Salutations:
My understanding of ‘sustainable development’ holds justice- economic, social,
political, reproductive justice at the heart of it- of ‘development justice’. Human
rights are at the centre of this and there can be no equivocating on this point. We
cannot still be in a place where we barter peoples’ rights and autonomies for oil
or trade or for corporate gains or to sustain an inequitable system that favours a
select few over the rights of all peoples. To realise a truly just, sustainable future,
to truly have youth at the heart of development- as the Bali Global Youth Forum
envisioned and attempted to do- we require a radical transformation of the
current global, political and economic systems. A strengthened global
partnership for development that recognises the common but differentiated
responsibilities of countries is also critical. We need an unequivocal commitment
to a redistributive framework that targets the reduction of inequalities of wealth,
power and resources between countries, between rich and poor, and between
men and women.
The 1994 ICPD PoA is hailed for heralding a paradigm shift – for putting people
and human rights at the centre of development, and reaffirming a comprehensive,
inter-sectoral and intersectional approach; placing SRHR and gender equality firmly
within the broad development framework. I believe that these are non-negotiable
principles for not just SRHR but “sustainable” development as a whole and we
must only move forward from here- to actually ensure enabling conditions so
people- all people- can claim, exercise, and enjoy all their rights.
I think, in this sense, the Bali Global Youth Forum, and the other ICPD review
conferences and consultations, including most of the regional consultations, all
echo this same vision: a world where everyone’s rights are respected, upheld, and
can be exercised
Last night, as I was agonising over what to say and how to say it; I was speaking
with a colleague about the Global Youth Forum & she asked me what I thought
made it so important. The GYF was able to create a safe space for young people
from all over the world to discuss, challenge, and sketch out a world that they
envision for themselves. The GYF created a space for young people to articulate
exactly what the world they envision looks like, to assert themselves- and for me,
that’s an immensely important vision.
It is essential to acknowledge and understand the diversity of young people and
the multiple factors that influence their identities—not just in terms of age,
ability, class, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity or
expression, citizenship or migrant status, or the languages they speak; and the
contexts—cultural, social, religious, political, economic, militarised—that they
live in; but in what their experiences are, the access they have to different
avenues, and the ways in which negotiating and navigating entrenched, unequal
power structures are often a part of their everyday lives. This is something that
the Bali Declaration reaffirms consistently – it attempts to understand the
contexts that young people live in and offer up recommendations that are
relevant to it. It is in this vein that the Declaration offered up a first attempt at
defining the ever-evolving concept of ‘family’ beyond the heteronormative, and
gender binary imposed norm that has, until now, been seen as a given. It also
affirmed young people’s sexuality and pleasure as core rights. It calls for
universal access to a basic package of youth friendly health services including
mental health care and sexual and reproductive health services, as well as access
to safe and legal abortion.
The Bali declaration advanced an integrated approach to health and well-being
that went beyond the prevention and treatment of diseases alone to focus on the
conditions and enabling environments- including comprehensive education,
meaningful engagement and civic participation, and employment- necessary for
young people to lead healthy lives free from coercion, discrimination, violence
and stigma. The Bali Declaration is a reflection not just of the world that young
people envision, but the world that they demand.
If we are to learn from the lessons of the MDGs, we must ensure that we
approach ‘development’ holistically and across the artificial silos of ‘goal one’
and ‘goal two’ and so on- rather than continue to shunt gender equality, SRHR
and young peoples’ rights to the margins, they must be seen as centralised;
cross-cutting themes, and must be placed within a broader framework that
includes fulfilling basic rights to education, health, food, nutrition, housing,
livelihood, political participation, and freedom of expression. SRHR, gender
equality and equity, and human rights must be recognised as, simultaneously,
goals in themselves; as well as essential drivers of sustainable development. . To
quote the always-apt Audre Lorde, ‘There is no such thing as single issue struggle
because we do not live single issue lives’.
We need to ensure that people- especially the most marginalized -can hold
governments, corporations, international institutions, donors and other powerholders to account. We must develop accountability mechanisms from the
grassroots to the global; we must have strong community and budget monitoring
tools to provide input into monitoring mechanisms.
The needs and realities of young people vary greatly, and specific interventions
that are rooted in their contexts are necessary to address young peoples’ needs.
Programmes and interventions that fail to do this, also fail to engage with young
people in any real, meaningful and “sustainable” manner, and instead re-etch the
same ineffective overwhelmingly patriarchal top-down systems. Understanding
the diversity of young people means recognising and respecting their “evolving
capacities”, the growth and progression of young peoples’ lives; understanding
the impact of their contexts on their access to services, information, and the
conditions under which they make their “choices”- this is crucial for young
peoples’ rights and for any sincere attempt at sustainable development. This the
only way forward towards a future that young people not only want and desire,
to one that is just; but one that they have full ownership over.