By Heraldo Muñoz
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 15 2013 (IPS)

Latin America and the Caribbean has around 156 million people aged 15 to 29 years, which means that 26 percent of its population is young.

However, only 1.63 percent of deputies and senators in 25 parliaments in the region are aged 30 years or younger, according to a recent UN Development Programme (UNDP) assessment.  More worrying still is the fact that women still lag behind: among the few young parliamentarians just 32% are women.

Having so many young people is an opportunity for any region. But in the case of Latin America this demographic advantage coexists with unequal opportunities for its youth, which is reflected in low voter turnout among young people and a political representation crisis that feeds the recent social mobilizations.

This confirms the need to boost efforts to meet young Latin Americans demands and needs and to recognize their capabilities and roles in promoting democratic change.

In this context, more than 22 young parliamentarians from 13 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean signed a pact to expand political participation of the youth of the region during a recent meeting in Brasilia, organized by UNDP, Brazil’s National Youth Secretary and the Ibero-American Youth Organization, with the support of the Spanish Cooperation Agency.

These leaders pledged to create a regional network of young parliamentarians to promote youth political participation, including youth quotas and public policies targeting young Latin Americans, among other measures.

Brasilia’s “Youth and political participation in public decision making ” forum, along with several other events that have taken place this year are part of the process to build a “Development and Social Investment Agenda for Youth in Latin America”, which will be consolidated into a policy guidance document to be presented at the XXIII Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government to be held this week in Panama City between 18 and 19 October.

These are important steps to forge urgent social and political transformations, which can only be achieved with the active and determined participation of young people in the region’s democratic life.

Talk to us: What steps can be taken to boost young people’s participation in politics?

Excerpt:

On Wednesday, we kick off a three-day meeting in Mexico City to discuss how to boost the involvement of young people in politics and expand their role in consolidating democracy in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Heraldo Muñoz. UN Photo/Paulo Filgueiras

More than 30 youth organisations, young political leaders and governmental counterparts will participate.

Electoral democracy has spread and consolidated in our region since the early 1990s. But the quality of our democracies is a concern.

Citizens are frustrated by wide disparities in wealth and power and there is weak popular participation in public affairs – especially among young generations. Moreover, public and private corruption, citizen insecurity and weak public institutions are major threats.

Youth involvement in politics is crucial to improve democracies – and not only in Latin America. Almost half the world’s population is under 25 and more than one third is aged 12-24. This fact, along with social and economic inequality among youth expressed in recent social movements like the Arab Spring, Spain’s 15M, Mexico’s YoSoy132 movement and the student protests in Chile, reaffirm the need to address the young generation’s demands and recognise young people’s critical role in promoting social change.

Of the 600 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean, more than 26 percent are aged 15-29. This is a unique opportunity for the region’s development and for its present and future governance.

The U.N. Development Program’s (UNDP) Human Development Reports have shown that young people have enormous potential as agents of change. But despite Latin America’s remarkable progress in reducing poverty and inequality, and its strides toward strong democracies with free and transparent elections, structural problems perpetuate unequal rights and opportunities among citizens, including in job opportunities and access to public goods and services.

All of this directly affects young people.

Income, gender, ethnic origin, or dwelling conditions are decisive barriers to young citizens’ rights. One in every four young people aged 15-29 in the region are poor or extremely poor. And only 35 percent have access to education. About half complete basic education, but only 18 percent attend college, and access to quality education is unequal.

More worrying still: Some 20 million young Latin Americans aged 15-18 neither work nor study. That’s nearly one in every five, 54 percent of them female and 46 percent male.

Many young people are exposed to tremendous risk and violence. The region comprises less than nine percent of the world’s population but accounts for 27 percent of its homicides, UNDP has found. As a result, public perceptions of the young are distorted. Those from low-income communities in particular are seen as potentially violent, morally weak and frequent substance abusers.

A recent UNESCO study has found that young men and women in Latin America see themselves as largely underrepresented and disenfranchised from traditional political mechanisms. Only 5-10 percent claim to take part of some kind of citizen engagement – normally focused on sports and religious-related activities. At the same time, boosting young people’s political participation is one of the main concerns and demands of youth organisations.

Since effective youth participation strengthens and renews democracy, over the next three days in Mexico we will discuss what governments, civil society, and the U.N. are doing to boost political inclusion of young people in the region.

We will also discuss the promise of technology and social networks, including electronic platforms linked to UNDP, whose Virtual School has trained numerous young men and women in the region, notably those of African or indigenous descent, on political inclusion.

The region needs to promote youth political participation. Generations of Latin Americans now have the privilege of living in democratic societies. Now it’s up to us all to help them get involved and shape their own future.

*Heraldo Muñoz, a former Chilean ambassador and president of the U.N. Security Council, serves as assistant secretary-general and U.N. Development Program director for Latin America and the Caribbean.