ICYO - Youth Information

September 2006 – VI

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News and views from Indian Committee of Youth Organizations

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ICYO - Platform of 356 Youth Organizations in India.          

ICYO - India’s largest network of urban and rural youth.

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Illegal Termination of Pregnancy on the Rise in India  

More than 6.7 million abortions are reported in the country annually with 5.7 million of them being illegal terminations; mostly carried out in places that are unhygienic with unsafe technology Dr D Narayana Reddy, President of the Council for Sexual Education and Parenthood International (CSEPI) said.

On 16 September 2006, in his keynote address at the three-day 22nd National Conference of Sexology organized by the CSEPI, in Banglore, Dr Reddy said as pregnant women do not get hygienic antenatal care, the maternal mortality rate was of 498 per 100,000 women which was highest in India when compared to other countries.

He said due to termination of unplanned or unwanted pregnancies through unscientific means, the maternal morbidity and mortality were high in the country. Ignorance on part of the public with regard to health aspects and on the part of the policy makers and the healthcare fraternity with regard to sexual health were the root causes of all problems, he felt.

Dr Reddy said in India an estimated 5.2 million people were infected with HIV and out of which 124,366 have developed full blown AIDS . Nearly 85 per cent of the patients got the disease through sex route.

He said reproductive and sexual health entails not only the physical dimension of health but mental and social dimensions as well. Emotional dimension could be handled effectively if myths and misconceptions prevailing about gender issues and sexuality were cleared, he added.

Pointing out that the emotional health would come up only when abuse and harassment were minimized, if not completely eliminated. He urged the patriarchal system to take note of it.

Regretting that for long the medical fraternity ignored the importance of sexual health, he said that still the effort to prescribe sexology as a separate faculty in medical colleges had not succeeded. He said that the advent of HIV-AIDS in the early 1980s and the valuable discovery of 'Sildenifil' in the late 90's had shaken the medical fraternity out of snooze and started giving attention to it.

The volume of new research and newer findings in the area of sexual health were suddenly on an upswing and these advancements in modern medicare should be distributed equitably among the poor and then only the menace ofinfant mortality, unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and sexually abusive behavior could be contained, Dr Reddy said. (The Hindu/16/9/06)

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Youth Information is published by: Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO)

194-A, Arjun Nagar, Safdarjang Enclave, New Delhi 110029, India

Phone: 91 9811729093  / 91 11 26183978 Fax 91 11 26198423

Email: icyoindia@... / icyo@...  Web:  www.icyo.in

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Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO) is a registered non-profit, non-governmental network organization, committed in developing areas of mutual cooperation and understanding among different youth voluntary agencies, youth groups, clubs and individuals working in the field of youth welfare in India. 

ICYO functions as an umbrella organization of youth NGOs in India. It's family consists of
over 356 organizations spread in 122 districts of 22 states from different corners of India.

Our goal:
To improve and extend the youth work and services through Youth Organizations;
To enhance and demonstrate youth work in the society;
To promote effective youth programmes;
To organize network of civil society organizations working towards the development of youth work;
To organize seminars, conferences, workshops, trainings;
To maintain international relation with organizations promoting young people in their programmes and activities

Affiliation:  Consultative (Roster) Status with ECOSOC, United Nations;
Consultative Status with Commission on Sustainable Development;
Full Member of World Assembly of Youth (WAY); Asian Youth Council (AYC);
Youth for Habitat International Network (YFHIN); CRIN, South Asia Youth
Environment Network (SAYEN), Affiliate group of ECPAT International, Thailand;
ATSECE-DELHI, Indian Partner of AIDS Care Watch Campaign;
Steering Committee member of World Bank's YDP Network;
Working relation with Indian Association of Parliamentarians (IAPPD);
International Medical Parliamentarians Organizations (IMPO);
Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD);
World Youth Foundation, Malaysia.

ICYO – Youth Information Update 

                                                  September 2006 - V

                      (E-Newsletter from network of youth organizations in India)

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ICYO - Platform of 356 Youth Organizations in India.       

ICYO - India’s largest network of urban and rural youth.

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Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General Urges World Bank to Create ‘YOUTH INVESTMENT FUND’

Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General Florence Mugasha has urged the World Bank to consider setting up a Global Youth Investment Fund that is specifically geared to alleviating poverty and its consequences. She made the call during a pre-launch of the World Bank's 2007 World Development Report (WDR), titled 'Development and the Next Generation', held at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, UK, on 11 September 2006.

During her address to representatives of high commissions, non-governmental organisations and the media, Mrs Mugasha also called on governments and development partners to move away from a welfare approach and adopt a youth development focus.

"Youth development is an investment," said Mrs Mugasha. "We would like to see governments invest more resources in young people. This is essential to enhance the quality and sustainability of their role in national development."

Mrs Mugasha noted that the Secretariat's advocacy work was a significant catalyst for the World Bank's decision to dedicate its 2007 Report to the issues and challenges facing young people.

Mobafa Baker, chairperson of the Pan-Commonwealth Youth Caucus, expressed hope that the report would spur nations into action. "It's time to walk the talk and move rhetoric into action. There is a lot of young human capital around the world that needs to be tapped. Hence, the
need of the hour is 'ready, set, go' programmes."

Lauding the partnership between the World Bank and the Commonwealth Youth Programme, the Bank's lead economist Mamta Murthi said such feedback from young people was heartwarming.

"Young people seem to be ready to take on the challenges of the future. One can gauge their energy and the sense of impatience. They want to see the swift introduction of programmes and policies that will improve the quality of their lives," stated Ms Murthi.

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WDR 2007 will be launched on 17 September 2006 in Singapore in special launch function in Civil Society Function, ‘ICYO-Youth Information’ continues covering the information related to Civil Society Forum and WDR 2007 and keeps informed to its readers. (ICYO-Youth Information)

Youth Information is published by

Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO)

194-A, Arjun Nagar, Safdarjang Enclave

New Delhi 110029, India

Phone: 91 9811729093  / 91 11 26183978 Fax 91 11 26198423

Email: icyoindia@... / icyo@...

Web:  www.icyo.in

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO) is a registered non-profit, non-governmental network organization, committed in developing areas of mutual cooperation and understanding among different youth voluntary agencies, youth groups, clubs and individuals working in the field of youth welfare in India. 

ICYO functions as an umbrella organization of youth NGOs in India. It's family consists of
over 356 organizations spread in 122 districts of 22 states from different corners of India.

Our goal:
To improve and extend the youth work and services through Youth Organizations;
To enhance and demonstrate youth work in the society;
To promote effective youth programmmes;
To organize network of civil society organizations working towards the development of youth work;
To organize seminars, conferences, workshops, trainings;
To maintain international relation with organizations promoting young people in their programmes and activities

Affiliation:  Consultative (Roster) Status with ECOSOC, United Nations;
Consultative Status with Commission on Sustainable Development;
Full Member of World Assembly of Youth (WAY); Asian Youth Council (AYC);
Youth for Habitat International Network (YFHIN); CRIN, South Asia Youth
Environment Network (SAYEN), Affiliate group of ECPAT International, Thailand;
ATSECE-DELHI, Indian Partner of AIDS Care Watch Campaign;
Steering Committee member of World Bank's YDP Network;
Working relation with Indian Association of Parliamentarians (IAPPD);
International Medical Parliamentarians Organizations (IMPO);
Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD);
World Youth Foundation, Malaysia.

ICYO – Youth Information Indian Committee of Youth Organizations

Population update September 2006 - IV

State of World Population 2006

Young People Move More Now Than Ever

New UNFPA Report Features Stories of Young Migrants

Young people from developing countries are increasingly on the move and represent a third of all international migrants. They come from all types of backgrounds, and cross borders for many reasons. Their journeys are often marked with hope and success, but also with disillusionment and despair.

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is issuing the first-ever youth companion to its annual The State of World Population report. Moving Young highlights the social, economic and demographic aspects of youth migration. It tells the stories of young people whose lives have been shaped by migration. Their personal experiences, described in their own words, illustrate the challenges and opportunities that millions of young women and men encounter as they venture into new lands. These are first-hand accounts of many of the issues raised in The State of World Population 2006.

Moving Young offers a glimpse into the lives of young migrants and the reasons that compel them to leave their homes and countries. Many are searching for jobs and better opportunities, while others are forced to escape conflict or persecution. An increasing number of students are seeking education abroad. Many move to be reunited with parents or other relatives who have already settled abroad. Many leave their homes to marry, including young women forced to do so against their will. Many go willingly, lured away by false promises, while others are coerced into sex slavery.

The report highlights the need to create opportunities for young people in their own countries. It also calls for world leaders and policymakers to protect their human rights and to recognize their contributions—both to origin and destination countries. Governments need to fully use the resourcefulness and vitality of young migrants rather than consider them as burdens or risks.

"Young people are characterized by innovation, by creativity, by perseverance and hard work, and by wanting to try something new,” says UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid. “If well-guided and directed, that spirit is the kind that will bring well-being to any society."

The young men and women profiled in Moving Young come from 10 countries: Burkina Faso, Colombia, India, Kenya, Liberia, Moldova, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Suriname and Zambia. Their stories are very similar to those of millions of others who cross borders every day in search of a better life. (youth information)

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Youth Information is published by

Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO)

194-A, Arjun Nagar, Safdarjang Enclave

New Delhi 110029, India

Phone: 91 9811729093  / 91 11 26183978 Fax 91 11 26198423

Email: icyoindia@... / icyo@...

Web:  www.icyo.in

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO) is a registered non-profit, non-governmental network organization, committed in developing areas of mutual cooperation and understanding among different youth voluntary agencies, youth groups, clubs and individuals working in the field of youth welfare in India. 

ICYO functions as an umbrella organization of youth NGOs in India. It's family consists of
over 356 organizations spread in 122 districts of 22 states from different corners of India.

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Lets celebrate the 100 years of National Song

Sing VandeOMataram together

In 1905, the freedom movement had taken an organized shape and the same year country's politics took a new turn with the announcement of Swadeshi Movement on August 07, 1905 at Calcutta. The declaration of Swadeshi movement is completing its 100 years on August 07' 2005.

It may be recalled that the song of Vandemataram was adopted as National Song on September 07, 1905. On the occasion of completing 100 years of this historic occasion National Committee for the centenary celebration of Vandemataram.

With a view to creating awareness among students regarding national integration and love for the country, celebrate September 07 as Vandemataram Day.

Vande Mataram and its history

The national song of India, Vandemataram holds the constitutional status of national song considering its immense contribution in India's freedom movement. It has the same status as the national anthem Jana Gana Mana holds.

Late Shri Bankim Chandra Chatterjee composed the Vandemataram a poem (in Sanskrit) known for sublimity of thought dedicated to the glory of mother nation, on November 07, 1876 at the Kantal Pada village of Bengal. The Anandamatha was published in "Bang Darshan" magazine from 1880 to 1882. The song was included in his immortal novel Anandamath published in the book form in 1882.

Vandemataram had become an expression of nationalism for the patriots and revolutionaries who launched several movements and agitations against the oppressive British Rule drawing inspiration from the magic words of Vandemataram song. In fact, Vandemataram had become a symbol of India's freedom struggle. Great exponent of India classical music Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar played an important role in popularizing Vande Mataram during freedom movement. He began public recitation of Vandemataram from Lahore and sung it at many places all over the country. His presentation of Vandemataram was so charged with emotions that it used to thrill the listeners and arouse feelings of nationalism among them making them feel proud of the mother nation.

Dr. Ravindranath Tagore himself sung Vandemataram in 1896 session of Indian National Congress. It was the first political occasion when Vandemataram was sung in chorus. Dr. Ravindranath Tagore also set Vandemataram to music.

The Indian National Congress rehearsed Vandemataram in 1901 under the guidance of Dakshanrajan Sen. Smt. Sarla Devi Chaudharani, niece of Dr. Ravindranath Tagore sang Vandemataram in 1905 Congress Convention despite ban on its singing by the British Government.

In 1905, the freedom movement had taken an organized shape and the same year country's politics took a new turn with the announcement of Swadeshi Movement on August 07, 1905 at Calcutta. The British divided Bengal on October 16, 1905. Under the circumstances Vandemataram became people's song not only in Bengal but entire nation.

After 1915, it had become a tradition to begin every session of Indian National Congress with recitation of Vandemataram. The legacy still continues. Shri Subhash Chandra Bose had made Vandemataram the song of his Indian National Army and it was regularly broadcast from his Singapore radio station. A procession of patriots was canned at Calcutta due to recitation of Vandemataram on April 14, 1906. Maharshi Arvind, who was also in the procession, was injured in the canning. Maharshi translated into English the Vandemataram song.

