"We, the participants of the International Youth Forum do realize and recognize the major impacts of poverty and migration upon the lives of young people, thus the need to create awareness and stand up to relieve the cause and effect among the youth worldwide."

INTERNATIONAL YOUTH FORUM

“The Role of Youth on Poverty and Migration Eradication”
13-15 April 2009
Tourism Village Janzoor, Tripoli, Libya


DECLARATION


1    PREAMBLE

1.1    We, the participants of the International Youth Forum (IYF) convened in Tripoli from 13-15 April 2009 for its first program organized by the World Assembly of Youth and National Ogranisation of Libyan Youth which bring together the young people and youth leaders from around the world to discuss pertinent and topical youth issues.
1.2    The theme selected for IYF 2009 is “The Role of Youth on Poverty and Migration Eradication”. This theme was selected in the realization of the need to educate, increase awareness, to prevent or reduce the rates of poverty and migration amongst youth. All countries and all sectors of the society are affected by the devastating dilemma of poverty and migration.
1.3    However, with this selected theme the young people, youth leaders, government and organization officers gathered here to call for action in areas such as: Reduction of youth poverty and migration; Assessing the problems; Tackling the problems; Forging partnerships; Focusing on special needs; Sending the right messages; and Building experiences.
1.4    After thorough deliberations through plenary sessions, workshops and other events, we the participants have put together this document with the following recommendations that we strongly feel ought to be implemented to empower youth effectively to participate and reduce the rates of poverty and migration amongst the youth.


The guiding principles for this declaration were based on the following objectives:
•    To achieve a behavior modification among youth;
•    To bring awareness about how poverty and migration affects youth and the extent to which youth are affected;
•    To increase youth awareness to their responsibilities regarding poverty and migration reduction;
•    To improve the national and international policies that deal with poverty and migration and its effects on the society;
•    To recommend improvements to the current systems of education for youth worldwide on poverty and migration;
•    To heighten international awareness in order to resolve and tackle the poverty and migration challenges;
•    To improve cooperation between governments, civil societies and private sectors to address the issue of poverty and migration;
•    To have a stronger, more effective national youth councils with leading roles in the fight against poverty and migration.



2    RECOMMENDATIONS


2.1    Government

2.1.1    Develop action plans that help in the reduction, prevention and monitoring of        poverty and migration.
2.1.2    Develop and implement government legislation to deal and work for the reduction of poverty and migration within the country.
2.1.3    Provide financial support to NGOs and bodies that deal and work with youth on issues of poverty and migration.
2.1.4    Establish Training Centers, Mentoring Programmes and Mediation for individuals affected by poverty and migration.
2.1.5    Create agreements among neighbouring nations in order to establish a better understanding in areas of poverty and migration.
2.1.6    Strengthen government mechanisms that ensure good governance leading to the reduction of poverty and migration.
2.1.7    Facilitate the basic essential rights of individuals within the country in order to reduce poverty and decrease illegal migration.
2.1.8    Educate and provide opportunities for young people to establish themselves in order to contribute in the development of their country.
2.1.9  Each government needs a youth council for economic crimes, in order to minimize mismanagement of  finances and therefore ensure the implementation of projects geared towards the fight against poverty and migration.   


2.2    International, Regional and National NGOs

2.2.1    Organize events and programmes to empower young people.
2.2.2    Equip young people with the ability and skills that is required for them to help reduce the poverty and migration.
2.2.3    Establish local, regional and international exchange of resource centers to build a strong foundation within the country: in areas such as logistics, institutions and personnel.       
2.2.4    Reinforce the exchange of information on poverty and migration.
2.2.5    Encourage young people to become ambassadors and proactive in order to spread awareness towards the reduction of poverty and migration.
2.2.6    Create policies to promote the eradication of youth issues: such as poverty and migration.
2.2.7  The youth and NGOs should work together and actively participate in peace process as the outbreak of conflicts as the cause of poverty in  most countries especially in Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine…etc
 

2.3    Education

2.3.1    Incorporate poverty and migration issues in existing curriculum for primary, secondary and higher education.
2.3.2    Design civic education to empower the populace on the consequences of poverty and migration.
2.3.3    Capacitate parents on how to identify the trends, threats, signs and symptoms of poverty and migration among the youth.
2.3.4    Encourage development and implementation of peer education programs i.e. survival and life skills.


2.4    Media

2.4.1    Maximizing usage of technology to inform and educate communities on the consequences of poverty and migration.
2.4.2    Intensify greater social responsibility towards the young people in areas of poverty and migration.    
2.4.3    Utilise all forms of media to impart positive thoughts, ideas, awareness, opportunities, messages and attitudes to the young people.
2.4.4    Provide information, resources and services to the youth in order to educate them on the impact of poverty and migration.  
2.4.5    Publish materials that will enable youth to participate on the current issues that they are facing in the areas of poverty and migration.
2.4.6    Promote awareness programmes to encourage young people to play their role on society on the matters of poverty and migration.

2.5    Private sector

2.5.1    Establish an annual grant to equip the young people with the skill knowledge and positive reinforcement to resist the consequences of poverty and need for migration.
2.5.2    Intensify corporate and social responsibilities to help ease the stress of poverty among the young people and the necessity to migrate.
2.5.3    Tap on the available resources within the country to eliminate the stress of poverty and illegal migration among the young people.
2.5.4    Lobby and advocate for greater involvement by the private sector, in the fight against poverty and the desire to migrate.
 
3    GENERAL COMMENTS

3.1    Raise up youth leaders among organizations to help combat the issue of poverty and migration.
3.2    Motivate and encourage youth participation in the decision making process towards the elimination of poverty and illegal migration.
3.3    Provide positive role models to influence behavioral change and alleviate the misperception among youth in reference to poverty and migration.
3.4    Generate opportunities that would allow the youth to participate, create, develop and stand against the pressure of poverty and migration.
3.5    Strengthen partnership between the private sectors, societies, governments and NGOs.

4    CONCLUSION

4.1    We, the participants of IYF do realize and recognize the major impacts of poverty and migration upon the lives of young people, thus the need to create awareness and stand up to relieve the cause and effect among the youth worldwide.