Bali Global Youth Forum Declaration

Organised by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the International Conference on Development Beyond 2014 (ICPD) Global Youth Forum (GYF), held in Bali, Indonesia, December 4-6 2012, published this document as the outcome of this meeting of United Nations (UN) Member States, youth groups, individual youth participants, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), private sector institutions, and other stakeholders, as well as thousands of virtual participants.

The conference was preceded by interactions at national and global levels on the themes of: staying healthy; comprehensive education; families and youth (rights and well-being), including sexuality; transition to decent work; and leadership and meaningful participation. There are plans for a dedicated web and mobile platform to provide the means for continued conversations on issues of youth rights, well-being, and development in order to effectively influence global and national policies and programmes that impact young people.

Recommended actions that include policy elements involving communication include the following:

Staying Healthy:

• Ensure accountability, transparency, and the need for implementation as a cross-cutting theme across all recommendations, with special focus particularly on: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, and Intersex (LGBTQI) youth; men who have sex with men (MSM); drug users; refugees; rural populations; out-of-school youth; sex workers; indigenous youth; afro-descendant populations; migrants; young people in conflict and emergency situations;  young women and adolescent girls and their empowerment; persons with disabilities; and young people living with HIV and AIDS.
• "Governments should work in partnership with adolescents and youth, media, religious leaders and the private sector to create enabling environments that are conducive to ensuring young people have access to comprehensive affordable health services"
• The "[i]nternational community including governments, NGOs [non-governmental organisations], private sector and civil society must establish partnerships to make adolescents and youth aware of their rights to staying healthy through formal and non-formal education" and "[t]o provide non-discriminatory, non-judgmental, rights-based, age appropriate, gender-sensitive health education including youth-friendly, evidence based comprehensive sexuality education that is context specific."

Education:

• Governments must ensure universal access to free, quality, comprehensive education at all levels in a safe and participatory environment, including a focus on marginalised groups, especially girls.
• Governments need to implement curriculum review and monitoring of sustainable gender-sensitive and transformative educational programmes, including indicators. Educational systems and infrastructure with technology tools and teaching materials and methods must be kept up to date.
• Comprehensive sexuality education must be available in both formal and non-formal settings.

Families, Youth Rights, Well-being, and Sexuality:

• Governments must be transparent in the implementation of policies and programmes on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), adopted and funded in accordance with the principles of human rights, non-discrimination, respect, equality, and inclusivity, with a gendered, multicultural, and secular approach.
• Cultural and religious barriers, such as parental and spousal consent and early and forced marriages, should never prevent access to family planning, safe and legal abortion, and other reproductive health services.
• The document lists legal protections and describes sexual and reproductive health services and education that is confidential and accessible and includes contraception and family planning.

The Right to Decent Work:

• Governments should ensure the right to decent work for young people through effective policies and programmes that generate employment that is stable, safe, secure, and non-discriminatory and provides a decent wage and opportunities for career development, including fair hiring and access to participation in labour unions. This also includes meaningful participation by young people, including those in marginalised and vulnerable groups, to participate in the formation and implementation of rights-based policies and programmes on employment.
• Curricula and counseling for employment should be inclusive and available in both formal and non-formal education.
• Non-discrimination policies must be enforced and monitored, and young women's leadership in the workforce must be supported.

Leadership and Meaningful Youth Participation:

• Governments, in equal partnership with the private sector and young people and with special emphasis on marginalised and vulnerable groups, should invest in building the capacities of young people and creating an enabling environment for them to meaningfully participate in all stages of decision-making and the implementation of rights-based policies and programmes. This should be monitored by civil society organisations.
• "Sustainable youth capacity requires access to information, resources, civic education, technical and entrepreneurial skills, to develop, implement, monitor, and evaluate budgets, policies, programs and other decision making processes."
• "Young people should take upon themselves the task of mobilizing and selecting representatives in National Youth Councils and Youth Parliaments, promoting themes (leadership, participation and volunteerism) in a manner that meets their needs and aspirations."
• These networks, as well as youth councils, youth-led organisations, and movements, should have support of foundations, agencies, the private sector, governments, and the UN. An independent Youth Minister should be part of each national government to ensure social and political participation and rights protection of young people.