Slow Ratification of African Youth Charter

(PANA) - Despite the view shared by many Africans that the continent’s future depends on its youth, most of the member countries of the African Union (AU) have been slow to ratify the African Youth Charter adopted by the Heads of State and Government in June 2006, according to a senior official of the AU Commission.

Of the 53 AU Member States, only 11 have so far signed the Charter and three of them took a further step to ratify the document, the Commission’s Director of Human Resources, Science and Technology, Abdul Hakim Elwaer, said here Tuesday.

Opening an experts’ consultation ahead of the second ordinary session of the Conference of the AU Ministers of Youth, due to be held here on Thursday, Hakim Elwaer said that genuine commitment to Africa’s development and the renewed sense of good governance would bear fruit by taking the youth on board.

"The ratification and the implementation of the African Youth Charter should be our historical legacy to Africa’s young generation and African renaissance,’’ he said.

Countries that have signed the Charter are Benin, Burundi, Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and Togo.

Of these, only Gabon, Mali and Rwanda have ratified it.

The Charter places the African youth at the centre of development of the African nations and the continent, emphasising empowerment of the young population with education, and promotion of their talents in science and technology as well as access to employment opportunities, among other areas.

‘African Youth for Peace and Development’ is the theme of the one-day ministerial conference that is scheduled to end with the official launch of 2008 as ‘the Year of African Youth’.

According to officials of the AU Commission, the session will be centred on the main activities of the youth as stipulated in the Action Plan of the African Year of the Youth as well as acceleration of the ratification and implementation of the African Youth Charter.

In addition, the Ministers will discuss the proposed fund for promoting the African Youth Charter and assistance for the youth activities around the continent.

Meanwhile, Hakim Elwaer has announced that during the conference, awards will be presented to 11 winners who designed outstanding posters for the popularisation of the African Youth Charter and the Year of African Youth.

In total, he said that 109 posters from the five geographical regions of the AU entered the competition and the winners were picked on a regional representation.

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