Maharshi Arvind has mentioned in his "Mahayogi" that - " Vandemataram was an expression of nationalism. It quickly spread throughout India and was on the lips of millions." The Cambridge History of India describes Vandemataram as "the most greatest and most enduring gift of the Swadeshi movement". Shri B. N. Pande in his "A Book of India" writes, " Vandemataram, soon became the Merselillaise of the nationalist movement throughout India."

The prayer meetings of Mahatma Gandhi used to begin with Vandemataram. In 1937, the Congress working Committee appointed a sub committee of Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhsh Chandra Bose and Acharya Narendra Dev as members to review the eligibility of Vande Mataram to the status of national anthem. The committee was to take the guidance of Rabindra Nath Tagore. Finally, the Congress Working Committee ordered the same year that only first two stanzas of it should be sung. Later in Haripur Congress convention in 1938 for the first time only first two stanzas of Vandemataram were sung.

The Vandemataram has assumed a special role in unifying India for achieving freedom. People drew inspiration from this ode to the motherland and they raised strong voices against the British and forced them to leave Mother India. The energetic two words - Vandemataram instilled patriotic fervour into the minds and hearts of Indians and they came forward to save country's honour.

January 26, 1950 was set for the Indian Republic. National anthem was to be chosen before the election of the President of India. Objection was advanced about the Vandemataram that it was not suited to band music unlike the Jana Gana Mana.

On the controversy over Vande Mataram as national anthem Pandit Nehru said - "''It is unfortunate that some kind of argument has arisen between Vandemataram ' and 'Jana Gana Mana'. Vandemataram ' is obviously and indisputably the premier national song of India, with a great historical tradition, and intimately connected with our struggle for freedom. That position it is bound to retain and no other song can displace it. It represents the position and poignancy of that struggle. In regard to the national anthem tune, it was felt that the tune was more important than the words. It seemed therefore that while 'Vandemataram should continue to be the national song par excellence in India, the national anthem tune should be that of 'Jana Gana Mana'.

Dr Rajendra Prasad, who was presiding the Constituent Assembly on January 24 1950, made the following statement, which was also adopted as the final decision on the issue:

The composition consisting of words and music known as Jana Gana Mana is the National Anthem of India. The song Vandemataram, which has played a historic part in the struggle for Indian freedom, shall be honored equally with Jana Gana Mana and shall have equal status with it.

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ICYO salute to the inspiring and symbol of national freedom struggle, song and appear to all youth in India to stand up and sing together:

Vande Mataram!
Sujalam, suphalam, malayaja shitalam,
Shasyashyamalam, Mataram!
Shubhrajyothsna pulakitayaminim,
Phullakusumita drumadala shobhinim,
Suhasinim sumadhura bhashinim,
Sukhadam varadam, Mataram!

The English translation of the stanza rendered by Sri Aurobindo in
prose 1 is :

I bow to thee, Mother,
richly-watered, richly-fruited,
cool with the winds of the south,
dark with the crops of the harvests,
The Mother!
Her nights rejoicing in the glory of the moonlight,
her lands clothed beautifully with her trees in flowering bloom,
sweet of laughter, sweet of speech,
The Mother, giver of boons, giver of bliss.

(to listen the song, log on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-i8OKnCtiE&eurl= or http://grouper.com/video/MediaDetails.aspx?id=169121 )

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Issued by Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO) to keep the spirit of Nationalism among the young people.

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Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO)

194-A, Arjun Nagar, Safdarjang Enclave

New Delhi 110029, India

Phone: 91 9811729093  / 91 11 26183978 Fax 91 11 26198423

Email: icyoindia@... / icyo@...

Web:  www.icyo.in

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO) is a registered non-profit, non-governmental network organization, committed in developing areas of mutual cooperation and understanding among different youth voluntary agencies, youth groups, clubs and individuals working in the field of youth welfare in India. 

ICYO functions as an umbrella organization of youth NGOs in India. It's family consists of
over 356 organizations spread in 122 districts of 22 states from different corners of India.

Our goal:
To improve and extend the youth work and services through Youth Organizations;
To enhance and demonstrate youth work in the society;
To promote effective youth programmmes;
To organize network of civil society organizations working towards the development of youth work;
To organize seminars, conferences, workshops, trainings;
To maintain international relation with organizations promoting young people in their programmes and activities

Affiliation:  Consultative (Roster) Status with ECOSOC, United Nations;
Consultative Status with Commission on Sustainable Development;
Full Member of World Assembly of Youth (WAY); Asian Youth Council (AYC);
Youth for Habitat International Network (YFHIN); CRIN, South Asia Youth
Environment Network (SAYEN), Affiliate group of ECPAT International, Thailand;
ATSECE-DELHI, Indian Partner of AIDS Care Watch Campaign;
Steering Committee member of World Bank's YDP Network;
Working relation with Indian Association of Parliamentarians (IAPPD);
International Medical Parliamentarians Organizations (IMPO);
Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD);
World Youth Foundation, Malaysia.

Youth Information: in this issue:

- 500 million Youths Live in Poor Conditions: UNFPA

- Condom Use Will Spearhead AIDS Campaign: Mr Ramadoss Says

- Indian and China could have up to 15 per cent more men than women… 

- Over five million illegal abortions in India every year 

- Britain Pledges Ł252m to Tackle India Child Deaths 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ICYO – the commitment to strengthen the Youth Organization Movement in India and elsewhere.

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500 million Youths Live in Poor Conditions: UNFPA

 

The United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) has said that more than 500 million young people between the ages of 15 and 24 years worldwide live on less than two dollars per day, while 96 million young women in developing countries do not know how to read or write.

 

The statement sent on occasion at World Population Day celebration held on September 1, 2006 in Port Harcourt Mrs Tharaya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director of UNFPA, said that the situation poses challenges to world leaders to devise ways of reducing poverty and improves the health and well-being of young people.

 

Mrs Tharaya stressed the need for children to involved in decision-making, as this was the only way the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) can be achieved.

 

According to her, the agency campaigns young people’s rights to education, health and employment.

 

“We recognize that investments in young people promote social and economic growth. Key to these efforts are keeping girls in schools, building life, skills, delaying marriage and pregnancy until adulthood”, she said

 

While declaring the occasion open, the state Governor, Dr Peter Odili, said that the government has embarked on several programmes to uplift the conditions of youths in the state.

 

The governor, who was represented by the Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Barr Mike Ejims Enwukwe, also charged parents to give proper attention to both the physical and spiritual upbringing of their children.

 

He also advised youths to eschew all forms of antisocial behaviours as it would not do them any good.

 

Condom Use Will Spearhead AIDS Campaign: Mr Ramadoss Says

 

India will promote condoms as the best defense against HIV/AIDS in a $2.5 billion program to prevent it spreading from more than 5 million Indians already carrying the virus, Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said on September 1, 2006.

 

The five-year program, funded by the government, companies, aid agencies and charities including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, aims to prevent infection as 86 percent of India's cases are sexually transmitted, Ramadoss said.

 

“Eighty percent of the money and focus will go for prevention,'' Ramadoss said in an interview in his New Delhi office on Aug. 30. “I say hit the condom directly'' as the major preventative method.

 

To date, 124,000 sufferers in India have disclosed their illness to authorities, Ramadoss said. India's infection rate is underreported because of the discrimination and social isolation that plagues those afflicted, he said. The government is counting on anti-discrimination policies and public awareness programs to encourage infected people to admit they have the disease and to seek treatment.

 

The most affected states are Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in the south, Maharashtra in the west and Nagaland and Manipur in the north-east. The states account for 72 percent of the estimated HIV infections in the country, according to India's National AIDS Control Organization. The government agency estimates the number of HIV infected Indians last year at 5.2 million.

 

Lack of education is a challenge in fighting HIV in India's rural areas. About two-thirds of country dwellers are familiar with condoms, compared with 80 percent of the country's urban population.

 

The government aims to treat 100,000 AIDS sufferers free by 2007, from 45,000 now. In five years, the number receiving free treatment is planned to triple to 300,000, he said. By the end of this month the number of centers dispensing antiretroviral drugs will reach 100 from 60. (Credit: Mrinalini Datta)

 

Indian and China could have up to 15 per cent more men than women over the next 20 years, a research paper says 

 

Researchers have expressed alarm about cultures that favour male babies, saying sex-ratio imbalances could destabilize society because more men will remain unmarried, raising the risks of anti-social and violent behaviour.

 

In a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they said parts of China and India would have 12 per cent to 15 per cent more men over the next 20 years -- many of them rural peasants with limited education.

 

"The growing number of young men with a lack of family prospects will have little outlet for sexual energy," wrote Zhu Weixing of China's Zhejian Normal University and Therese Hesketh of the Institute of Child Health at University College London.

 

"This trend would lead to increased levels of anti-social behaviour and violence, as gender is a well-established correlate of crime, and especially violent crime," they said, adding the trend would threaten stability and security in many societies.

 

Sex ratios were already distorted in large parts of Asia and North Africa, and sex-selective abortion and discrimination in healthcare for girls have led to higher female mortality.

 

"There are now an estimated 80 million missing females in India and China alone," they wrote.

 

China introduced a one-child policy in 1979 to control population growth, but it has led to a rise in the male-to-female ratio from 1.11 in 1980-89 to 1.23 in 1996-2001, according to a study published this month in the British Medical Journal.

 

In 2004, 48.6 per cent and 48.7 per cent of the population in China and India, respectively, were female. In contrast, females comprised 49.1 per cent of the total population in East Asia, and 52.1 per cent in all of Europe and Central Asia, according to figures from the World Bank.

(Push Journal)

 

Over five million illegal abortions in India every year 

 

India records a whopping 5.7 million illegal abortions every year and over 80 percent of pregnant women do not get hygienic antenatal care, say experts.

 

‘Every year 6.7 million abortions take place in India but the sad part is that 5.7 millions are illegal. The place and technique used in most of the illegal cases are unsafe and unhygienic,’ said Sudha Tewari, president of Parivar Seva Sanstha, an NGO working closely with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

 

‘The result is obvious - India has a steep maternal mortality rate of 498 per 100,000 women, which is very high as compared to other countries,’ Tewari told IANS. She said her organisation carried out 15 percent of the legal abortions in the country.

 

The NGO has 43 clinics in 12 states and running advocacy programmes in 22 states. Adopting birth control measures could help save the lives of some 27,000 women every year, she said.

 

According to UNICEF, only 15 percent of mothers receive complete antenatal care. In rural areas, 75 percent of births still take place at home, mostly without any skilled help to ensure a safe delivery.

 

Puneet Bedi, a leading foetal medicine expert, quoting records of the Delhi government, said only 700 out of the registered 1,800 ultrasound clinics in New Delhi submitted monthly reports mandated under the PNDT (Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques) Act.

 

Bedi urged strong action to curb illegal abortions especially of female foetuses in order to maintain the male-female sex ratio.

 

The sex ratio in India has been declining for several decades. According to the 2001 census, the adult sex ratio is 933 women per 1,000 males. The child sex ratio is 927 girls per 1,000 male children.

 

‘Strict regulation and stringent punishment are two major points that both the government and those working closely with it should keep in mind,’ Bedi said.

 

Quoting a survey by Parivar Seva Sanstha, Tewari said that 25 percent of all pregnancies in India were ‘unwanted’ and that of the ‘180 million couples as many as 28.4 million had an unmet need for contraception’.

 

Tewari, who is also the head of Advocating Reproductive Choices (ARC), a conglomerate of NGOs working in the field of reproductive health, said the acceptance of various contraceptive methods was still not widespread.

 

‘While less than 50 percent of women use oral contraceptives in India, the use of intra uterine devices (IUD) is a meagre 1.6 percent as compared to over 40 percent in China,’ she pointed out.

 

She said ARC, which has 29 member organisations including the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, will launch campaigns to create awareness about oral contraceptive pills and would take up with the health ministry the issue of introducing injectable contraception.

 

‘India must expand the number of contraceptive methods to stop unwanted pregnancies and illegal abortions,’ she said.

 

ARC is funded by the international Packard Foundation and has technical support from the World Health Organization and the UN Population Fund.(Indo-Asian News Service/PUSH)

 

Britain Pledges Ł252m to Tackle India Child Deaths 

Britain is to donate Ł252 million to a project which aims to save the lives of millions of children and mothers in India, it was announced tonight.

 

The funding will be provided over five years to an Indian government scheme to prevent deaths during childbirth and soon afterwards.

 

It will pay for better maternity facilities, more midwives, essential drugs and other equipment, and will be targeted at the poorest, according to International Development Secretary Hilary Benn.

 

Mr Benn said: ``The birth of a child ought to be a joyful experience, but for more than 100,000 women in India, giving birth means death for them and possibly their baby as well.

 

“Every year more than two million Indian children will die before they reach their fifth birthday”.

 

“The tragedy is that these deaths could so easily be prevented if mothers going into labour had the support of a skilled midwife, and children were properly immunised against killers such as measles and tetanus.''

