Political Declaration of the Comprehensive High-level Midterm Review of the Implementation of the Istanbul Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2011–2020 (2016), para. 100
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75. We recognize that today’s generation of people under the age of 25 is the largest ever in history. Girls and boys, young women and young me n are key agents of change in creating a better future and, when empowered, they have great potential to advocate on behalf of themselves and their communities. We will promote and protect the rights of children and youth, ensure more opportunities for their meaningful participation and work towards ending all forms of violence and abuse against children and youth, including exploitation, trafficking, torture and other harmful practices such as female genital mutilation and child, early and forced marriage. We call upon all countries to promote the engagement of children and youth as active members of the global community, now and later in life, and to ensure that no one is left behind. We call upon the least developed countries to develop policies and programmes for supporting youth access to secondary and higher education, vocational training and productive employment and health -care services, especially for young women and girls. We call upon development partners to provide financial and technical assistance to support formal and non-formal education systems, policies and programmes in the least developed countries that provide economic opportunities and productive employment to youth, and to promote youth exchange programmes, including through virtual camp uses and other networking mechanisms.