2020 YOUTH DAY: CELEBRATING A RESILIENT GENERATION
Benjamin P. Tetteh — (@benjieluv )
Ever since the institution of the International Youth Day in 1999, never has its celebration been marred by a global pandemic with the magnitude of COVID-19. Conservatively, young people make up about 1.8 billion of the world’s population, making it the largest generation of young people in history (The UN Youth Strategy considers the youth age bracket as ranging from 10–24). Of this number, nearly 90 per cent live in developing countries, where they constitute a large proportion of the population. The potential of this youth population can therefore not be underrated, thus making International Youth Day one of the most important celebrations this year, albeit mostly virtually.
In 1998 in Lisbon, Portugal hosted the first World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth. With representatives from over 145 countries, including over 100 youth ministers, the conference adopted what became known as the Lisbon Declaration on Youth Policies and Programmes. The declaration highlighted the need for member countries to institute national youth policies to address issues such as participation, development and peace, as well as social development issues such as education, employment and health. The following year the UN General Assembly endorsed the Lisbon Declaration, giving member countries the impetus to pursue the youth agenda.
COVID-19 WORSENING YOUTH CRISIS:
COVID-19 is compounding the already difficult and unique challenges facing the youth the world over. Even before the pandemic, socio-cultural practices and state policies have often weighed heavily against the youth, according to Elliot Harris, UN Chief Economist and Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development (UN DESA).
“These obstacles are varied, and they can include the lack of access to funding, training, technical support, networks and markets,” he stated at the launch of this year’s International Youth Day. These challenges prevent the youths from starting and growing social enterprises.
According to him, age-related policies and regulations also deny young entrepreneurs the ability to innovate. Many youths do not meet the “the minimum age to open a bank account, for example, or even to own a land or a house or to secure a business loan.”
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates that about 155 million full-time jobs were lost in the first quarter of 2020. That is about 5.4 percent of the global working hours gone waste, thanks to COVID-19. This, according to the ILO, makes the job market more challenging for young people. That adds to an already high percentage of unemployed young people.
2020 Theme and Uniqueness
The theme for this year’s celebration: Youth Engagement for Global Action, is apt, considering the present precarious global time. For millions of young people 2020 will forever be printed on their minds; for disrupting the crowning moments of their education, for losing their jobs and livelihoods and, on top of that, for keeping them socially distance from friends and loved ones who could offer them some solace for months on end.
Despite the great disruptions, young men and women across the globe have been rising to the occasion. Across the African continent, youths are employing innovative means in the fight against COVID-19. And it is heartwarming that many of them are risking their lives in the front line on a voluntary basis.
According to the UN through this year’s theme it hopes highlight that the “engagement of young people at the local, national and global levels is enriching national and multilateral institutions and processes, as well as draw lessons on how their representation and engagement in formal institutional politics can be significantly enhanced.”
Recent projections are that it would take the next 15 years to create up to 600 million jobs to meet the youth employment needs.