A/HRC/40/31 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 20 December 2018 Original: English Human Rights Council Fortieth session 25 February–22 March 2019 Agenda items 2 and 3 Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Realization of the right to work Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Summary In the present report, prepared pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 37/16, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights examines the relationship between the realization of the right to work and the enjoyment of all human rights by young people. The report provides an overview of the barriers youth face in enjoying their rights to access and participate in the labour market. It highlights that to tackle those barriers States should put in place concerted legislative, policy and budgetary measures with a strong gender lens, not only in the area of the right to work, but also in the area of interrelated and interdependent rights, such as the right to social security, the right to education and the right to participate in public affairs. This approach fosters youth’s empowerment and requires a fundamental shift to lay out the conditions for promoting young people as agents of their own future, change and progress. GE.18-22389(E) 