IN COMMEMORATION OF YOUTH DAY–‘Building a better World: Partnering with
Youth.’

12th August marks International Youth Day (IYD) every year and the theme assigned by the
United Nations for this year’s celebration is ‘Building a better World: Partnering with Youth.’

Throughout 2012, there has been tremendous focus on youth issues. This has been evident at
the global, regional and national levels where unemployment has clearly emerged as one of
the most critical issues facing youth. The 2012 Global Employment Trends Report highlights
the fact that close to 75 million young persons are currently unemployed. This fraction consists
of persons who have never worked as well as those who have lost their jobs one way or the
other.

In Africa, the problem is even worse as the unemployment rate covers about 60% of the youth
bulge which is 70% of the continents one billion people. This problem is due to factors such as
the weak implementation of developmental policies or worse, the absence of policies that
focus on employment creation.

ITUC-Africa stresses that ‘Building a better World: Partnering with Youth’ is a call for
continuous and sustainable progress in areas of societal development that concern youth.
While the efforts of governments, public and private institutions as well as civil society
organizations are important for advancing this, it is at the same time essential that young
people are actively involved and that they can claim ownership of such positive efforts.

On this occasion of IYD, ITUC-Africa commends all African youth who are working hard for a
better future and urge them to stay relentless in their efforts to build a better world.

Happy Youth Day Celebration!!!

In Solidarity,

Kwasi Adu-Amankwah