 

He said the nationwide Reproductive and Child Health Programme would prevent “needless'' fatalities that ``destroyed families''.

 

Currently a fifth of all maternal deaths worldwide during childbirth take place in India.

 

The subcontinent also suffers a quarter of the total deaths among under-fives.

 

The aim of the Reproductive and Child Health Programme is to significantly reduce India's maternal mortality rate from 407 per 100,000 live births in 1998 to 100 per 100,000 in 2015.

 

Death rates among under-fives should be cut from 70 per 1,000 live births to 30 over the same period if the project succeeds. Overall more than a million lives could be saved every year.

 

DfID said it had been working closely with the Indian authorities to prepare the programme, which has a total cost of around 10bn (Ł5.3bn).

 

Britain's planned contribution is the largest so far, and other donors include the World Bank, European Commission, and Unicef.

 

The first tranche of around Ł10 million will be made available later this year, and further payments will be subject to ``satisfactory progress'' and strict checks on how spending is being managed, according to DfID.

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Youth Information is published by

Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO)

194-A, Arjun Nagar, Safdarjang Enclave

New Delhi 110029, India

Phone: 91 9811729093  / 91 11 26183978 Fax 91 11 26198423

Email: icyoindia@... / icyo@...

Web:  www.icyo.in

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Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO) is a registered non-profit,
non-governmental network organization, committed in developing areas of mutual cooperation and understanding among different youth voluntary agencies, youth groups, clubs and individuals working in the field of youth welfare in India. 

ICYO functions as an umbrella organization of youth NGOs in India. It's family consists of
over 356 organizations spread in 122 districts of 22 states from different corners of India.

 

Our goal:
To improve and extend the youth work and services through Youth Organizations;
To enhance and demonstrate youth work in the society;
To promote effective youth programmmes;
To organize network of civil society organizations working towards the development of youth work;
To organize seminars, conferences, workshops, trainings;
To maintain international relation with organizations promoting young people in their programmes and activities

 

Affiliation:  Consultative (Roster) Status with ECOSOC, United Nations;
Consultative Status with Commission on Sustainable Development;
Full Member of World Assembly of Youth (WAY); Asian Youth Council (AYC);
Youth for Habitat International Network (YFHIN); CRIN, South Asia Youth
Environment Network (SAYEN), Affiliate group of ECPAT International, Thailand;
ATSECE-DELHI, Indian Partner of AIDS Care Watch Campaign;
Steering Committee member of World Bank's YDP Network;
Working relation with Indian Association of Parliamentarians (IAPPD);
International Medical Parliamentarians Organizations (IMPO);
Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD);
World Youth Foundation, Malaysia.

 

ICYO - Youth Information         

                     September 2006 – I

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News and views from

Indian Committee of Youth Organizations

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ICYO - Platform of 356 Youth Organizations in India.          

ICYO - India’s largest network of urban and rural youth.

----------------------------

 

Youth Voices at AIDS 2006

 

From 13 to 18 August 2006, AIDS 2006 – the XVI International AIDS Conference, a biennial event, took place in Toronto (Canada).  This year’s Conference theme Time to Deliver focused on the promises and progress made to scale-up treatment, prevention, and care. UNESCO was one of the organizations supporting the Toronto Youth Force, a coalition of global youth NGOs, student groups, and networks (including The Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Taking IT Global, Family Health International, UNFPA and UNICEF), which aimed to facilitate collaboration amongst stakeholders committed to youth HIV/AIDS issues; provide capacity building and skills to young people so that they can participate effectively/ meaningfully; and to promote intergenerational (youth-adult) partnerships before, during and after conference.

 

With more than 1,000 young people who made their voices heard at the Toronto Conference, the 2006 Youth Force was an outstanding success and made a substantial impact. Its key results include: the organization of a Youth Pre-Conference preparing young people to meaningfully participate in the Main Conference, expanded youth sessions and young presenters and a sustained media and outreach campaign. (UCJ, Section for Youth - UNESCO)

------------------

 

Key Successes of the Toronto Youthforce and AIDS 2006 Youth Programme

 

A.      Background

 

Since its foundation at AIDS 2002 in Barcelona, the YouthForce has played a pivotal role in keeping youth issues on the agenda. The 2002 and 2004 YouthForces were successful in increasing the number of youth participants and raising their visibility, showcasing youth-adult partnerships, and getting young people on planning committees.  The 2006 Toronto YouthForce continued to build upon past successes, and added new elements:  expanded youth activities and initiatives through close coordination with the Local Host Youth Programme; a highly-successful advocacy and media campaign; and the creation of a Commitments Desk to encourage leaders to concretely commit to working with young people.

 

Due to the efforts of the Toronto YouthForce and the AIDS 2006 Youth Programme, the XVI International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2006) witnessed an explosion in numbers of young delegates and a sharp increase in meaningful youth participation throughout the Conference. AIDS 2006 also marked the institutionalization of youth within the Conference Organization structure, through the creation of a Youth Advisory Committee and a Local Host Youth Programme. The inclusion of youth at this level led to greater youth-focused programming at the AIDS 2006 as well as meaningful dialogue between youth and adult leaders. The YouthForce and Youth Programme helped young people move away from issues focused solely on youth participation toward substantive issues such as the need for comprehensive HIV prevention.

 

With half of all new HIV infections occurring in young people under the age of 25, there is a critical need for global and regional advocacy efforts to keep youth issues, especially those surrounding HIV prevention in the developing world, on the table. The objectives of the Toronto YouthForce were:

 

·         To facilitate the collaboration of stakeholders committed to youth HIV/AIDS issues at the Conference.

·         To empower young people from both developing and developed countries to be effective participants in the Conference.

·         To promote youth participation and inclusion of youth issues in the mainstream conference agenda, in press generated from the Conference and in HIV/AIDS programmes and policies in general.

·         To gain and achieve international and individual commitments which promote youth leadership and mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS on young people.

 

B.     Results

 

1.      Institutionalization of a youth programme within the International AIDS Conference and expansion of YouthForce initiatives

 

-          Increased youth participation in the International AIDS Conference Local Host secretariat and programme structure:  A Local Host Youth Coordinator and five additional Youth Programme staff were hired, and a Youth Advisory Committee was formed to provide input into programming.  Young people were selected for all Conference planning committees and one young person presented as a plenary speaker. Through these ground-breaking initiatives, the YouthForce was able to collaborate extensively with the Local Host Youth Programme, and to become part of the official Conference programme for the first time.

 

-          Increased numbers of youth scholarships:  More scholarships were awarded to young people than ever before at an International AIDS Conference. At AIDS 2004, 100 youth scholarships were awarded; this year there were 145 international and 239 Canadian scholarship recipients.

 

-          Reduced registration fees and expanded age range: In part due to efforts of previous YouthForces, conference organizers drastically lowered registration fees to $150 USD for non-OECD countries (compared to $550 for adults) and $200 for OECD countries (compared to $750 for adults). In addition, the age range for youth delegates was expanded from 18-24 to 16-25. Sixty delegates at the Conference were under age 18.

 

-          Increased number of youth delegates:  Young people attended AIDS 2006 in record numbers, far surpassing past records: at AIDS 2006 there were over 1,000 youth delegates, more than double the number at AIDS 2004. This can be compared to 50 youth at AIDS 2000, 200 youth at AIDS 2002 and 450 youth at AIDS 2004.  In order to boost the number of young people at the Conference, the YouthForce introduced the “Take Two to Toronto” campaign to encourage organizations and governments worldwide to sponsor youth.  As a result, an additional 117 youth, sponsored by 31 organizations, attended the Conference.

 

-          Enlarged Youth Pre-Conference: The Toronto YouthForce, in collaboration with the AIDS 2006 Youth Programme, organized a Youth Pre-Conference for 236 young people from around the world. The Pre-Conference provided young people with information and skills in advocacy, media and communications, prevention technologies, trade justice and treatment access, research, and monitoring and evaluation. Youth participants credited the Pre-Conference with preparing them to fully participate in the Conference while providing a forum for networking with peers and experts in the field.

 

-          Highlighted Youth Opening and Reception: The Youth Opening and Reception kicked off the Conference week.  Held at the Olympic Spirit Toronto Centre, the party was attended by over 1,000 guests.  Special guests included Keep a Child Alive Co-Founder and Goodwill Ambassador Alicia Keys, UNAIDS Executive Director Dr. Peter Piot, Bob Haas, Chairman, Levi Strauss & Co, and Craig McClure, Executive Director, International AIDS Society.

 

-          Expanded youth-focused sessions and presenters: Over 40 young people presented abstract sessions, poster presentations, and skills building workshops and/or moderated sessions. This included 18 youth-specific sessions in the Conference programme, youth opening and closing sessions.   As part of the Toronto YouthForce, the Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GYCA) facilitated e-courses to prepare young people for the Conference; of the 94 young people who participated, 65 submitted abstracts and session proposals with a 35% acceptance rate.

 

-          Enhanced opportunities to reach young people:  Youth morning orientation sessions commenced with an opening orientation on Sunday and continued daily.  These breakfast meetings provided an overview of key sessions and a space to ask questions and learn more about the advocacy messages and tools available to youth.  In addition, a “Youth Pocket Guide to Navigating International AIDS Conferences” was developed and given to all youth delegates at the Pre-Conference and Youth Pavilion, providing background information, advocacy and networking strategies, and young people’s personal testimonies.

 

-          Showcased youth space - Youth Pavilion/TYF Booth:  The Youth Pavilion, housed within the Global Village, was a youth-focused space to showcase youth achievements, facilitate networking opportunities, provide a youth media hub, and continue the momentum from the Youth Pre-Conference. Forty sessions were held throughout the conference, including lively performances using music, theatre, and film. The Pavilion was hailed as one of the most interactive and engaging spaces within the entire Conference.  The Toronto YouthForce Booth in the Youth Pavilion made available t-shirts, condoms, posters, fact sheets, postcards, and information about other youth events (see Advocacy section below).

 

-          Enhanced Web Outreach through the AIDS 2006 Youth Site:  The official youth website (http://youth.aids2006.org) served as a clearinghouse of information on all youth-related activities leading up to and during AIDS 2006 for youth, adults and media.  The website featured articles, blogs, podcasts and articles by YouthForce journalists and youth delegates. In addition to the AIDS 2006 Youth Mentors Online discussion boards and other helpful resources, the AIDS 2006 Youth Site provided an invaluable tool for helping young people at the Conference stay connected, and helping those back home feel part of AIDS 2006.

-          Youth Rapporteur Team:  AIDS 2006 marked the first time a Rapporteur Team was dedicated entirely to recording the proceedings and ground-breaking presentations at the conference from a youth perspective. The Toronto YouthForce and Youth Programme selected and collaborated with the Rapporteur Team.  At the official Conference closing, the team presented to 5,000 Conference delegates on youth issues and involvement at the Conference, including reinforcing the TYF key messages.  The youth rapporteur report will form part of the official Conference record.

 

2.      High impact advocacy and media campaigns

 

-          Effective Toronto YouthForce Advocacy Campaign:  The Toronto YouthForce launched a Conference-wide advocacy campaign, focusing on the following key messages based on a 3-week e-consultation with 218 youth from 36 countries:

 

LISTEN: Involve us in decision making that affects our lives

MONEY: We need fully-funded programs to protect ourselves

SEX: HIV is mainly spread through sex. We need access to condoms to protect ourselves

TRUTH: We need comprehensive sex education to protect ourselves

ACCESS: We need youth-friendly health services, including prevention, treatment, voluntary counseling and testing, and access to harm reduction programs

 

The YouthForce broadcast these messages at the Conference through eye-popping t-shirts, large posters, and postcards urging leaders to visit the Commitments desk. The entire 600,000 square foot conference venue was “postered”, garnering the YouthForce the highest visibility of any Conference-wide advocacy campaign. As a testament to the YouthForce advocacy campaign’s visibility and impact, Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS, remarked, “I know more about the YouthForce than anything else at the Conference.” The materials are on view at http://youth.aids2006.org/en/action/.  Youth delegates used the materials, messages, and extensive advocacy training to engage decision-makers in dialogue resulting in concrete commitments to scaling up HIV/AIDS interventions for and with young people. The advocacy campaign was a clear success, as a wide range of Conference delegates were impressed with the impact of the messaging, and noted the effects of the Campaign.  

