Policies and programmes involving youth, G.A. res. 49/154, 49 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 49) at 170, U.N. Doc. A/49/49 (1994).


The General Assembly,

Recalling
its resolutions 32/135 of 16 December 1977 and 36/17 of 9 November 1981, by which it adopted guidelines for the improvement of the channels of communication between the United Nations and youth and youth organizations, resolution 40/14 of 18 November 1985, entitled "International Youth Year: Participation, Development, Peace", and resolution 45/103 of 14 December 1990, in which it decided to devote a plenary meeting at its fiftieth session to youth questions,

Noting that the year 1995 will mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Charter of the United Nations and the tenth anniversary of International Youth Year,

Recognizing that, in implementing the guidelines, priority should be given to the enjoyment by youth of human rights, including the right to education and to work, and to the resolution of other urgent problems faced by young people in the present-day world, such as hunger, the deterioration of the environment, drug abuse, disability and disease, including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS),

Recalling the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Resolution 44/25, annex. which entered into force on 2 September 1990, the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights on 25 June 1993, A/CONF.157/24 (Part I), chap. III. the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children and the Plan of Action for Implementing the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children in the 1990s, adopted by the World Summit for Children on 30 September 1990, A/45/625, annex.

Noting the holding of the Youth Forum of the United Nations System, at Vienna from 27 to 29 May 1991, stressing the importance of the role of non-governmental organizations devoted to questions of youth in the contribution to United Nations policies in the field of youth, and welcoming the increasing activities of the youth employment programme HOPE '87 and its close collaboration with the United Nations in bringing about employment opportunities for young people, especially in developing countries,

1. Encourages all States, all United Nations bodies, in particular the Economic and Social Council through the Commission for Social Development, the specialized agencies and the intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations concerned, in particular youth organizations, to continue to exert all possible efforts for the implementation of the guidelines for further planning and suitable follow-up in the field of youth; See A/40/256, annex.

2. Calls upon Member States to enable young people to obtain a comprehensive education, including in human rights questions, environmental questions and cross-cultural issues, with a view to fostering mutual understanding and tolerance;

3. Requests the Secretary-General, in close cooperation with Member States and youth organizations, to evaluate youth programmes that were developed during the follow-up of International Youth Year and to report to the General Assembly at its fifty-second session, with a view to ensuring effective implementation of a world programme of action for youth to the year 2000 and beyond; See E/CN.5/1993/10 and E/CN.5/1993/L.11, annex.

4. Encourages the preparation by Member States that have not yet done so, of a national youth policy, based on an analytical national evaluation of the situation and needs of youth;

5. Calls once again upon Member States, United Nations bodies and non-governmental organizations to implement fully the guidelines for the improvement of the channels of communication between the United Nations and youth and youth organizations, adopted by the General Assembly by its resolutions 32/135 and 36/17, and in particular to facilitate, in accordance with these resolutions, the activities of youth mechanisms that have been set up by youth and youth organizations;

6. Calls upon the regional commissions that have not yet done so, together with regional youth and youth-serving organizations, to finalize the comprehensive review of the progress achieved and the obstacles encountered in the regions since 1985 and to propose draft regional programmes of action for youth to the year 2000 and beyond;

7. Invites once again Member States to include, whenever possible, youth representatives in their national delegations to the General Assembly and other relevant United Nations meetings, with particular emphasis on the fiftieth session of the General Assembly, in order to mark the tenth anniversary of International Youth Year, thus enhancing and strengthening the channels of communication through the discussion of youth-related issues, with a view to finding solutions to the problems confronting youth in the contemporary world;

8. Requests the Secretary-General to make recommendations on the need for specific programmes aimed at encouraging school attendance through various means, in particular by the provision of lessons free of charge and, where appropriate, free food in schools, in close coordination with the United Nations Children's Fund, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the multilateral financial institutions, bearing in mind the fundamental importance to youth of increasing literacy rates as set out in the draft world programme of action for youth to the year 2000 and beyond;

9. Decides to consider the question of policies and programmes involving youth under the item entitled "Social development" at its fifty- second session based upon a report to be submitted by the Secretary-General on the implementation of the present resolution.

94th plenary meeting
23 December 1994


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