The Global Youth Biodiversity Network has elected its first Steering Committee

In August 2012 I was be able to attend the historic Global Youth Biodiversity Strategic Meeting to develop a legitimized youth body to ensure the voice of young people is heard at Convention of Biodiversity (CBD) summits, The results of the first election for the Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN) Steering Committee are announced. On 23 September 2013 the Elections Committee that facilitated the election of members of the first elected GYBN’ Steering Committee has announced the results.

The election was conducted from 3 to 16 September 2013 after a call for self-nominations opened in August and encouraging all young people worldwide to submit their application. Eleven (11) individuals representing all world regions and different backgrounds were qualified to run for the election after a rigorous process was done to shortlist the received applications.

Only young people aged 30 or younger who registered themselves in the network membership database by 4 August 2013 were allowed to vote. A total of one hundred eligible voters were given fourteen days, from 3 to 16 September, to cast their vote online and elect the best and suitable candidates. The Elections Committee met from 17 to 22 September in order to announce the results.

Based on the voting results, the following individuals have been elected for the Steering Committee: Shailyn Drukis (Canada), Melina Sakiyama (Brazil), Christian Schwarzer (Germany), Dayna Noltie (Canada), Mirna Ines Fernández (Bolivia), Arunava Datta (India), Lemuel Vega (Mexico), Mesfin Hailemariam (Ethiopia), Tomas Badura (Czech Republic), Achmad Solikhin (Indonesia), and Shankar Adhikari (Nepal). They will serve during two years and will decide among themselves who will be the two (2) Focal Points of the network to the CBD Secretariat and other interested parties and partners.

The Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN) is officially recognized by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The convention is an international legally binding treaty whose main goals are conservation of biological diversity; sustainable use of its components, and fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources. The CBD encourages the participation of civil society groups, including Children and Youth, in its processes.

Braulio F. de Souza Dias, the CBD Executive Secretary, has strongly advocated at the eleventh meeting of the CBD Conference Of Parties held in Hyderabad, India, in October 2012 for more youth participation in the process. As part of its final outcomes the meeting ‘’‘invites Parties to continue to provide support for youth initiatives and other networks that support the three objectives of the Convention, such as the Global Youth Biodiversity Network […]”.

The GYBN’s mission is to raise global awareness among young people of the values of biodiversity and connect individuals and youth organizations in order to build a global coalition to halt the loss of biodiversity. After its start, an Interim Steering Committee was formed with the aim of establishing a relationship with the CBD Secretariat and mobilizing their peers. The Committee also focused on using online means to connect youth, and organized the GYBN Kick-Off Conference held in Berlin, Germany, in August 2012. Over 50 young people attended and the GYBN Statute was adopted there.


See the newly elected Steering Committee members: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0ByhqWPOW0K29ZEFVR29sM2ZwcTg/edit
Join GYBN mailing list: https://listi.jpberlin.de/mailman/listinfo/gybn
Check GYBN activities: http://gybn.net and join on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thegybn

Youth policy points for UNGA 68th Session

As youth attending the 68th UN General Assembly we have consulted with our constituencies and these are
our three priorities during the Ministerial week of the UNGA, for you take forward in the months ahead.

Equity
If the ever ongoing inequalities were tackled, we as youth believe many of the present worlds problems
would be eased. We support the calls for disaggregated data (in particular along the lines of age and gender)
and the need for a data revolution. We wish to see the following principles in this regard:

1. Transparent data collection including quantitative and qualitative measures.
2. Openly available data sets, like the Commonwealth Youth Development Index, for all to use.
3. Specific targets and indicators in all goals which are specific to different populations
(including youth, women, health status or disability).

We support efforts to reduce economic inequality, we must go beyond the principle that nobody should be
left behind to reducing the gap between extreme wealth and poverty. We think this should be actively
measured and in this regard believe:

4. A goal on inequality is vital with a suitable measurement of income inequality (such as
GINIIndex) as well as measures of social and environmental inequality.
5. Actively engage in the 8th Open Working Group on SDGs in February to put promote equity.
6. Insure generational equity through by ensuring that the future can meet their needs by creating a high commissioner, preventing short time decisions damaging our future.

Planetary boundaries
As those who will inherit the planet we believe that in the future development framework and ongoing political processes the concept of planetary limits must be central. Therefore we call for:

1. Our common fixed planetary boundaries to be acknowledged of the the means of implementation of the SDGs and in going beyond unlimited growth.
2. Sustainable consumption and production patterns be included in a holistic set of resources based goals.
3. A ‘Global sustainable development report’ to be part of the work of the High Level Political Forum to illustrate where the Earth is in relation to planetary boundaries.