 

-          Expanded Toronto YouthForce Media Campaign: For the first time in the Conference history, a YouthForce Media Team, consisting of 11 youth journalists from around the world, provided excellent coverage of the conference via articles, blogs, podcasts, press conferences, and a video documentary.  Youth spokespeople, trained as part of the YouthForce media team, gave dozens of radio and TV interviews that aired on national radio and international media including MTV, CBC, and CNN, providing wide coverage to the YouthForce and youth HIV/AIDS issues. The media team produced 40 podcasts, 140 blog entries in French, Spanish and English, 30 articles in English and French, and a press release and 6 media advisories; distributed 270 press kits; and wrote 3 articles for the youth column of the AIDS 2006 daily newspaper.  The media showed high interested in the young people attending the Conference and youth HIV/AIDS issues.  For example, over 7 major media outlets each day visited the Youth Pavilion. 

 

-          Continued partnership with MTV: The Toronto YouthForce Media Team blogged and wrote over 30 entries and articles for the MTV Staying Alive website. In addition, the AIDS 2006 Youth Programme and Toronto YouthForce partnered with MTV on 48Fest, a 48 hour filmmaking competition by MTV’s Staying Alive. Eight teams of six youth filmmakers were challenged to write, shoot and edit a whole film in just two days.  The films were screened and judged by a distinguished panel at the “forty|eight|fest” awards ceremony. 

 

3.      Real Commitments Made from Leaders and Partners

 

-          Garnered concrete commitments - Youth-Adults Commitments Desk: The Youth-Adult Commitments Desk was an unprecedented initiative which marked a step forward in ensuring accountability for promises made to young people and generated a great deal of buzz. It provided an opportunity for adult delegates to visit and interact with young people. Featured prominently in the Youth Pavilion, the Commitments Desk garnered 344 concrete, time-bound commitments to youth (some of which are highlighted on http://youth.aids2006).  Members of existing global youth networks will follow up with leaders to ensure that promises are kept. A monitoring plan will be put in place to ensure that commitments are implemented and consequently, highlighted at the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico in 2008.

 

Notable Commitments: o        “I commit to ensuring that the UN system will get its act together and respond cohesively to safeguard the rights of young people. I will promote inclusion of young people at the decision-making table in issues that affect their lives. I will also start a youth internship program at UNAIDS” - Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director and Under-Secretary General of UNAIDS o        “For AIDS 2008 in Mexico, I commit to double the number of young people” – The Honorable Dr. Frenk, Minister of Health (Mexico) o        “I commit to empower youth directly in the decision-making process at City Hall, including in preparation for Mexico City AIDS 2008” – David Miller, Mayor for City of Toronto (Canada) o        "I commit to allocate WHO resources and priorities to make information and knowledge available to young people, including young people living with HIV/AIDS, and making health service youth friendly" - Anders Nordstrom, Acting Director General of WHO

 

-          Moved beyond words - Youth Leadership Forum:  “From Rhetoric to Action,” a High-Level Youth Leadership Forum, featured a dialogue between global leaders and 12 youth leaders from around the world.  Global leaders included Dr. Peter Piot, the First Lady of Honduras Xiomara Castro de Zelaya, Canadian Minister of International Cooperation the Honourable Josée Verner, and Chairman of the NAACP Julian Bond. During the forum young people discussed issues of pressing concern to them such as the need for comprehensive HIV prevention.

 

C.     Impact

 

The YouthForce, together with the AIDS 2006 Youth Programme, made a substantial impact on AIDS 2006 -- on the International AIDS Conference structure and programme, on young people, and on leaders and partners.  Continuing the work of past YouthForces, youth participation moved from being “outside” the mainstream conference, to being incorporated into Conference planning and programme, through the institutionalization of a youth programme.  The YouthForce model, remarked upon highly by many delegates, highlighted the effectiveness of youth-adult partnerships.  Young people participating in the YouthForce and the Conference increased their skills and capacity enormously.  Furthermore, the focus not only on youth participation issues, but also on substantive key messages developed and advocated by young people themselves, made a real impact on leaders and partners, as they recognized that young people have something meaningful to contribute. 

 

D.     Beyond Toronto: What’s next?

 

The Toronto YouthForce coordinating team (Family Health International, Advocates for Youth, Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS, and TakingITGlobal) are currently drafting a final report documenting experiences and lessons learned, and devising a plan for next steps and sustainability. Delegates have also been invited to join the Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS, an initiative stemming from the Barcelona and Bangkok YouthForces.

----------------------------

Youth Information is published by

Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO)

194-A, Arjun Nagar, Safdarjang Enclave

New Delhi 110029, India

Phone: 91 9811729093  / 91 11 26183978 Fax 91 11 26198423

Email: icyoindia@... / icyo@...

Web:  www.icyo.in

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO) is a registered non-profit, non-governmental network organization, committed in developing areas of mutual cooperation and understanding among different youth voluntary agencies, youth groups, clubs and individuals working in the field of youth welfare in India. 

ICYO functions as an umbrella organization of youth NGOs in India. It's family consists of
over 356 organizations spread in 122 districts of 22 states from different corners of India.

Our goal:
To improve and extend the youth work and services through Youth Organizations;
To enhance and demonstrate youth work in the society;
To promote effective youth programmmes;
To organize network of civil society organizations working towards the development of youth work;
To organize seminars, conferences, workshops, trainings;
To maintain international relation with organizations promoting young people in their programmes and activities

Affiliation:  Consultative (Roster) Status with ECOSOC, United Nations;
Consultative Status with Commission on Sustainable Development;
Full Member of World Assembly of Youth (WAY); Asian Youth Council (AYC);
Youth for Habitat International Network (YFHIN); CRIN, South Asia Youth
Environment Network (SAYEN), Affiliate group of ECPAT International, Thailand;
ATSECE-DELHI, Indian Partner of AIDS Care Watch Campaign;
Steering Committee member of World Bank's YDP Network;
Working relation with Indian Association of Parliamentarians (IAPPD);
International Medical Parliamentarians Organizations (IMPO);
Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD);
World Youth Foundation, Malaysia.

Issue 18 September 2006

Get Involved!

·                     About ACW

·                     Join the campaign!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Youth Information is published by

Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO)

194-A, Arjun Nagar, Safdarjang Enclave

New Delhi 110029, India

Phone: 91 9811729093  / 91 11 26183978 Fax 91 11 26198423

Email: icyoindia@... / icyo@...

Web:  www.icyo.in

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO) is a registered non-profit, non-governmental network organization, committed in developing areas of mutual cooperation and understanding among different youth voluntary agencies, youth groups, clubs and individuals working in the field of youth welfare in India. 

ICYO functions as an umbrella organization of youth NGOs in India. It's family consists of
over 356 organizations spread in 122 districts of 22 states from different corners of India.

Our goal:
To improve and extend the youth work and services through Youth Organizations;
To enhance and demonstrate youth work in the society;
To promote effective youth programmmes;
To organize network of civil society organizations working towards the development of youth work;
To organize seminars, conferences, workshops, trainings;
To maintain international relation with organizations promoting young people in their programmes and activities

Affiliation:  Consultative (Roster) Status with ECOSOC, United Nations;
Consultative Status with Commission on Sustainable Development;
Full Member of World Assembly of Youth (WAY); Asian Youth Council (AYC);
Youth for Habitat International Network (YFHIN); CRIN, South Asia Youth
Environment Network (SAYEN), Affiliate group of ECPAT International, Thailand;
ATSECE-DELHI, Indian Partner of AIDS Care Watch Campaign;
Steering Committee member of World Bank's YDP Network;
Working relation with Indian Association of Parliamentarians (IAPPD);
International Medical Parliamentarians Organizations (IMPO);
Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD);
World Youth Foundation, Malaysia.

 

Incoming events:

- Asian Youth Forum 2006

- Workshop on the Advancement of Professionalism in Youth Workers

ICYO – YOUTH INFORMATION

 Upcoming Event.                                         August 2006 – IV Issue

                     

Asian Youth Forum 2006

 

The Asian Youth Council is organizing the Asian Youth Forum 2006 (AYF 2006) with the theme “Asian Youth Responses to the Millennium Development Goals: Is the Future Within Reach?”

 

The AYF 2006 will be held from October 12-13, 2006 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

 

The Forum seeks to evaluate the progress of Asian countries in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the year 2015, the deadline set by the United Nations.

 

For more detail contact ICYO.

Workshop on the Advancement of Professionalism in Youth Workers

 

The International Youth Centre, Kuala Lumpur and the Ministry of Youth and Sports Malaysia is organizing the Workshop On Advancement of Professionalism In Youth Workers In Asia.

 

The workshop will be held from September 10-16, 2006 in Kula Lumpur, Malaysia. The Theme of this workshop is   “Advancing Youth Work Professionally”.

 

The main objective of the workshop includes: to determine the common and diverse areas of youth work practices in the region; to     share knowledge and experiences on professional practices in youth work; to discuss areas for future cooperation and collaboration; set a framework for development and advancement of youth work professionalism; to establish a mechanism for future collaboration and partnership programmes.

 

For more detail contact ICYO.

###############################

Youth Information is published by

Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO)

194-A, Arjun Nagar, Safdarjang Enclave

New Delhi 110029, India

Phone: 91 9811729093  / 91 11 26183978 Fax 91 11 26198423

Email: icyoindia@... / icyo@...

Web:  www.icyo.in

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO) is a registered non-profit, non-governmental network organization, committed in developing areas of mutual cooperation and understanding among different youth voluntary agencies, youth groups, clubs and individuals working in the field of youth welfare in India. 

ICYO functions as an umbrella organization of youth NGOs in India. It's family consists of
over 356 organizations spread in 122 districts of 22 states from different corners of India.

Our goal:
To improve and extend the youth work and services through Youth Organizations;
To enhance and demonstrate youth work in the society;
To promote effective youth programmmes;
To organize network of civil society organizations working towards the development of youth work;
To organize seminars, conferences, workshops, trainings;
To maintain international relation with organizations promoting young people in their programmes and activities

Affiliation:  Consultative (Roster) Status with ECOSOC, United Nations;
Consultative Status with Commission on Sustainable Development;
Full Member of World Assembly of Youth (WAY); Asian Youth Council (AYC);
Youth for Habitat International Network (YFHIN); CRIN, South Asia Youth
Environment Network (SAYEN), Affiliate group of ECPAT International, Thailand;
ATSECE-DELHI, Indian Partner of AIDS Care Watch Campaign;
Steering Committee member of World Bank's YDP Network;
Working relation with Indian Association of Parliamentarians (IAPPD);
International Medical Parliamentarians Organizations (IMPO);
Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD);
World Youth Foundation, Malaysia.

 

ICYO – YOUTH INFORMATION August 2006 - II

                    (E-Newsletter from ICYO, the network of youth organizations in India)

==============================================================

Children Festival in Indore

 

Akhil Bharatiya Bal Anand Mahotsav (All India Children Festival) will be held in Indore  Madhya Pradesh from November 12 to 14, 2006. It is open for the student from class 6 to class 10 (both girls and boys).

 

For more detail and participation contact: 

 

 General Secretary

 Bal Anand Mahotsav Aayojan Samiti

 301 Ishan Appartments,  13/2 Snehlata ganj,  Indore (M.P.)  452 003 India

 Phone : 91-0731-2434972;  Mobile : 09826011413, 09826877687

 E-mail : bal_anandam@... 

 

 

Hutch Marathon in Delhi

 

Hutch Delhi Half Marathon in 2005 was the successful event in thousands ran for causes near to their hearts.

 

The year again, the planning is going on to organize it on 15 October 2006 The Udayan Care appeal to young people enroll for the event and 'RUN SO THAT OUR CHILDREN COULD FLY'.

 

Call for participation, donation at Udayan Care to Kiran Modi (9810509654); Shrila Bajoria (9810810099); Deepak (9810039183).

 

###############################

Youth Information is published by

Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO)

194-A, Arjun Nagar, Safdarjang Enclave

New Delhi 110029, India

Phone: 91 9811729093  / 91 11 26183978 Fax 91 11 26198423

Email: icyoindia@... / icyo@...

Web:  www.icyo.in

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO) is a registered non-profit, non-governmental network organization, committed in developing areas of mutual cooperation and understanding among different youth voluntary agencies, youth groups, clubs and individuals working in the field of youth welfare in India. 

ICYO functions as an umbrella organization of youth NGOs in India. It's family consists of over 356 organizations spread in 122 districts of 22 states from different corners of India.

Affiliation:  Consultative (Roster) Status with ECOSOC, United Nations;
Consultative Status with Commission on Sustainable Development;
Full Member of World Assembly of Youth (WAY); Asian Youth Council (AYC);
Youth for Habitat International Network (YFHIN); CRIN, South Asia Youth
Environment Network (SAYEN), Affiliate group of ECPAT International, Thailand;
ATSECE-DELHI, Indian Partner of AIDS Care Watch Campaign;
Steering Committee member of World Bank's YDP Network;
Working relation with Indian Association of Parliamentarians (IAPPD);
International Medical Parliamentarians Organizations (IMPO);
Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD);
World Youth Foundation, Malaysia.

