ICMYO Press Release: Global youth organisations demand action at UN high‐level meeting on youth

New York, July 26, 2011 – In his opening speech at the UN High Level Meeting Ban Ki-Moon asked all of the youth delegates present directly, “Are we doing enough for you? Can we do more?” The participating organisations of ICMYO joined the chorus of the youth in the General Assembly Hall and shouted, “No!” (you are not doing enough) and “Yes!” (you can do more).

Representatives of participating organisations of the International Coordination Meeting of Youth Organisations (ICMYO) advocated for the essential role of youth in development and the commitment of resources for youth, including investing in youth organizations, at the first United Nations High-level Meeting on Youth in 25 years.

Development depends on investing in youth
Government delegations and hundreds of young activists from around the world participated in the major meeting, which took place on the 25th and 26th of July at the UN headquarters. The ICMYO delegates supported the World Programme of Action for Youth (WPAY) as a continuing strategy and called for its fast and effective implementation in order to achieve internationally-agreed development goals such as the MDGs. ICMYO demanded a set of indicators in order to monitor the implementation at all levels. They also promoted youth-led organisations, national youth platforms, and regional youth platforms as the most effective partners in reaching and mobilising young people in these efforts.

Highlights from the 2nd day of ICMYO 2011 – by Paola Silva, IFLRY

Early Sunday morning, not precisely the day and time when people are used to seeing young people gathered to work, but indeed it happened. The session started with the proposal from the European Youth Forum about the common statement on the situation in Norway. ICMYO organizations agreed to support the proposal and the statement will be released.

They have come from all corners of the world to represent their organizations at the ICMYO and High Level Meeting on Youth

Key issues for young people and youth organizations
Four working groups started the first session of our second day at the 8th meeting of ICMYO. The topics were brought to the table by the ICMYO participating organizations in order to go deeply on them. Themes were diverse and were related with those issues that are affecting young people and youth organizations’ activities. The topics were:

Visa issues, Rio +20, The Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) and Food security.
We started with the short explanation of the topic plus some key questions that included our experiences on those topics, we worked on how we as organizations can become part of those processes and be engaged in the future, plus how ICMYO can do a coordinated effort to increase the level of advocacy on the global level on those topics.

Speech by Mr Romulo Dantas by the opening of the UN High-Level Meeting on Youth

Romulo speaking at the opening, together with Ban Ki-moon and other excellencies

Good morning, I wish all of you here today a very good High Level Meeting

It is not every day that someone has the opportunity to invite Mr. Ban Ki-moon, Mr. Joseph Deiss and Alek Wek to come and visit my old street.

I come from Sao Paulo, Brazil, from one of the most violent and poor areas of Sao Paulo city in the 90’s. Even with a wonderful family, it would have be very easy for me to go along with some friends and to become, as some of them, a gang member, a drug addict or end up in jail or even dead; but, it did not happen and I promise I will tell you why in a moment…

We come together in the light of International Year of Youth in order to recognize an important chapter of the historical challenge of making visible the importance of young people and all issues affecting their lives.

Highlights from the first day of ICMYO 2011

During the opening of the ICMYO 2011, Hon. Dullas Allahapperuma, Sri Lanka’s Minister for Youth Affairs and Skills Development, declared that Sri Lanka wants to host a World Youth Conference in 2014. FIMCAP became a participating organiszation in ICMYO and the organizations started preparing for the UN High Level Meeting on Youth by evaluating the International Year of Youth.

The ICMYO meeting kicked off with a very positive surprise as the hosting country – Sri Lanka – disclosed their ambitions to host a World Youth Conference in 2014.

FIMCAP joins ICMYO
In the morning the international federation of catholic parochial youth movements (Fédération Internationale des Mouvements Catholiques d’Action Paroissale – FIMCAP) was taken on board as a participating organization in ICMYO (ICMYO is a network, not an organization, and therefore does not have member organizations).

Evy Hoeben, Secretary General of FIMCAP

- FIMCAP is very happy to become part of ICMYO and we see it as a big step forward for the small organisation that we are. We hope that this can bring us in closer contact with other youth organisations and that we can start up cooperations on specific themes like climate change and the MDGs. I can see already many opportunities lying in front of us, and as FIMCAP we are happy to be able to contribute.

