consensus and several agreements on the way in which national youth policies should be made and conducted, and even if not legally binding these have significant weight and have provided the nongovernmental sector with benchmarks for holding governments to account.
3.2.1. Cooperation Among Governments
In this subsection we include those mechanisms of cooperation between governments that are globally recognized and legitimated by the United Nations. Other forms of cooperation are organized by transnational organizations, such as the Catholic Church, but these do not involve governments per se and as such, do not have the necessary recognition to be understood as policies. This is because, until today, the responsibility and mandate for working out and implementing youth policies lie primarily with governments.
World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth and World Youth Conference
http://www.un.org/events/youth98/ and
The first World Conference of Youth Ministers took place in Lisbon, Portugal, August 8–12, 1998. Representatives of 146 nations committed their governments to placing national youth policy formulation, implementation, follow-up processes, and funding at the highest political levels. They adopted the Lisbon Declaration on Youth Policies and Programs, thereby agreeing to develop national youth policies and operational programs at the appropriate levels, and to implement international commitments and youth policy goals. In addition, they committed to introducing measurable time-bound goals and indicators to allow a common basis for national evaluation of the implementation of the agreed policies (see www.un.org/events/youth98).
The last World Youth Conference (WYC 2010) was held in Mexico City from August 24 to 27, 2010. WYC 2010 was a meeting point for representatives of governments, civil organizations, academic institutions and the general public. Prior to the WYC 2010, a series of regional preconferences were held to record the experience of the world’s major regions and facilitate the establishment of consensuses and recommendations during WYC 2010 (see http://www.youth2010.org).
World Program of Action on Youth (WPAY)
www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/ga60.htm#documents
The World Program of Action on Youth is a blueprint for action that covers 15 priority areas.[15] In principle, international action, especially in the UN, should aim to fulfill the objectives and meet the targets set in this program. Many international youth organizations (in cooperation and individually) also promote the implementation of the provisions of the WPAY. In 2005, the UN conducted a ten-year review of the WPAY to evaluate progress made in its member states. During this event, many countries were represented by national youth delegates. Delegates from youth organizations and UN Agencies attended as observers. The implementation of the WPAY will also be on the agenda of the 2010 World Youth Conference.
3.2.2. Cooperation Among Nongovernmental Organizations
Regional platforms play a particular role in the youth nongovernmental sector. In accordance with the principles of representative democracy and co-management, the Regional Youth Platforms (RYPs) aim to (1) bring together nongovernmental youth organizations in a given region to discuss and understand the main concerns and challenges of the young people who are associated with them, and (2) to convey those concerns to regional and international political bodies that have a role in the elaboration of youth policies.
Effective participation of young people in global decision making processes and policy implementation implies that youth organizations with a global and regional scope of action are able to:
- exchange information, experience and concerns
- influence political processes and decisions of international institutions
- work/impact on youth
- increase co-operation at the regional level in order to be stronger and overcome individual limitations
- work together on common thematic priorities and to put focus on global youth work
(As stated in YFJ policy paper 0605-04, Adopted by the General Assembly, 11-13 November 2004 – Madrid, Spain).
The composition of regional platforms can complicate and even undermine their democratic legitimacy. In many regions, the platforms are made up of national youth councils, which depending on the country and region concerned can, in fact, be government-operated nongovernmental organizations (GONGOs).
In some regions, these were the organizations of young people associated with national liberation movements that subsequently came into government as the parties of power. Where this is the case, regional platforms have been known to advertantly and inadvertently exclude grassroots nongovernmental youth movements, thereby developing monopolistic relations with government. In response, nongovernmental youth organizations, especially the international nongovernmental youth organizations (INGYOs) with global reach and activities in the region, have sought to establish their own coordinating platforms, often without sufficient resources to ensure sustainability and effectiveness of advocacy.
Stronger platforms (notably the European Youth Forum) and some large INGYOs with global reach, have taken initiatives to develop support mechanisms for the development of more representative and democratic regional platforms and for cooperation and exchange of experience among different kinds of nongovernmental youth platform active internationally. But these efforts have been frustrated by political developments in the regions concerned and by the lack of political and financial support for regional platforms from key regional and international funders. In addition, international youth NGO coordination activities are currently not supported financially by any international institution and, therefore, INGYOs and RYPs often do not have the financial means to be regularly represented at the meetings of the two main coordinating bodies, the Global Cooperation Coordinating Committee (GCCC) and the International Coordination Meeting of Youth Organizations (ICMYO).
