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While national definitions vary greatly, youth, as defined by the United Nations, covers the age range of 15 to 24 years. In South-East Asia and South Asia, the youth population has been growing steadily. Indeed, over 60 per cent of youth are found in the Asia-Pacific region. Particularly for this reason, in addition to the fact that young people create the future of any country, youth is, and should be a major target group of human resources development policies and programmes. The HRD Section of ESCAP serves as the focal point for youth affairs in the Asian and Pacific region within the United Nations system. The HRD Section's mandate as the focal point for youth includes awareness raising on key issues for young people in Asia and the Pacific and promotion of the participation of young people in the decision-making process in society. The HRD Section pursues these mandates through promotion of the formulation of youth policy in the member countries and development of technical publications to support that process. The HRD Section also facilitates the exchange of views among senior officials responsible for youth through organizing regional forums. The regional forums also function as a venue for interface between the senior officials and youth representatives, to discuss key issues for youth. In recent years, the HRD Section has been active in formulating and implementing regional/subregional technical assistance projects focusing on specific issues of importance for youth, including youth leadership development training, youth policy formulation and strengthening of its implementation, and sexual abuse and sexual exploitation among children and youth. Most of these technical assistance projects are developed based on recommendations by the participants from the regional forums organized by the HRD Section. The World Programme of Action on Youth to the Year 2000 and Beyond, adopted by the General Assembly in 1995, marking the tenth anniversary of the International Year for Youth, and lists ten priority areas for development of youth in the world. Out of these ten issues, four priorities for youth in the Asia and Pacific were selected at the Second Asia-Pacific Meeting on HRD for Youth held in June 1998. The selected priorities are education, employment, health and effective participation of young people. Education: The main issues surrounding education for young people in Asia and the Pacific are access and equity to educational opportunities. In many countries in the region, notably in the South Asian subregion, young people still do not have access to the most basic level of education, which is particularly true among girls and young women, and rural youth. Therefore, realization of "education for all" for young people in the region is still a major goal in Asia and the Pacific. On the other hand, basic education is not sufficient for today's young people to successfully survive in the 21st century. Secondary education needs to become universal, and new elements, such as education on information technology as well as life skills are becoming increasingly important for today's youth to succeed in the future. Employment: It is also crucial that young people have access to employment opportunities and are able to acquire marketable skills and knowledge. The youth unemployment rate in the region is about four times as high as the general unemployment rate. It is known that young people are the first group of employees to lose jobs in recession and the last ones to be employed. Particularly after the recent economic crisis that hit a number of countries in the region, young people have had a disproportionately high record of unemployment. Schemes to facilitate self-employment of young entrepreneurs, as well as skills training and education that reflects the demands of the job market need to be strengthened. Health: Young people lack information on important health concerns, including that on sexual and reproductive health and substance use. Young people in the region also tend to lack access to appropriate services that are "friendly" enough for them. It is estimated that 50 per cent of all HIV/AIDS infection is found in young people ages 10-24. Furthermore, drug use among youth in Asia is on the rise, with a wider variety of drugs becoming available and an increasing social acceptance among young peers. It is important that special health concerns for youth are taken up by countries in an integrated manner. The HRD Section is presently working toward development of a regional programme to address this concern. Effective participation of youth: There must be recognition of young people as active participants and agents of change, capable of making decisions which affect their lives and society as a whole. In many countries in Asia and the Pacific, due to the traditional culture that values seniority, young people tend to have little say in the decision-making process of their own society. One means to counter such a trend is to formulate and implement integrated youth policy that reflects the voice of young people and holds the governmental actors in different sectors accountable to listening to the voice of youth. After the International Youth Year in 1985, a number of countries in the world established youth ministries and formulated youth policy, but there is a long way to go in Asia and the Pacific for young people's voice to be fully heard in the functioning of society. The HRD Section promotes development and implementation of youth policies as one means to initiate changes so that young people have an active role not only in the future but in today's society as well.
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