Youth participation
Too few of us are able to access these high level meetings and decision making spaces. It is unacceptable
that there is such a small number of us and that most of us are from the Global North. We therefore call for:

1. Youth Delegates in every delegation to ensure youth voices at the highest level, reaching out to the Global South, marginalised youth and selected by youth councils.
2. A UN forum on youth to monitor progress in youth development, the World Programme of Action for Youth and report to the GA, jointly with governments and youth orgs.
3. Strong mechanism for civil society to participate in all UN meetings, in particular the HLPF strengthening the Major Group modalities in all development negotiations

Youth statement at High Level Political Forum - Beyond Rio+20

Today is a very important milestone; the establishment of the High Level Political Forum signals political commitment to Sustainable Development.However, this alone is not enough.

The decisions made by this forum will impact us all. In today’s world, over half the population is under thirty, equality is still an aspiration and world peace is considered an unrealistic ideal. It is 2013, yet over 81 million young people are unemployed globally, and children are being forced into he worst forms of labour. Young people are growing up in a world where global economic activity has overstepped planetary boundaries and where billions struggle to fulfill basic needs. Daily people die from diseases we can treat and violence we can prevent. We need to liberate ourselves from national and corporate self interest and work towards an equitable future. Around the world, young people protest at the disconnect between our reality and the decisions being made about our lives. Young people demand changes to hold governments’accountable for the decisions being made about our future. It is your responsibility to guarantee that we have opportunities for meaningful engagement during the decision-making process. It is our responsibility to actively contribute to these discussions and partner in the implementation and the evaluation of the development agenda.

We are communicating the critical message of our stake in the future and fighting to be heard. Live-streaming and social media have enabled countless young people to be aware of and engage in global events. But
we need to build on this and create permanent forums to ensure young people can contribute concretely. Meaningful engagement cannot exist without information, participation and the ability to hold governments to
account as outlined in Rio principle 10. Our challenges have solutions - we must move forward together with clear aims and a long term vision. Young people must be equal partners in building a future fit for all. We are not helpless. Youth are, or have the potential to be, entrepreneurs and developers, innovators, inventors and
global changemakers. We can translate international objectives into local action, deliver new concepts, find innovative solutions and inspire communities. We are ready to act. Our active inclusion will ensure that we
are, together, building a strong new generation who are aware of the challenges and ready to make a difference. Imagine the impact we’d have if children and young people were supported, included and recognized as equal partners. Think of what we can accomplish if we realise the full potential of young people as agents of sustainable development.

We are here because we are committed to action, we are here to deliver the “future we need”. You are here to ensure this forum has that same goal. You are here to be accountable to your peoples and to do this must
listen to our global voices. Let’s be partners to achieve this together.

Governments fail to create favourable conditions for civil society, says new report

A new index published by CIVICUS, shows that many governments around the world are failing to keep their promise to create an environment that allows citizens to mobilise and participate in civil society. Evidence from around the world suggests that the conditions for civil society are far from perfect. A new index published today by the global civil society network, CIVICUS, shows that many governments around the world are failing to keep their promise to create an environment that allows citizens to mobilise and participate in civil society.

“Despite countless promises from governments that they will protect civil society, the majority of citizens around the world live in environments in which they do not have the capacity to participate freely and fully in the activities, organisations and movements that seek to better their lives and improve their societies,” said Dr Danny Sriskandarajah, CIVICUS Secretary-General.

Evidence from around the world suggests that the conditions for civil society are far from perfect. The CIVICUS `Enabling Environment Index’ (EEI) is the first rigorous attempt to measure and compare the conditions that affect the potential of citizens to participate in civil society and ranks the governance, socio-cultural and socio-economic environments for civil society in 109 countries.

“In recent years we have seen popular uprisings from the Arab Spring to the Occupy movement, but we have also seen far too many crackdowns on the ability of citizens to mobilise. We wanted to create a tool that helps understand the conditions facing civil society in different parts of the world. Our index also helps identify countries where special attention needs to be paid to strengthening civil society by the international community,” said Sriskandarajah.

New Zealand tops the list, followed by Canada, Australia, Denmark and Norway while the Democratic Republic of Congo has the worst rated EEI, followed by Uzbekistan, Iran, Burundi and the Gambia.

“It is worrying that countries such as Ethiopia (8th lowest) and Vietnam (10th lowest) that have received substantial development assistance and are often praised by the international community for their economic performance have such poor environments for civil society. Either donor governments and financial institutions have not found ways to improve conditions for a vibrant civil society or are actively turning a blind eye to repressive measures.”

“The three worst ranking African countries – DRC, Burundi and the Gambia – are heavily dependent on aid flows. This  means that donors have an important lever to improve conditions if they chose to use it, whether it is by working with governments or by directly supporting local civil society,” stated Sriskandarajah.

