PREAMBLE
1. Considering that young people, particularly those of Indigenous and African descent, and oppressed nationlities and ethnicities within a State (referring to peoples who are descendants of Arab, Asian, and Latin American migrants and immigrants, and other peoples who are discriminated against), and have been discriminated against, excluded from and marginalized in the decision making processes, resulting in limiting their full and active participation politically, economically, socially and culturally;
2. Observing the limited participation and representation of children and adolescents, particularly of Indigenous peoples, Afro descendents, and of oppressed nationalities and ethnicities within a state in forums and international events, such as that to which we refer, that does not permit us to know the positions of such people about these issues that also involve them. Because of that, we urge the organizers of the upcoming events to open spaces for the participation of children and adolescents.
3. Identifying that youth representation has traditionally been marginalized by government delegations to regional and international conferences by having "token" youth or young people that do not represent the views, aspirations or struggles of the young people of the Nation-state;
4. Realizing that many young people throughout the Americas do not have access to information about the United Nations World Youth Forum, as witnessed by the Youth Caucus of the Conference of Citizens Against Racism, Xenophobia, Intolerance and Discrimination, and the Youth Caucus of the Forum of the Americas for Diversity and Pluralism;
5. Realizing that there is no method for young people of the South, particularly those peoples of Indigenous and African descent, Rom people, migrants and immigrants, and other oppressed nationalities and ethnicities within a State; gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgendered, and transsexuals; persons with HIV/AIDS; and persons with disabilities to effectively participate in or be part of the selection process for delegates to the World Youth Forum, as a result, having no effective voice in the process of the Forum;
6. Strongly affirming the Youth Caucus' extreme disappointment in the scheduling of the World Youth Forum, which will make it difficult, if not prohibitive, for young people to attend both the Forum and the UN World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance;
7. Considering that there is no specific forum for young people around the world to come together to discuss and formulate solutions around racism, xenophobia, intolerance and discrimination;
Because of the concerns stated above, we strongly recommend the following:
DECLARATION
1. We demand a World Youth Consultation to be held in Durban, South Africa, one day prior to the NGO World Forum, sponsored and financed by the High Commissioner on Human Rights and UN Member States, to be an official part of the UN World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. The design, process and outcomes should involve the participation of young people.
2. We demand for the states of the North to financially support delegations of young people without financial resources from the South to participate in the full planning process and attend the Youth Consultation of the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance.
3. We demand an equitable method in selecting a representative group of young people, with particular attention to peoples of Indigenous and African descent, Rom people, migrants and immigrants, and other oppressed nationalities and ethnicities within a State; gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgendered, and transsexuals; persons with HIV/AIDS; and persons with disabilities, to participate in Youth Delegations to the UN World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance through a criteria that was developed by the Youth Caucus of the Americas.
4. We urge the UN to provide institutional, financial and other related resources to support the development of a permanent worldwide youth network to be initiated during both the 2001 World Youth Forum and the UN World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance.
5. We demand that the States and the international organizations recognize the people's rights for historic reparations and the adoption of immediate actions that should include the design and implementation of public policies addressed towards children, adolescents and youth who belong to peoples who have been historically discriminated against.
6. We demand that the States recognize slavery as a crime against humanity.
7. We demand that the States and international organizations recognize that a sexua1 orientation different from the established social order (heterosexual) is used as a basis for discrimination.
8. We demand that the States of the Americas value the importance of and distribute information about the work of the World Youth Forum.
9. We demand for UN member states to provide the financial support to youth committed to the work related to youth issues in their states of residence in order for them to participate in the planning and implementation of the World Youth Forum.
10. We demand UN member states to guarantee the inclusion of disadvantaged and excluded youth, particularly peoples of Indigenous and African descent, Rom people, migrants and immigrants, and other oppressed nationa1ities and ethnicities within a State; gays, lesbians, bisexua1s, transgendered, and transsexua1s; persons with HIV/AIDS; and persons with disabilities and other margina1ized groups in the World Youth Forum process.
11. We demand that the Youth Caucus of the Regiona1 Conference of the Americas as wel1 as the Youth Caucus of the Americas for Diversity and Plura1ism participate in the decision-making process for the World Youth Forum.
12. We demand that the member states of the United Nations address the above enumerated issues by providing the fol1owing corrective actions:
1) Legal Measures
a. Crimina1 Justice
Eliminate all laws and practices that portray youth as crimina1s, which are classifications frequently based on stereotypes of race, socia1 class and/or sexual orientation.
Eliminate the substantive norms and judicial processes that condemn children, adolescents, and youth to maximum sentencing.
Promote the implementation of a1temative programs that assure adequate social reintegration of young offenders; such as provisions of financia1 resources for cultura1 and community centers.
b. Rights
Call for the design, unilatera1 acceptance and ratification of a Universal Declaration of Youth Rights by all member states and its active implementation
c. Legislation
We recommend that UN Member states integrate the Human Rights framework in their judicial systems; specifica1ly the mechanisms of protection and international instruments in order to ensure the existence and application of laws that protect youth.
2) Education
a. The majority of youth that belong to Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendent peoples, Rom peoples, oppressed nationalities and ethnicities within a state, migrants, immigrants, and young women do not have access to a free and qua1ity education at different levels of learning.