The Global Cooperation Coordinating Committee (GCCC)
The GCCC is a network of regional nongovernmental youth platforms from around the world. The GCCC was established in 1997 in response to the need for regional youth platforms to work together on common global issues affecting young people. The GCCC is convened by the European Youth Forum. The objectives of the GCCC are to create a space to improve communication among the respective platforms (information and agenda exchange); create a space for meeting and dialogue (once or twice a year); coordinate the participation and involvement of the platforms in global youth work and global events, while respecting the independence of each; and effectively share and conserve the scarce resources available for the work of regional youth platforms.The GCCC meetings are the principal space for RYPs (Regional Youth Platforms) to come together to share information and report on their activities; this is also a political space where decisions are taken on the priorities for the global cooperation between RYPs. As of 2008, its members were the African Youth Network, the Arab Youth Union, the Asian Students Association, the Asian Youth Council, the Caribbean Federation of Youth, the European Youth Forum, the Latin American Youth Forum, the Pacific Youth Council, and the Pan African Youth Union.
International Coordination Meeting of Youth Organisations (ICMYO)
http://icmyo.wordpress.com/
ICMYO brings together membership-based, democratic, representative, and accountable INGYOs and RYPs in a platform for coordination. The main objectives of ICMYO are the strengthening of cooperation among youth organizations at the regional and global levels and the coordination of political inputs to global youth policy processes. The ICMYO is organized at least once a year under the responsibility of a taskforce (as of 2008, World Student Christian Federation, Young Men’s Christian Association, World Organization of the Scout Movement, and the European Youth Forum). Between meetings, organizations participating in ICMYO function as an informal network. ICMYO convened for the first time in 2004. The most recent meeting took place in June 2009, hosted by the European Youth Centre Strasbourg (Council of Europe, Directorate of Youth and Sport) and the European Youth Forum. It is an open structure that functions on the basis of voluntary participation of youth organizations meeting predefined criteria. In November 20010, ICMYO’s members included:
Regional platforms, namely Asian-Pacific Students and Youth Association (ASA), Asian Youth Council (AYC), Caribbean Federation of Youth (CFY), Foro Latinoamericano de Juventud/Latin American Youth Forum (FLAJ), Pacific Youth Council (PYC), Union Panafricaine de la Jeunesse/Pan-African Youth Union (UPJ/PYU), and the European Youth Forum (YFJ);
International Youth Organisations, namely International Association of Student of Economics and Commerce (AIESEC), CPLP Youth Forum (FJCPLP), Espacio Iberoamericano de Juventud, Global Young Greens, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), International Federation of Liberal Youth (IFLRY), International Falcon Movement – Socialist Educational International (IFM/SEI), International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA), International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), International Movement of Catholic Students (IMCS), International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY), International Young Catholic Students (IYCS), International Young Democrat Union (IYDU), International Movement of Catholic Rural and Agricultural Youth (MIJARC), World Association of Girl Guides & Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), World Esperanto Youth Organisation, World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY), World Organization of Scout Movement (WOSM), World Student Christian Federation (WSCF), World Alliance of YMCAs (YMCA), and the World Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA).
Global youth forums are held all the time by many different kinds of organizations. But “global youth forum” does not necessarily denote policy-making capacity or legitimacy. Only certain world gatherings of young people can be considered as directly contributing to policy making, even if it has become popular among international organizations to organize such youth events as a means of “consulting” young people on strategies and actions. Clearly, there is a difference between the direct participation of the representatives of young people and their organizations in policy making and the consultation of young people at a global youth forum.
Global youth forums with a recognized policy-making role are usually organized by the United Nations System with the support of other key international or regional stakeholders, involve participants recruited using some form of representational principle, and involve from the outset in their organization both governmental and nongovernmental partners. This approach to participation respects key principles of the youth sector such as co-management or youth–adult partnership.
World Youth Forum, Braga, Portugal, 1998
www.un.org/events/youth98
From August 2–7, 1998, the United Nations organized the third World Youth Forum. Five hundred young people from around the world met in Braga, Portugal, to discuss youth policies, youth participation, and youth rights. Their recommendations were presented the following week to over 100 government leaders at the first World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth, held in Lisbon, August 8–12. The participants of the World Youth Forum issued a declaration, called the Braga Youth Action Plan (available at www.un.org/events/youth98/yforum98/bragayap.htm).
World Youth Conference, Mexico City, Mexico, 2010
http://www.youth2010.org/site/index.php
To mark the 25th anniversary of International Youth Year 1985 the UN has declared the 12 month period starting with 12 August 2010 International Youth Year. To mark the occasion, the government of Mexico and the UN system are organizing a World Youth Conference and a World Conference of Ministers responsible for Youth. The results of discussions at these events are to feed into the process of review of the MDGs and to improving international policies relevant to young people.
