7 December 2012: The Global Youth Forum held from 3-6 December 2012, in Bali, Indonesia, has concluded with a declaration calling on governments to provide full access to education and health, and for youth leadership and participation in shaping the future development agenda. The Forum was organized as part of a 20-year review of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action.

The Bali Global Youth Forum Declaration requests governments to ensure universal access to health services, mentioning mental health, and sexual and reproductive health services including contraception, maternity care and abortion, as well as an end to forced circumcision and genital mutilation. Youth representatives also call on governments to prioritize job creation, youth entrepreneurship, and decent work, including paid internships. The Declaration calls on the UN to appoint a young person to the role of special advisor on youth.

The Declaration also calls for freedom from gender-based violence and bullying, strengthening the evidence base for youth health policies and programs, and steps to ensure political representation of young people, among other recommendations.

The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) supported the Global Youth Forum. Around 600 youth representatives from over 130 countries attended the Forum, along with representatives of governments, UN agencies, civil society and the private sector. A further 2,500 participants took part in online sessions, according to UNFPA.

UNFPA Executive Director Babatunde Osotimehin pledged to incorporate the youth agenda into discussions of future development goals. The recommendations will feed into a report of the UN Secretary-General to the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in 2014, and to discussions of the post-2015 development agenda, UNFPA notes.

The Youth Forum is the first of three meetings to review progress and produce recommendations; the other two, focusing on human rights and women, respectively, are scheduled to take place in 2013. [UNFPA Press Release] [Publication: Bali Global Youth Forum Declaration] [ICPD Global Youth Forum website]