From the 6th to the 15th February 2008 the the Commission for Social Development (CSocD) will be meeting at the UN HQ in New York. The CSocD is one of the ten functional commissions established by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) since 1946 to advise and assist it in carrying its work. The Commission for Social Development consists of 46 members elected by ECOSOC.
Since the convening of the World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen in 1995, the Commission has taken up key social development themes as part of its follow-up to the outcome of the Copenhagen Summit.
This year’s theme will be Promoting Full Employment and Decent Work for all. The Report of the Secretary General, which has been prepared for the occasion, highlights the importance of the theme for young people and it states:
The inactivity rate is strikingly higher among youth, who, when they participate in the labour market, are more than three times as likely to be unemployed than adults
The relevance of youth in the agenda of the CSocD Session comes as well from the UN Resolution on Youth adopted at the 2007 General Assembly which states:
The general Assembly requests the forty-sixth session of the Commission for Social Development to include youth employment in the discussions of its priority theme “Promoting Full Employment and Decent Work for All” taking into account, inter alia, the recommendations on youth employment contained in the Secretary-General’s Report on “Follow-up to the World Programme of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and Beyond” and invites young people and youth-led organisations to contribute to those discussions.
Other issues on the agenda relevant for young people and youth organisations will be “Mainstreaming disabilities in the Development agenda” and the inter-generational issues which come from the implementation of the World Programme of Action on Ageing.
Different Youth NGOs participating to the ICMYO and enjoying Consultative Status with the ECOSOC, will participate to the works of the CsocD, some of them will give an oral statement to the Commission. The issues related to the agenda will call the Member States of the UN to reinforce the Youth Employment Network (YEN), to implement the goals and targets on youth in the global economy as presented by the Secretary General to the 62nd session of the UN General Assembly and to recognise and ensure the rights of every young person, including young women and young persons with disabilities, to formal and non-formal education and life-long learning.
Documents of the 46th Session of the CsocD: http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/csd/csocd2008.htm
Applications for ECOSOC Status: http://www.un.org/esa/coordination/ngo/
icmyo.org 