Sri Lanka to host UN World Youth Conference:

More youth exchange programs on the cards

By Manjula Fernando

Sri Lanka will host the UN world Youth Conference in 2014. Chairman of the National Youth Services Council, Maharagama, Lalith Piyum Perera told the Sunday Observer why the largest youth conference is important, especially to the youth.

The NYSC under the stewardship of the current Chairman has flourished and tremendous work has been done by the Institute for youth development during the past two years. One of the major achievements is the effort taken to restore the image of Sri Lankan youth and open exchange facilities abroad, erasing a tarnished past.

Excerpts of the interview:

Sri Lanka won the right to host the UN World Youth Conference due to the keen interest Youth Affairs and Skills Development Minister Dallas Alahapperuma has taken. In August 2010, the World Youth Conference was held in Mexico and the proposal to hold the next youth conference was first put forward by the Minister at this conference where I also participated as a delegate.

The proposal sought to hold the next conference in Sri Lanka in 2015. The Sri Lanka, National Youth Services Council sponsored the International Coordination Meeting of Youth Organisations (ICMYO) in New York at the UN HQ. This is the largest youth-related world conference. It was held in July parallel to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) last year.

At the ICMYO their was a proposal that the next youth conference should be a UN mandated one. The reason was because it will have global recognition.

The world youth conference is not held every four years but depending on emerging needs a conference is convened. There is a history behind the WYC. Sri Lanka received recognition among youth

-related organisations worldwide due to our sponsoring of the ICMYO at the UN.

We had the opportunity to meet and hold discussions with UN Habitat, UNDP and UN youth organisations with the facilitation of Sri Lanka's permanent representative to the UN, Dr. Palitha Kohona.

Last year right after the UNGA, during the third committee stage debate, Sri Lanka moved a resolution proposing the next World Youth Conference to be held in Sri Lanka. It was welcomed by members and comments were made that it was a good move by a developing nation.

Sri Lanka is boasting of having a demographic youth bonus. Out of the 21 million population, around 5.6 million are said to be youth in the 15-29 age category.

This is an achievement for Sri Lanka and the basic idea for us to host the youth conference is to open new avenues in the international arena for our youth, world recognition for them and to get engaged in international affairs.

With the re-branding of the National Youth Services Council as Sri Lanka Youth (SLY) giving it an international tilt, the country has gained increased recognition as a hub for youth conferences. In late December, the Sri Lanka Youth hosted the Annual General Meeting of Global Youth Organizations working on rural agriculture development.

The members of 23 countries across six regions took part at this meeting. This was one of a series of confabs the country hosted during the past year.

International partners have found Sri Lanka as a progressing country in terms of youth development.

Our goal is to get youth contribution in the nation-building process. Earlier the NYSC was focusing on youth welfare but we have moved away and we want them to have a meaningful place in national development. We are going to lose this demographic bonus soon, before that the Sri Lanka Youth is gearing itself to tap their potential.

We are also in the process of making a National Youth Policy. SLY is the coordinating arm. It is an initiative of Youth Affairs and Skills Development Ministry.

The Open University of Sri Lanka is extending technical support.

We hope to have the first draft of the national policy by March and hopefully by end of May it will be presented to Parliament. In our region, from Afghanistan to the Maldives, the only country without a National Youth Policy is Sri Lanka. We are going to fill this void.

When I assumed duties two years ago, I wrote to--- all the foreign diplomatic missions in Colombo and got appointments to discuss the future of youth activities in Sri Lanka.

The aim was to start afresh and discuss new youth exchange programs explaining the different situations prevailing in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka had an ugly reputation at one time, especially after the Nippon Maru incident where a participant refused to return to the country at the end of the program.

In the 1980s and 1990s we had robust youth exchange programs. The last Nippon Maru program, a popular youth education program by the Japanese Government, to Sri Lanka was in 1995.

After discussions we were able to reset their perceptions and recommence some of these exchange programs for the benefit of youth. The Nippon Maru cruise ship now called Fuji Maru and was berthed at Colombo port in February 2012 after a lapse of 17 years to accompany a team of Sri Lankans on an educational tour.

I am happy to say, after two years of assuming duties and with my team we managed to send more than 400 youth on different youth exchange programs to countries like UK, US and Japan. But none of them opted to overstay even one day of their stipulated program schedule.

Most of the youth selected for the programs were from rural background and some were direct victims of the conflict. But it should be noted that not a single of them let down their country and this gives us immense hope and sa---tisfaction that the work done by Sri Lanka Youth has reaped results. But I know that we have a long way to go.