Africa-Europe forum seeks increased youth participation in national discourse

The declaration contains recommendations that call for the urgent need to address challenging issues that are affecting the lives and wellbeing of youths in Africa and Europe. The reccomendation also calls for the need for the active participation of youths in decision maknig. The training course was organised by the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe in the framework of the Youth Partnership between the Council of Europe and the European Union in co-operation with the Africa Institute of South Africa, the European Youth Forum and the Pan African Youth Union.

Honourable Ousman Conteh, programme officer of the National Youth Parliament (NYP) who represented The Gambia at the inter-continental forum said that the most important issue in the training was the discussion on the joint EU-Africa strategies and the Africa-European Youth Cooperation. He added that their discussions were centered on what would be the specific responsibility of young people and their organizations in promoting the framework and also to put on relevant inputs to work towards the preparation of the Africa-European Youth Summit to be held in Libya in November 2010.

According to him, discussions at the forum centred on cross-cutting issues which affecting youths in both Europe and Africa and the promotion of inter-cultural dialogue between youth organizations in the two continents. He said that they are also championing for heads of states to ratify the African Youth Charter and also for those countries that have ratified it to publicize and implement it.

“It is one thing to ratify the charter but it is another thing to synchronize it with the nation’s laws and make it known to the people,” he said, adding that other important issues discussed included the issue of illegal migration vis-a-vis the free movement of people, especially young people.

He said good governance, peace and security for people and countries was another issue they discussed, noting that they strongly recommended the active participation of youths in conflict transformation, resolution mechanism through exchanges, peace, education and inter-cultural dialogue. He said they also believe that youth organizations can play a crucial role in pre- and post conflict resolutions. “This is why we are insisting for proper framework on the protection, rehabilitation and integration of refugees, child soldiers, displaced people and immigrants,” he said, adding that they are also calling for better and improved coordination efforts against human trafficking and strong penalty for perpetrators.

Speaking further, Conteh said the forum also looked at the importance of investing in young people, which was hailed as an important mechanism; and they have recommended for countries to develop funding institutions and programmes that will support youth initiatives in a bid to support peace and security in Africa and Europe and also to cut down the negative impact of illegal migration. He added that they discussed the meeting of the MDGs by African and European nations and ways forward to address climate change issues. “We also recommended young people as the key stakeholders in the debate of climate change as we will be the ones to face the consequences in the feature,” he said.

According to him, during the training, he and his Switzerland counterpart set up plans to foster linkages between the NYC and the Swiss National Youth Council. He said that their partnership will focus on capacity building, youth leadership and management, inter-cultural dialogue, illegal migration, to share best practices and to produce video documentaries among others.

He concluded by expressing hope to have a good cordial relationship with his Swiss counterpart while expressing hope that their draft declaration will be duly considered by the heads of states during their summit in Libya for the fact that they will be given the opportunity to dialogue and meet with their heads of states, the summit will contribute immensely in the lives and wellbeing of young people in Africa and Europe. He said that two institutions, that is, the Pan African Youth Union and the European Youth Forum have been recognized by the EU and the AU to spearhead the partnership agreement which is the Youth Participation in the EU-AU strategic partnership.