Noticias

Alexander Villalba, member of the Advocacy Unit and activist of SOMOSGAY, attends the World Conference on Youth 2014 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. SOMOSGAY seeks to advocate for the connections and the importance of the inclusion of issues affecting the young people and their sexual and reproductive rights, under the theme of the conference, "Mainstreaming Youth in the post 2015 Development Agenda". The Post-2015 Development Agenda process has become an important platform to advocate for human rights.

Representatives of the National Youth Secretariat, as delegates of the Paraguayan government, have voiced their opposition during the process of drafting the Colombo Declaration. The National Youth Secretariat has openly attacked the right to identity, the right to a decent life, education and science-based information, among others, even contradicting public policies of Paraguay. Civil society has expressed, in turn, the need for a human rights-based approach for the post-2015 development framework .

In this regard, SOMOSGAY demands the Paraguayan State the responsibility, through its ministries and departments, on the commitments made by the country in the statements of Human Rights. The absence of appropriate public policies have been subject of punishment for Paraguay by the international organizations.

Also, SOMOSGAY demands the Paraguayan State to urgently rectify these serious attacks on Human Rights and youth, and seeks to ensure the full enjoyment of the right to health information, as guaranteed in the Constitution and its laws, as well as being guaranteed in all international human rights treaties ratified by Paraguay.

The Secretary General of the UN acknowledged this in his recent report – A life of dignity for all – when he wrote that one of the emerging outlines of the new framework was that it will be “rights-based, with particular emphasis on women, young people and marginalized groups…” (16) [emphasis added]. The new development framework should include explicit indicators on national laws and policies related to its agenda and call for the removal of laws that violate young people’s human rights, such as parental and spousal consent laws for accessing health care or laws criminalizing same-sex sexual activity, transmission of HIV and safe abortion, as well as the inclusion of legislation that protect young people’s human rights.

ABOUT THE CONFERENCE
The World Conference on Youth (WCY 2014) seeks to provide an inclusive platform for young people, Youth experts, civil society organizations, Ministers in charge of the subject of Youth affairs and other relevant stakeholders from all over the world, to come together and discuss the topic of ‘Mainstreaming Youth Participation in the Post 2015 Development Agenda’. The World Conference on Youth is being held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, with the participation of 1500 Youth delegates from around the world.