12 August 2020
This generation is resilient, resourceful and engaged - António GuterresIn 1999, 12 August was first declared International Youth Day by the UN General Assembly, which gives an opportunity to celebrate and mainstream young people’s voices, actions and initiatives. International Youth Day has been served not only as an annual celebration of the role of young women and men as essential partners in change, but also as a promotion to engage youth in becoming more actively involved in making positive contributions in their communities.
This year, the international Youth Day highlight the theme of Youth Engagement for Global Action to enrich national and multilateral institutions and processes by engaging young people at the local, national and global levels.
In view of the fact that COVID-19 global health emergency poses considerable risks in all aspects of life for all groups in society, young people, however, are shouldering much more of the long term social and economic consequences of the crisis. It is well-documented that young people are underrepresented in political participation, electoral activity, and parliamentary involvement in many domestic contexts, while this crisis has magnified the problems of structural and societal barriers and biases such as perceived inexperience and a lack of supportive networks.
In the light of the issues and current vast majority of challenge such as COVID-19, the International Youth Day 2020 aims to shed light on the need of youth and ensure the meaningful engagement and participation of young people in global actions at the local, national, and global levels. Particularly, it seeks to put the spotlight on increasing the fairness of political processes by reducing democratic deficits, enabling young people to participate in formal political mechanisms.
Permanent link: http://en.unesco.kz/international-youth-day-12-august-2020