The aim of the WYC were:
- To identify action priorities on youth issues to be included in the international agenda for development beyond the Millennium Goals. This forum will allow strengthening cooperation links among the countries and social actors involved in youth policies. Specifically,
- To reach a consensus on a governments’ Declaration that identifies action priorities for youth and development policies, which will be submitted in September this year during the LXV period of sessions of the United Nations General Assembly.
- To develop a mechanism that follows up the youth agenda in the United Nations.
- To create dialogue between the organizations and governments that pay attention to youth needs at a global level.
- To share experiences and knowledge on diagnosis, policies, strategies and programs on youth issues and development.
The main topic of the conference was the follow-up of the Millennium Development Goals, which basically are based in eight points; however, the agenda will be enriched with the outcomes of several pre-conferences that will be held previously in different regions of the world and that will summarize the expectations and problems of youth in every continent.
UNESCO Youth Forums
http://portal.unesco.org/youth
Since the beginning of the 2000s, UNESCO has regularly organized youth forums to enhance networking among young people involved in its youth programming and to receive feedback on UNESCO policies and proposed programs. The latest edition was the 6th and took place in October 2009.
3.2.4. Interregional Youth Forums
Africa-Europe Youth Summit
www.coe.int/t/dg4/nscentre/Youth_Summit_en.asp
The Africa-Europe Youth Summit was organized on the initiative of the North–South Centre of the Council of Europe and took place in Lisbon, Portugal, December 5–7, 2007. It gathered 250 representatives of youth organizations from Europe and Africa and 60 observers from governments, regional and international organizations, and the media. The participants prepared a declaration to the heads of state during the second EU-Africa Summit (Lisbon, December 8–9, 2007), which took place immediately afterward.
Euro-Latin American Youth Forum (FEULAT)
www.feulat.org
FEULAT is an event organized annually by the European Youth Forum and the Latin American Youth Forum in cooperation with the Spanish Youth Council and with the support of the Spanish Youth Institute and the Ibero-American Intergovernmental Organization. FEULAT is a meeting point for Latin American and European youth organizations with a view to strengthening and consolidating Euro-Latin American cooperation. It takes place in the framework of the University on Youth and Development organized annually by the North–South Centre of the Council of Europe, the Spanish government, and the Spanish Youth Council.
3.2.5. Other Influential World Youth Events
Even if they do not have a direct influence on policy making through an institutionalized process underwritten by a legitimate body such as the United Nations, several of the following global youth events are influential in that they attract large numbers of young people and are organized by influential organizations and bodies that have access to resources and the media, and benefit from a degree of international credibility. These events are a channel for gauging international youth opinion on key youth and broader policy issues.
G8/G20 Youth Summit
http://www.g8youthsummit.org/index.php
The G8/G20 Youth Summit as a premier international youth conference that brings together young leaders representing the Group of Eight (G8) and Group of Twenty (G20) nations to facilitate discussions of international affairs, promote cross-cultural understanding, and build global friendships. The goal is to bring together young leaders from around the world to engage in dialogue about the most pressing issues facing world today, and to collectively voice their opinions to governments worldwide.
Rework the World – Youth Employment Summits
www.yesweb.org and www.reworktheworld.org
Since 2002, the Youth Employment Summit (YES) Campaign 2002 – 2012 has been promoting the creation of sustainable livelihoods for young people. Since its inception it has convened 4 major Youth Employment Summits (in 2002 in Egypt, in 2004 in Mexico, in 2006 in Kenya and in 2008 in Azerbaijan). The most recent summit took place in Sweden in June 2010.
World Youth Congress
www.wyc2008.qc.ca/index.php?rand=1801164078
The fourth World Youth Congress, “Youth-Led Development,” brought together 600 of the world’s most dynamic young activists in the field of sustainable development to Quebec from 120 different countries in August 2008. The World Youth Congress is organized by Peace Child International and Taking It Global.
World Youth Day (WYD)
www.wyd2008.org
World Youth Day, organized by the Catholic Church, is the largest youth event in the world. Held every several years, WYD is a weeklong series of events attended by the Pope and hundreds of thousands of young people from all over the globe. The week culminates in a final Mass celebrated by the Pope on the last day (the actual World Youth Day). Typically, it is the largest event of the week and has drawn millions of people. The latest was held in Sydney, Australia, July 15–20, 2008.
Footnotes