 

 

In this issue of YI:

- India's Other Virus: Human Trafficking

- Research finding: Trafficked Women's Symptoms Akin to Torture Victims'

- INDIA: Human trafficking in the Northeast Fuelling HIV/AIDS

 

ICYO Youth Information Human Trafficking Update

E-mail newsletter from: Indian Committee of Youth Organizations August 2006 - II

 

ICYO - Platform of 356 Youth Organizations in India.       

ICYO - India’s largest network of urban and rural youth.

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India's Other Virus: Human Trafficking

 

India's looming HIV disaster terrifies the rest of the world, and its potential to outpace Africa as the world's largest reservoir of the virus has brought out the big money to contain it. World Bank funds are flowing into HIV-prevention programmes. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has committed $200 million to galvanize leadership at the institutional level and change behaviour among high-risk groups. The Clinton Foundation is assisting India's National AIDS Control Organization to train large numbers of doctors in the basics of HIV medicine and broaden access to treatment.

And change is happening. Programmes to distribute free antiretroviral (ARV) drugs have been established and safe sex campaigns are gradually entrenching condom use in Delhi's GB Road and Mumbai's Kamatipura red-light districts -- notorious epicentres of infection. But the spread of HIV is not merely a practical problem that enough condoms, drugs and doctors can bring under control. For underlying this epidemic is a phenomenon of greater magnitude and complexity, which threatens to overwhelm the impact the Clinton and Gates Foundations' combined expenditures might make. This is India's vast, murky, semicriminalized, semi-tolerated trafficking of girls from economically marginalized states into coerced marriages, forced labour and prostitution.

Trafficking is an issue that struggles for attention in India's overburdened social policy arena. While HIV/AIDS funding is becoming something of a “cash cow” for better positioned agencies in the field, according to a Times of India article, trafficking is an area of under-resourcing and government inertia. Yet, to the extent that trafficking is a direct contributor to the pattern of infection, HIV-control strategies require a distinct set of policy measures targeting its underpinning organizational structures. Identifying those targets and how to act on them has relevance for curbing the link between HIV and trafficking, not just in India but elsewhere in the Asian region, particularly in Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia, where there are substantial movements of young women from circumstances of poverty into prostitution. How this transfer is affected may vary from country to country, but the mechanisms at work in India are far more widespread, recurring in neighbouring countries as well.

The Government's stance against trafficking is confused. The Immoral Traffic Prevention Act (ITPA) -- India's principal legal response dating back to 1956 -- prohibits trafficking in persons, criminalizes sexual exploitation and enhances penalties for offences involving minors. Prosecutions of traffickers are rare, however. In the assessment of the United States State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report, the administrative machinery to support ITPA languishes. Police simply do not utilize all the ITPA provisions, diminishing the penalties against traffickers and brothel owners.

Trafficking is inherently an interstate-phenomenon, but efforts to investigate trafficking across state borders are encumbered by lack of coordination among states' police departments. But where the subversion of government anti-trafficking measures particularly occurs is with the endemic complicity of lower-level law enforcement officials -- the local police's accommodations with dalaals (brokers/pimps), border guards facilitating the interstate movement of victims, and police officers tipping off nayikas to impending raids for underage girls.

(from the article published in UN News and author is Michael Parker)

Research finding:

Trafficked Women's Symptoms Akin to Torture Victims' 

 

Women and girls trafficked for forced sexual or domestic work suffers post-traumatic stress on a par with torture victims, researchers said. In one of the first studies of health problems of women who have been trafficked, they found 95 percent had been physically or sexually abused and nearly 40 percent had suicidal thoughts.

 

“This research shows that women who have been trafficked into sex work emerge with very severe pain and injuries and they show psychological health problems that appear to be similar to those documented among victims of torture,'' said Dr Cathy Zimmerman, the author of the report published by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

 

The International Labour Organization estimates that at least 2.5 million people around the world are in forced labor at any given time. Zimmerman, a researcher in public health policy, said because of its underground nature it was difficult to get precise numbers.

 

“This is an international trade that is happening in virtually every corner of the world,'' she said in an interview.

 

INDIA:

Human trafficking in the Northeast Fuelling HIV/AIDS

 

Images of guns, drugs and rebels have long defined India's troubled northeast. Now, a study across eight states in this resource-rich, infrastructure-poor, conflict-scarred region seeks to highlight a new worry: the rising tide of human trafficking - mostly women and girls - and its potential for hastening the spread of HIV/AIDS.

 

India's northeast is home to 200 of the 430 odd tribal groups in the country. The region is also socially and culturally distinct from mainstream India. Along with Kerala, this pocket is the bastion of Christianity in the country

The seven-month long study carried out by the Nedan Foundation, an Indian NGO working in the largely isolated region, was sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and is expected to be released soon.

"Poverty and conflict are fuelling trafficking in the north eastern states. This opens up huge possibilities for the spread of HIV. It is high time programmes address the problems," Digambar Narzary, head of the Nedan Foundation, said.

"We visited 25 relief camps of internally displaced persons [IDPs] in Kokrajhar in Bodoland Territorial Council, Assam [state]. Nearly 200,000 people are living in these camps without proper food. Traffickers carry out recruitment drives in such relief camps. They make false promises of jobs as domestic help in big cities," he said.

An influx of migrants over the past few decades into northeast India from neighbouring areas has sparked ethnic conflicts over land, leading to demands for secession and political autonomy.

Many armed insurgent groups are active in the region and blood feuds are common. In the last few decades, violence has ravaged the states of Assam, Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh. Assam, Manipur and Tripura have also witnessed massive displacement. Economic liberalisation launched in the early 1990s is yet to impact on the northeast in the same way that it has touched other parts of India.

Narzary noted that more than 100 young women had gone missing from the camps over the past two years. Regional analysts fear that such "missing girls" may have been sold into sexual slavery or "temporarily married" – often a euphemism for prostitution. (source: Nedan Foundation)

 

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Youth Information is published by

Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO)

194-A, Arjun Nagar, Safdarjang Enclave

New Delhi 110029, India

Phone: 91 9811729093  / 91 11 26183978 Fax 91 11 26198423

Email: icyoindia@... / icyo@...

Web:  www.icyo.in

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO) is a registered non-profit,
non-governmental network organization, committed in developing areas of mutual cooperation and understanding among different youth voluntary agencies, youth groups, clubs and individuals working in the field of youth welfare in India. 

ICYO functions as an umbrella organization of youth NGOs in India. It's family consists of
over 356 organizations spread in 122 districts of 22 states from different corners of India.

 

Affiliation:  Consultative (Roster) Status with ECOSOC, United Nations;
Consultative Status with Commission on Sustainable Development;
Full Member of World Assembly of Youth (WAY); Asian Youth Council (AYC);
Youth for Habitat International Network (YFHIN); CRIN, South Asia Youth
Environment Network (SAYEN), Affiliate group of ECPAT International, Thailand;
ATSECE-DELHI, Indian Partner of AIDS Care Watch Campaign;
Steering Committee member of World Bank's YDP Network;
Working relation with Indian Association of Parliamentarians (IAPPD);
International Medical Parliamentarians Organizations (IMPO);
Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD);
World Youth Foundation, Malaysia.

 

 

YDP Steering Committee Meeting held in Marseille

 

The Steering Committee (SC) of Youth Development and Peace (YDP) Network was held from June 18 to 20, 2006 in World Bank office at Marseille, France.

 

The Committee reviewed the last one-year development/progress of YDP Network around the world. The meeting started with welcome remark by Ms. Chantal Dejou, Lead Economist and Head of Office, World Bank MENA region. Mr Pierre Girardier from External Affairs Vice Presidency office of World Bank presented the progress report of YDP Network. Mr. J. Bass, Manager,
Dialogue Division, World Bank discussed the future plan to further expansion and strengthen of the Network.

 

Through video conference (vc) from WB Washington, Ms Viviana Mangiaterra, Children & Youth Advisor of World Bank and Ms Maya Brahmam, Communications, DECVP, World Bank brief about the launching of WDR 2007 in Singapore and possibilities of youth participation in launching September 2006.

 

In another VC, various countries of Africa region were connected and they updated the SC about the activities of YDP Network in their countries.

 

Mr Ingo Imhoff, Priority Area Manager - Children and Youth Department Health, Education, Social Security, GTZ, Germany discussed the possible cooperation in Youth Trust Fund. Mr. Imhoff was the special invitee in the meeting.

 

Youth Camp held

 

The character building is today’s need of nation, said Dr. Subbramaniam Swami, Ex- Minister, Govt. of India while inaugurating the Youth camp on 11 June 2006 at Amity School Campus in NOIDA. He further added that gaining the knowledge and uses it for welfare of the others.

 

Mr, Joginder Singh, Former Director, CBI said that we have to work to united the society, and that’s not possible without fix the target. Therefore every one have to fix the ultimate target of their life mission.

 

The Youth Camp was organized from June 10 to 18, 2006 by Kendriya Arya Yuva Parishad and under the guidance of it president Mr. Anil Arya. The camp was attended by 175 youth.

 

Mr. Anil Arya said he believed that such camps help to character and moral building in the young generation.

 

In the week long camp, consultations, yoga, games, other physical exercises, cultural activities were held.

 

According the Mr D. K. Bhagat, the Arya Yuvak Parishad camp was the opportunity for youth to get the exposer while they met with other youth and exchange the ideas and talent.

 

Commission of Social Development (CSD) adopts

New Youth Employment Resolution

 

The 44th Session of United Nations, which was held from 8 – 17 February 2006 in UN Headquarters in New York, reviewed 'the first United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (1997-2006)'. Member states agreed upon a draft resolution on, 'Promoting Youth Employment' tabled by YEN (Youth Employment Network) Lead Country Senegal which emphasized the importance of developing and implementing NAPs, and coordination and partnerships towards that objective between groups such as national governments, youth organizations, the private sectors, and civil society. The resolution included:

 

- Asking Governments to support the creation of new policy-oriented indicators to better monitor and evaluate progress in implementing their NAPs.

- Inviting the YEN to contribute to this process through a global analysis and evaluation of progress made by countries.

 - Calling on new countries and partner organizations to join the YEN and encouraging the Lead Countries to strengthen the work of the Network as a peer exchange, support and review mechanism.

- Inviting all Member States and NGOs to contribute to the Network in support of NAP developments.

- Calling on Member States to support the strengthening of the YENs Youth Consultative Group.

 

5th MENA Development Forum (MDF5) includes

"Youth Promoting Good Governance"

 

The series of workshops held on April 8, 2006 in Beirut on 'Youth Promoting Good Governance: Best Practices & Models of Change' (theme 10 of the MDF5), This programme encouraged youth to play a more active role in political and public arenas. MDF5 was organized by the World Bank, UNDP and hosted by Lebanese Center for Policy Studies, attended by over 500 leaders from MENA (countries in the Middle East and North Africa), Iran and Turkey together. Youth, both from MENA and around the globe, shared their good governance experiences and practices through in-depth case studies.

 

Report:

Youth and Violent Conflict: Society and Development in Crisis?

 

The United Nations Development Programme's Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR) released its report "Youth and Violent Conflict: Society and Development in Crisis?". The report represents a first step to build substantial knowledge on this issue as a basis for policy development and programmatic responses. It reviews existing analytical and policy frameworks, provides an initial mapping of relevant programming efforts put in place by UNDP and partner organizations, and advances preliminary recommendations for the way forward.

 

Youth Employment Summit Officially Launched 

 

H.E. Mwai Kibaki, Kenyan President, officially launched the 3rd global Youth Employment Summit on March 15, 2006 in Nairobi. The YES Summit 2006 will take place in September 2006. In his speech he addresses issues such as job creation for youth, he said “job creation remained the Government's top priority. It is because of the importance that my Government attaches to new employment generation for youth that Kenya offered to host the 3rd Global Youth Employment Summit

 

Earlier, the torch was present to president by Ms. Poonam Ahluwalia, Executive Director, YES Campaign, Education Development Center, Inc, USA.

 

Ms. Ahluwalia said; the agenda at the “YES Kenya 2006” would discuss rural entrepreneurship through the ‘Bottom of the Pyramid’ model, attracting Foreign Direct Investment, building core competencies for trade, and capacity building of youth. Innovative policies, best practices and ideas will be shared drawn from all parts of the world and will be used to develop future collaborative action for employment generation.

 

New Publication on UN Youth Delegates

A new publication called “A Brief Guide to Youth Delegates to the United
Nations General Assembly” is now available online.

 

The purpose of the guide is to provide information regarding the role of national youth delegates to the General Assembly and to other relevant meetings of the United Nations. To view the new publication, log on www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/youthrep.htm

 

Indian Government Bans Child Labor in Restaurant, Homes

A law was passed by Indian Parliament and notified the banning the employment of children as domestic servants or servants or in dhabas (roadside eateries), restaurants, hotels, motels, teashops, resorts, spas or in other recreational centers, effective from 10 October 2006.

