29 May 1985

23rd plenary meeting

Efforts and measures for securing the implementation and enjoyment by youth of human rights, particularly the rights to life, education and work

The Economic and Social Council,

Drawing attention to the exceptional importance of all forms of assistance in the large-scale integration of young people into the social and economic development of their respective countries on the basis of ensuring the economic, social, cultural, political and civil rights of youth, in particular the rights of youth to life, education and work, in conditions of peace,

Convinced that it is necessary to ensure full enjoyment by youth of the rights stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, with special regard for the rights to life, education and work, in conditions of peace,

Recalling General Assembly resolutions 36/29 of 13 November 1981, 37/49 of 3 December 1982 and 38/23 of 22 November 1983, and Economic and Social Council resolutions 1979/16 of 9 May 1979, 1981/16 of 6 May 1981 and 1983/17 of 26 May 1983, in which, inter alia, the need to adopt appropriate measures for securing the implementation and the enjoyment by youth of human rights, particularly the rights to life, education and work, is recognized,

Considering that the fortieth anniversary of the victory in the Second World War occurs in 1985 and should serve to mobilize efforts and measures for the implementation and enjoyment by youth of the rights to life, education and work,

Convinced that youth can make a valuable contribution to efforts to create a new international economic order,

Recognizing that in many countries the majority of young people, under the prevailing conditions of social and economic crisis, are facing serious problems in the exercise of their rights, particularly the rights to life, education and work,

Aware of the fact that insufficient education and the unemployment of young people limits their ability to participate in the development process and, in this regard, emphasizing the importance of the secondary and higher education of young people, and their access to appropriate technical, vocational guidance and training programmes,

1. Calls upon all States, all governmental and non-governmental organizations, interested United Nations bodies and specialized agencies to continue to give priority to the formulation and implementation of effective measures for securing the exercise by youth of the rights to life, education and work, in conditions of peace;

2. Notes with concern that there are at present a rapidly growing number of unemployed young people in the world, many of whom have never had work, and that with the growth of unemployment it is becoming increasingly difficult to implement the basic social and economic rights of youth, especially the rights to life, education and work;

3. Requests the Secretary-General to take into account the views expressed in the Commission for Social Development concerning ways and means of realizing the rights of youth, in particular the rights to life, education and work, and also the provisions of the present resolution, in the preparation of documentation for the forthcoming session of the Advisory Committee for the International Youth Year: Participation, Development, Peace;

4. Requests the Commission for Social Development to consider at its thirtieth session the progress achieved in connection with the participation of young people in the development of their respective countries and in the realization and exercise of their rights to life, education and work, in conditions of peace.