Cheryl, 17, from the United Kingdom, says inadequate education, restricted access to health services, and growing youth unemployment are among the global problems that must incorporate young people as part of the solution. "Youth today are subjected to injustice and exclusion due, in part, to increased inequities in access to government services and the frequent cuts in human services," she adds. "They face an ever-increasing breach between the rich and poor due to uneven income distribution, unequal wealth and unbalanced power."

Unhealthy dangers are many: sexual abuse, violence, exploitation, abduction, rape, incest, female genital mutilation, trafficking, abandonment and prostitution. What makes it so hard for young people to fight these threats to physical and mental health? The acts against them are committed by adults.

Unscrupulous adults exploit young people for profit. Every year, an estimated 2 million girls between 5 and 15 are drawn into commercial sex, and such exploitation increases the threat of violence. The sex trade, fuelled by poverty, speeds the spread of STDs including HIV/AIDS from customers to sex workers, sex workers to the next customers, and customers to their wives and girlfriends.

Although more and more tragic stories are surfacing these days, most are buried beneath layers of secrecy and shame. Genuinely sensitive methods are required to help young people report and discuss problems of an emotional and sexual nature. Instead, anxiety feeds on ignorance and shame. Recovery, if possible, is rarely complete and repercussions last a lifetime. At the least, a girl abused in early life will lose her sense of value later on.

Confront all Forms of Violence, Abuse and Exploitation

Sometimes strangers are to blame, but most problems are rooted closer to home. Rape victims often know their attacker: a friend, a family member, an acquaintance.

Preventing another kind of violence–domestic violence–starts at home during adolescence. Men who are violent against women start out as boys who are socialized into gender roles designed to keep men in power and in control. Rough-and-tumble games, impulsiveness and other traits typical of very young boys are not the problem. But that is a good time in life to start teaching young boys respect and responsibility. If nothing changes, the way many boys are raised today means women will be beaten tomorrow.

As if dangerous adults were not enough of a threat, through risky behaviour young people hurt themselves.

A letter from a teenage son to his mother, in an essay by Mandkh-Aush of Mongolia, 23, tells an all-too-common story: "I’ve been smoking for the past two years. You will never be able to accept this, of course. But the way things are at the moment, if I don’t smoke, everyone will think I’m a mommy’s boy, and even my girl will laugh at me. Right now I’ve got a problem which is harder to talk about.... The doctor says she’s pregnant.... She was so frightened that she suggested we should die together."

Taking risks is part of growing up, pushing the envelope on childhood. A child who touches the stove to see if it is hot gets his fingers burned. He learns. A young man who feels he has nothing to lose takes risks to the level of self-destruction. The risks he takes range from breaking the law to practising unsafe sex.

Do Teenagers Lead a Carefree Life?

The adolescent urge to break away from rules and regulations is part of testing new independence. Ignoring consequences–and safety measures like condoms–seems part of the exciting life cool grown-ups lead. Peer-pressure can exaggerate the impulse to take risks, however. And societies worldwide do little to help, punishing delinquency like criminality and shunning teens whose experiments turn out all wrong.

Young people count on adults for support. They count on adults to create opportunities for them to develop their potential. By providing access to counselling, information, education and health services, adults can prove to young people that their trust will not always be betrayed.