A/HRC/39/33
61.
In this context, the Ibero-American Convention on the Rights of Youth extends the
protection granted in international instruments to children to young people up to 24 years of
age. In particular, articles 9 and 13 indicate that no young person shall be sentenced to
death and that youth charged with a criminal offence have the right to decent treatment that
takes account of their age and the need to promote their resocialization.
Youth with disabilities
62.
Youth with disabilities are among the most marginalized of all young persons. Some
80 per cent of 180 million to 220 million youth with disabilities worldwide are estimated to
be in developing countries, 25 facing stigma and barriers in their access to education,
employment, health care and social services. Exclusion of youth with disabilities from
education puts them at greater risk of being unable to gain access to decent work and,
instead, being subject to unpaid work or receiving low wages and facing unemployment
and exploitation. They face even greater exclusion from politics and public decisionmaking. The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has recommended that
States parties take steps to ensure opportunities for vocational training for youth with
disabilities and has recommended their participation in the development of legislation,
policies and practices that affect them.
63.
The intersection between young age, disability and gender results in both aggravated
forms of discrimination and specific human rights violations against girls and young
women with disabilities. Girls and young women with disabilities are disproportionately
subjected to forced and involuntary sterilization for various reasons, including eugenics,
menstrual management and pregnancy prevention. According to the Special Rapporteur on
the rights of persons with disabilities, such practices constitute gross human rights
violations.26
VI. Youth and peace and security
64.
The progress study on youth and peace and security (see A/72/761-S/2018/86)
shows the positive role that young people can play in sustaining peace. That role was
reiterated during the open debate of the Security Council on youth and peace and security
and at a high-level meeting on peacebuilding and sustaining peace convened by the
President of the General Assembly, both held in April 2018.
65.
The progress study shows that the engagement of young people in peacebuilding is
remarkable, extending from the local to the global levels and from the earliest stages of
conflict to post-conflict settings, and across various types of violence (e.g. conflict,
criminality, gender-based violence, terrorism). It stresses the importance of engaging with
young people in this area and the need to protect the space for their participation.
66.
The report indicates that translating the demographic dividend of youth into a peace
dividend requires moving from remedial action to prevention; investing in resilience;
forging innovative partnerships with civil society organizations; and developing normative
frameworks and accountability mechanisms to promote the centrality of youth. It includes
recommendations in a number of strategic areas: investing in developing the capacity,
agency and leadership of young people; moving from exclusion to inclusion (e.g. through
meaningful economic engagement, political inclusion, education); and building national,
regional and global partnerships.
25
26
Submission of the International Disability Alliance to Committee on the Rights of the Child general
comment No. 20.
See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/SterilizationAgainstGirlsWithDisabilities.aspx.
13
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