Mainstreaming Youth Into the SDGs

Wednesday July 15 marked the first ever World Youth Skills Day, created by the United Nations to help foster "the acquisition of skills by youth." The day was celebrated across the world with events devoted to the education of vocational skills to youth, and most prominently in India, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the "Skill India Program." It's a small sign that the world is slowly opening its eyes to an insidious problem in today's modern economy: massive youth unemployment. Last year the UN reported that there were more youth on this planet than ever before in human history—1.8 billion to be exact. India alone has over 350 million young people, a population larger than that of the United States. With these gargantuan numbers, it's no surprise that the global community is struggling to meet the needs of one of the world's largest minorities. Youth represent 25 percent of the total working age population, but make up 40 percent of the unemployed. Globally, the youth unemployment rate is almost three times higher than the rate for adults. A major issue is the lack of opportunities present for youth: an estimated 400 million youth worldwide—or about one third of all youth aged 15 to 24—suffer from a deficit of decent work opportunities. This dearth has left almost 74 million young people looking for work in 2015. Youth often have to bear the brunt of shifting labor markets, and the effects are being reflected in the statistics. However, youth unemployment isn't just a purely "youth issue," it has implications across the spectrum of human rights. Young women are disproportionately affected by limited youth employment opportunities, with income inequality amplified with rising unemployment. Sixty-three million youth were out of school in 2012, and reports show that quality of schooling has dropped such that about 130 million children stay in school for four years “but never achieve even the minimum benchmarks for learning.” Without a quality education or employment opportunities, youth are vulnerable to a life of poverty or violence. World Youth Skills Day was implemented to help raise awareness to this ticking time bomb within our society, and to help provide workable solutions for the millions of youth who are without recourse. Events like World Youth Skills Day are an important first step by the UN to address this problem, but it's most certainly not enough. For the past few months the UN has been abuzz with activity over the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the successor the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which end this year. While the MDGs were one of the most monumental tools of change of the 21st century, they were considered flawed by many human rights organizations. The SDGs aim to improve upon the mistakes of the MDGs, and steer the UN into 2030. Central to the development of the SDGs has been the inclusion of "The Major Groups" to facilitate the representation of all facets of society. Youth is one of those major groups, and the UN Major Group for Children and Youth (UNMGCY) presented a number of interesting ideas during the incubation process of the SDGs. Despite the role of youth during the development of the SDGs, this group has been glaringly left out of the SDGs. On July 8, the most recent draft of the Post-2015 Development Agenda was released, and youth or young people were only mentioned eight times in the 169 targets. Almost all of the references to youth were tied to education or employment, with one additional target on climate change. However, from years of development experience, it's clear that a focus on just education and employment is not enough. They are vital first steps, but for a forward-looking agenda, they won't suffice. The SDGs need to bring attention to youth involvement in political participation, financial inclusion, infrastructure, health, and security. Perhaps most lacking are accountability mechanisms in the SDGs, as noted by the UNMGCY review of the new draft of the SDGs. Target 16.7 calls for the UN to "ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels." However this ambiguous language leaves much to be desired. There needs to be legally-mandated, well-resourced, and specifically-designated measures for meaningful youth participation in monitoring and reviewing the SDGs. This includes a more robust indicator framework to fill the numerous data gaps needed for effective development. While horrific conflict and financial crises seemingly overshadow the problems of today's youth, ignoring the youth crisis will have a fatal impact on future economic and political security.