The government - which earlier banned the employment of children under 14 in factories, mines as well as other hazardous jobs - later also prohibited government workers from employing children as domestic help.

"With this notification, the government has extended these restrictions to everyone," a statement issued by the Labour Ministry said of the latest restrictions.

The extended ban, which also applies to children under 14, is to be implemented October 10, said the ministry. Spas, motels and other recreational centres have also been barred from employing children.

The penalty for flouting the law is a jail term ranging from three months to two years with or without a fine of up to INR 20,000.

 

South and Far East Asia Conference for Peace held in Hyderabad

 

The South and Far East Asia Conference for Peace under the auspices World Youth Council Against Terrorism, the WYCAT, was held from 26th May to 27th May at Hyderabad, India. 50 delegates from around the world attended the conference.

 

Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudi, former Union Minister, Government of India, in his inaugural speech appealed to the youth to fight terrorism tooth and nail. He emphasized the need to debunk the word terrorism and use new word cowardism, for the terrorists do not display any bravery but display only cowardice by targeting the innocents. He also appealed to the South and Far East Asian nations to forge an alliance to extend logistic support in tackling the issues of terror. Mr. G. Kishan Reddy, International Chairman, WYCAT in his welcome address emphasized the need to effect a change in the mindset of the terrorists by way of organizing sustained debate over the repercussions of terrorism. He said that the ideology based terrorism or religion based terrorism which has been prevalent in South and Far East Asian nations have in fact been pretext to spread narrow-mindedness. He said terrorism hasn't achieved anything and will not achieve anything concrete.

 

Incoming Events

 

Youth camps in India

 

National Youth Project (NYP) announced the series of Youth camps and children festival. Here is some detail as follows:

 

1. National Integration Youth Camp will be held at Sala Guri in Sibsagar District of Assam from October 25 to 29, 2006. The camp is for 1000 youths from all over India.

 

2. Jal Sadbhavna Youth Camp

The National Integration Jal (water) Sadbhavna Youth camp will be held in Daulla (near Meerut), Uttar Pradesh from October 11 – 18, 2006. It is expected the 500 youth from all over India and 200 local people will participate in the camp.

 

The main purpose of the camp is to promote the nationalism amongs the youth by using the water conservation as a tool.

 
3. Children Festival

 

Children Festival is the annual event of NYP, This year the children camp will be held in Babina, Uttar Pradesh from September 29 to October 3, 2006. The camp is open for children of age 8 to 12 year. All the participating children will be the guests of local children and they will stay with them at their home.

 

For more detail and participation in NYP events, contact ICYO.

 

Global Prize for IT Benefiting Youth in Developing Countries

 

The Development Gateway Foundation is calling for nominations for its US$100,000 prize for outstanding achievement in the use of information and communication technologies to improve lives in developing countries. Sponsored in part by Intel Corporation, this year's Development Gateway Award is focusing on initiatives that empower or improve the conditions of youth.

For full award criteria and to access an online application visits the web: http://www.developmentgateway.org/award

 

Global Youth Entrepreneurship Forum

 

World Assembly of Youth will organize the Global Youth Entrepreneurship Forum (GYEF) from September 6-9, 2006 at Jogja Expo Centre in Sleman, Jogjakarta, Indonesia.

 

The theme selected for GYEF is ICT and Small Business Development. This theme has been selected in realization of the need to develop the capacities and capabilities of young people to enhance and utilize their entrepreneurship skills and creates more job opportunities through ICT and small business. The GYEF will therefore address issues such as entrepreneurship, ICT training and education, skills development and international collaboration. For more information contact ICYO.

 

Tunza International Children's Conference 

 

The 2006 International Children's Conference on the Environment will be held in Putrajaya, Malaysia from August 26-30, 2006. Approximately 250 child delegates (age between 10-14 years) from around the world are expected to participate.

 

This is expected that the children will share their views and concerns about the environment and will prepare individual commitments and a petition to world leaders expressing their concerns and vision. 

 

UN Global Youth Leadership Summit

 

UN Office for Sport for Development and Peace will organize the UN Global Youth Leadership Summit with the aims to link youth with the MDGs, using sport, peacebuilding, and culture as entry points. The event will include two youth delegates – one male, one female – from each of the 191 Member States of the UN and event will be held from October 31 – November 1, 2006.

 

For more information, contact karima.Zerrou@....

 

SAI Scholarship

 

The Sports Authority of India (SAI), on behalf of the Ministry of Youth Affairs &

Sports, Government of India, will award national and state level scholarship for the year 2006-07 to sports persons who have secured first, second or third position in individual events or winners/ runners-up position in team events in recognized international national or state level competitions.

 

Special scholarships are also available for unemployed woman champions on above categories. The application form can be download from website: http://www.nis.org. The last date to apply is September 30, 2006.

 

Commonwealth Essay Competition

The 2007 Commonwealth Essay Competition organized by the Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS) is now inviting entries from students aged between 8 and 18 for the annual writing contest.

One of the topics includes the theme for next year's Commonwealth Day to be celebrated on 12 March, which is 'The Commonwealth -- Respecting Difference, Promoting Understanding'.

Younger entrants have been asked to write about topics such as 'You are the ruler of your country for a week. What would you do?'; 'Write about an event that shocked your country or community. Describe your own reactions and those of other people'; and 'Write a story or poem called "Colours"'.

The complete list of topics -- there are a total of 24 over four age classes -- is available on the RCS website, www.rcsint.org/essay. The closing date for entries is 1 March 2007.

 

World Congress on Communication for Development (WCCD)

 

WCCD event is organized by the World Bank's Development Communication Division, The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and The Communication Initiative and will be held from October 25 – 27, 2006 in Rome, Italy.  The WCCD aims to analyze and evaluate new developments in the field of Communication for Development and to develop recommendations for consideration by policy and decision-makers, practitioners and researchers on how to make communication for development recognized as a central pillar of development. 

 

This 3-day Congress will bring together communication professionals engaged in development initiatives, policymakers, development practitioners, donor and non-governmental organization (NGO) representatives, community representatives, and academics from around the world to share experiences and best practices in this growing field for a common understanding of what works, what doesn't, and how best to measure impact. 

 

For more detail contact Lucia Gernna, Unit Head, Communication for Development in Operation, World Bank, email lgrenna@...

 

UNESCO Forum on Higher Education ...

 

The Global Colloquium of the UNESCO Forum on Higher Education, Research and Knowledge will be held at UNESCO, Paris from November 29 – December 1, 2006 with the theme of ‘Universities as centres of research and knowledge creation: an endangered species?’.

 

The main purposes of the Colloquium are: to examine the current issues facing universities, notably those in the developing world, in relation to their research function, which is vital for the formulation of national development policies; to propose effective strategies for the development and reinforcement of this function.

For more detail write to: m.rosset@...

 

International Seminar on Domestic Workers

 

The Committee for Asian Women together with the IRENE network is organizing the above seminar on legal protection of migrant domestic workers in Europe. The seminar will be held from November 8-10, 2006 Amsterdam, Netherlands.

 
The aim of the Seminar is to debate on the situation of domestic workers, most of which are women and children, and the formulation of common strategies to provide them with legal protection.

 

For more information, log on: www.irene-network.nl/download/domestic1eng.pdf

 

Asia Oceania Congress of Sexology

 

Based on the theme "Sexuality: No East No West", the conference will facilitate interactive, open, in-depth, and across-cultural discussion, bringing together experts from medical and paramedical fields, from East and West of the world from November 1-4, 2006 in Bangkok, Thailand.

 

The purpose of the conference is to facilitate the sexual health promotion, as multi dimensional and multi- sectoral approaches to sexuality issues, including STI/ HIV/ AIDS. For more detail contact: tmsstd@... or tmsstd@...

 

Int. Consultation for helplines

 

The third International Consultation for helplines will take place in Stockholm, Sweden from October 1-4, 2006 and will be hosted by the Swedish helpline BRIS. Her Majesty the Queen of Sweden will inaugurate the Consultation. The workshops will be organized on themes around reaching out to children and on the training needs that resulted from the PSP Checklist.

 

For more information write to rudi@...

 

Leadership Programme on Environment for Sustainable Development

The third Asia Pacific Leadership Programme on Environment for Sustainable Development will be held from September 18-24, 2006 at Tongji Uinversity in Shanghai, China and organized by Regional office for Asia Pacific of UNEP. The weeklong programme targets mid to senior level officials interested in sustainable development issues in the Asia Pacific region, and integrates the three dimensions of human, environment and sustainable development.

For more detail log on:http://www.rrcap.unep.org/uneptg06/

India Social Forum

 

India Social Forum (ISF), to be organized at Delhi in November 2006, will be the third event to be organized by WSF-India after the Asian Social Forum in Hyderabad in January 2003 and the World Social Forum in Mumbai in January 2004.

 

The theme for the India Social Forum is proposed to be: ‘Building another world: Visions for the future’. It focuses on engendering dialogue; optimism and hope, by creating a space that will enable a greater mobilization of resources for an alternative future.

 

The Youth Forum also planned with the main event site.

 

ILO 14th Asian Regional Meeting

Date: August 29 – September 1, 2006

Place: Busan, Republic of Korea, 

 

UNOSDP Global Youth Leadership Summit

Date: October 31 – November 1, 2006

Place: UN Headquarters, New York, NY,

Contact: karima.Zerrou@...

 

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Youth Information is published by

Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO)

194-A, Arjun Nagar, Safdarjang Enclave

New Delhi 110029, India

Phone: 91 9811729093  / 91 11 26183978 Fax 91 11 26198423

Email: icyoindia@... / icyo@...

Web:  www.icyo.in

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

ICYO is a registered non-profit, non-governmental network organization, committed in developing areas of mutual cooperation and understanding among different youth voluntary agencies, youth groups, clubs and individuals working in the field of youth welfare in India. 

ICYO functions as an umbrella organization of youth NGOs in India. It's family consists of over 356 Orgs spread in 122 districts of 22 states from different corners of India.

 

Affiliation:  Consultative (Roster) Status with ECOSOC, United Nations;
Consultative Status with Commission on Sustainable Development;
Full Member of World Assembly of Youth (WAY); Asian Youth Council (AYC);
Youth for Habitat International Network (YFHIN); CRIN, South Asia Youth
Environment Network (SAYEN), Affiliate group of ECPAT International, Thailand;
ATSECE-DELHI, Indian Partner of AIDS Care Watch Campaign;
Steering Committee member of World Bank's YDP Network;
Working relation with Indian Association of Parliamentarians (IAPPD);
International Medical Parliamentarians Organizations (IMPO);
Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD);
World Youth Foundation, Malaysia.

ICYO – Youth Information  July 2006 - IV

                      (E-Newsletter from network of youth organizations in India)

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ICYO - Platform of 356 Youth Organizations in India.       

ICYO - India’s largest network of urban and rural youth.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-= 

HEALTH-ASIA:

'Interest in Combating HIV/AIDS Flagging'
Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Jul 18 (IPS) - An independent commission launched in New Delhi aims to get leaders of Asia-Pacific countries to stand up and take note of the daunting challenge posed by the spread of HIV/AIDS --including increased poverty and development setbacks.

''The political leadership in this region is not alive to the fact that a large number of people are infected and that will have socio-economic consequences,'' J.V.R. Prasada Rao, director of the Joint United Nations Programme of HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Asia-Pacific office, told IPS. ''We have to find new ways of dealing with this issue and provoking interest.''

For one, smaller countries in the region with a growing number of people with HIV/AIDS must be told what the socio-economic cost of the pandemic for each of them is, said Rao. Others, including giants India and China, must learn about how HIV is ''affecting their health budgets and what the diversion of resources to fight AIDS will mean to them,'' he said.

The ten-member body, which declared its mission to the press on the weekend, is headed by Chakravarthy Rangarajan, chief economist to the Indian prime minister. Included are leading economists, scientists and civil society actors working on AIDS-related issues.

''(The commission will) generate adequate information to show to leaders and governments in the region the urgent necessity to invest in AIDS if they are to maintain their achievements in development,'' Rangarajan said at the launch of the commission. ''Development experts need to describe in greater detail the kind of impact AIDS will have on societies and the development of countries in the region.''

The establishment of this non-U.N. entity, which is expected to offer its findings and recommendations by December 2007, comes at a time when the Asia-Pacific region is staring at the rising economic losses due to the killer disease. In 2001, this region lost some 7.3 billion US dollars to the pandemic. But by 2010, the economic losses to the region as a result of AIDS are expected to reach 17.5 billion dollars per year.

