News on Youth leadership & participation
18 January 2019
News

BUJUMBURA, Burundi – “During my youth, I had to abort four times,” said Cecile Nshimirimana*, a student in Burundi’s capital, Bujumbura. The procedures were illegal – in Burundi, abortion is permitted only to save a... Read more
10 January 2019
News

YANGON, Myanmar – “If I had known about safe sex in my teens, my life would never have turned out this way,” 21-year-old Sithu* told UNFPA. He contracted HIV two years ago.
Sithu had always dreamed of working abroad to... Read more
12 November 2018
News

MALE’, Maldives – When Azlifa was 11 years old, something troubling happened to her friend.
“She dropped out of school,” Azlifa remembers. “Her family was very upset. Everyone on the island – it was a very small... Read more
30 October 2018
News

UNITED NATIONS, New York – Fifteen per cent of the world’s population lives with a disability, and nearly 200 million are between the ages of 10 and 24. Yet they are often invisible in government statistics.
Girls and... Read more
9 October 2018
News

AL HASSAKEH, Syria – Ghalia*, 18, never went to school. There were none in her village. Instead, she worked in the fields alongside her sisters and father, despite his lifelong dream for the girls.
“My father always... Read more
25 September 2018
News

UNITED NATIONS, New York – The world is home to 1.8 billion people between the ages of 10 and 24. Nearly 90 per cent live in developing countries.
Young people worldwide contend with poverty, discrimination, violence,... Read more
29 August 2018
News

SOKORU, Ethiopia – Two years ago, 16-year-old Salia Shemsu waited to be married off.
She had just failed the national exam, barring her from pursuing the education she longed for. As the first-born girl in her family,... Read more
31 July 2018
News

RAKHINE, Myanmar – Harlee Dar, 14, does not go to school. There are no books, TV or radio in the family’s small shelter, which is sweltering in the summer and rain-beaten during monsoon season. Asked what she does when... Read more
24 July 2018
News

ABSHERON, Azerbaijan – Fourteen-year-old Maryam stood, awe-struck, at the edge of an indoor football pitch in Absheron, Azerbaijan. “For me, seeing a real soccer pitch, a real goal net, and putting on a real soccer... Read more
23 July 2018
News

Netherlands/Lesotho/Botswana – The number of AIDS-related deaths has fallen to its lowest point this century thanks to improved access to antiretroviral treatment, according to a newly released report. Yet prevention... Read more