house of wisdom Institute for Consultation and Conflict Resolution organized, in collaboration with the youth advocacy group “Bayan”, a youth conference entitled “Palestinian youth between the challenges of reality and the aspirations for change” on Monday, 20 November 2017, over a period of one day.
In addition to a number of writers, jurists, deputies in the Palestinian Legislative Council and representatives of international institutions and civil society.
Mahmoud Al Madhoun, President of the Conference, stressed that this conference comes within the framework of finding a solution for the Palestinian youth, as they are potential energy if not exploited in the right framework, these energies may be launched within the framework of intolerance and extremism of youth.
Al-Madhoun pointed out that this conference is only a call for the gathering to unite all voices, to listen to young people and to know their aspirations for change according to the horizons of communication between youth and society and what they want to create a state of global change and create stability in terms of job creation and social development. , And political participation.
Dr. Ahmed Yousef, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Bayt Al Hikma, said that this conference brings young people back to the leadership of the Palestinian street, pointing out that the political and partisan leadership and the factions’ frameworks have limited the role of depriving young people of taking their political roles in society.
Dr. Yusuf added that he is pinning his hopes on rearranging the situation and correcting the compass. Because young people are a big electoral bloc, if they gather their energies, they can affect the paths of the upcoming Palestinian elections, stressing the need for young people to think about their future and make their own efforts.
“If the Palestinian youth does not lead the way, the reality will not change, and we will not be able to get out of the square of the Palestinian division,” said MP Huda Naim of the Change and Reform Bloc, calling on young people not to let the problems of the past and the past be wasted.
She stressed that eight years ago, the Legislative Council enacted a youth law to include and guarantee all their political, economic, social and educational rights. Succeed only in the liberation and independence, and that surrender to reality does not build a good reality and a unified homeland.
Where a Palestinian youth conference called for pressure campaigns to reform the institutions of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority to ensure the participation of youth in all its components.
The youth conference stressed the need to form a youth lobby that includes all youth gatherings, students and activists. It can organize campaigns of pressure and immediate impact that achieve youth aspirations.
In the final recommendations of the conference, which was read by Mohammed Al-Qatawi, he stressed that civil society organizations should work according to clear visions and policies, move away from the policy of tradition and detail, and move towards a developmental and community plan agreed upon by all parties.
He said: “We must work to strengthen coordination and institutional cooperation among the stakeholders in the development process, and build alliances between institutions of civil society with common objectives,” and called for the need to develop the professional relationship between civil society institutions and international institutions, and based on partnership and benefit from the experiences of others.
The Conference stressed the importance of democratic transformation within the community institutions and the application of the elements of good governance, and the need to develop a comprehensive national plan for youth, which adopts the principle of participation in the identification of needs and planning, and then implementation.
He recommended that a social contract based on the idea of citizenship should be sought, that the rights of young people be recognized in political participation based on the Declaration of Independence, and that laws and legislation should be reviewed to ensure the effective participation of Palestinian youth in decision-making bodies in all aspects of public life.
He stressed the need to unify civil and security institutions on the basis of the supreme national interest away from party, and reconsider the composition of the functions of institutions such as the Supreme Council for Youth and the diplomatic corps, and the younger generation.
And called for recommendations to amend the laws of the general and local elections in terms of the adoption of the system of proportional representation and reduce the age of nomination and to bind the electoral lists a “youth quota.”
The conference highlighted the importance of civil society organizations developing plans to mobilize the young generation and educate them in ways of resolving internal conflicts peacefully; to develop political action and resolve differences in dialogue away from violent and extremist methods.
In the area of youth support, the conference recommended the importance of supporting individual and collective youth projects to reduce the high unemployment rate, create opportunities to encourage and motivate young people to innovate, and raise the level of attention to vocational rehabilitation and the development of vocational training centers to suit the technological development and the needs of society.
He also called for the need to allocate a specific percentage of youth from the budget of the Authority not less than 5%.
He called for a reconsideration of educational curricula in schools and universities, in order to enhance the spirit of creativity and scientific research in a manner consistent with the culture of joint action and acceptance of the other, and the teaching of human rights and public freedoms in the secondary stages.
