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Youth of the Americas to Debate about Democracy and Entrepreneurship at the OAS

The Organization of American States (OAS) will hold on December 4th at its headquarters in Washington, DC, the "Youth Conference 2012: Youth in Action for Democracy and Entrepreneurship," with the goal of increasing the participation and involvement of young people in the design and implementation of programs and policies to overcome the various challenges faced by democracies in the region.

Participants will hold high-level discussions with young leaders and take part in workshops designed to develop recommendations for the OAS on issues related specifically to the youth of the Americas. The recommendations will be presented to the Secretary General of the Organization, José Miguel Insulza, and the Permanent Representatives of the OAS Member States at a special meeting of the Permanent Council the following day.

The Conference is the result of the commitments made by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Americas who, at the OAS General Assembly in Medellin, Colombia in June 2008, instructed the General Secretariat to "incorporate the youth perspective into its programs and activities, in particular activities that focus in the promotion of democratic principles and values."

According to a joint ECLAC and UNICEF study, approximately 45 percent of the people under the age of 18 in the region live in poverty and are the ones most affected by a lack of access to basic necessities like education, healthcare and a safe environment and other crucial requirements. Adolescents and youth comprise about 18 percent of the total population of Latin America and the Caribbean, the largest percentage of any region of the world, which explains the importance that the OAS has assigned to this topic.

Since 2007, the organization has an Interdepartmental Working Group on Youth chaired by the OAS Assistant Secretary General, Ambassador Albert Ramdin, who has devoted his attention to the next generation of citizens and leaders in order to ensure the stability of the Americas in the future.

The Youth Conference OAS 2012 will consist of three activities: a virtual forum, the conference itself and an exposition. The Virtual Forum on Democracy and Entrepreneurship began on November 12 and its results will serve as input for the event on December 4.

The event will be inaugurated by Assistant Secretary General Albert Ramdin, followed by presentations by United States Congresswoman Yvette Clarke and the President of the Business Council of Latin America, Samuel Urrutia Cantoral.

The agenda also includes young leaders from different countries and sectors including Ana Moraga, winner of the award "Champions for Change 2012," given by the White House, the Department of State and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID); Ana Cristina Benavente, Leader of the Project “Joe the Rabbit and the Family of the Future”; Boni Guerrero Edge, Outstanding Youth in the National Youth Award from the Dominican Republic, and Valeria Castillo, President Elect of the Model OAS General Assembly (MOAS) 2013.

The event, supported by PepsiCo and Google Argentina, will also feature presentations by Diego Ruiz, PepsiCo Vice President of Global Public Policy and Government Affairs, Latin America and the Caribbean; Pedro Less Andrade, Manager of Policy and Government Affairs for Latin America of Google Argentina; and Gillian Lucky, Director of the Police Complaints Authority of Trinidad and Tobago.

Additional information on this initiative is available here

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-441/12