A/RES/56/117 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS adopted by the General Assembly at its twenty-sixth special session, held at Headquarters from 25 to 27 June 2001; 7 16. Reaffirms the importance of schooling and education, in particular for girls and young women, and recognizes the value of all forms of life-long learning, including formal education and training and non-formal education; 17. Calls upon Member States, all United Nations bodies and nongovernmental organizations to continue to implement fully the guidelines for further planning and suitable follow-up in the field of youth endorsed by the General Assembly in its resolution 40/14, and the guidelines for the improvement of the channels of communication between the United Nations and youth and youth organizations which the Assembly adopted 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; 18. Takes note with appreciation of the important role of the United Nations Youth Fund in the implementation of agreed programmes and mandates on youth, including the provision of support for youth activities promoting South-South cooperation, and support for the participation of young delegates from the least developed countries at the fourth session of the World Youth Forum; 19. Invites all Governments and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to contribute to the Fund, and requests the Secretary-General to take appropriate actions to encourage contributions; 20. Reiterates the call made in the World Programme of Action to Member States to consider including youth representatives in their delegations to the General Assembly and other relevant United Nations meetings, thus broadening the channels of communication and enhancing the discussion of youth-related issues, and requests the Secretary-General to convey this invitation again to Member States; 21. Welcomes Economic and Social Council resolution 2001/7 of 24 July 2001, in which the Council decided that the Commission for Social Development would review the relevant United Nations plans and programmes of action pertaining to the situation of social groups and the global situation of youth in 2003, and in this regard requests the Secretary-General to present a comprehensive report on this issue, with concrete and action-oriented recommendations, to the Commission at its forty-first session, bearing in mind the need for Member States to develop more holistic and cross-sectoral youth policies and the need to enhance, inter alia, the channels of communication between the United Nations system and youth and youth organizations; 22. Requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at its fifty-eighth session on the implementation of the present resolution, in particular on progress made in the implementation of the World Programme of Action. 88th plenary meeting 19 December 2001 _______________ 7 4 Resolution S-26/2, annex.