And the only way to stall that trend, according to the Asian Development Bank (AsDB), which supplied the estimates, is a stronger response in three areas. They are preventive efforts, more information to vulnerable groups at risk of being infected and better health care for people with the deadly virus.

''If we invest sufficiently now, the region could save two billion dollars per year by 2010,'' Dr. Jacques Jeugmans, principle health specialist at the Manila-based international financial institution, said in an interview. ''The epidemic is still concentrated in a few high risk groups and this is where the main investment is needed.''

Failure to respond to the rising number of AIDS cases will result in an increase in the number of people in poverty and a greater impact among poor households, he added. ''Most of the vulnerable people are just above the poverty line and we may see them slipping below this line.''

The inadequate response in the region to AIDS can be gauged by the limited amount invested to combat it. In 2003, for instance, Asia-Pacific countries needed some 1.5 billion dollars to fund a comprehensive programme against AIDS, but ''only 200 million dollars was available from all sources of public and donor funding,'' states the AsDB. By 2007, it adds, the region's funding needs for AIDS are expected to reach 5.1 billion dollars.

These twin realities -- lack of political interest and financial shortfalls -- come at a time when reports reveal that the killer virus is still on the march through Asian cities, towns and villages. Some 8.3 million people are living with HIV in Asia -- ''more than two-thirds of them in one country, India,'' UNAIDS revealed in its annual report on the pandemic in May. Countries where HIV rates have increased, it adds, include China, Indonesia and Vietnam, while outbreaks have also been reported in Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Last year, there were 930,000 new infections in the region, while the toll from AIDS-related deaths in 2005 was 600,000. At the same time, those receiving anti-AIDS drugs has risen from 70,000 in 2003 to 180,000 in 2005, nearly half of them in Thailand.

In June, the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), a Bangkok-based U.N. regional body, sounded the alarm on the growing numbers of Asian youth among the newly infected. ''Young people are the hardest hit -- half of all new infections have occurred among youth,'' it states in a brief study, 'Turning The Tide Against HIV/AIDS: Targeting Youth.' 

Two South-east Asian countries convey this pattern, with Vietnam seeing 63 percent of new HIV cases being below 30 years and Thailand with 50-60 percent of new cases among citizens under 24 years. ''Adolescents and young people are poorly informed about sexuality, reproductive health and the consequences of unprotected sex or drug use,'' it adds. ''In a 2004 survey in China, 80 percent of high school students said they had never participated in a course, or in activities related to HIV prevention.''

Countries must turn their attention to the spread of HIV in young people as a priority, says the ADB's Jeugmans, since the region's success or failure in combating AIDS rests with this group. ''They are the most vulnerable. The youth are not informed. There are lots of gaps in informing the young in Asia.'' (IPS News Agency)

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Youth Information is published by

Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO)

194-A, Arjun Nagar, Safdarjang Enclave

New Delhi 110029, India

Phone: 91 9811729093  / 91 11 26183978 Fax 91 11 26198423

Email: icyoindia@... / icyo@...

Web:  www.icyo.in

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

ICYO is a registered non-profit, non-governmental network organization, committed in developing areas of mutual cooperation and understanding among different youth voluntary agencies, youth groups, clubs and individuals working in the field of youth welfare in India. 

ICYO functions as an umbrella organization of youth NGOs in India. It's family consists of over 356 Orgs spread in 122 districts of 22 states from different corners of India.

 

Affiliation:  Consultative (Roster) Status with ECOSOC, United Nations;
Consultative Status with Commission on Sustainable Development;
Full Member of World Assembly of Youth (WAY); Asian Youth Council (AYC);
Youth for Habitat International Network (YFHIN); CRIN, South Asia Youth
Environment Network (SAYEN), Affiliate group of ECPAT International, Thailand;
ATSECE-DELHI, Indian Partner of AIDS Care Watch Campaign;
Steering Committee member of World Bank's YDP Network;
Working relation with Indian Association of Parliamentarians (IAPPD);
International Medical Parliamentarians Organizations (IMPO);
Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD);
World Youth Foundation, Malaysia.

ICYO – YOUTH INFORMATION July 2006  - III

                This issue focuses on Population and Family Planning.

    (E - newsletter from network of Indian youth organizations)

======================================================================

World Population Day 2006:

Focus on Needs of Young People

 

1. Statement by Mrs. Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director, UNFPA

 

11 July 2006; This year on World Population Day, the focus is on young people. From a 10-year-old girl to a young man of 24, their needs are different, their cultures diverse. Yet, all over the world, young people want to be heard and involved.

 

They possess the ideas, determination and energy to accelerate effective action to reduce poverty and inequality. In every region, young people are taking action on HIV/AIDS and other issues that threaten their health, education and future opportunities.

 

Young people want to stay safe and healthy. They want a chance at a better future. About HIV prevention, they tell us: "Adults say we are too young to know; we say we are too young to die." About family planning, young people tell us: "Men should share responsibility with women." About sexual and reproductive health, they say: "Young people need this information. It shapes our lives and affects our future."

 

Yet today, millions of young people are threatened by poverty, illiteracy, risks of pregnancy and childbirth, and HIV/AIDS.  Today, more than 500 million people aged 15 to 24 live on less than $2 per day; 96 million young women in developing countries do not know how to read or write; and 14 million adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 become mothers every year.

Every day, 6,000 young people are newly infected with HIV.

 

These challenges lie at the heart of goals set by world leaders to reduce poverty and improve health and well-being. It is clear that the Millennium Development Goals will not be met unless young people are actively involved in policymaking and programming, their voices are heard, their needs are met and their human rights are respected.

 

UNFPA champions young people's rights to education, health and employment. We recognize that investments in young people promote social and economic growth. Key to these efforts are keeping girls in school, building life skills, delaying marriage and pregnancy until adulthood, and preventing HIV infection. Young people have the power to drive development forward. .

 

On World Population Day, let us focus on young people and seek new ways to work side-by-side as partners in development. Although it is often said that young people are the future, it is also true that young people are the present and their leadership should be supported today. As a young peer educator said, "We are creating the future and it is great

-=-=-

 

2. Message from Mr. Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General, United Nations

  

11 July 2006. The theme for this year’s World Population Day, “Young People”, focuses attention on the unique challenges faced by the burgeoning ranks of the young in our societies. Today, nearly half the world’s population—more than 3 billion people—are under the age of 25. They represent the largest cohort of young people in human history, and far too many among them confront bleak prospects.

 

No matter where they are born, the lives of young people are shaped by forces beyond their control—the prevalence of poverty, the incidence of crime, the availability of education and training, opportunities for decent employment, and access to affordable health services. Yet today’s young men and women are also more aware of the lives led by their counterparts across the world. As a result, many of them are demanding action to narrow the gap between rich and poor, and measures to increase opportunities for all.

 

There is a clear need answer their call. After all, providing for youth is not just a moral obligation, it is a compelling economic necessity. Study after study has shown the benefits—to the young and to their communities—of investing in education, reproductive health, job skills and employment opportunities for young people. Such returns are especially great in the case of girls. Healthy, educated and informed young women are better prepared to participate fully in society and contribute to the life of their communities.

 

Sexual and reproductive health information and services are a particularly important—though often neglected—pillar of youth empowerment. Their availability can enable young men and women to make responsible and informed choices to protect themselves. It can help the global fight against AIDS, and it can allow the young to make better decisions about starting families.

 

The decisions young people make will shape our world and the prospects of future generations. Yet under-investment in the young means that they often lack the resources, training or information to act. Governments must inevitably lead the way in addressing this failing. But all of us—policy makers, civil society actors, and ordinary citizens—should contribute in ways both large and small.

 

On this World Population Day, let us all reaffirm our determination to promote the human rights and well-being of young people, and work with them to build a better world for all.

###############################

Youth Information is published by

Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO)

194-A, Arjun Nagar, Safdarjang Enclave

New Delhi 110029, India

Phone: 91 9811729093  / 91 11 26183978 Fax 91 11 26198423

Email: icyoindia@... / icyo@...  Web:  www.icyo.in

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO) is a registered non-profit,
non-governmental network organization, committed in developing areas of mutual cooperation and understanding among different youth voluntary agencies, youth groups, clubs and individuals working in the field of youth welfare in India. 

ICYO functions as an umbrella organization of youth NGOs in India. It's family consists of
over 356 organizations spread in 122 districts of 22 states from different corners of India.

Affiliation:  Consultative (Roster) Status with ECOSOC, United Nations;
Consultative Status with Commission on Sustainable Development;
Full Member of World Assembly of Youth (WAY); Asian Youth Council (AYC);
Youth for Habitat International Network (YFHIN); CRIN, South Asia Youth
Environment Network (SAYEN), Affiliate group of ECPAT International, Thailand;
ATSECE-DELHI, Indian Partner of AIDS Care Watch Campaign;
Steering Committee member of World Bank's YDP Network;
Working relation with Indian Association of Parliamentarians (IAPPD);
International Medical Parliamentarians Organizations (IMPO);
Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD);
World Youth Foundation, Malaysia.

 

ICYO – YOUTH INFORMATION July 2006  - II

                      This issue focuses on Sex trafficking

(e newsletter from network of Indian youth organizations)

======================================================================

Mock trials held for victims of immoral trafficking

  

New Delhi, June 27: Sunita was sure she could recognize the couple who had cheated her and landed her in a brothel on GB Road. In court, as she took to the witness stand, she saw them covertly holding up pictures of her two younger sisters. She froze. She was legally termed a hostile witness.

 

The conviction figures in cases under the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act (ITPA) are abysmally low.

 

As part of attempts to reverse this trend, for the first time, victims of trafficking in the Capital are being exposed to mock trials, a concept introduced by NGO Stop Trafficking and Oppression in Women and Children (STOP).

 

In the two-day regional conference, which concluded today, organizations from Bangladesh and Nepal also shared their experiences of such mock trials. ''The 14 such trials we held are already yielding results,'' says Roma Debabrata of STOP.

 

Roshana, a 15-year-old who had been brought from Haryana, was one of those who were exposed to these court-like situations. Initially, she was petrified at the prospect of deposing before a court but last month Roshana identified those who had brought her to the Capital, withstanding the cross examination of defence lawyers.

 

"Most people are under the misconception that such simulated trials are a means of coaching the victims. On the contrary, the victim observes the proceedings and learns from the role play," says Debabrata.

 

Mock trials help acclimatise victims to court room situations. "It's scary facing that roomful of lawyers, who hurl uncomfortable questions at you," says Sunita. "Often the victim gets so terrified that she ends up turning hostile," says Sunita recalling her own experience.

 

Victims are observers in the trials wherein other survivors enact the roles of judge, lawyers and prosecuters. Those who may have to depose as witnesses are also invited to participate in these trials.

 

Apart from sharing experience of trials, the workshop also had sessions on trauma counselling to understand the psychological status of victims.

 

The workshop saw the participation of public prosectors, judicial officers, NGOs working for the rescue and rehabilitation of victims; Nari Unnayan Shakti Kendra, Bangladesh and Legal Aids council from Nepal. (names of victims have been changed)  (India Express)

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Youth Information is published by

Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO)

194-A, Arjun Nagar, Safdarjang Enclave

New Delhi 110029, India

Phone: 91 9811729093  / 91 11 26183978 Fax 91 11 26198423

Email: icyoindia@... / icyo@...

Web:  www.icyo.in

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO) is a registered non-profit, non-governmental network organization, committed in developing areas of mutual cooperation and understanding among different youth voluntary agencies, youth groups, clubs and individuals working in the field of youth welfare in India. 

ICYO functions as an umbrella organization of youth NGOs in India. It's family consists of over 356 organizations spread in 122 districts of 22 states from different corners of India.

Affiliation:  Consultative (Roster) Status with ECOSOC, United Nations;
Consultative Status with Commission on Sustainable Development;
Full Member of World Assembly of Youth (WAY); Asian Youth Council (AYC);
Youth for Habitat International Network (YFHIN); CRIN, South Asia Youth
Environment Network (SAYEN), Affiliate group of ECPAT International, Thailand;
ATSECE-DELHI, Indian Partner of AIDS Care Watch Campaign;
Steering Committee member of World Bank's YDP Network;
Working relation with Indian Association of Parliamentarians (IAPPD);
International Medical Parliamentarians Organizations (IMPO);
Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD);
World Youth Foundation, Malaysia.

ICYO – YOUTH INFORMATION July 2006  - I

                      This issue focuses on Population and Family Planning.

(e newsletter from network of indian youth organizations)

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UNFPA targets fistula

Stepping up the fight against obstetric fistula, the United Nations Population Fund has launched a fund-raising campaign to treat and prevent this little-discussed but frequent childbirth injury that is wreaking havoc for scores of women in developing countries. "We're hoping to be able to get commitment from people and governments to be able to invest in this," UNFPA's Dr. Arletty Pinel said. "And in the case of Africa specifically, governments must get to know more about obstetric fistula and maternal health, so even they can allot from their own budgets, money for this."  

