Armen Karo Student Assoctiation

The International Day of Youth 2010 coincides with the opening of the UN Global Year for Youth. For the next year, the United Nations will prioritize in Youth issues, pointing out at the needs, demands and expectations of young people all over the world.

ECOSY – Young European Socialists, and IUSY -  International Union of Socialist Youth, firmly believe that we need more than ambitious words and speeches. We need a concrete strategy, a clear plan for the present and future of the young generation. Especially in times of crisis, such as the one the world has been suffering for the last two years, youth has to be in the first line of fight for a better life and of priorities and efforts on behalf of all institutions; local, national, European and global. Youth policies and education must be strengthened and better financed rather than victims of budgetary cuts in any level.

We, young socialists, social democrats, labourists and progressives of the world, are fighting for the right of the young people to decent work – meaning good working conditions, decent wages, full social security and healthcare rights. This can be achieved within a wider strategy for a new, smart, green economy which will both take us out of the crisis and create more reliable perspectives for young people. At the same time, education of high quality, accessible for all, as well as life-long learning are of utmost importance for the empowerment and emancipation of young people. Mobility, free and encouraged by institutions at all levels, has to be part of the education and working lives of all young people.

But young people must be able to improve their lives themselves, as well. This means that their participation has to be strengthened in all sectors of life, social, political, economic, enterpreunial, as well as in all institutions. Young people must be able to contribute to the present and to co-shape the decisions which affect their future; they have to be part of decision-making at all levels. Young people have proven that we can be important actors in the fight against poverty, the struggle for human rights, peace and international solidarity or the efforts for international cooperation; therefore, we demand more space in order to develop our activities and plans for the future.

Obviously, all of this can only be achieved under the unbreakable principle of equality. For all of us, a present and future of justice is a world of equality. We want to be the last generation to remember any kind of discriminations; the first generation when women and men, young and older, healthy and disabled, locals, minoritarians and immigrants, homosexuals and heterosexuals, people of all religions and beliefs, will enjoy equal rights and equal treatment. We want to be proud of the world we will have created for our children to live in, when we will not be young anymore.

For all these reasons, we expect from the United Nations, the European Union, OAS, and all international, national and local institutions to take the opportunity of this International Year for Youth and work with young people, for young people. The International Day of Youth is not – and must not be – a day for endangered species. It has to become the day when, every year, we evaluate our successes and advance one step further. Because we are tired to hear that the future belongs to the Youth. We are already here, present, in the present!