SAMARKAND RESOLUTION ON “YOUTH 2020: GLOBAL SOLIDARITY, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND HUMA RIGHTS” The Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the National Human Rights Center and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan in...
SAMARKAND RESOLUTION ON “YOUTH 2020: GLOBAL SOLIDARITY, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND HUMA RIGHTS” The Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the National Human Rights Center and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan in partnership and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the United Nations Country Office in Uzbekistan, the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan, the F. Ebert Foundation held the Samarkand Human Rights Web-Forum on the subject of ‘YOUTH 2020: GLOBAL SOLIDARITY, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND HUMA RIGHTS’ on 12-13 August 2020. The Samarkand Forum was attended by leading experts from the UN and its Agencies (UNESCO, ILO, IOM, WHO, OHCHR, UNICEF, UNFPA, UNDP, UNODC, UNRССА), Inter-Parliamentary Union, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, including the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Commonwealth of Independent States, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Council of Europe, Asian Parliamentary Assembly, African Union. A large number of representatives from national parliaments and youth parliaments, National Human Rights Institutions, Youth organizations, relevant state bodies, civil society institutions and academia also participated in the Forum. We, participants of the Samarkand Human Rights Forum, Noting that, 2020 is the year of the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations, the 45th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act of the Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the 30th anniversary of the Charter of Paris for a New Europe, as well as the 55th anniversary the Declaration on the Promotion among Youth of the Ideals of Peace, Mutual Respect and Understanding between People, and the 20th anniversary of International Youth Day, which gives an opportunity to celebrate and mainstream young peoples’ voices, actions and initiatives, as well as their meaningful, universal and equitable engagement as well as ensuring the gender mainstreaming of youth, Recognizing that ‘Youth’ is a period of transition from the dependence of childhood to adulthood’s independence and awareness of interdependence as members of a community[1]. In practical terms, ‘youth’, instead of a strictly defined age-group, is considered as a cultural concept based on political, economic and socio-cultural contexts and perceptions of different communities and the transition from dependence to independence occurs at different stages in relation to different rights. It is because of the fluidity of the concept that UN, when it comes to implementation of youth policies and strategies at the national level, conforms to the age-group and definition of ‘youth’ more flexibly as used by any State, Identifying that youth rights refer to the full enjoyment of fundamental rights and freedoms by young people. These rights have generally fallen into three categories: (a) Provision: Protect young people’s access to amenities and services like food, clothes, shelter, education, etc.; (b) Protection: safety from abuses, including physical, mental, and psychological abuse and gender based violence; (c) Participation: opportunity to engage and participate as equal partners in decision making that affects them throughout their life cycle, Highlighting that youth rights are the rights that everyone should enjoy but are denied to some because of their young age. It impacts young people, sometimes overtly, through legal age restrictions, but, more importantly, and invisibly, through negative attitudes, beliefs, biases and stereotypes about youth, thus denying them opportunities to enjoy their due rights. Given these barriers, there is a need for specific protection to tackle discrimination against young people, especially young girls and women, Recalling the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, in which it is stated that all human rights are universal, indivisible, interrelated, interdependent and mutually reinforcing, and that all human rights must be treated in a fair and equal manner, on the same footing and with the same emphasis, Encouraging States to effectively implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and reaffirming the need to develop and implement strategies that give young people everywhere real opportunities to enable their full, effective and meaningful participation in society, Acknowledging the contribution of the international and regional efforts in protection and promotion of youth rights, which inter alia include the United Nations Youth 2030 Strategy of the Secretary-General, World Programme of Action for Youth; UN Security Council resolutions 2250 (2015), 2419 (2018) and 2535 (2020) on youth, peace and security recognizing the role of youth in peace building; General Assembly resolution entitled “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”; Human Rights Council resolution 41/13 (2019) on youth and human rights which call for mainstreaming of youth rights; the 1975 Helsinki Final Act, the subsequent 2014, 2015 and 2018 OSCE Ministerial Council Declarations on Youth and Security on the role that youth can play in supporting States in the implementation of commitments in all three dimensions of human security; the 2018 OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Berlin Declaration with a Resolution “A Shared Priority: Fostering Peace and Security Through Enabling Young People To Reach Their Full Potential”; the African Youth Charter; the Ibero-American Convention on the Rights of Youth; OIC-2025 Plan of Action which emphasized the need for youth capacity building and youth exchange programs; and Lisboa+21 Declaration on Youth Policies and Programs, Noting the inputs from recent relevant conferences, forums and global initiatives relating to youth at the international, regional and subregional levels, inter alia, the first and the second World Youth Forum, held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, in November 2017 and November 2018, and the 6th International seminar of the OIC In...