International Year of Youth launched in Guyana

Almost eight months after the United Nations declared August 11th 2010 to August 11th 2011 as the International Year for Youth, Global Youth Movement officially launched the year in Guyana at Marian’s Academy’s auditorium on Friday.

Global Youth Movement is a youth advocacy group being chaired by Mark Ross and Rhonda Lam- Singh. It aims at engaging young people locally and abroad on various issues affecting young people. Though the group is still in the process of formulating the legal framework for its operation locally, it has already been galvanizing youth support through it 2,500 strong facebook.com page.

Addressing students of Marian’s Academy, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds said the hope and future of Guyana lies with young people. He admitted that though other countries would spend larger amounts of funds on youth-related projects, the government of Guyana has expended “significant” amounts of the national budget on youth development over the years. He explained that the government has limited resources and as such it may appear that more can be done in comparison to other countries, but youths today are exposed to much more resources and opportunities than past generations.

United Nations Resident Coordinator Dr Lystra Fletcher-Paul stated that 87 per cent of youths live in developing countries such as Guyana and face several challenges such as climate change, rising levels of violence and global economic decline. Despite these challenges, she related, “The energy of youth can ignite faulting economies.”

Dr Fletcher-Paul also encouraged young people to exercise tolerance and understanding as well as highlighting the “importance of dealing with each other with respect.”

The UN representative, who interacted with thousands of youths in various territories, indicated that even though youths are the custodians of tomorrow, they are also important stakeholders of today. She called on adults to “acknowledge and celebrate what youth can do” and at the same time revealing that they stand to learn a lot from youth “in this age of increased interconnectedness.”

Mark Ross, who is credited with coordinating the young people to start the GYM initiative, said facebook.com is one of the main avenues being used to organise and engage youths internationally.

He revealed that the group came up with the Guyana Action Plan, which seeks to engage policy makers to address several pressing issues including consultations on the National Youth Policy, the formation of a National Youth Commission and the establishment of a non-partisan youth parliament. Ross added that among the events to be held by the group for the remainder of the youth year will be the hosting of a youth fair.

In December 2009, the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 64/ 134 proclaiming the International Year for Youth from August 2010 to August 2011. Despite this, several organizations which usually speak about the importance of youths have been strangely silent on this very important declaration. The overarching goals of the year aims at reaching across generations, cultures, religions and civilizations to promote peace, solidarity and respect for human rights.