A/HRC/45/52 right to health by enacting legal and policy frameworks, including the national health professional bill, and to develop a national health policy, a strategy and a plan of action, with appropriate resources equal to at least 15 per cent of the national budget, as recommended in the Abuja Declaration on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Other Related Infectious Diseases. 3. Promoting youth participation 68. Somali youth make up two thirds of the population of about 15 million people. 56 In the National Youth Policy 2017–2021, the Federal Government acknowledges that Somali youth are unable to realize their rights and access basic services and that they look to it to provide accountability and respond to their needs. More than half of youth are illiterate and two thirds of those aged 15–24 years live in poverty (driven partially by food insecurity). In addition, young people lack access to sexual and reproductive health education and youthfriendly services, and about 27 per cent of them are unemployed. Through the National Youth Policy 2017–2021, the Federal Government aims to remove institutional barriers to youth development and create opportunities to that young people can attain their full potential. 69. The Independent Expert takes note of several policies and programmes designed to empower Somali youth implemented by the Ministry of Youth and Sports in collaboration with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), the United Nations Population Fund, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Peacebuilding Fund and others. During the period under review, a youth empowerment development project advocated youth political participation in the Jubbaland elections and resulted in 17 young people, including two women, running for state office in 2019. At the federal level, the National Independent Electoral Commission organized a training session for 40 young people representing all regions to learn about the barriers to young people’s political participation in Somalia. 70. At the Fourth Somalia National Youth Conference, more than 300 young people representing all regions engaged in an intergenerational dialogue with government representatives to acquire negotiation and diplomatic skills. In November 2019, the Mogadishu Tech Summit, held under the theme “Scaling youth-led tech-enabled solutions for Somalia”, attracted over 5,000 people. Significant financial pledges for technological advancement and innovation were made to the country. The Inter-Agency Working Group on Youth and Development has supported the Federal Government and youth groups to design coordination and oversight mechanisms at the federal and state levels with the aim of engaging with young people and supporting them in developing workplans that find solutions to local concerns. These mechanisms have served as vehicles for the provision of technical training and for long- and short-term employment in the technology, energy and other sectors. In January 2020, USAID and the Somali authorities launched an entrepreneurial youth programme to support youth-owned businesses and facilitate investment by Somali banks and microfinance institutions. 71. These efforts have made modest contributions to reducing the marginalization of young people in society and increasing their capacity to claim their rights. The Independent Expert is concerned that the youth experience remains largely driven by poverty, lack of access to education and training opportunities, inadequate health care and other services, unemployment and gender discrimination, among others. Somali young people living in rural communities and in camps for internally displaced persons and refugees continue to face acute disparities compared to urban youth and remain excluded from governance mechanisms and processes, as well as networking opportunities that would allow them to take advantage of employment opportunities when they exist. Young people in conflict areas are also vulnerable to abduction and forced recruitment by Al-Shabaab. 72. The Independent Expert urges the Somali authorities to expand youth programmes to rural areas and scale up the quality of education and training, health and social protection 56 Of that total, 75 per cent are under the age of 35 years and 29 per cent are 15–29 years old. 15