During the two-day human rights forum, opinions were voiced on the need for active participation of youth in the democratic process. This provision, along with others, is enshrined in the draft Convention on the Rights of Youth, which experts discuss at the forum.
“It is up to the older generations to engage young people in all spheres of life and of the community. It is true that young people are underrepresented in most national parliaments, and as a consequence, within the OSCE PA. Recognizing this, our Assembly called for greater international co-operation to build youth political dialogue, capacity-building, and the sharing of best practices. Earlier this year, we established a network of young parliamentarians, which is meant to provide all of the OSCE PA’s tools and resources to help these young leaders reach their full potential”, said OSCE PA President George Tsereteli.
Participants of the forum noted the fact that the organizers of Samarkand Forum, dedicated to youth rights issues, managed to bring this project to life during the pandemic, and that such an event is very important.
“The core issue of our today’s agenda meeting centers on human rights with special focus on the rights of youth. As you may be well aware, young people between 15 to 25 years of age constitute nearly 50 percent of the world’s population. Young people are the future of any democracy. Today’s youth are tomorrow’s leaders and that can already bring new ideas to solving the world’s problems”, said Secretary General of Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) M. Reza Majidi.
M. Reza Majidi expressed his deepest gratitude to President Shavkat Mirziyoyev for his initiative to raise the idea of developing and adopting an International Convention on the Rights of Youth at the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly, where the need to develop international standards for protection of youth rights was revealed. He noted that this is a welcome initiative in that adoption of a unified international convention on the rights of youth is felt more than ever.
As noted in the Draft International Convention on the Rights of Youth Preamble, the youth is one of the basic human resources necessary for development goals, and is also the main vehicle for social transformation, economic development and technological progress.
Active activity of Uzbekistan in human rights, a clear example of which is the Samarkand Forum, was noted in his speech by the Chairman of the Executive Committee – CIS Executive Secretary Sergey Lebedev.
“We all understand that youth is our future. And not only the future. We acknowledge the important and positive contribution of young people to ensuring peace and security, economic and social development and humanitarian work”, says S. Lebedev.
The Samarkand Forum is held with the support of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, OHCHR Regional Office for Central Asia, the UN Country Team, the OSCE, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the OSCE Project Coordinator in Uzbekistan, Friedrich Ebert Foundation and other international partners. The main organizer is the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan, represented by the National Center for Human Rights and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
