"I call on the members of the largest youth generation in history to face the challenges and consider what you can do to solve it. To control your destiny and translate your dreams into a better future for all." Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Summary of the e-Discussion on Youth Political Participation
From 3 April to 8 May 2017, iKNOW Politics hosted an e-Discussion in collaboration with UNDP4YOUTH on Youth Political Participation. Fifteen participants from Sub-Saharan Africa, the Arab region, the Americas, and Europe engaged in the online debate...
Ms. Jayathma Wickramanayake of Sri Lanka - Envoy on Youth
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Jayathma Wickramanayake of Sri Lanka as his next Envoy on Youth. She will succeed Ahmad Alhendawi of Jordan to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for his dedicated service in...
"We are not too young to run": Youth in Nigeria march to support bill
Despite comprising almost half of the Nigerian population, youth have been historically marginalized from entering politics at a state and federal level. Aspiring to increase youth’s participation in Nigerian politics, the Youth Initiative for...
Building skills for youth political participation in Guinea, by NDI
Approximately 60 percent of Guinea’s population is under the age of 24, but young people in the West African nation continue to be underrepresented in politics. Their interests and priorities are largely ignored in policies and electoral strategies...
International IDEA introduces the Youth Democracy Academy
International IDEA’s Youth Democracy Academy is designed to ensure that young women and men, too often marginalized from political processes, are equipped with the knowledge and skills needed to effectively participate in, and contribute to, the...
Youth role in future representation and participation, discussed at International IDEA round table
Do new generations of citizens no longer support democratic values and practices? To the relief of her audience at the seminar 'Does political participation need political parties and representation?', Pippa Norris acquitted young people on this...
France: Half of Macron's legislative election candidates are women
The party of French President Emmanuel Macron has unveiled the names of more than 400 candidates for the June legislative elections -- and half of them are women.
At 39, Macron was sworn in on Sunday as the youngest president in France's history,...
The media's obsession with appearance puts young women off going into politics, study finds
Obsession with female politicians’ appearance in the media is putting young women off going into politics, a study has revealed, prompting campaigners to call for an end to sexism in political media coverage.
41 per cent of girls aged between nine...
RAU report finds that violence discourages young women from participating in politics in Zimbabwe
The Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU) has cited violence as a leading factor discouraging young women from actively participating in politics.
Zimbabwe will hold general elections next year, and women participation is pivotal as they constitute 52%...
Young people under 30 account for only 1.9% of world parliamentarians
Only 1.9 per cent of lawmakers are aged below 30, and 14.2 per cent below 40, and 26 per cent under 45, shows an Inter-parliamentary Union presentation made on Tuesday.
The presentation was made based on the IPU study titled ‘Youth participation in...
Young people are often excluded or overlooked as political candidates. Politics is typically regarded as a space for politically experienced men, and while women are often disadvantaged in accumulating experience to run for office, young people are...
Jamaica: Young men reject quotas for women in politics
The introduction of a quota system in the political landscape to facilitate a greater number of women at all levels of politics, has been shunned by a group of young men, majority of whom stated that gender presented no barrier to political...
New, viable female politicians become role models for young women, study finds
After Hillary Clinton became the presumptive Democratic nominee for president in June 2016—the first woman in American history nominated for president by a major political party—she tweeted a picture of her dancing with a young girl. The caption...
Youth as partners for the implementation of the SDGs
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted in 2015, is the international community’s ambitious response to today’s most pressing global development challenges and will guide our development priorities for an entire generation. Young people...
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women for Youth
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, or CEDAW, is an international legal instrument that requires countries to eliminate discrimination against women in all areas and promotes women’s equal rights. CEDAW is...
The Youth Forum at the 61st Session on Commission on Status of Women (CSW 61) is a critical opportunity for young people and adolescents in all their diversities to convene in advance of the official opening of CSW to amplify their common concerns...
First Human Rights Forum Focuses on Role of Youth in Public Decision-Making
Hundreds of youth activists, representatives from youth organizations, UN and government officials gathered at the United Nations Office in Geneva on November 21-22 to attend the first-ever Forum on Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law.
The...