A/HRC/39/33 8. Young people are particularly affected by violence: more than half of all global homicide victims are under 30 years of age. 7 Furthermore, adolescents and young people continue to be sentenced to harsh penalties, including life imprisonment and the death penalty. 9. In 2016, an estimated 408 million youth resided in settings affected by armed conflict or organized violence. Conflict, crime and other forms of violence have an impact on young people’s lives in more ways than mortality, and youth suffer from a wide range of effects, from repeat victimization to psychological trauma and identity-based discrimination, which exacerbates their social and economic exclusion (see A/72/761S/2018/86). 10. Around 27 million young people are international migrants. 8 Whether on their own or with family, adolescents and youth are increasingly migrating in search of survival, security, improved standards of living, education and protection from discrimination and abuse. 11. Sexual violence disproportionately affects young women and girls, and, despite being largely preventable, complications in pregnancy and childbirth are the second leading killers of adolescent girls in developing countries. Every year, 3.9 million girls aged 15 to 19 undergo unsafe abortions. 9 Some 20 per cent of girls are married or in union before reaching the age of 18. In the least developed countries, that percentage doubles: 40 per cent are married before they reach that age. 10 AIDS-related deaths among adolescents have increased over the past decade while decreasing among all other age groups. 12. The multiple challenges that young people currently face represent an urgent call for action. Investing in young people’s rights and empowering youth can lead to more equal societies and positive social change, and young people can make a pivotal contribution to finding solutions to the many challenges ahead, including peace and security and frontierrelated challenges, such as upholding human rights in an ever more technology-driven era. This is also essential to realizing the aims of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the global agenda adopted by United Nations Member States to shape a fairer and more peaceful world for all. III. Youth: definition 13. There is no consistent definition of the term “youth”. At the United Nations, the age range from 15 to 24 years has traditionally been used; however, as that range was originally chosen only for statistical purposes, it is not used consistently. For example, some United Nations organizations use “young people” as an umbrella term for “youth” and “adolescents”, spanning the ages 10 to 24. The Committee on the Rights of the Child uses “adolescents” in its general comment No. 20 (2016) on the implementation of the rights of the child during adolescence; however, as it clarifies, it does not seek to define adolescence but instead focuses on the period of childhood from age 10 until the 18th birthday. For others, such as the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, “youth” refers to the ages 15 to 32, while still others use the age range from 15 to 29 years. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights refers to youth and young people interchangeably, but without referring to a specific age range. Security Council resolution 2250 (2015) and the progress study on youth and peace and security define “youth” as 18 to 29 years of age. Such a disparity of approaches can be problematic, particularly since the challenges faced by a 15-year-old are different from those faced by a 29-year-old. 7 8 9 10 4 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Global Study on Homicide 2013: Trends, Contexts, Data (Vienna, 2014). See www.un.org/esa/socdev/documents/youth/fact-sheets/youth-migration.pdf. See www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs364/en/. See www.unfpa.org/child-marriage.