A/HRC/42/23 13. The present draft plan of action provides guidance, based on internationally agreedupon principles, to develop a comprehensive human rights education strategy for youth at the national level, to be adapted to national contexts. It lays out objectives, components, actions and practical steps for implementation, and potential relevant actors. 14. The plan of action builds on previous plans of action, in particular the ones for the first phase (focusing on human rights education in primary and secondary education) and for the second phase (focusing on human rights education in higher education). It also builds on the plan of action for the third phase with regard to training of educators in formal and non-formal education.6 15. There is no internationally agreed-upon definition of youth. 7 The variety of approaches reflects the fact that youth is a fluid and non-homogeneous category, made up of individuals with evolving capacities, rather than a fixed age group. Unlike other forms of identity, it is a transitory period of life, which differs according to different sociocultural settings. Young people also have multiple and intersecting identities (gender, ethnicity, belonging to specific minorities or indigenous peoples, etc.) with which they identify, in addition to their age. 16. Accordingly, while recognizing that the United Nations Secretariat, for statistical purposes, defines “youth” as those persons between the ages of 15 and 24 years, the present plan of action acknowledges other definitions used by United Nations entities and bodies, as well as Member States, without prejudice. B. Background 17. Member States have emphasized at the United Nations the importance of human rights education for youth since the Organization’s early years. For instance, the 1965 Declaration on the Promotion among Youth of the Ideals of Peace, Mutual Respect and Understanding between Peoples8 and resolution XX “Education of youth in the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms” adopted by the International Conference on Human Rights, held in Tehran in 1968, stressed the energy, enthusiasm and creativity of young people and their role in shaping the future, hence the importance of human rights education to enable them to promote human rights and peace. 18. Human rights education is an integral part of the right to education, as stipulated in several international human rights and education instruments and documents. 9 This is reiterated in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: target 7 of Goal 4 on inclusive and equitable quality education is to “ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development”. 19. In recent years, human rights education for youth has been increasingly identified as a strategy for preventing and tackling current global challenges. 10 In the 1995 Doha Declaration on Integrating Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice into the Wider United Nations Agenda to Address Social and Economic Challenges and to Promote the Rule of Law at the National and International Levels, and Public Participation, Member States 6 7 8 9 10 6 Plan of Action for the third phase (A/HRC/27/28 and Corr.1), paras. 18–22. Formal education is “education that is institutionalized, intentional and planned through public organizations and recognized private bodies”; non-formal education is “education that is institutionalized, intentional and planned” as “an addition, alternative and/or a complement to formal education within the process of the lifelong learning of individuals”, which includes educational activities conducted by civil society organizations (UNESCO glossary, available at http://uis.unesco.org/en/glossary). For information on various positions on this issue, see A/HRC/39/33, paras. 13–15. General Assembly resolution 2037 (XX). See Plan of Action for the first phase (A/59/525/Rev.1), paras. 10–20; and Plan of Action for the second phase (A/HRC/15/28), paras. 18–20. See A/HRC/35/6.