Kathmandu, August 11

Stressing the need for policies to promote development and human rights of young people, United Nations Population Fund has called on all stakeholders to engage adolescents and youth as partners in achieving Sustainable Development Goals.

Issuing a statement on the occasion of International Youth Day today, UNFPA Executive Director Dr Babatunde Osotimehin said large youth populations represent a historic opportunity to introduce progress and adopt innovative solutions to ignite change.

“Young people have the most to gain if we succeed in eradicating poverty and will have the most to lose if we fail,” he said. The day’s theme is “The Road to 2030: Eradicating Poverty and Achieving Sustainable Production and Consumption.”

To empower young people means giving them the tools to become even more influential, productive actors in their societies, the UNFPA statement said.

In order to achieve this, all forms of discrimination faced by young people, particularly adolescent girls, such as forced and child marriage and sexual violence, which can result in unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions and HIV infections, and risk derailing their future, must be ended, it added.

Young people are driving innovations in science and technology, making conscious choices that are drastically influencing patterns of consumption and production, and mobilising to make companies, organisations and governments more socially and environmentally responsible, UNFPA maintained.

“Where they can get information, technology, financing, mentorship and platforms for collaboration, young innovators are able to turn their ideas into transformative solutions.”

An adolescent girl who is 10 years old today will be an adult of 24 in 2030, the target year for achieving the SDGs, UNFPA said. “We must ensure that her path through adolescence and youth leads to a brighter future for herself, her community and the world.”