A/HRC/39/33 20. The phrase “young persons” is mentioned in article 10 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which calls for special measures of protection and assistance to be taken on behalf of all children and young persons without any discrimination. Young people are explicitly mentioned in the Committee’s general comments on the right to adequate housing (No. 7), the right to education (No. 13), the right to the highest attainable standard of health (No. 14), the right to work (No. 18), nondiscrimination in economic, social and cultural rights (No. 20), the right of everyone to take part in cultural life (No. 21), the right to sexual and reproductive health (No. 22) and the right to just and favourable conditions of work (No. 23). The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has focused in its concluding observations and general comments on girls and young women. The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in its general comment No. 5 (2017) on the right to independent living, makes a particular reference to young people. The Committee on the Rights of the Child, through its general comment No. 20, provides guidance to States on the measures necessary to ensure the realization of children’s rights during that period. In addition, a number of recommendations to States under review in the context of the universal periodic review concern young people. Yet the mainstreaming of youth issues is not systematic in the overall context of international human rights mechanisms. 21. Discussion at the international level on the human rights of youth is not new. In 1973, the then Division on Human Rights of the United Nations Secretariat, jointly with the Government of Italy, organized a meeting on youth and human rights in San Remo. At the meeting, human rights problems of special concern to youth were considered, including the situation of young people protesting against gross violations of human rights. Meeting participants mentioned the possibility of elaborating for young people a document similar to the Declaration of the Rights of the Child and recommended that the United Nations initiate such a measure and that youth organizations all over the world take part in the drafting of a youth charter. 22. Years later, the Commission on Human Rights, in its resolution 1985/13, requested the Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities to pay due attention to the role of youth in the field of human rights. A Subcommission Special Rapporteur, Dumitru Mazilu, presented a report on human rights and youth (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1992/36), in which he analysed the efforts and measures to secure the implementation and enjoyment by youth of human rights. In his report, the Special Rapporteur presented a draft charter on the rights and freedoms of youth, but no further action was taken. B. Political commitments 23. The World Programme of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and Beyond provides a policy framework and practical guidelines for national action and international support to improve the situation of young people. The Lisbon Declaration on Youth Policies and Programmes, adopted at the World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth in 1998, and the Braga Youth Action Plan reinvigorated the political commitment to youth by making national youth policy formulation, implementation, follow-up processes and funding a priority at the highest political levels. 24. More recently, the 2030 Agenda identifies youth as agents of change, recognizing that the Sustainable Development Goals are integrated, indivisible and global in nature, and therefore that all of the Goals apply to youth. Youth are also the main beneficiaries of the Agenda, as national success or failure in implementing the Goals will have the greatest future impact on today’s young people. Commitments vis-à-vis youth have also been adopted in a number of frameworks, including the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants and the Compact for Young People in Humanitarian Action, adopted at the World Humanitarian Summit, held in Istanbul, Turkey, in May 2016. 25. The General Assembly and the Commission for Social Development regularly adopt resolutions on policies and programmes involving youth. The Human Rights Council held a panel discussion on youth and human rights in September 2016 and adopted its resolution 6

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