Co-author of the report, CIVICUS Research Officer, Ciana-Marie Pegus cautions that the EEI currently has limitations as it looks at long-term factors that create the conditions for healthy citizen engagement and is not necessarily indicative of current events.

“There certainly is no civil society utopia. In many countries with high EEI scores, we have seen recent funding cuts for civil society and instances of repression in others. For example, in Canada, which ranks second on the EEI, government-civil society relations have been strained due to reports of active undermining of sections of civil society,” said Pegus.

“We know that democracy is only sustainable when citizens are free and able to connect and mobilise and this is the first attempt to measure and compare the conditions for citizen participation. So while it’s a work in progress, we hope the EEI will be used as tool that will generate debate on the conditions that are fundamental to the freedoms we all cherish,” concluded Pegus.

The Enabling Environment Index supplements CIVICUS’ ongoing efforts to track threats to civil society, ranging from restrictive legislation to politically motivated prosecution of activists to physical attacks and intimidation of human rights defenders.

ENDS


NOTES TO EDITORS:

The EEI is a global composite index developed using secondary data that seeks to understand the propensity of citizens to participate in civil society.
The indicators that are part of the EEI have different units and scales. In order to be incorporated into the EEI, they are re-weighted on a scale of 0-1, with 0 being the least `enabling’ or favourable environment and 1 being the most enabling.
The EEI covers 109 countries.
The number of countries included in the EEI is determined by data availability.
 
Top 10 EEI scores
Rank   Country                                              EEI score
1          New Zealand                                       0.87
2          Canada                                               0.85
3          Australia                                              0.84
4          Denmark                                             0.81
5          Norway                                                0.80
6          Netherlands                                         0.79
7          Switzerland                                         0.79
8          Iceland                                                0.79
9          Sweden                                               0.79
10        United States of America                    0.79

Bottom 10 EEI scores
Rank   Country                                              EEI score
100      Vietnam                                               0.37
101      Angola                                                 0.37
102      Ethiopia                                               0.36
103      Zimbabwe                                           0.35
104      Guinea                                                0.35
105      The Gambia                                        0.32
106      Burundi                                                0.31
107      Iran                                                      0.31
108      Uzbekistan                                          0.29
109      Democratic Republic of Congo          0.26

For more information on the EEI: please download the CIVICUS EEI Background Note, full report and supporting documentation from the CIVICUS website (available from 10h00 GMT, Sunday 22 Sept) or email the co-author ciana-marie.pegus@civicus.org

Youth Development Index , Sri Lanka ranked as a medium category in Youth Development Index

The Commonwealth has launched the first index measuring the development and empowerment of young people in countries worldwide.The Youth Development Index (YDI) offers an inter-country comparison of the environment for young people, aged 15 to 29, across five key areas: education, health, employment, civic participation and political participation.

The first comprehensive attempt to aggregate global data on young people, the YDI was formulated to help decision-makers identify and learn from areas of success, pinpoint priority areas for investment, and track progress over time. The methodology was developed by independent academic experts from across The Commonwealth, in conjunction with the Institute for Economics and Peace.

Launching the YDI and its accompanying website and report on 19 September, Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma said: “The Index raises awareness both of successes and of investment needs, it will help identify and share good practices between countries, and will enable the tracking of progress over time.” Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba added: “The current demographic profile of The Commonwealth, with a significant youth bulge in most member states, makes it more vital than ever that we engage in practical action that matches the sense of urgency and impatience for change being expressed by younger generations.

“The Commonwealth will continue to work with its member governments to develop and implement policies and programmes for the empowerment of young people.”

Key findings:

·         The countries with the highest overall YDI score in The Commonwealth are Australia, Canada and New Zealand, who are also some of the best performers globally.

·         70% of Commonwealth countries are classified as having medium youth development, and 13% as having high youth development.

·         On average, young people aged 15-29 make up around 28% of the population in Commonwealth countries. The top ten countries in the YDI have smaller youth populations, averaging 23%.

·         Some low and middle-income countries outscore higher-income countries. Researchers found that a focus on economic growth at the expense of other key factors such as governance and services may not necessarily translate into gains for youth development.

·         Democracies score considerably better in the YDI compared to Authoritarian regimes.

·         The average youth unemployment rate in Commonwealth countries is 22.9%, compared to the global average of 19.2%. The prevalence of HIV amongst youth in Commonwealth countries is 2.1%, two and a half times the global average.

Researchers stressed the importance of more comprehensive data collection on indicators important to youth development, to produce evidence-based youth policies and continue to enhance the Index.

Director of the Commonwealth Foundation, Vijay Krishnarayan said: “It is tempting to see the Index as either an indictment or endorsement of past performances but rather we should see it as a spur to action, an aid to planning and a guide to the way ahead.”
Marc Kidson, Chair of the British Youth Council, added: “What is so encouraging to me, is that the Index is not a report about young people, it is a tool for young people. A tool to make sure they can draw attention to the challenges they face, a tool to make sure governments cannot assume they know best what young people need, and a tool to strengthen young voices with credible evidence.”

