International Youth Day 12th August

International Youth Day 12^th August

International Youth Day was created by the United Nations and first celebrated in 1998.  The event is now marked on 12 August each year, the day aims to celebrate the contribution young people make to society.

Young people have led the world in encouraging recycling and green lifestyles and the use of new technology like mobile phones, iPods and social networking sites like Facebook.

But as we celebrate youth and the contribution many of our young people make, child abuse is rarely out of the news.  Whether it is children abused in church institutions or care homes, or in their own homes, vulnerable young people, have been failed.  Is it true that children who have been abused or otherwise failed are inevitably led into a life of crime, homelessness, prostitution and drug taking? What is the end result for these young people likely to be?  Will the care they failed to receive and the abuse in all forms that they suffered irrevocably influence what kind of adult they become?  Unfortunately the answer is that for the vast majority of children, experience has shown that what you put in is what you get out, in other words an abused disadvantaged child will, often become an abusive and unfulfilled adult.

But what about young people who have not had any of these awful things happen to them?  Well today it is tough to be a teenager, even one from a good, loving home. Temptation is all around and social media makes everything and everyone, it seems, accessible.  No matter how hard they work at college or university job prospects are bleak and the pressure to look the right way and have the right ‘gear’ has never been more intense.

Although there are many young people occupying themselves with caring for others and working within their community, it seems that we rarely hear about them.  The focus is invariably on the teenagers who misbehave and some of the crimes perpetrated by very young children can be breath-taking in their horrific detail.   Is overcrowding, cruelty, lack of direction or stimulation to blame?   Well the arguments go on and on and the discussion is slanted from every direction.  The blame is put on parents, the media, computer games, social networking, poor housing and lack of opportunity. 

If you are an adult reading this - you had to grow up too.  Your possibilities for creating mayhem might have been less, but I am sure you still managed to exasperate or horrify at times!  It is all a matter of scale. 

I suppose what I am saying is we all need to try and look at the challenges that the world throws up for our young people and cut them some slack.   They are, for the most part, doing their best to fit in and work out where their place is in the great scheme of things.

There will be a huge range of events taking place across the world for World Youth Day!   There will be photography exhibits and competitions at the UN headquarters in New York showing how world youth experience economic, environmental and social life.   There will also be a showcase of youth talent, showing how young people think these problems should be tackled.

If you fancy organising your own event or planning a youth performance or lobbying Government about the World Programme of Action For Youth, lots more information about how you can get involved can be found on the United Nations website.  International Youth Day 

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Amanda Thomas

UK Health Radio