The General Assembly,
Recalling its resolutions 32/135 of 16 December 1977 and 36/17
of 9 November 1981, by which it adopted guidelines for the improvement
of the channels of communication between the United Nations and
youth and youth organizations, resolution 40/14 of 18 November
1985, entitled "International Youth Year: Participation,
Development, Peace", and resolution 45/103 of 14 December
1990, in which it decided to devote a plenary meeting at its fiftieth
session to youth questions,
Noting that the year 1995 will mark the fiftieth anniversary
of the Charter of the United Nations and the tenth anniversary
of International Youth Year,
Recognizing that, in implementing the guidelines, priority
should be given to the enjoyment by youth of human rights, including
the right to education and to work, and to the resolution of other
urgent problems faced by young people in the present-day world,
such as hunger, the deterioration of the environment, drug abuse,
disability and disease, including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
(AIDS),
Recalling the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Resolution
44/25, annex. which entered into force on 2 September 1990, the
Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted by the World
Conference on Human Rights on 25 June 1993, A/CONF.157/24 (Part
I), chap. III. the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection
and Development of Children and the Plan of Action for Implementing
the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development
of Children in the 1990s, adopted by the World Summit for Children
on 30 September 1990, A/45/625, annex.
Noting the holding of the Youth Forum of the United Nations
System, at Vienna from 27 to 29 May 1991, stressing the importance
of the role of non-governmental organizations devoted to questions
of youth in the contribution to United Nations policies in the
field of youth, and welcoming the increasing activities of the
youth employment programme HOPE '87 and its close collaboration
with the United Nations in bringing about employment opportunities
for young people, especially in developing countries,
1. Encourages all States, all United Nations bodies, in
particular the Economic and Social Council through the Commission
for Social Development, the specialized agencies and the intergovernmental
and non-governmental organizations concerned, in particular youth
organizations, to continue to exert all possible efforts for the
implementation of the guidelines for further planning and suitable
follow-up in the field of youth; See A/40/256, annex.
2. Calls upon Member States to enable young people to obtain
a comprehensive education, including in human rights questions,
environmental questions and cross-cultural issues, with a view
to fostering mutual understanding and tolerance;
3. Requests the Secretary-General, in close cooperation
with Member States and youth organizations, to evaluate youth
programmes that were developed during the follow-up of International
Youth Year and to report to the General Assembly at its fifty-second
session, with a view to ensuring effective implementation of a
world programme of action for youth to the year 2000 and beyond;
See E/CN.5/1993/10 and E/CN.5/1993/L.11, annex.
4. Encourages the preparation by Member States that have
not yet done so, of a national youth policy, based on an analytical
national evaluation of the situation and needs of youth;
5. Calls once again upon Member States, United Nations
bodies and non-governmental organizations to implement fully the
guidelines for the improvement of the channels of communication
between the United Nations and youth and youth organizations,
adopted by the General Assembly by its resolutions 32/135 and
36/17, and in particular to facilitate, in accordance with these
resolutions, the activities of youth mechanisms that have been
set up by youth and youth organizations;
6. Calls upon the regional commissions that have not yet
done so, together with regional youth and youth-serving organizations,
to finalize the comprehensive review of the progress achieved
and the obstacles encountered in the regions since 1985 and to
propose draft regional programmes of action for youth to the year
2000 and beyond;
7. Invites once again Member States to include, whenever
possible, youth representatives in their national delegations
to the General Assembly and other relevant United Nations meetings,
with particular emphasis on the fiftieth session of the General
Assembly, in order to mark the tenth anniversary of International
Youth Year, thus enhancing and strengthening the channels of communication
through the discussion of youth-related issues, with a view to
finding solutions to the problems confronting youth in the contemporary
world;
8. Requests the Secretary-General to make recommendations
on the need for specific programmes aimed at encouraging school
attendance through various means, in particular by the provision
of lessons free of charge and, where appropriate, free food in
schools, in close coordination with the United Nations Children's
Fund, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations and the multilateral financial institutions, bearing in
mind the fundamental importance to youth of increasing literacy
rates as set out in the draft world programme of action for youth
to the year 2000 and beyond;
9. Decides to consider the question of policies and programmes
involving youth under the item entitled "Social development"
at its fifty- second session based upon a report to be submitted
by the Secretary-General on the implementation of the present
resolution.
94th plenary meeting
23 December 1994