“The family: school of dignity and mutual understanding”- World Youth Alliance calls upon the UN High Level Meeting on Youth to focus on the basic needs of young people by strengthening and supporting the family
New York City: June 22, 2011
Hundreds of young people from various countries will descend upon New York City on Monday, July 25th to attend the United Nations High-level Meeting on Youth. World Youth Alliance’s delegation to the meeting, which contains members from 19 different countries, is invited to three full days of training from July 24 – 26 at World Youth Alliance (“WYA”) headquarters.
WYA has actively submitted suggestions and amendments for the Political Declaration, the outcome of the conference. WYA’s proposals have focused on the importance of the families of young people in guaranteeing access to nutrition, education, healthcare, social services, employment and cultural activities. The family is also the place where dialogue and mutual understanding, the theme of the conference, is first carried out and respected.
WYA supports the inclusion of “family” in the outcome document as one of the important institutions that helps to guarantee the rights of young people in society and that fosters social integration, intergenerational solidarity, informal education and economic growth. “The family is the first place that young people learn not only about their dignity as human beings but also about mutual understanding in a context where not everyone agrees,” notes Rebecca Marchinda, WYA’s Director of Advocacy. “For a young person, family is the key to fulfilling basic needs like education and nutrition. Therefore it cannot be ignored in the outcome document of this high-level meeting.”
For more information on the World Youth Alliance and our advocacy work, including updates on WYA’s participation at the UN High-level Meeting on Youth, please visit our webpage or contact WYA Director of Advocacy, Rebecca Marchinda (becky@wya.net).
Click here to view WYA’s Esperanza for the High Level Meeting on Youth.
The World Youth Alliance is a global coalition of young people dedicated to promoting the dignity of the human person in policy and culture and to building solidarity between young people of developing and developed nations. With approximately one million members from more than 160 countries, the World Youth Alliance is one of the biggest coalitions of young people worldwide. www.wya.net
To view a PDF version of this press release, click here.
Click here to view the WYA at the UN HLMY Press Packet