The International Year of Youth
The organizations evaluated the International Year of Youth and although recognizing the importance of such a high visibility activity, the ICMYO organizations also saw many aspects that could have been improved, including

ICMYO PRESS RELEASE: Nothing about us without us!

NEW YORK, JULY 22 2011 // The world’s largest youth-led organizations gather in New York this weekend, before the UN High Level Meeting on Youth kicks off Monday.

Human Rights, restrictions on global mobility for youth and the youth perspective on the development agenda are important agenda items as The International Coordination Meeting of Youth Organizations gathers 22 of the world’s leading youth organizations in New York from July 23rd till July 27th.

The host country of ICMYO 2011: Sri Lanka

Dr Kohona speaking at the UN. Photo: United Nations

Sri Lanka is hosting the International Coordination Meeting of Youth Organisations 2011 and making it possible to organize the meeting in connection with the UN High Level Meeting on Youth. We managed to sit down with the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, H.E. Dr. Palitha T.B. Kohona, to hear more about the background for the meeting and what’s at stake.

Dr. Kohona, what are the most important challenges for youth in Sri Lanka today?

- I would say that reconciliation after the conflict, reconstruction and economic development are the most important challenges facing young people in our country nowadays.

Préparation de la réunion de haut niveau des Nations Unies sur la Jeunesse

La réunion du Groupe de travail de l’ICMYO (Groupement de Coordination internationale des Organisations de Jeunesse) s’est tenue au Bureau Mondial du Scoutisme à Genève, Suisse, le week-end du 30 avril au 1er mai 2011.

Le Groupe de Travail est formé des membres d’un groupe d’organisations de l’ICMYO qui mettent en commun leurs efforts bénévolement au service de l’ICMYO, pour planifier la réunion annuelle du groupement. Formé actuellement du YFH (Forum Européen de la Jeunesse), de Pax Romana – IMCS (Mouvement International des Etudiants Catholiques), de la WSCF (Fédération Mondiale des Etudiants Chrétiens), de l’Organisation Mondiale du Mouvement Scout (OMMS), de l’YMCA (Alliance Universelle des Unions Chrétiennes de Jeunes Gens), l’ICMYO a demandé aux organisations de s’engager à participer activement aux divers processus et opportunités offerts tout au long de l’année, et a encouragé la coordination entre les différentes organisations.

Meeting of the ICMYO Taskforce in Geneva

On the weekend of 30 April – 01 May 2011, the ICMYO Task Force met at the World Scout Bureau in Geneva, Switzerland.

Members of the Taskforce posing for a group photo

The members of the Task Force are a group of organisations of ICMYO who volunteer their efforts in service to ICMYO to plan the Yearly Meeting. Currently composed of the European Youth Forum (YFJ), Pax Romana – IMCS, World Student Christian Federation (WSCF), World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM), and the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), they have been encouraging active involvement of the participating organisations to the various processes and opportunities throughout the year and encouraging coordination between organisations.

Letter to the President of the General Assembly concerning the High Level Meeting on Youth

This letter to the President of the 65th Session of the General Assembly addresses the concerns surrounding the outcomes of the upcoming High Level Meeting on Youth, which is set to be held at the UN Headquarters in New York in July 2011. This meeting is part of the International Year of Youth, which was declared by the UNGA through resolution A/RES/64/134.

Letter concerning the HLM sent by ICMYO

Youth Resolution adopted by the UN CSocD while negotiations on Youth Conference continue

The UN Commission for Social Development (CSocD) adopted during its session in February 2011 a new Youth Resolution called “Policies and Programmes involving Youth”, focusing on the importance of cooperation among UN agencies working on youth issues and on developing a joint set of indicators assessing the progress of global Youth Policies. PaxRomana and the European Youth Forum (YFJ) were present during the CSocD in order to support and facilitate the Youth Delegate’s activities. Together they were working towards a better framework for youth policy at the global level. Beside this it was important to maintain their contacts with relevant partners.

'under construction' - the parts of the UN need to improve its recognition of Youth Participation