The YDI Results Report can be downloaded from the website www.youthdevelopmentindex.org

Being a member of Commonwealth Value Day Steering Commitee

Since June 2013, A bunch of British Council Youth Ambassadors are working tirelessly for most awaited conference in SL, That's well known CHOGM 2013.

  

The Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) meeting will be taking place in Sri Lanka in November 2013. In lieu of this significant event, it is appropriate and timely, that the youth of Sri Lanka - and the Commonwealth at large - should part take in a celebration that highlights our diversity and celebrates our commonality. This event is organised through the British Council of Sri Lanka. 

On Saturday, 16th of November, 2013, more that 2000 young people will gather in Colombo to:

• Raising awareness on the ‘Commonwealth Family’ and the new Commonwealth Charter.

• Celebrating our role as ‘youth’ spread across 54 countries. 

• A better understanding and appreciation of the diversity of cultures. 

A gathering of youth in all Commonwealth countries to share and celebrate their culture, language and talents and thereby developing a sense of pride, friendship and unity strengthened with an improved knowledge of the Commonwealth.

 

The Melaka Youth Declaration

We, the delegates from 21 attending countries, attending the International Conference on Trafficking of Young Women and Children, organized by the World Youth Foundation from 3rdSeptember to 7th September 2013 in Melaka, Malaysia, acknowledge the importance of the role of young people in the fight against trafficking in persons, especially young women and children, hereby reaffirm our commitment to the pledges made in the progress of the Millennium Development Goals, primarily the third Millennium Development Goal - Promotion of Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women, firmly formulate and implement the Youth Action Plan as follows:

As young people, we are strongly committed to actively participate in global efforts to counteract trafficking in human beings.

RECOGNIZING that victims of trafficking who have been identified and rescued need a bridge to be able to make the cross from the trafficking world and be reintegrated back into society;

RECOGNIZING that in order to tackle the issues of protection and prevention of children and women from being trafficked, youth should be mobilized to spread information about risks of trafficking in human beings and successful practices to avoid such risks;

Bearing in mind, that victims of trafficking in human beings, who have been identified and rescued, are in need of special protection, proper government strategies to reach wide range of vulnerable groups must be in place, including appropriate educational and rehabilitation programs;

RECOGNIZING that coordination between Non-Government Organizations, Government entities, community networks, and youth groups are lacking resources,  additional communication that is technologically adept, culturally relative, sensitive, and effective at the local, national, and international levels needs improvement;

RECOGNIZING that there is a lack of understanding of human trafficking issues by the law enforcement and representatives of business sector, education of law enforcement officials on the issue of trafficking through cooperation with CSO is needed;

NOTING that this can be achieved through continuous advocacy, dissemination of information through formal and informal education, in the hope of overhauling behavioral attitudes towards trafficking;

NOTING that this can be achieved by collaborating with local youth groups, NGOs and government authorities to facilitate that process of rescue, repatriation, rehabilitation and reintegration;

NOTING that this can be achieved by introducing human trafficking as common problem by reaching to all audiences through effective networking strategies;

NOTING that better and similar understanding of the issue is needed,

We hereby pledge to undertake our Action Plan, to make progress towards achieving the above aspirations.

By World Youth Foundations

Commonwealth to launch first youth development index

The first worldwide index measuring the development and empowerment of young people will be launched by The Commonwealth on 19 September.

The Youth Development Index (YDI) offers an inter-country comparison of the environment for young people, aged 15 to 29, across five key areas: education, health, employment, civic participation and political participation.

The first comprehensive attempt to aggregate global data on young people, the YDI was formulated to help decision-makers identify and learn from areas of success, pinpoint priority areas for investment, and track progress over time. The methodology was developed by independent academic experts from across The Commonwealth, in conjunction with the Institute for Economics and Peace.

Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma will launch the YDI and its accompanying website and report on Thursday, 19 September, at the Commonwealth Secretariat’s headquarters at Marlborough House in London.

Mr Sharma said: “The Index shows that on certain indicators some smaller Commonwealth member countries have gained higher scores than larger or higher-income counterparts. This shows that all our member states, large or small, at whatever stage of development, can benefit from sharing experiences and best practice in youth development.

“Young people aged 15-29 make up on average about 28% of the population of Commonwealth countries, and about 60% of the Commonwealth population is under 30. It is vital that young people are able to realise their full potential to shape their nations’ future.

"The YDI is a powerful tool for benchmarking and monitoring progress that will help national ministries identify where greater investment is required and underlines the importance of continued and improved data collection on youth development indicators."