The UNFPA says on top of coping with a stillborn baby, many women hide themselves away because they are so embarrassed by their condition. 

 

Now the fund is launching a campaign to bring the problem into the open.  It is estimated there are 20,000 to 50,000 new cases of obstetric fistula each year, on top of the millions of women, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, who already live with the condition. 

 

This creates a hole, leaving the woman incontinent, often disabled, in great pain, and unable to conceive again. 

 

Along with African countries, obstetric fistula is common in women in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan. 

 

Now, the United Nations Population Fund is hoping to raise awareness with a new campaign, saying the condition can be both prevented and treated easily, but more resources must be put into maternal health care. 

 

Dr Arletty Pinel of the UN Population Fund said "We're hoping that the campaign will put maternal health into the picture; obstetric fistula becomes a known entity to show how things can go terribly wrong when trying to give birth. We're hoping to be able to get commitment from people and governments to be able to invest in this. And in the case of Africa specifically, governments must get to know more about obstetric fistula and maternal health, so even they can allot from their own budgets, money for this." 

 

Those behind the campaign are aiming to raise US$75 million over five years to help those women whose lives have been blighted by fistula and to save the lives of their children. (CNA /ct/UNWIRE)

 

###############################

Youth Information is published by

Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO)

194-A, Arjun Nagar, Safdarjang Enclave

New Delhi 110029, India

Phone: 91 9811729093  / 91 11 26183978 Fax 91 11 26198423

Email: icyoindia@... / icyo@...  Web:  www.icyo.in

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO) is a registered non-profit,
non-governmental network organization, committed in developing areas of mutual cooperation and understanding among different youth voluntary agencies, youth groups, clubs and individuals working in the field of youth welfare in India. 

ICYO functions as an umbrella organization of youth NGOs in India. It's family consists of
over 356 organizations spread in 122 districts of 22 states from different corners of India.

Affiliation:  Consultative (Roster) Status with ECOSOC, United Nations;
Consultative Status with Commission on Sustainable Development;
Full Member of World Assembly of Youth (WAY); Asian Youth Council (AYC);
Youth for Habitat International Network (YFHIN); CRIN, South Asia Youth
Environment Network (SAYEN), Affiliate group of ECPAT International, Thailand;
ATSECE-DELHI, Indian Partner of AIDS Care Watch Campaign;
Steering Committee member of World Bank's YDP Network;
Working relation with Indian Association of Parliamentarians (IAPPD);
International Medical Parliamentarians Organizations (IMPO);
Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD);
World Youth Foundation, Malaysia.

ICYO – Youth Information  June 2006 - IV

                      (E-Newsletter from network of youth organizations in India)

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ICYO - Platform of 356 Youth Organizations in India.

ICYO - India’s largest network of urban and rural youth.

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UNESCAP Warns of

HIV/AIDS Danger to Asia-Pacific Youth

The UNESCAP (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific) is urgently calling on Asia-Pacific governments to target young people in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

"Young people are the hardest hit, half of all new infections have occurred among youth," warns the report. It says approximately 60 per cent of new HIV infections in Thailand and Vietnam each year are among young people.

Poverty, gender discrimination and lack of access to information and health services have increased youth vulnerability to HIV, the UNESCAP report says. "Focusing HIV prevention on youth offers the greatest hope for containing the spread of HIV in Asia and the Pacific."

The UNESCAP report says the biggest hurdle to providing effective HIV/AIDS prevention services is lack of cohesive policy. Governments must both coordinate their HIV prevention efforts across all departments, and they must actually implement policies.

An Asia-Pacific regional initiative is critical to stopping the spread of HIV in the region. UNESCAP is urging major pharmaceutical producers to offer life-saving supplies at affordable prices. "Major producers of drugs and supplies, such as China, India and Thailand, could consider the formation of a regional compact to make them available at prices which vulnerable groups, including youth, could afford," says the report.

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Full text of the UNESCAP report:

TURNING THE TIDE AGAINST HIV/AIDS: TARGETING YOUTH

An estimated 9 million people are living with HIV in the ESCAP region. While 1 million people in the region were newly infected in 2005, half a million lives were lost due to AIDS in the same year.

Young people are the hardest hit – half of all new infections have occurred among youth. In Viet Nam, 63 per cent of the people infected by HIV are under the age of 30. In Thailand, 50 to 60 per cent of new infections each year are among people under 24 years of age. While young people in general are vulnerable to HIV infection, the most at risk are those engaged in commercial sex and those injecting illicit drugs – the main drivers of the HIV pandemic in the region.

There is a high prevalence of HIV among brothel-based sex workers. In Cambodia, HIV among brothel-based sex workers accounted for 21 per cent of the total in 2003. In Viet Nam, the average prevalence of HIV among sex workers is about 16 per cent; in Mumbai, India, it remains above 50 per cent among female sex workers. Data from a number of Asian countries reveal that 32 to 74 per cent of female sex workers are below 25 years of age. Young men who have sex with other men (MSM) are also at a high risk of HIV infection. In Bangkok, studies carried out in 2003 and 2005 found that the HIV infection rate among this group had increased from 17 to 27 per cent. Among transgender sex workers in Jakarta, HIV prevalence increased from 6 to 22 per cent in 2002.

HIV prevalence could rise further among injecting drug users (IDUs), as the sharing of injection instruments is a very effective way of transmitting HIV. Injecting drug use accounts for at least 40 per cent of all HIV transmission in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Viet Nam. More than 50 per cent of injecting drug users in India, Thailand and Myanmar are aged 15-24.

Why are youth so vulnerable?

Throughout the region the face of HIV/AIDS is becoming younger and more feminine. While most countries in the region have a national HIV prevalence below 1 per cent, vulnerable groups are much more prone to HIV infection due to globalization, poverty, gender discrimination and lack of access to information and health services.

• Globalization and poverty increase population migration within and across countries in search of better economic opportunities. The majority of migrant workers are young people. Isolated from mainstream society and with little knowledge and few life skills, they are at risk of acquiring HIV as a result of unprotected casual sex and injecting drugs.

• Biological and social factors render girls and women more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. Young women constitute more than half the young people living with HIV in Asia and the Pacific. Research shows that, during unprotected sex, the risk of HIV infection is two to four times higher for women than men.

• Entrenched gender biases often deprive girls of education; as a result, girls and women have much less knowledge of HIV/AIDS than men. Also, early marriage and gender violence increase the risk of HIV infection among them.

• Adolescents and young people are poorly informed about sexuality, reproductive health and the consequences of unprotected sex or drug use. In a 2004 survey in China, 80 per cent of high school students said they had never participated in a course, or in extracurricular activities, at school related to HIV prevention.

• Access to essential health services is lacking in the region. For example, the coverage of voluntary counselling and testing services was less than 0.1 per cent of the population (aged 15-49) in Asia and the Pacific in 2003.

How to turn the tide against HIV/AIDS

Focusing HIV prevention on youth offers the greatest hope for containing the spread of HIV in Asia and the Pacific. To be effective, prevention efforts should go hand in hand with treatment and care.

1. Enhancing knowledge, skills and preventive services

Schools are the best channels for reaching the majority of teenagers and youth. Merely incorporating information on HIV/AIDS in the curriculum, however, is not sufficient. Schools should be encouraged to promote a life-skills approach, which emphasizes interactive teaching methods to encourage young people to face health risks and make responsible decisions.

There is no easy way to reach youth who are out of school. While workplace HIV/AIDS education can be an efficient way to reach some, community-based peer education would be more effective for targeting a larger segment of youth. Positive peer influence and the community approach – engaging parents, teachers, health workers, village leaders and religious leaders – can foster positive behaviour among young people.

Life skills-based education in schools and community settings needs to be complemented by providing access to youth-friendly health services, including the availability of condoms, the provision of voluntary and confidential HIV counselling and testing, and the treatment of sexually transmitted infections.

Youth-friendly health services can be delivered through hospitals, clinics, community outreach services, schools, the workplace and youth centres

2. Scaling up comprehensive services to those at risk

In September 2005 at the United Nations General Assembly, Governments resolved to move towards providing universal access to HIV prevention, treatment and care. To achieve this goal, it will be necessary to expand these comprehensive services for the populations most at risk. Countries that have targeted vulnerable groups have successfully contained the spread of HIV. For example, Cambodia and Thailand managed to reverse the spread of HIV through 100 per cent condom use among sex workers.

Investments in harm-reduction programmes that target IDUs have proven to be effective. These programmes typically include substitution therapy, the provision of clean injection instruments, access to health-care facilities, law enforcement and prevention education. Australia invested US$ 122 million in a needle-exchange programme during the late 1980s and 2000. It succeeded in preventing 25,000 HIV and 210,000 hepatitis C virus infections. More recently, the Government of China has announced plans to establish 1,400 needle-exchange sites and over 1,500 clinics for the treatment of drug users.

3. Improving policy coherence

Lack of policy coherence has been one of the major obstacles to scaling up HIV prevention services for those most in need of them. While one ministry tries to promote safe and healthy behaviour among sex workers and drug users, another may arrest the same sex workers and drug users simply because they are in possession of a condom or a needle.

To ensure the effectiveness of HIV prevention programmes, Governments also need to reform legal and policy frameworks, including decriminalization of HIV-related risk behaviour.

Where proactive and coherent policies do exist, there is often a gap between policies and implementation. Addressing this gap calls for wider engagement of the ministries of health with the ministries of justice, public security, law enforcement and other key actors that have not been part of the public health response to the AIDS pandemic.

4. Closing the resource gap

A comprehensive response to the AIDS pandemic in Asia and the Pacific will require an estimated investment of US$ 5.1 billion annually by 2007. It is estimated that only US$ 1.6 billion would be available. Most of it would come from bilateral donors, foundations and international institutions, including the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

To close the resource gap, significantly increased international assistance would be needed, particularly for the lower-income and the least developed countries. At the same time, domestic resources would have to be bolstered. Creative financing mechanisms, such as taxes on alcohol and tobacco, could be considered by countries. Also, better targeting of funds is needed in order to have a strategic impact on the AIDS pandemic.

Funding should be prioritized for programmes and services for vulnerable and marginalized groups, including youth most at risk.

5. Addressing root causes of vulnerability

Poverty and gender discrimination are the root causes that endanger youth and other vulnerable groups with regard to the spread of HIV. Youth employment should be placed at the top of the national development agenda. Youth-oriented livelihood and income-generation projects need to be developed to prevent young people from seeking survival in the treachery of the streets and from exploitation by the sex industry.

Eliminating gender discrimination that subjects young girls and women to health risks requires strong political will and the full participation of society in order to change cultural and social norms as well as to do away with laws that perpetuate gender bias. It is crucial to build enabling environments for girls and women to fulfil their rights to sexual and reproductive health and to live a dignified life.

6. Initiating a pro-poor regional compact to fight HIV/AIDS

A “pro-poor” regional compact could be developed to ensure that essential commodities are available for vulnerable and marginalized populations, including young people. Access to condoms, antiretroviral therapy, treatment of opportunistic and sexually transmitted infections, and substitution drugs and clean needles at affordable prices is therefore a priority in scaling up prevention and treatment services. Furthermore, countries should fully utilize the flexibility and safeguards allowed under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights to ensure their access to affordable life-saving medicines. Major producers of these drugs and supplies, such as China, India and Thailand, could consider the formation of a regional compact to make them available at prices which the poor and vulnerable groups, including youth, could afford.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Youth Information is published by

Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO)

194-A, Arjun Nagar, Safdarjang Enclave

New Delhi 110029, India

Phone: 91 9811729093  / 91 11 26183978 Fax 91 11 26198423

Email: icyoindia@... / icyo@...

Web:  www.icyo.in

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

ICYO is a registered non-profit, non-governmental network organization, committed in developing areas of mutual cooperation and understanding among different youth voluntary agencies, youth groups, clubs and individuals working in the field of youth welfare in India. 

ICYO functions as an umbrella organization of youth NGOs in India. It's family consists of over 356 Orgs spread in 122 districts of 22 states from different corners of India.

Affiliation:  Consultative (Roster) Status with ECOSOC, United Nations;
Consultative Status with Commission on Sustainable Development;
Full Member of World Assembly of Youth (WAY); Asian Youth Council (AYC);
Youth for Habitat International Network (YFHIN); CRIN, South Asia Youth
Environment Network (SAYEN), Affiliate group of ECPAT International, Thailand;
ATSECE-DELHI, Indian Partner of AIDS Care Watch Campaign;
Steering Committee member of World Bank's YDP Network;
Working relation with Indian Association of Parliamentarians (IAPPD);
International Medical Parliamentarians Organizations (IMPO);
Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD);

World Youth foundation (WYF).