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Ours is a young Commonwealth. Half of our 1.8 billion people are aged under 25. Our young people are our future. For better, because all our best hopes and practical investments of time and money are channeled at them, as key partners in promoting Commonwealth action for democracy, development and diversity. For worse, because it is young people who face all our severest challenges, especially in health, education and jobs, and in societies where we see you people adrift and apart. I believe that the Commonwealth needs to listen to the voices of its young people now, more than ever.
The Commonwealth Youth Forum provides the platform for debate and exchange. It also offers a vision of active citizenship, as young adults start to play important roles in their communities.
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Our meeting in Kampala in November, 2007 will be the sixth such Forum to be held at the time of a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. From Edinburgh in 1997 with Durban, Brisbane, Abuja and Valleta in between each Commonwealth Youth Forum has developed its own priorities and action plans. Their enduring legacy has been the creation of a network of young activists and charge agents across the Commonwealth. Meanwhile at the government level, we have seen a new wave of national youth policies, and the funding and trained staff to implement them. Commonwealth Youth Forum 6 has a serious agenda, and I particularly welcome its new focus on how to amplify the youth voice in the Commonwealth. I urge each and every Commonwealth country to give the Forum its full support. We are investing in our own future.
The Rt Hon Donald C MacKinnon
COMMONWEALTH
SECRETARY-GENERAL |
