Open more doors for youth‚ says Nepali envoy

HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE

KATHMANDU: Gyan Chandra Acharya, Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations, has called on development partners to provide economic opportunities and productive employment to youth dwelling the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), an array of 48 poor countries.

Addressing the 45th session of the Commission on Population and Development in New York on Monday, Acharya, on behalf of LDCs, urged partners to support formal and non-formal education systems in LDCs for capacity building and skill development of youth and adolescents through financial and technical assistance.

Stating that about 60 per cent of the population of least developed countries is under the age of 25, compared with 46 per cent in other developing countries, Acharya said that large youth populations are an asset for least developed countries, and they should have the opportunity to participate fully in economic, social and political life, Permanent Mission of Nepal to the UN said in a statement.

Youth potential should be maximised through full access to education and productive employment, Acharya said. “On the contrary, if they are not provided with the necessary education and skills and unemployed, they could be a force of destabilization as well,” he added.



“We have to consider that the proportion of youth in LDCs will grow much higher, compared to the global youth by 2040 and 2100,” he stated.

On the occasion, the Nepali envoy expressed hope that the upcoming UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) to be held in June this year, in Rio, Brazil will also take necessary measures in stressing and addressing the problems and challenges relating to population and development and their interplay.

“Sustainable development and poverty alleviation has to give due priority to population dynamics and in particular to the challenges of adolescents and youth, who are the future of the nation.”

He also acknowledged the significant role of United Nations Fund for Population Activities in promoting and ensuring access and utilisation of health services, including voluntary family programmes and community health workers, promoting gender equality and empowerment of women, strengthening integrated health management information system and other related activities.