Provide a mechanism for all youth to have access to a free and qua1ity education
Provide professional and institutional support for migrant youth and oppressed nationalities and ethnicities to dea1 with the trauma that can restrict their access to learning
b. Young people do not have access to technology
Provide equa1 access through the public sector to technology, specifically access to the Internet and corresponding training to use it effectively
c. Young people receive little education on true histories of their peoples
In respect to the lack of education of young people on the true history of the world, consult with UNESCO in order to rewrite educationa1 texts to include the histories of traditionally oppressed peoples of the world.
d. Young people do not have access to education in their own language
We demand all UN member states provide concrete mechanisms in order to ensure access to free and quality public education in the native languages/mother tongues of young people.
3) Art and Culture:
That the States distribute and promote the creation and implementation of programs on the local, community and national levels. Also to provide the necessary resources in order to put this into practice.
We demand that the States recognize all the especially artistic ethnocultural works of young people who belong to peoples who have been discriminated against and those oppressed nationa1ities within States. At the same time, we demand the design and implementation of programs meant to promote these works of art.
4) Xenophobia and Discrimination
Because Indigenous peoples, people of African descent, oppressed nationa1ities within a state, migrants, immigrants, women, people with disabilities, lesbians, gays, bisexua1s, transgendered persons and people with HIV/AIDS are seen as "different", they are discriminated against
To promote dilogue and sensitivity sessions for both governments and civil society in order to encourage understanding among Afro-descendent, Indigenous, and Rom young people, mestizos, oppressed nationa1ities and ethnicities within a state, gays, lesbians, bisexuls, transsexuals, transgendered people, people with HIV/AIDS, and disabled persons who suffer discrimination in other areas.
Youth are unable to gain access to qua1ity employment
5) Globalization
a. Noting the lack of Intellectual Property Rights and the denial of traditional medicines to young people
Demand that multinational corporations no longer be allowed to patent the resources of Indigenous Peoples and people of African descent or to deny them access to their traditiona1 ways of life
b. Young people often have to work for multinationa1 corporations in order to help families survive
Insist that mu1tinational corporations that employ young people provide for safe and humane work conditions at living wages which allow them to provide a meaningful income to their families.
Insist that all multinational corporations be prohibited from the lands and territories of Afro-descendent and Indigenous peoples.
We demand that the States adopt the most effective methods in order to discourage sex trafficking and labor practices that are exploitive of young people. With emphasis on conducting an investigation of the role of globa1ization in the increased profits from sex trafficking and labor practices that are exploitive of young people.
Sex tourism and exploitation of the cultural values of Indigenous peoples, African descendants, migrants, immigrants and women are negative forms of multinational politica1 economies and represent intersectional forms of discrimination based on gender, race, class, age, and ethnicity.
We demand that the private sector provide humane and safe conditions for all workers, paying special attention to young workers; that allows them to be employed and to receive job training.
6) Health
a. Young people do not have access to adequate hea1thcare, especially in regards to preventative care, education, and treatment for HIV/AIDS as wel1 as other infectious diseases.
To provide free universal healthcare to all young people, regardless of health problems they face.
To protect, promote and respect the reproductive and sexua1 rights of young people.
To recommend that the States reform their hea1th systems on all levels, in a manner that they may bring specific attention to areas of mental health, while at the same time they continue to maintain the primary focus in preventive medicine with an emphasis on attention towards young people.
7) Military Violence
Military and police violence profoundly affects children, adolescents, and youth - particularly Indigenous Peoples, people of African descent and other groups that are discriminated against, through the actions taken by the military , the police, paramilitary groups, and guerrillas. We demand that the Member States of the United Nations assume a rea1 commitment to stop the violence.
We demand that the United Nations intercede in a direct manner in order to stop the violence encouraged by States that commit resources towards creating the violence, for instance in the cases of Plan Colombia, the situations in Chiapas and Vieques, and others.
Police bruta1ity and institutionalized racist and intolerant practices in diverse rura1 and urban areas continue to decimate poor, traditionally margina1ized and immigrant youth in every country in the world.
We demand that the UN urge Member States to implement corrective measures on the nationa1 and local levels. For example, prosecuting police and paramilitary groups that have been found guilty of racist, homophobic, lesbophobic, and violent practices.
To urge States to allow children, adolescents and youth to be conscientious objectors as a right to voluntary participation in any category of the military field, without risking loss of citizenship rights or socia1, pena1 or military coercion.
8) Homeless Youth
We believe that the existence of homeless youth is rarely recognized by the States or agencies that provide services for the homeless. Moreover, the states that have infrastructures that attend to homeless youth apply inefficient measures, while others do not have the resources for such infrastructures.
We demand the States Members of the UN create and/or implement effective public policies to eliminate the causes and consequences of homelessness in the Human Rights framework.
9) Environmental Racism and Environmental Discrimination
Environmenta1 racism refers to the actions or lack of actions by any government, military , industry , or other institution that generates a negative environmental impact and that causes disproportionate damage - whether intentional or not - to populations of Indigenous, Afro descendents, Latinos, Asians, displaced migrants or other ethnic groups in the environments in which they live. As a consequence of such discrimination, the residents of these areas see their quality of life affected. The increase of enviroIimental racism and its destructive impact has mobilized communities towards the creation of an Environmental Justice Movement.
We invoke the governments to design and implement laws and public policies for the protection of Indigenous, Afro descendents, and Rom peoples, and diverse oppressed nationalities in the territories or environments where they live, based in respect and mutual justice.
We are annexing the Declaration of Indigenous Peoples and African Descendants to this Declaration.
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