International youth sector: legislation
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3.4. LEGISLATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL YOUTH SECTOR
3.4.1. Key International and Regional Legislation and Documents Pertaining to Youth
There is very little international legislation on youth that is binding on states. Probably the most important pieces of legislation are the general human rights conventions that establish rights especially important to young people; e.g., the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, which protects children and young people up to the age of 18, taking into account the vulnerabilities that particularly affect them because of their age, or the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which in establishing the rights to health and information, has established the basis for the promotion of the sexual and reproductive health of young people. While these establish rights and protection for certain aspects of young people’s lives and while international institutions have been able to use these documents as a mandate and legitimation for establishing programs relevant to young people and their development, they are not youth-specific pieces of legislation.
Nevertheless, a long list of international political declarations, recommendations, resolutions, and other documents has been elaborated on youth and youth-relevant themes. Even if these do not constitute legally binding legislation, which governments must adopt, they play an important role in establishing standards and good practice in relation to youth policy development and implementation at the national level. On the one hand, these documents provide the nongovernmental sector with benchmarks to legitimate their advocacy. On the other hand, their provisions can be transformed into program objectives and concrete interventions.
This can be a lengthy and unsatisfactory process, given the institutional logics in force. This is best exemplified by the World Program of Action on Youth, which is in effect a set of targets or principles toward which governments have agreed to work in support of young people. But it has no enforcement mechanism, and even the World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth, which adopted it, has not been sufficiently institutionalized for regular reviews of progress to take place. Enforcement mechanisms are least developed and there is no international consensus about the need or justification for a legally binding “international youth policy” approach that should be followed by all member states of the United Nations, for example. In fact, there is very little support for such a unilateral “one size fits all” approach, which for many smacks of social engineering.
At the regional level, some importance has been given to charters, which provide a common multilateral (regional) basis for individual state implementation. These are agreements to which individual states commit, through a process of adoption and ratification, after which they are somehow morally bound to implement the provisions. These provide real advocacy tools to the nongovernmental youth sector. The African Youth Charter and the European Charter on the Participation of Young People in Local and Regional Life are good examples, although there has been a lot of foot-dragging on ratification, especially concerning the African Youth Charter. In addition, certain kinds of political declaration, while having no legislative implication or value, have had significant influence on the political will and awareness of youth policy-related issues and concerns. This is certainly the case of the European Youth Pact,which since its declaration has accelerated the action of the European Union in the youth field. It acts as a statement of principle, and the fact that it was made by several heads of state, gives it political weight, both with other heads of state and in terms of chances for implementation.
It should also be recognized that the chances for implementation and for enforcement of some kind are significantly influenced by processes of regional integration. Europe is, of course, the best example. With successive waves of deeper and wider integration, the responsibility of the European Union and its regional partners (the Council of Europe, for example) for youth affairs has increased and become more accepted by member states, even considering the regularity with which national governments change.
Advocacy is certainly required to ensure that national governments implement existing legislation and respect the provisions of other nonbinding documents. There is a tendency in the face of a lack of progress to multiply declarations and documents rather than to resolve the barriers to the implementation of existing tools. In addition, strengthening the capacity of youth organizations and platforms to advocate by themselves and collectively at all levels from local through international for the implementation and respect of the various key documents is also urgent, especially in those regions where resources for the functioning of youth organizations are not available.
Braga Youth Action Plan (World Youth Forum)
1998
www.un.org/events/youth98/yforum98/bragayap.htm
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
1979
www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/cedaw.htm
The Convention on the Rights of the Child
1979
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm
Dakar Youth Empowerment Strategy
2001
www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/documents/dakar.doc
Declaration on the Promotion among Youth of the Ideals of Peace, Mutual Respect and Understanding between Peoples
1965
http://www.un-documents.net/a20r2037.htm
The Habitat Agenda and the Istanbul Declaration of the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II)
1996
www.un.org/esa/devagenda/habitat.html
ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work
1998
http://www.ilo.org/declaration/lang–en/index.htm
The Resolution concerning youth employment, ILC, 93rd session, Geneva
2005
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/ilc/ilc93/pdf/resolutions.pdf
A comprehensive list of ILO Conventions and Recommendations relevant to work and young persons, is available at:
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/support/lib/resource/subject/yestandards.pdf
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
1996
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/ccpr.htm
International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights
1966
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/cescr.htm
Lisbon Declaration on Youth Policies
1998
http://www.unfpa.org/webdav/site/global/shared/parliamentarians/docs/LisbonDeclarationENGFINALedited.pdf
Platform for Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women
1995
www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/declar.htm
Rome Declaration on World Food Security and World Food Summit Plan of Action of the World Food Summit
1996
www.fao.org/docrep/003/w3613e/w3613e00.htm
Special Session on Social Development (Copenhagen+5), Geneva
2000
www.un.org/esa/socdev/geneva2000/
United Nations Guidelines for Further Planning and Follow-Up in the Field of Youth
1985
www.un.org/documents/ga/res/44/a44r059.htm
United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (The Beijing Rules)
1985
http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/40/a40r033.htm
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
1948
www.un.org/Overview/rights.html