ICMYO2009 – 2-6 June – Strasbourg

The International Coordination Meeting of Youth Organisations is approaching!

You will find the background documents of the meeting in the dedicated page of this blog.

ICMYO 2009 – Preparations started

On 12 March the first preparation meeting for the International Coordination Meeting of Youth Organisations took place at the European Youth Centre in Strasbourg, France.

This year the ICMYO will be hosted and co-organised by the Council of Europe between the 3rd and the 5th of June, in connection with the 5th Anniversary of the Europe, Youth and Globalisation Event. This is a strong signal of the increasing support to the International Non Governmental Youth Organisations and Regional Youth Platforms.

At the top of the agenda there is going to be the issue of consultative mechanisms between youth organisations and the UN system to ensure coherency, consistency and better coordination and the issue of youth rights. More information on the programme of the event will be posted soon.

Commission on the Status of Women

Volunteering, Children and Youth the right to participate

You are warmly welcome to

United Nations Commission for Social Development, 47th session Side-event hosted by Finland in co-operation with the European Youth Forum with active participation from the Youth NGOs participating in the International Coordination Meeting of Youth Organisations (ICMYO).

Date and Time: February 6th, lunch time (13:00-14:30)

Place: the Consulate General of Finland, 866 United Nations Plaza, Suite 250, New York

For more information please contact Ms. Ann-Mari Fröberg, Second Secretary,Permanent Mission of Finland to the UN, tel. 212-355-2100, ext. 241, e-mail ann-mari.froberg@formin.fi

click here for the invitation leaflet: side-event_invitation-2

Development Needs Youth! Available Online

The European Youth Forum published a new and updated version of Development Needs Youth!

This new version feature a foreword from the European Commissioner for Development, Mr. Louis Michel, and includes  projects from many European Youth Forum Member Organisations and from ICMYO partners on various areas of implementation of the World Programme of Action for Youth (WPAY).

click here to download the .pdf version

Trailer online!

The European Youth Forum, in collaboration with other ICMYO partners and the help of a team of volunteers, is preparing a documentary on youth participation at the United Nations. Th film will be based on footage and interviews taken at the margins of the 63rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

This is the Trailer of the movie. The post-production of the full lenght documentary just started and the release if expected for the first half of 2009. We will keep updated on the developments of the initiative.

Youth Organisations meeting with Assistant Secretary General of the UN on 10 October 2008

In the letter to H.E UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon 25 Global Youth Organisations and Regional Youth Platforms requested a meeting with the Secretary General. As a response to that letter the organisations participating to the International Coordination Meeting of Youth Organisations which where present in New York during the General Assembly of the United Nations (European Youth Forum, Pax Romana, World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, World Organisation of the Scout Movement and the World Christian Student Federation) where received by the Assistant Secretary General Rachel N. Mayanja.

 

Gender and Youth Mainstreaming

Ms Mayanja is the Secretary General’s Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women and in particular interest for youth organisations since she is responsible for gender equality mainstreaming and coordination and the ICMYO organisations in their letter to the secretary general asked for a stronger coordination and mainstreaming of youth issues in the work of the UN.

 

Mechanisms for consulting youth organisations

The Assistant Secretary General did not share the concern of the ICMYO organisations that the emphasis and focus on youth has decreased with the current administration. She guaranteed that the current administration indeed put a lot of emphasis on youth and announced a new initiative to set up a UN Youth Development Network as an example – but promised to pass the messages from the organisations on to the Secretary General.

 

Further, the coordinator of the UN Focal Point on Youth, who also participated in the meeting, agreed on using the International Coordination Meeting of Youth Organisations as a tool for consulting the youth organisations both on the upcoming initiative of UN Youth Development Network and the 2009 World Youth Report, which will focus on Climate Change.

 

Must be an ongoing process

For the Secretary General’s report on the implementation of the World Program of Action for Youth (WPAY) to the Commission for Social Development it is too late to feed in this year but the Assistant Secretary General pointed out UN DESA’s long traditions for working with NGOs and meant that this should be possible to implement for the future also on the reports on youth. This was one of the concerns of the ICMYO organisations at the last meeting in June this year.

 

Knowing that the UN Focal Point on Youth will soon take over a new position in the UN the organisations present at the meeting stressed that this must be a mechanism established for a longer term and not only depend on the current administration of the UN Program on Youth or be on an ad-hoc basis. Thus there should be coherence in the participation of youth-led organisations in the UN processes on youth, and the organisations can know what to expect. The Assistant Secretary General saw this challenge and even indicated that a task-force could be established to ensure the input of youth-led organisations.

 

The new UN Focal Point on Youth will soon receive an invitation for the International Coordination Meeting of Youth organisations which will be held in June 2009.

2001 + 10 What does volunteering represent for us?

7 Regional Youth Platforms and 18 International Non Governmental Youth Organisations participating to the International Coordination Meeting of Youth Organisations (ICMYO) submitted a statement in preparation of the 10th anniversary of 2001 International Year of Volunteering and in view of the current negotiations being held at the 63rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly which will discuss a resolution on volunteering submitted by the government of Brazil.

Young people today are engaged in volunteering through increasingly diverse ways, ranging from taking part in a single action or enrolling in a voluntary-service programme; to lifetime commitments to volunteering movements. As volunteer-based, democratic youth organisations we are committed to offering volunteering opportunities for all young people, no matter their gender, nationality or background. We aim to ensure quality programmes while remaining open to progress, to be inclusive, equal and open minded. In turn, we expect political, social and financial recognition and support from global and local decision-makers and from the International community, including the United Nations, National Governments and public Authorities. (…)

Download the full text in .pdf:

0520-08_icmyo_statement_volunteering1

Youth Organisations address a letter to mr. Ban Ki Moon

At their International Coordination Meeting in Cairo, Regional Youth Platforms and International Non Governmental Youth Organisations agreed to send a letter to the Secretary General of the United Nations. The letter has been sent this week and it highlights three main concerns of the global youth movement:

• The increasingly importance of youth in the global political agenda, being more than half of world population aged under 30
• The importance of involving democratic, representative and youth-led organisations in the global decisions that affects them
• The need for increased coordination of youth affairs within the United Nations System, in the spirit of the “One UN” Reform and co-management with youth organisations.

Click here for full text of the letter: c0290-08_letter-youth-ngos-to-ban-ki-moon

Getting ready for the UN General Assembly 2008

Youth Organisations participating to the International Coordination Meeting of Youth Organisations, such as the Scout Movement, and the National Youth Delegates , convened by the European Youth Forum for its first European UN Youth Advocacy Meeting to prepare for the upcoming UN General Assembly. The meeting was hosted by the Finnish Youth Cooperation – Allianssi, in Helsinki.

During three days (4-6 September), the youth delegates and representatives agreed on the key messages to bring at the 63rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly and on the practical coordination of the youth delegations. One of the main goals of the mission will be to increase the recognistion of the importance of youth participation to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Moreover, the 3rd Committee of the UN GA this year will discuss important topics for young people and youth organisations. Following the conclusions of the Commission on Social Development in February 2008, Member states will discuss the issue of decent work for all. Further, the children’s and disable people’s rights will be the among main issues in the agenda. Finally, in December, in view of the forthcoming celebrations of ten years of the International Year of Volunteers 2001, a report from the Secretary General and a resolution on volunteering will be discussed.

The coordination of youth representatives which will be coming in New York from International Youth Non-Governmental Organisations participating to the ICMYO, Regional Youth Platforms and the Youth Delegates will continue as well during the UN GA.

For more update and information visit the website of the National Youth Delegates to the UN GA 2008 www.youthdelegates.org