Jeddah (UNA) – As part of the 26th regular session of the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, a panel discussion was held today, Sunday, entitled “The Role of National Human Rights Institutions and the Media in Protecting the Rights of Youth.”
The session, entitled “Youth Development in OIC Member States: Challenges and Opportunities from a Human Rights Perspective,” began today at the OIC General Secretariat headquarters in Jeddah and will continue until December 18.
At the beginning of the panel discussion, which was moderated by the Vice-Chair of the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission, Ambassador Dr. Mahi Hassan Abdul Latif, the Director-General of the Union of News Agencies of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (UNA), Professor Mohammed bin Abdul Rabbo Al-Yami, presented a paper on “The Role of Media in Empowering Youth: Challenges and Opportunities.”
In his intervention, Al-Yami addressed the most prominent areas in which the media should play an active role to enable young people to enjoy their rights, pointing in this regard to civic and social participation, where the media should understand the requirements and priorities of young people and convey them to decision-makers, in a way that contributes to enhancing the participation of young people in designing policies and public services, and adapting them according to their basic needs.
Al-Yami also pointed to the field of employment, where the media can play a pivotal role in educating young people about the labor market and its emerging fields, the academic specializations that are compatible with these fields, in addition to the most prominent skills and knowledge that young people should master and learn to enhance their opportunities in a competitive labor market.
In the field of health, Al-Yami called on the media to work on enhancing young people’s awareness of health risks and educating them about prevention, in addition to ensuring that its content is generally appropriate for the youth category in terms of content.
Al-Yami reviewed some of the contributions of the Federation of News Agencies in addressing the needs of young people in member states, noting that the Federation provides many training courses for young media professionals.
For his part, Dr. Khalid bin Abdulrahman Al-Mansour, Director General of the General Department of Studies and Research at the Human Rights Commission in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, addressed the topic of “Exchanging best practices and success stories in promoting youth rights.”
Al-Mansour reviewed an aspect of Saudi Arabia’s care for youth under the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, whose programs and objectives intersect with the Sustainable Development Goals.
It also highlighted an aspect of economic empowerment for youth in the Kingdom and expanding quality economic opportunities for young women, and aligning empowerment targets with international human rights standards.
Al-Mansour explained that young people in Saudi Arabia positively influence public policy-making, and that their issues are discussed through regular meetings held by the King Abdulaziz Center for Intercultural Dialogue.
For his part, Abdulrahman Sultan Al-Hashemi, Head of the Legislation, Research and Legal Studies Department at the National Human Rights Committee in Qatar, affirmed that empowering youth is a key pillar in Qatar National Vision 2030.
He explained that the pioneering roles of Qatari youth were manifested in their involvement in volunteer work at international events, cultural debates, and broad participation in international conferences, through youth forums organized on the sidelines of those events to amplify the voice of youth and highlight their visions.
He stressed the need to address a number of challenges facing young people in the Islamic world, including the prevalence of a culture of consumption and ostentation among some young people, the urgent need to establish a culture of responsibility among young people towards the family and society, in addition to addressing the growing risks resulting from addiction to social media and what it may lead to in terms of eroding cultural identity and diminishing national belonging.
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