A/RES/72/146
Policies and programmes involving youth
and Migrants, 7 the outcome of the United Nations Conference on Housing and
Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) 8 and the outcome of the high-level
meeting of the General Assembly on the appraisal of the United Nations Global Plan
of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons, 9
Noting the convening of the nineteenth World Festival of Youth and Students,
held in Sochi, Russian Federation, from 14 to 22 October 2017, which emphasized
the importance of promoting international and intercultural youth cooperation around
the idea of peace and solidarity,
Welcoming the effective participation of youth representatives in national
delegations at the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and it s
functional commissions and relevant United Nations conferences,
Acknowledging that the current generation of youth is the largest one ever, and
in this context reaffirming the importance of involving youth, and youth -led and
youth-focused organizations, in the work of the United Nations at the national,
regional and international levels in all matters of concern to them, including in the
implementation of the World Programme of Action for Youth and the 2030 Agenda
for Sustainable Development,
Recognizing that a youthful population creates significant opportunities for
development, and underlining in this regard the importance of the creation by Member
States of appropriate policy environments, in collaboration with the United Nations
system, in order to realize a demographic dividend driven by large proportions of
young people moving into the labour force, while adopting an inclusive results -based
approach to development planning and implementation in accordance with national
priorities and legislation, and stressing in this regard the decision of the African Union
to proclaim 2017 the Year of Harnessing the Demographic Dividend through
Investments in Youth,
Affirming that generating decent work and quality employment for youth is one
of the biggest challenges that needs to be tackled, and emphasizing the priority areas
of the World Programme of Action for Youth linked to the employability of youth,
including education, health and access to information and technology, and bearing in
mind that over 71 million young people are unemployed and 156 million working
youth are in poverty, including extreme poverty,
Emphasizing the need to empower youth in order to achieve sustainable
development, including poverty eradication, and stressing, in this regard, the
commitment in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to substantially reduce
by 2020 the proportion of youth not in employment, education or training and to
develop and operationalize a global strategy for youth employment, and in this regard
takes note of the call for action of the International Labour Organization on the youth
employment crisis and the Global Initiative on Decent Jobs for Youth,
Emphasizing also the need to substantially increase the number of youth and
adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for
employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship, and to ensure, by 2020, that all youth
and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and
numeracy,
Recalling that Member States have an important role in promoting and
protecting the rights and in meeting the needs and aspirations of youth, including
youth with disabilities, and recognizing that the ways in which young people are able
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Resolution 71/1.
Resolution 71/256, annex.
Resolution 72/1.
17-22934