Submitted by crinadmin on
Summary: This is a brief summary of the joint
project between UNICEF Lebanon
and the Prime Minister's office. On
Wednesday October 3 2001, Prime
Minister Rafic Harriri convened a
Cabinet Session with the Youth
under the theme of"Participation of
Youth in Decision Making". Twenty two Youth (15 female and 7male, including two disabled
youth and working child) selected by various NGOs working with
Youth in Lebanon, were the new members of the unprecedented
one-day Cabinet. This is the first Youth Cabinet ever held in
Lebanon and it sets the stage for future involvement of the Youth
in Lebanon's public affairs.
Objectives of the Youth Cabinet
* Establish a forum where the Youth can express their opinions
and concerns and be heard by decision-makers and the public at
large
* Empower the Youth to publicly speak up about violations of
their rights
* Demonstrate that Youth's participation and contribution can
make a difference and lead to social change and improvement
*Create mechanisms to ensure follow up and implementation of
the reached decisions.
In preparation for the Cabinet meeting, UNICEF held a five day
workshop with the Youth over a period of two weeks, during
which the youth articulated their concerns and feasible solutions
and the role they could play in affecting the necessary change.
The problems, solutions, and supporting documents were
presented together with the agenda in portfolios modelled after
the adult Ministers. The agenda comprised 25 priorities (of which
three were chosen during the Say Yes campaign) addressing
social issues of concern to the country's youth. Among the
priorities were:
* amending the law on free and compulsory Education to reach
the age of 15 instead of 12 and issuing procedures for
implementation,
* raising the age of the working child from 13 to 15 and
monitoring the law implementation,
* lowering the voting age from 21 to 18 years (especially given
the fact that the obligatory military service is at 18).
The Prime Minister approved 15 recommendations out of the 25
listed priorities.
The approved items were sent to the concerned administrative
and legal bodies for action. One of the decisions reached which
ensures a continuous participation of the Youth was the
formulation of a High Youth Committee within the Ministry of
Youth. The function of this committee will be to follow up on
the items approved by the Prime Minister and see that it is put
into action, create a network among all NGOs working with Youth
and among Ministries concerned.
The Youth Cabinet meeting had a very wide media coverage,
including press interviews given by the Prime Minister and the
participating Youth, including TV talk shows with the participants.