On the occasion of International Youth Day 2014, we, the undersigned members of the Young Political Leader’s Forum of Sri Lanka, welcome the publication of the Sri Lanka National Human Development Report 2014, by the United Nations Development Programme Sri Lanka, together with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Skills Development, and the Ministry of Finance and Planning. We resonate with the importance of civic and political participation of youth and reaffirm the following recommendations as laid out in the report.
Young people are often described as disengaged from civic and political engagement. Yet, their role as active agents for change remains fundamental, especially in a post-war society such as Sri Lanka.
Given the above, we strongly believe in the need to actively engage youth in civic and political participation. As a group of concerned young politicians, we therefore call for the implementation of the following set of recommendations:
1. Restructure the Sri Lanka Youth Parliament to enhance its transparency and representation.
2. Strengthen existing platforms under the National Youth Services Council, such as the youth federations and youth clubs, to achieve effective representation of all youth, irrespective of their political affiliation and/or social background.
3. Establish a Youth Caucus in the national Parliament.
4. Ensure that political parties increase, by 10 per cent, the participation of young adults, under the age of 40, by 2020.
5. Revise the current electoral system to allow young people from different backgrounds to enter politics.
6. Form party platforms at the national level to promote political and civic education among young politicians.
7. Introduce a Code of Ethics to all politicians; especially parliamentarians, as an effort to rebuild trust and confidence in the political system.
8. Add effective strategies to the National Youth Policy Action Plan 2014 to increase the participation of young people in political and civic engagements/activities.
9. Ensure that youth are meaningfully involved and actively engaged in national monitoring mechanisms in order to guarantee accountability for commitments and transparency at all levels.
10. Integrate civic education in all curricula, including at universities.
11. Guarantee the right to information, as well as the freedom of speech and opinion to all, including marginalized youth.
13. Recognize the importance of voluntary movements working for positive social change as influential actors for peace and development. Voluntary activities need to be encouraged at all levels, including in the university and workplace, without misguiding and involving youth in hate campaigns.
14. Identify mechanisms to enhance civic engagement among young people in a democratic way.
15. Use social media as an effective tool to increase the engagement of youth in civic and political participation.
Signatories:
Hon. Vasantha Senanayake, Member of Parliament, Sri Lanka Freedom Party
Hon. Shehan Semasinghe, Member of Parliament, Sri Lanka Freedom Party
Hon. Niroshan Perera, Member of Parliament, United National Party
Hon. Harin Fernando, Member of Parliament, United National Party
Hon. Hunais Farook, Member of Parliament, All Ceylon Muslim Congress
Raghu Balachandran, Representative, Tamil National Alliance