NEW YORK, 6 OCTOBER 2005
STATEMENT BY H. E. AMBASSADOR JOÃO SALGUEIRO, PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF PORTUGAL TO THE UNITED NATIONS, TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE UNITED NATIONS’ PLENARY MEETING ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE WORLD PROGRAMME OF ACTION FOR YOUTH TO THE YEAR 2000 AND BEYOND

Mr. President,

Distinguished delegates, youth representatives, ladies and gentlemen ,

In the 10^th Anniversary of the adoption of the World Programme of Action on Youth, it is a great honor for Portugal to present a draft resolution on Policies and Programmes involving Youth on behalf of the 49 co-sponsors listed in document A/60/L.2 and the additional following countries, which have joined the list – Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Central African Republic, El Salvador, Morocco, Peru, San Marino, Sudan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, United States of America and Uruguay.

Mr. President,

Ten years after the adoption of the World Programme of Action on Youth, it is an important milestone that we, once again, reaffirm the World Programme of Action on Youth.

Youth participation at all levels of society, stronger partnerships to scale up investments in youth and  holistic and integrated youth policies are just a few of the tools identified in this draft resolution, that can make us move forward and create a better world for young generations. We also believe that a better and expeditious coordination among the organizations, programmes and specialized agencies of the United Nations System, can play a key role in this regard.

It is further recognized the important work done by the Youth Employment Network, and encourage Member States, the UN and partner organizations to strengthen and expand the Network at the various levels.

The 5 priority areas, identified in the SG’s report of 2003, namely - the mixed impact of globalization on young women and men; the use of and access to information and communication technologies; the dramatic increase of human immunodeficiency virus infections among young people and the impact of the epidemic on their lives; the active involvement of young people in armed conflict, both as victims and as perpetrators; and the increased importance of addressing intergenerational issues in an ageing society – are established by this draft resolution as additional priority areas of the World Programme of Action on Youth. In this regard, we look forward to the supplement to the World Programme of Action, which will be presented to us at the 45^th Session of Commission for Social Development.

Mr. President,

It gives me great pleasure to have so many youth representatives here today in this Assembly.  This is a testimony to the valuable role and input that young people can have to the work of our Organization and to the society as a whole. Young people must be heard, they must be considered as part of the solution and not as the problem.

I would like to introduce the following revisions to the draft resolution:

On paragraph 10 we would like to move up on the text the sentence “inter alia, to the UN Nations Youth Fund”. So paragraph 10 would read: Invites all Governments and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to contribute, inter alia, to the United Nations Youth Fund for the participation of youth representatives in national delegations, in particular from developing countries.

We would like to add a new OP 11 bis, which reads as follows: Calls on Governments, the UN system, youth organizations and other relevant stakeholders, to strengthen efforts aimed at the implementation of the 10 priority areas, contained in the WPAY to the year 2000 and beyond.

Mr. President,

Last, but not least, my delegation would like to thank the efforts and cooperation of all delegations that participated in the negotiations on this important text. As a result we have achieved a text that would move us forward. We hope that this draft resolution will be adopted by consensus and with the widest support from all delegations.  

I thank you.